Elizabeth Valentina was in college four decades ago when she saw the canopied stretch of Fair Oaks Boulevard. Here, she imagined, is my future home.
“I thought, someday I’m living on this stretch,” she says.
Valentina married, raised two sons in Fair Oaks and became a single mom after a divorce. With her boys preparing for Jesuit High School, she wanted a home closer to the tree-lined boulevard from her college memories.
But this house was far from perfect.
Built in the 1950s, expanded in the 1970s and cosmetically remodeled in the 1990s, the property was a patchwork. What drew Valentina was the setting: a 1-acre lot, mature landscaping and quiet location near the American River Parkway.
“I loved the lot. I loved the location,” she says. “I knew it would need work, but I also knew it could become something special.”
She lived in the house several years before starting the remodel. Friends recommended contractor and designer Nar Bustamonte, who toured the site around 2009.
Early plans called for renovating about two-thirds of the house. But the scope expanded. “If you’re going to do it, you might as well do the whole house,” Bustamonte advised.
Out came the windows. Off came the siding. Crews stuccoed the exterior, rebuilt the deck and addressed structural problems with the pool. The project transformed the 3,000-square-foot home.
At one point, it felt overwhelming.
“I thought I was remodeling two-thirds of the house,” Valentina says. “Suddenly we were dealing with the backyard, the pool, everything.”
Inspiration for an outdoor design arrived during a family trip to Australia. Sitting in a café, Valentina flipped through an Australian architectural magazine and saw a backyard design that resonated.
“I realized, this is what I want our backyard to look like,” she says. She brought the magazine home and showed Bustamonte. They reimagined the outdoors with a new pool, pavilion and fireplace.
The renovation would change more than the house. Valentina and Bustamonte spent hours discussing design decisions, lifestyle priorities and details that shape how a home is lived in.
“Different people have different priorities in their home,” Valentina says. “The
more we talked about how we live and what mattered, the more we realized how aligned we were.”
Construction took more than a year. Valentina and her sons moved out while work progressed. By the finish, Valentina and Bustamonte realized their professional relationship evolved into something personal.
Life took them in separate directions. Valentina briefly remarried. Bustamonte stayed busy with other projects.
In 2018, seven years after the remodel, a message appeared on her phone. It was Bustamonte texting to wish her happy birthday. The message led to a glass of wine, a long conversation and a date.
Today the two share the home and the design work that continues within it.
During the pandemic, they decided to shelter together in the house, discovering they enjoyed collaborating on design projects. Since then, they have completed other projects together.
Transformations continue at Valentina’s home. The couple redesigned the kitchen in 2021.
The color scheme is cream and a soft blush tone. They added concealed cabinetry and custom lights. The kitchen reflects their shared design philosophy: elegant, functional, understated.
The house remains much as they envisioned it years ago, elegant but comfortable, a place where family gathers.
The backyard again hosts activities that fill the property with life. Football games, pool parties and volleyball for kids who grew up there. Some of those children are adults living around the world. They return home for extended visits.
“My favorite thing about this house is the laughter of the kids,” Valentina says. “The memories they created here.”
Bustamonte describes it more simply. “It’s a sanctuary. A place where we’ve grown, dreamed and built a life.”
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