Spanish Bungalow by the Sea

A 1920s Spanish-style bungalow in Oceanside, California, gets a coastal makeover.

Picture this: A 1926 bungalow in a coastal town in California with a charming 1,200 square feet and Spanish-style architecture. But it’s boring and outdated, with dark brown accents and an overall austere air. That’s where interior designer Beth Bynon of Beth Bynon Interior Design came in. After caring for her ailing mother for six years, she was ready for a reset. “I needed a break from everything after she died,” Beth says. After a year-long hunt she found this Spanish bungalow in Oceanside, California, and took the leap. Two years and a major renovation later, this home now has the charming, oceanside cottage feel Beth loves.

white and blue living room with fireplace in coastal cottage

blue and white coastal cottage kitchen in renovated Spanish bungalow — Kitchen Cozy. The kitchen has the original footprint except for the location of the fridge, now inside the kitchen itself. The island is new to the house, though it’s an antique piece. “I keep my tea inside the drawer,” Beth says. “I got my contractor to add a marble top to it.”

living room with fireplace in renovated Spanish bungalow turned coastal cottage — Living Space. The living room is the first room guests see when entering the house. Beth painted the existing fireplace white, added a checkered paint pattern to the floors and chose cozy seating that fits the space with smaller dimensions. The armchairs were all brown leather, so Beth hand-sewed white seat covers to lighten them up.

TV room with white built-in bookshelves in Spanish bungalow turned cozy cottage

Getting Going

After she moved into the Spanish bungalow, Beth had to figure out what she wanted the house to look like. That ended up being harder than she’d anticipated. “I had a hard time deciding even what to do with the house because I didn’t want to get rid of the original style,” she says. “But Spanish-style homes are not my favorite aesthetic. My style isn’t austere; I like a cozy cottage feel.”

dining room with beadboard built in bench seating and display cabinets — Dining Deck. The dining room was originally just a walk-through space. “I added the window, the window seat and cabinetry,” Beth says. The fridge used to be where the cabinets are now, which she moved into the kitchen. “That room was the one I had to spend the most time figuring out how to make it look good,” she says. But the addition of the window and window seat did the trick.

snug sitting area in blue and white coastal cottage — Soothing Snug. Beth calls this space her “snug.” “I’ve created a hideaway I lovingly refer to as my ‘snug,’ a space dedicated to coziness,” she says. Beth added built-in storage to the room as well as slipcovered furniture she made herself.

Having worked with interior design clients for years, Beth is well-versed in making a client’s dream into reality. But it was harder to figure out what she wanted for herself. “I struggled with giving myself my own voice in this project instead of making it what others would think,” she says. “I had to silence the voices of social media and Pinterest about what’s trendy and what you should do. I didn’t want it to look like I did it in a certain decade. I don’t want to do a remodel every 10 years.”

From Spanish Bungalow to Classic Cottage

But with a lot of thought and planning, Beth was able to get what she really wanted from the house. “What you’re seeing in this house now is the essence of me,” she says. That includes specifics like a blue-and-white color palette, classic cottage material choices, vintage items and homemade slipcovers. “My style is classic, it’s not trendy at all,” she says. “It grows with you.”

1926 Spanish bungalow turned cozy blue and white cottage

But there were some structural changes that had to happen to get there. “Overall, the home has good bones with unique architectural features that you don’t find in new builds,” she says. She enlarged several doorways, added windows and reconfigured a closet to create the best layout flow, function and lighting in the house. While she didn’t change the layout of the kitchen, she commandeered a closet from the guest room to store her kitchen appliances and moved the fridge from the dining area into the kitchen proper to maximize space.

Wolf range in blue and white cottage kitchen

Beth also worked out custom details that would make the function of the house fit her exact lifestyle. In the primary bathroom, for example, she added a clawfoot bathtub with a handheld shower attachment but didn’t add a shower. “I love baths; they’re my self care,” she says. She also moved the washer and dryer from their original location in the garage to a closet downstairs that now acts as a laundry room, office and yoga area.

blue and white coastal cottage bedroom with gallery wall

blue and white tile lining stairs in Spanish bungalow turned classic cottage — Spanish Stairs. On the stairs, Beth designed a coastal-cottage version of the Spanish architecture in the house. “It’s Spanish to have tile on the stair risers, but you’ll normally see oranges and reds,” she says. Instead, she chose her signature palette of blue and white.

Beth now has a custom home that’s light and airy, fits her lifestyle and will stay classic for years to come. “Every room in this house sings for me,” she says. “I was able to eventually hit the right note in each room.”

closet in coastal cottage — Custom Closet. This space was originally a narrow closet for the guest bedroom. “I commandeered it,” Beth says. She ordered custom cabinets for inside, and it now holds her kitchen appliances such as her microwave, blender and instant pot. “The drawers hold my linens,” she says.

clawfoot tub with jute rug in cottage bathroom

laundry nook with blue and white cabinet skirt and vintage bird cage

bathroom cabinetry and beadboard with framed art — Bathroom Basics. The guest bathroom came with the clawfoot bathtub already. “That whole bathroom was brown,” Beth says. She painted the outside of the tub blue and painted the existing floor tiles white. “They were in good shape, but I just couldn’t stand the brown,” she says.

guest room in blue and white cottage — inviting Guest Room. The guest room had low ceilings, so Beth wanted a design element that would draw the eye upward. “How do you make the room feel grander? You do something vertical,” she says. Beth designed a simple wooden box out of crown molding for the ceiling that could enclose the headboard, then hand-sewed draperies from Ralph Lauren sheeting fabric and white draperies for the sides of the box. The result is a focal point that makes the room feel taller.

blue clawfoot tub in blue and white bathroom — Self-Care Central. In the primary bathroom, Beth matched the clawfoot bathtub from downstairs with a new tub but skipped the shower. “It has a handheld attachment; that works for me,” she says.

patio with blue and white tile wall and fireplace — Patio Perfect. Beth knew she’d struck gold when she originally saw the patio. “It’s the number one reason I chose this house,” she says. The main wall was all stucco, so she added tile and an arched door alongside cozy seating furniture to allow for al fresco dining and lounging in the California weather.

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