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Nolet discovered the 1912 Craftsman cottage during a drive along the North County coast with her best friend, who persuaded the longtime San Francisco Bay resident to move south to San Diego. "I knew I had to have it," she recalls. "Something about the cottage immediately spoke to me. It wasn't grand or perfect, which was part of its appeal. I loved its proportions, its old windows, and the simplicity of it. It had survived for more than a century." She learned that the original owner was Victor Kremer, a German- born music publisher, film producer, and real estate developer credited with creating Cardiff 's Composer District in the early 1900s. He named a dozen streets after composers and musicians: Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Gershwin, Liszt, Mozart, and Rossini among them. He also helped to add "by-the-Sea" to the town' s moniker, inspired by the popular song, "By the Beautiful Sea." Nolet says restraint was the biggest challenge in the process of renovating the house and making it her own. "As a designer, you're trained to see possibilities everywhere. With a century-old house, however, the fact that you can change something doesn't necessarily mean you should." So, she says she asked herself, "'How do I make this house work beautifully for me without designing the history out of it?' Old houses have a way of humbling designers. You start out thinking you're going to tell the house what it needs, and eventually you realize you'd better listen to it." Nolet did. She says her plan was to "respect the home's history and original scale while thoughtfully adapting the interiors for contemporary life." at meant preserving the home's relatively small footprint and architectural character. During the year-long project, Nolet worked with general contractor Greg omas of omas Construction to repair and restore the old wood windows and period elements. But they rebuilt or updated other areas to make the house more functional, including the kitchen, which was originally the back porch. e team removed the old wooden siding, tiled the wall and backsplash in Calacatta marble, and added new cabinets and a simple, sleek farmhouse sink. Nolet says Margaret Patterson of Ferguson Enterprises "was an extraordinary resource" for fixtures and appliances including the showstopper: a blue La Cornue range. connect people ranchandcoast.com 86 NOVEMBER 2026 RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE <<