Breegan's Beach House
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the designer's southern California whole-home renovation
Growing up in Southern California, designer Breegan Jane had always dreamed of having a house on the beach. Now, that dream is becoming a reality.
For the past year, Breegan has been rebuilding her home from the inside out, carefully making each decision with a designer’s eye and her family top of mind.
“I have two growing boys, and I was at that point where I wanted to find the place that we would call home for as long as we possibly can. This is such a heartfelt project to me,” she says.
If you’ve seen any of Breegan’s shows on HGTV or Discovery+, you know that she is all about giving her clients access to attainable luxury and creating spaces that maximize indoor/outdoor living. For this project, she’s focused on bringing those things to her most important client yet—her own family.
Because a connection to nature is important to Breegan and her two sons, her goal with the remodel was creating a functional, yet luxurious, space that allowed her to see and hear the ocean waves crash along the shore.
Luckily, the home she purchased had a lot of windows. However, those windows came with a handful of problems: frosted glass obstructing her view of the outdoors, broken handles on some windows, warped wood from salt air making them impossible to open on others—the list of problems stacked up. So, she approached her design with windows at the forefront of her plan.
“Windows are a foundational element to the function of your home. But they're also such an important visual element in the way in which you do your room planning. Everything depends on your view, light, and nature. You pick your neighborhood and the land that you're on because there's something that connects you to the greater community,” she adds.
For Breegan, that connection comes from the ocean. Living on the coast, she knew she needed durable windows that would hold up against the harsh, salty, potentially corrosive air. But she also wanted beautiful windows that would satisfy the “look” she was going for in her forever home. So, she called Renewal by Andersen.
Making that decision was an easy one for her, because she’d done it once before. Just two years prior, Breegan worked with Renewal by Andersen to replace the patio doors in her previous home. During that experience, she was amazed at how easy the process was when you had one company handling all aspects of the project, including sales, manufacturing, installation, service, and the Nation’s Best Warranty.
“I always have an easy, pain-free, lovely experience with Renewal by Andersen’s Signature Service. The end product is amazing, and they’ve done all the work for you. The simplification for the everyday homeowner, and me as a designer, is well worth it,” Breegan says.
This time around, Breegan got to see first-hand just what it takes to craft Renewal by Andersen’s custom windows: the Californian packed her winter jacket and boots and headed to the company’s one-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in December (yes, it was quite cold then) to see her windows being made. During her tour, she was in awe of the amount of people and work that went into making each window.
“It was amazing to see not only the quality and the craftsmanship, but also the teamwork, that goes into every homeowner’s project,” she says, reflecting on her trip.
Breegan on Tour
Designer and TV personality Breegan Jane was so impressed with the performance, looks, and engineering of Renewal by Andersen replacement windows, she travelled all the way from her home in sunny California to our Cottage Grove, MN-based manufacturing facilities to learn more about the Andersen-exclusive Fibrex composite material, talk to some of the engineers, and to actually see her windows being made. She even took a little pop quiz to see what she had learned...If she was excited to see her windows being made, she was over-the-moon thrilled when installation day arrived. One by one, installers with Renewal by Andersen of Los Angeles replaced 53 windows (we told you there were a lot) in Breegan’s beach house. She went with a variety of window styles, including double hung, casement, gliding, specialty, picture, and awning—all of them in black.
The transformation was undeniable. No more frosted glass, no more broken handles, no more sticky windows. Now, Breegan has windows she can open and close smoothly, and with Andersen’s® exclusive proprietary Fibrex™ composite material, she now has windows that are warranted to not rot, chip, corrode, flake or peel (yes, even in that salty air).
“I love that I won’t have to repaint these windows,” she adds.
Not only that, having windows made of exclusive Fibrex™ material means thinner frames, which means more glass and larger, breathtaking views overlooking the ocean.
Behind the Scenes
When you have more than 50 windows in your home, and when you have a view as spectacular as Breegan Jane does, you want to make sure you get exactly what you want out of your renovation project. Which is why she chose Renewal by Andersen. After having such a positive experience on her first project, she knew she was getting an exceptional product---and the installation crew to do the job right the first time. See for yourself what happens on the job, as Breegan goes behind the scenes on install day!Not only is Breegan’s view out to the Pacific transformed, but the look and feel inside her home is, as well. Wanting to make a statement, she chose to change the color of all her windows, swapping out white windows for black ones.
“I love the way black looks on the exterior of my house, but I also love how it looks like a picture frame on the inside. The black acts as a frame, so the ocean can become art,” she adds.
That aesthetic is something she noticed from the moment she walked into her home on install day. She couldn’t hold back her excitement. She had a big smile on her face because a major part of her renovations was complete. Her dream of having a beach house was one big and beautiful step closer to reality.
“Renewal by Andersen brought me so much joy because I could finally see my plans come to life,” says Breegan.
Get the look!
Breegan's home remodel used nearly the entire lineup of Renewal by Andersen® replacement windows (casement, gliding, double hung, picture, specialty, and awning). As part of her overall design, she chose to switch from white windows to black in order in contrast with the lighter wall tones that will be used throughout the home.
“I love the way black looks on the exterior of my house, but I also love how it looks like a picture frame on the inside. The black acts as a frame, so the ocean can become art,” she says.
Throughout the home, she has a variety of window sizes that allow for different vantage points of the beach, giving her an an maximal views and an opportunity to blur the lines between indoor and outdoor living. One place in particular where window-style choice was important was on the top floor of her home--where she has the clearest view of the beach. There, she chose to create a wall of gliding windows to help bring more of the beach look and feel into her home and maximize those sea breezes.
Learn more about the versatile gliding (or sliding) window, and customize your new look today!
Want to see more about Breegan's beach house, learn about her other design projects, or check out other design content? Visit Get Inspired With Breegan for more inspirational articles and advice.
