NARI Presents 19 ‘Remmy’ Awards to Honor Local Home Improvements

The San Francisco couple knew they needed help with their SoMa loft. The space was small and little more than a concrete box. But it had very high ceilings and beautiful clerestory windows.

The couple turned to Plath & Co., general contractors in San Francisco, which transformed the loft into a contemporary residence designed for entertaining and art displays.

The project captured a grand award for Plath & Co. at an Oct. 13 ceremony sponsored by the San Francisco chapter of the National Association of Remodeling Industry. Nineteen awards were presented to contract and design professionals at the event where winners received Oscar-style "Remmies."

The NARI judges reserved their highest praise for Plath and the firm's Tehama Street loft project, which also won a first-place award in a separate residential interior design category.

"There was a beautiful execution of detail; compelling brush strokes of design movements; wonderful restraint and clean execution in the overall idea and detailing and good function in the compact space," the judges said.

Plath vice president Bill Ballas noted that circular shapes highlight the new loft - including a curved wall that separates the kitchen from the living room, a curved shower and circular stairs leading to sleeping space.

In the residential kitchen-contractor category, Custom Kitchens by John Wilkins took first place honors for its remodeling of a 1930's kitchen that suffered from a "lack of function and style, with shallow counter tops, unusable space and outdated appliances."

Kitchen designer Julie Miller said the firm took out several walls to open up the kitchen area of the home in Oakland's Crocker Highland neighborhood. The firm also restored a window boarded up in a previous kitchen remodel, and improved counter tops and cooking spaces.

A project designed for a couple in San Francisco's Excelsior District captured top honors for architect John Rohosky in the design / residential exterior category. The professional couple wanted additional space in their small cottage to house their extensive collection of LPs, Beatles rock 'n' roll memorabilia and musical instruments.

Rohosky faced some tough limitations: The new music room could not block views of the couple's Japanese-style garden - which prohibited building a room on the ground floor or a second-story addition.

Instead, Rohosky built a stand-alone room in the back yard under a pine tree. The small 10-foot-by-10-foot room also serves as a meditation room.