Homebuilders group honors local projects

Annie O’Carroll estimates she’s worked on more than 100 kitchens in the 30 years she’s been an interior designer.

One of her latest projects was the less than 200-square-foot kitchen in her own home, a small space that featured brick floors and dark red oak cabinets. Now, a year from the completion of the remodel, the space paints a reflection of O’Carroll’s own style — aqua cabinets, leathered soapstone countertops and a larger opening between the kitchen and dining room.

O’Carroll’s work on her own kitchen recently won her an award at the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association’s “Excellence in Remodeling” award ceremony Thursday night.

“The fact that this is the first time that I participated … and that it was my own home and I got to choose the finishes that I thought really worked in my own space was really, really fun,” she said.

While O’Carroll took home the Kitchen Remodel award, eight other winners took home awards across categories such as residential historic renovation, bath remodel and landscape design.

Hoopes + Associates Architects and Casanova Construction took home the top prize, the 2024 Grand Award for Excellence in Remodeling, for their work on a 1940s adobe home on Santa Fe’s east side.

The two were able to construct an addition to the home, formerly owned by the artist Seymour Tubis, and incorporate a large, modern open floor plan that features hand-carved beams on the ceiling of the living area, kitchen and dining room. Craig Hoopes, owner of Hoopes + Associates, said the addition added just over 1,000 square feet, which “basically doubled the size of the house.”

The project “should help people understand what they can do with their properties to be able to show a way to have a wonderful sort of contemporary house within a historic shell,” Hoopes said.

Other winners this year:

Fabuwallous, Whole House Remodel award.

Tent Rock Inc., Residential Historic Renovation award.

Acacia Builders, New Home Addition award.

DMC, Commercial Remodel award.

Three Roots Design, Bath Remodel award.

Serquis & Associates, Landscape Design award

Native Son Builders, Nueva Vida award.