When Valerie Bellino decided it was time for a fresh start, it wasn’t her home of 26 years that needed to go, just the way she had been using it. The 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom, 3,000 square-foot house built in 1916 is the space where Bellino raised her children, who are now grown and gone with families of their own. “I have seven grandchildren, and I wanted my house to be a place that felt welcoming to them, where my children and their children could come and feel at home and be happy to visit as often as they want,” Bellino said.
“I bought the house 26 years ago, and it has a lot of very old elements to it. The cistern on the property is dated 1908,” she added.
“There were snags, because the house is pretty old and needed updates and repairs, so we started from scratch, plumbing, electric, all of it,” she continued. “We had knocked out a wall in the kitchen when I first moved in, but other than that, the house has stayed pretty much the same aside from a few cosmetic touches since then. It was definitely time for some improvements.”
The first step in the remodel was to find the perfect designer to help her build and execute the new vision for her older home.
“When my daughter was remodeling her house, she used JH Interiors for some of her projects,” Valerie recalled. “She said she had a good experience with Breanna Cortinas and that I should give her a call. Their house turned out so beautifully that they had a feature in the Omaha World Herald about it, and once I started working with Breanna, I understood why my daughter had recommended her.
“Breanna helped me remodel my master bedroom, master bathroom, to build an office, and completely redo the pool house attached to the garage,” she said. “The pool house wasn’t functional at all, it wasn’t inviting. We added folding doors that allow the entire wall to open. Now, the adults get to sit in a comfortable, air conditioned space and still be near the kids while they are playing. Everyone loves the pool house, it’s practically its own apartment now.”
“The pool house was a little outdated,” Cortinas added. “It had kind of a bachelor pad feel to it, Husker-themed with a foosball table, pool table, it had a real poker-room vibe. It wasn’t a gathering space, and Valerie is a very family-centered woman. She wants the people she loves to feel welcomed and comfortable, and so we did some programming. We traded the mini bar for a functional kitchen. We included a full bathroom so guests could have a space to change and freshen up after a swim. The pool house isn’t an afterthought, it’s a comfortable living space. But then we added cool architectural details that made it into the perfect indoor/outdoor entertainment space with that wall-to-wall stack-back sliding door. We worked with Meadowlark Renovations for all of the updates. They just get it. They are such a great team, and are so good at overcoming any hurdles that pop up, and hurdles usually do. But Meadowlark just works through them seamlessly. I always love working with them.”
The master bedroom was a major undertaking, but it was the repurposing of a previously overlooked space that served as a truly transformative process.
“The master bedroom had a closet that I didn’t really use aside from some miscellaneous storage,” Bellino said. “Breanna suggested I utilize the space for an office. I was very worried about what that would do for my resale value, but she reminded me that I’m the one who lives here now, and that I should use the home how it best serves me.”
“I have to remind my clients pretty often,” Cortinas said. “You’re not renting your house from the future home owners. This is your home.”
By the time the closet had been reached, Bellino’s trust in Cortinas didn’t leave much space for second guessing, and that trust has paid off handsomely.
“We had a desk built into the closet, and Breanna brought in some really beautiful artwork that changed the atmosphere completely. And she found such beautiful wallpaper for the walls and the ceiling, but the windows really made a huge difference,” Bellino said.
The windows in the new office overlook some of Bellino’s favorite features of her home.
“The office overlooks the entire back yard. I can’t believe how long I wasn’t using that space—from my desk I have a perfect view of my pool, my pond, the waterfall, the koi. It’s one of my favorite spaces to be, where I can just take it all in.”
Bellino and Cortinas have made such an excellent team throughout the process that they aren’t ready to call it quits.
“We are still going strong! It’s such a pleasure to work with Valerie, and to have built this relationship with her,” said Cortinas. “She is so excited to make this home really speak to her and her family, and she has really embraced the process one room at a time.”
This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Omaha Home Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
