Budget Breakdown: How Ceramicist Joe Skoby Traded Up for His Family’s Dream Home in San Diego

He and his wife, Cristiana, revitalized a run-down property for less than $250K partly by swapping his coveted work with friends and vendors.

For several years, Joe and Cristiana Skoby rented a home just one blissful block from the beach in San Diego’s La Jolla neighborhood. It was a historic adobe cottage with a garden they had filled with lush plants. Joe, a fishmonger and ceramicist known for his textured surfaces and organic, knocked-in shapes, had a tiny studio under a corrugated roof. "Joe is the oldest soul you can meet," Cristiana says. "And I’m from Europe—I didn’t mind a smaller place. But it was 907 square feet with two bedrooms and one bath. We had a growing business and a growing family."

Cristiana and Joe Skoby spent two years looking for a house that would accommodate their family of five, could be a canvas for their Italy-meets-California style, and would fit their budget.
They were able to turn a dreary 1960s house in San Diego into a dreamy home—with a
lot of creativity, sweat equity, and help from their community.

Photo by Jeovanna Pérez

Wanting more space, in 2021, the Skobys started looking—and looking. They had a strong community in La Jolla, Joe is a dedicated surfer, and they loved raising their three children on the beach. "I was only going to move from La Jolla for a dream house," says Cristiana, who worked for Dolce & Gabbana in her native Italy and now manages Joe’s art business.

But La Jolla, once an artists’ colony, has seen its modest cottages replaced with mansions. Prices have become especially heartbreaking since the pandemic. After two years of browsing, Cristiana spotted a listing for $900,000 in Clairemont, the next neighborhood inland. It looked like the opposite of a dream house—a coffin-like entryway, low ceilings, a poky layout, and bright blue wall-to-wall carpeting in the bedroom that switched to gray in the bathroom. The backyard was bare dirt and invasive ice plants.

After Joe saw the wood carvings his friend Matthew Wignall was doing, he asked if
the artist would be interested in making a door. Joe and Cristiana gave him no direction, and it was the largest piece he had undertaken. The result is a showstopper of an entry that sets the tone for the house: original, earthy, handmade.

Photo by Collin Erie

The Skobys combined the original walled-off entryway, kitchen, living room, and dining area into one bright, open space. To vault the ceilings, they had to install a 26-foot-long central support beam. The clerestory windows they added give the house the feel of an iconic midcentury.

Photo by Jeovanna Pérez

See the full story on Dwell.com: Budget Breakdown: How Ceramicist Joe Skoby Traded Up for His Family’s Dream Home in San Diego