Page 8 - Lake Forest II Mainsheet

Homeowner Spotlight
The MAINSHEET
2022 Home of the Year: 24761 Greentree | The Oaks
Every January, in years past, LFII has awarded 1 house as the most Beautiful House for the previous year. Over the years, acknowledgment has been given to the winning house by
displaying its photo on the cover of The MAINSHEET. It’s no
different this year as the 2022 Home of the Year (HOY) is
featured on this issue’s cover. However, starting In 2019 we
came to realize that the award really belongs to the winning homeowner(s) as much as it does to the winning house. In consideration, we included inside a feature story on the homeowners of the winning property in the Jan ’20 issue. Unfortunately, the very next month came the start of the pandemic, and for the next 3 years another consequence of Covid was the inability to meet the winning homeowners face-to-face. Well, today is a new day, and this tradition of UP CLOSE & PERSONAL with the winning homeowners has returned, and in that vein....
Meet Angie & Craig Noel, the homeowners of 24761 Greentree, in The Oaks, the winning property for the 2022 Most Beautiful Home of the year.
Angie and Craig are both native Californians...she was born and raised in La Canada, and he in Huntington Beach. They both attended San Diego State where they met and fell in love. They have been married 29 years, and are looking forward to celebrating their 30th anniversary next summer. They have 2 children – their older daughter Amanda, and their younger son Andrew. When questioned if both kids whose names start with A were named for their mother Angie, Craig just shrugged and said, it just worked out that way.
After relocating back from T exas,
Amanda is currently living in
Costa Mesa. Andrew lives in the
family home on Greentree, and
is currently in his last semester at
Cal State San Marcos. That is
the entire Noel family in the
photo to the right.
Angie is a neo-natal intensive care nurse. After starting her career at UCI Medical Center, she has been working at Saddleback Hospital for the last 26 years. She is passionate about her work. In fact, though scheduled to be part of this interview, she was called into work at the last moment, leaving Craig alone to handle the interview on his own.
Speaking of Craig, he is the sales director for Custom Culinary a food manufacturer that distributes soups, sauces and gravy, primarily to restaurants.
Angie & Craig first moved into their Greentree home in December of 1998. At the time, Amanda was just a toddler, and Andrew was born there. Both kids matriculated through the local schools, at Rancho Canada Elementary and El Toro High. Like many young parents, most of Angie & Craig’s time and efforts focused on raising their kids and establishing and advancing in their careers. As time marched on, and as explained by Craig, about 5 years ago, with the kids grown and their careers on a steady course, they embarked on a 5-year plan to redo the house, both inside and out. Not sure of where to start, they
engaged the services of Ross Calvert, a general contractor, who Craig swears by and wanted to make sure was mentioned as he was the one responsible for transforming their visions
and dreams into reality.
First up was the inside of the house, which based
upon the review of the interviewer for this piece, is a showpiece. However, the Home of the Year award from LFII is for the outside of the property and that is where the focus of this piece will be.
The photo to the left is of Craig standing in his award winning front yard. Prior to commencing their exterior renovation, Craig explained that the front yard was primarily grass. Taking advantage of the ‘turf rebate program’ available at the time through the water district, they removed all the turf and replaced with a combination of drought tolerant / water conserving ground cover, shrubs and low profile trees. Combined with this greenscape was a water
efficient irrigation system along with various decorative hardscaped elements, inclusive of a paved walkway from the street to the front door, a dry creek riverbed, a pilaster with internal lighting as an entry statement, and low level lighting of the walkway for nighttime pedestrian safety.
Of course, these many elements all required MAC approval. Craig wanted to make a point to thank Linda Goold, LFII’s MAC Coordinator, for her patience and kindness in assisting Angie & Craig in getting through the process in a painless and expeditious manner. With the house now complete, Craig commented that now that the house is fixed up just the way they wanted, they have no intention of moving. As he indicated, This is our last house!, and offered, Why would I want to live anywhere else? They both love the LFII community, and enjoy spending time at Sun & Sail, especially Sunday Funday & Friday Night Bar. We’re glad they’re not
planning to go anywhere.
Craig expressed that he wanted to thank the CC&R Inspectors for acknowledging all the hard work and effort Angie and he have put into beautifying their home...he (they both) are very appreciative. For winning the ’22 HOY title, Angie & Craig have been awarded 2 gift cards, totaling $75, to the Cheesecake Factory...the photo shows Craig in his living room displaying his gift cards.
JANUARY 2023 (8)
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