Karen Costello Tanner
Since she was ten years old, Karen has been designing kitchens and houses. In college Karen majored in business, but all her electives were in the interior design department, since that was her real passion.
In 1980 she was hired to work in a kitchen and bath studio in Bloomington, Indiana. Later that year the owner of the business became the president of the National Kitchen and Bath Association and was taken away from his own business and she moved to California. In 1984 she was selected to design and manage a kitchen and bath showroom in Orange County and in 1990 Karen became a Certified Kitchen Designer, one of four in Orange County at that time. During her first 15 years in the business she worked in showrooms in Orange, San Clemente, Laguna Beach and the Stonemill Design Center in Costa Mesa. However, when the design center owner died suddenly Karen opted to open her own company and put her business education to work as well as her design background.
Mean while she had married David Tanner, who became her favorite general contractor. Rather than building or buying a showroom, they added on to their home to create a kitchen and bath studio and offices for Karen and David. By that time, 100% of Karen's design business was referrals from previous clients. For the next 12 years Karen and David worked as a team, primarily in south Orange County, designing and installing kitchens, baths, home offices, laundry rooms, family room entertainment centers and even built-ins in bedrooms and dining rooms. They never aspired to be the biggest - just the best.
After re-locating and semi-retiring to Nevada County in 2012, Karen and David have decided that they miss the kitchen and bath business and are once again doing the remodeling that they love in their new neighborhood (as well as a few jobs in their old neighborhood).
Karen's company, TRANSFORMATIONS, is a distributor for Crystal Cabinet Works, located in Princeton, Minnesota.
David Tanner
David has been in the residential and commercial construction industry for over 40 years. He started with swimming pool "cool decks" and worked in pool construction, various types of masonry work, concrete, structural steel and residential foundations. Other specialized work included underground fuel tanks, building gas stations and building the truck scales at Terminal Island in Long Beach. He has also completed various public works projects in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.
Because of his experience as a heavy equipment operator, he became involved in building motocross tracks in NFL stadiums, as well as the Rose Bowl, in the 1980's. In 1984 he completed the soccer field for the Olympics in Los Angeles.
His carpentry skills have included installation of playground equipment, new construction from the ground up and residential additions and remodeling.
David has been a licensed general contractor since 1993 and has been involved primarily in the kitchen and bath industry since that time. His company, TANNER COMPANY, was the primary contractor for Transformations (also known as Casa Verde Corporation) with his wife, Karen, for over 15 years. During that time he worked and supervised subcontractors in the remodeling and installation of high-end kitchen and bathroom remodels in south Orange County.
Since retiring and moving to Grass Valley in 2012, he hasn't stopped working. His time has been spent in de-constructing, doing residential repair and remodeling work, working with PG&E to bring initial power into a rural residence and working with local contractors in new construction.
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