When award-winning interior designer Wendy Glaister was a little girl in Modesto, she had no idea she would become one of Central California’s most sought-after design professionals.
Skilled at speech and debate, in high school she was on a pre-law track. While the family watched as she developed an early interest in decorating, she never considered a career in the field.
Oakdale, CA- (March 2024) – California retailer, Bordona’s is excited to share details about the debut of their new spectacular state-of-the-art showroom in Oakdale, CA that was designed in collaboration with award-winning interior designer Wendy Glaister and created in partnership with SubZero Wolf.
Ron added Bordona’s Design Showroom in Oakdale, CA contributes to his team’s ability to service their customers by actively demonstrating a wider variety of luxury appliances than ever before. The remodeled space features an exquisite SubZero Wolf Cove live demo kitchen, which is dedicated to Ron’s 86 year old mother Phyllis Bordona. She was known as the microwave lady and for her hosting microwave cooking demonstrations at our store starting in 1971 and extended for decades. Phyllis’ claim to fame was preparing a Thanksgiving meal in a Microwave including moist turkey prepared in less than 2 hours.
Founder, Wendy Glaister Interiors, says communication is key to successful design
Wendy Glaister is a brilliant interior designer based in California. With decades of experience, she has designed for a wide clientele with prolific needs and styles. The founder of Wendy Glaister Interiors, Wendy has mastered the art of listening and communicating with her clients to best understand what they need and how to align her vision with their requirements.
A homeowner’s joyful and sunny disposition was the inspiration for this primary bathroom design in Modesto, California. Interior designers Wendy Glaister and Stephanie Poulsenredesigned the primary bedroom in the 1970s ranch house first, while the adjoining bathroom was a later renovation phase. “The bedroom had been really depressing, so we went with a color palette of sunny yellows, white and gray,” Glaister says. When it came time to renovate the bathroom, the homeowners were fully on board with continuing the playful color combination into the en suite bath.
In this cook’s kitchen, the color scheme was based on the backsplash tile the wife discovered. Her original choice was pricey, so associate designer Stephanie Poulsen found an alternative with the same flavor – in glossy instead of matte and with additional mottling and variation. The 12-ft. wood-grain laminate island includes a 5-ft. workstation sink from Mila.
Carrie Arnold, from Phillips Lighting & Home in Modesto, CA, teamed up with Wendy Yelland and Adkins Construction to execute this beautiful bathroom application.
Arnold used our Mudr aluminum channels to outline the window above the bathroom sink. This application compliments the incoming natural light while also providing smooth, modern lighting throughout the day.
Our Mudr trimless recessed linear LED lighting channels feature a unique, patent-pending lens design allowing for even illumination across the entire surface of the lens from one edge to the other. Using our customization program, the slim mud-in channels were provided with mitre cuts to seamlessly outline the window.
From concept to completion, Alloy LED is here to support you, ensuring that your vision becomes a reality!
Simply the Best! We are lucky to have such a talented designer here in the valley. Wendy and her team make the complex seem easy. God has blessed Wendy with many excellent traits. The Wendyway is to be professional and never lose her cool. I believe it is called grace under fire! The Bordona family can not be happier with our new live Sub Zero Wolf Cove kitchens.
An intent listener and decisive problem solver, Wendy Glaister of Wendy Glaister Interiors sets her colleagues at ease with her warm smile and engaging personality. She collaborates closely with her patrons as well as her craftspeople to produce interiors that are exclusively tailored to the client.
No detail was overlooked by Wendy Glaister of Wendy Glaister Interiors once she was trusted to remodel this stunning home in Ripon, CA. Wendy and her team were inspired to create a design that provided a high contemporary look while still creating a warm and welcoming environment complemented with quality materials.
To achieve this cozy yet refined aesthetic, they used earthen materials such as concrete light fixtures, tadelakt fireplace wall finishes, cabinet wood laminate, and linen finishes. Additionally, Wendy specified Silestone in two colors: Kensho and Stellar Snow. Wendy has worked with Silestone many times in the past and continues to specify it for its beauty, 25-year transferable warranty, and quality – all elements she holds in high regard when selecting materials for her clients.
The kitchen was completely transformed, going from a small and cramped space with an inefficient layout to an open and functional space that is bathed in light. Wendy’s remodel of the layout included relocating the water heater which helped straighten the walls and allowed for a 6-meters wood grain laminate island with a flush inset workstation sink with 1.3 meters of space around it.
Silestone Kensho grounded the gray color of the tile backsplash while Stellar Snow brought the green in the backsplash forward. They were in perfect harmony with the custom laminated cabinets and metal shelving, providing a textural treat for the senses.
When I returned to school to earn my degree in interior design, I made a very sweet friend, Ana Sandoval. I was at least 20 years older than most people in my class, and Ana went out of her way to be kind to me and help me with tech things I didn’t completely grasp.
After we graduated, we lost touch, as many friends do. But two years later, I heard that she and her mother had been in a terrible car accident…struck by a repeat offender drunk driver. Her mother was killed and Ana was paralyzed from the chest down. I heard that Ana was going to come back to the area for a visit to see family and friends (she had moved to the LA area for treatment and for care). I arranged for several of our classmates to get together over lunch to visit with Ana and hopefully give her some encouragement.
The lunch was such a treat for us all and we vowed to stay in better touch. Several months later, Ana reached out to me and asked for my help. She said that the California Victims Compensation Fund would help her with the cost of renovating her home so that she could move back and live a more independent life. She’d had trouble navigating the bureaucracy and thought I might be able to help.
I agreed and set about making a plan. We drew up scale plans for a complete master suite and kitchen renovation to allow Ana to live and work independently in her home. We submitted bids and specifications to the state and were told that the budget set aside for Ana would not even cover the cost of the Master Suite renovation. The agency proposed Laurel Mississippi level funding for a California makeover. We were discouraged but not dissuaded.
I approached my good friend, Amelia Wallace, my flooring advisor at House of Carpets, owned by Flooring Liquidators, for help. She brought the project to Steve Kellogg, owner of Flooring Liquidators, and he committed materials to the cause.
We went several rounds with CVCF to clarify Ana’s injuries and special design considerations necessary to meet her particular needs. At one point her case was accidentally closed and we had to petition the agency to re-open it. We walked 3 separate contractors through the space and only one of them, Dean Adkins of Adkins Construction, agreed to commit. With Dean spearheading the team, Joe Smith, from API Architects in Modesto, agreed to do our drawings for permits to proceed…free of charge. The City of Ceres gave us the green light and the project was a go.
Many of our local partners helped us with the cost, allowing us to purchase at or just above cost to conserve the budget. In addition to Flooring Liquidators generous gift of the flooring, vanity countertop, shower surround and shower floor, we had assistance from Abe’s Discount Plumbing, Phillips Lighting and Home, Pursley’s Window Coverings and The Neat Freak, Co. Shelby Cornett of the Neat Freak Co. even raised money on a social media campaign to fund Ana’s custom closet solution from the Container Store and Shelby and her staff donated their time to move Ana into her new beautiful space.
It took seven years from the moment I agreed to take on the project to it’s completion. Round after round of plans, budgeting, injury clarification and justification for specialty design features, changes in caseworkers, state surveys of the site for code references and standards made it feel as though we may never be successful, but Ana’s patient spirit and the generosity of so many of our project partners made the project a beautiful success. Now Ana is back home, enjoying the independence of a master suite designed especially for her, able to see her friends and family and get the support of so many who love her in person.
Thank you, Flooring Liquidators, for your incredible support. You have changed my friend’s life forever and I am so grateful. And to all of those who came alongside to help….thank you for never giving up on the dream of a safe, secure space for Ana to enjoy every day.
