The Story Behind the Pictures
MARIN REMODEL
Unlike many remodeling projects, this one, in the client’s opinion, was “pretty much a joy from start to finish”. Once those interior walls and ceilings came down, the potential of the space they’d lived with for thirty years became obvious.
Built in the 50′s, the house suffered from boxy spaces and inadequate storage space. Especially irksome to the clients, now retired, was the.cramped kitchen, closed off and isolated from the dining and living spaces. Also inconvenient was the fact that there was no guest bath upstairs so guests had to go through the master bedroom to use a bathroom. Finally, the hallway was dark and dreary. The challenge was to transform this space into an opeft, invifing one tfiat could handle their large family and frequent social gatherings, averaging 12-16 guests at a time.
Considering that the entire upper level is only 1’600 square feet,revising the floor plan to include a kitchen, dining, living space, office, guest room, full hall bath, and master suite in a way that met all their needs was indeed a challenge. Eliminating the full height interior walls in the living space was a start, as was taking advantage of the ceiling line that was exposed during demolition.
By reducing the size of the office and guest bedroom, we were able to add a full bath without sacrificing the function of either room. The new hall structure serves as both storage and divider, allowing light into the interior hallway as well as adding visual excitement. The client can comfortably seat ten at the free-form glass dining table and six around the kitchen island with plenty of serving space on the buffet. They’re thrilled with the sociable openness of the new space and with how easy it is to maintain.
