My client is a general contractor with whom I have collaborated on many successful projects. I was intrigued when he contacted me to help him remodel a 1965 12-foot-by-46-foot mobile home. He explained that having an insatiable appetite for traveling, a "mobile" home perpetuated his romantic notion of living a nomadic life. Also, he found that the location as well as affordability perfectly suited his personal and professional life.

The coach is located in central Marin among some of the most expensive real estate in the California. On the flat land to the west side of Highway 101, shopping centers, professional buildings, postwar tract homes and 1960s townhouses give way to large hillside homes and estates. His neighborhood, situated on the east side of the highway, is an anomaly of city planning. Sitting aside the San Francisco Bay and a ecological preserve for nesting migratory birds, it is a mixed-use area of retail stores, light industry, warehouses, historic "China barge" pole homes accessible only by pedestrian boardwalk, and his park with some 75 units.

The problem I faced was that the one-bedroom 552- square-foot coach was not sufficient for his needs. His wish fist included the addition of a home office, a guest room, laundry, and more interior storage. This was accomplished by removing the roof and all the walls, completely reframing and adding 252 square feet and a loft.

It was important to my client to reuse many of the original materials and employ recycled materials harvested from years of his construction work, thus giving expression to both the manufactured and the traditional home.

We began by relocating the kitchen from the front of the house to the rear and building a 7-foot-by-eighteen-foot addition to the side of the unit. This addition creates a large open living/entertainment/kitchen area that has ready access via salvaged commercial double doors to the rear deck, patio, barbecue, and hot tub.

In the living area, the original ceiling trusses and sheet metal roof were raised and left exposed, while stained-birch plywood wall panels suspended off exposed masonite backing pay homage to an Eames-style wall system.

My client is an avid cook and loves to entertain. The salvaged sheet metal walls, restaurant sink, embossed tin ceiling, and open-wire shelving lend a professional kitchen feel while the wood bar and retro stools offer a bistro style functionality.