Collection by Rick Rochon-Zephyr Real Estate

Across the Bay

Wonderful design can be found in the East Bay, just 20 minutes from San Francisco and so much warmer.

The wooden box is as functional as it is finely crafted, with room for clothes up top. Each niche holds treasures from travels, family keepsakes, books, and more.

GreenCity Lofts exceeds California Title 24 energy requirements by 15 percent.

The picture wall is adorned with images collected from family, colleagues, and estate sales. ”I kill plants, so cacti are our friends,” Peter says of the succulents along the low table behind the Design Within Reach sofa, just over which an Established & Sons Font clock keeps time.

With a sleek prototype in Emeryville, California, under its belt, Simpatico Homes sets out to redefine prefab's cost—and footprint. Photo by Jake Stangel.

In need of more room for their growing brood, Eric and Emma Gimon, with Luc, Paul, baby Louise, and their dog, Nefi, asked for a private space to accompany the house designed for Eric’s great-aunt.

A maple tree grows through an ipe deck in this garden that Mary Barensfeld designed for a family in Berkeley, California. A reflecting pool separates it from a granite patio, which is furnished with a Petal dining table by Richard Schultz and chairs by Mario Bellini. The 1,150-square-foot garden serves as an elegant transition from the couple’s 1964 Japanese-style town house to a small, elevated terrace with views of San Francisco Bay. Filigreed Cor-Ten steel fence screens—perforated with a water-jet cutter to cast dappled shadows on a bench and the ground below—and zigzagging board-formed concrete retaining walls are examples.

Remodeled by resident and interior decorator Jill McCoy and her husband David Hassall with the help of architect Paul Molina, the open-plan living space opens to a small outdoor area. French doors and a wall of windows bring in light. An Eames lounge chair and a Noguchi table add a modern sensibility.