Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

Northern California’s Bay Area is known for its resplendent natural beauty. In a home in Oakland, New York-based design studio Kalos Eidos paid tribute to the characteristics of that ecosystem, with a nature-inspired palette and a layout designed to encourage flow between interior and exterior. “Our approach to the renovation was really geared towards having an emphasis on the main living spaces, extending them to the outside, and really seeing that part of the property as an underutilized asset when they purchased the home,” Kalos Eidos founder Ryan Brooke Thomas explains.

At 1,400 square feet, the three bedroom, two bathroom home’s spaces are each relatively tight, so Thomas decided to utilize the 2,900 square feet of exterior space by creating intentional distinct areas to allow for a much roomier living environment. The living space already had large windows and a fireplace, so the studio’s work was in figuring out how to fully honor those details in their new design.

“Once we kind of sorted through the kitchen and the dining and what we had decided on as the best kind of open plan in terms of where the partitions would go, what remained for quote unquote ‘living’ was still a pretty tight footprint,” Thomas explains. “Whatever solution needed to both complete the living area floor plan in a way and participate in that functionally, while also helping to shape and frame up the window and the hearth.” The team landed on a terra-cotta bench that extends from the back of the house to the front entryway.

The interior bench frames the views of the outdoors, creating a connection between guests on either side of the glass. The bench was designed to be dynamic—it can be dressed with pillows for an additional cozy seating zone during get-togethers, or decorated minimally day-to-day to not obstruct the view.

How they pulled it off: A built-in tiled bench that unifies the space

Find materials that add depth: Since the tiled bench is such an important focal point in the house, the Kalos Eidos team was very thoughtful about what specific tile they chose. They landed on a handmade tile from Clay Imports that comes in a modern four inch square format but has a traditional handmade depth. “It was the perfect find to work with what the formal and the design goals were,” Thomas says. “The owners even found in one of the tiles this tiny little paw print embedded.”
Create contrast: To create some (but not too much) visual interest, the tile moment is relieved by the choice of a white fireplace surround. “That was one of the areas of the design that we iterated on and studied the most. It was tricky in terms of getting it to feel right visually and spatially, with all of those kind of like fixed points in the mix because it is such a visual focal point in that space overall,” Thomas explains. “It’s constantly in view as you move through the house. It’s something you encounter again and again, and even sort of links again between the inside and outside in terms of material transition.”
Unify spaces with a natural color palette: Though their color palette for the project ranged, including greens, deep blue, terra-cotta, and dusty pinks, the fact that they’re all in natural tones that evoke the Bay Area’s vegetation creates a sense of unification. These colors are brought through in fixed details, like the kitchen cabinets and the bench tile, and in smaller, impermanent details, like the throw pillows in the outdoor space and the rrres rug underneath the sofa.

“The projects are always designed in a way to work on their own, without those added layers,” Thomas explains. “But knowing that people are going to bring those layers anyway, though, [we ask] how can there be something that you know is going to have both the flexibility, but also an assertive and cohesive foundation for people to keep riffing on and layering on and working off of? You certainly don’t want it to be prescribed, but trying to strike that balance is a fun challenge of a project like this.”

Project Credits:

Architectural/Interior Design & Exterior Hardscape Design: Kalos Eidos

General Contractor: North by West Construction

Custom Millwork: Oakology

Landscape Design & Installation: Talc Studio and Rock & Rose Landscapes

Structural Engineering: St. Onge and Associates

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How They Pulled It Off: A Built-in Tiled Bench That Honors the View