As soon as homeowner Firdaus Tan saw the view through the central atrium of an aging midcentury home for sale in San Mateo, California—a sweeping vista of the verdant highlands and reservoir beyond—he knew it was the house for him and his wife, Stella. “It was nostalgic for me, because my first time ever visiting California from Chicago, I drove down Highway 280 through those rolling hills,” recalls Firdaus, who now works in tech in Silicon Valley. “That was the moment I truly understood what makes California special.”

The house hadn't been updated since the original owners bought it in 1956, but despite the many needed cosmetic upgrades that were immediately apparent, Firdaus and Stella saw the potential. “It captured everything we could have hoped for in a California house,” he says.

Designer Dennis Budd from San Francisco–based Gast Architects, who completed the gut renovation, agrees. “Most homeowners who buy an Eichler house aren't doing it blind,” he says. “When you walk into an Eichler home, it’s very clearly a successful execution of the California lifestyle that Eichler’s company helped develop in the homes they built from the 1940s through the ’60s in the Bay Area and beyond.”

Before: Entry Foyer

The layout of the H-shaped plan worked well for Firdaus and Stella, with its thoughtful division of public and private space, joined together by a glass-faced room with twin courtyards on either side. This connector wing doubled as the home’s foyer, however its tight footprint made it difficult to serve as both an entry space and a functional living area.

“Our initial response was to add a little more floor area to define an entry space just in front of the foyer, so we could then do a proper furniture layout and use the existing space as a dining room or sitting room,” explains Budd. Retaining the original colonnade of columns to mark a new entry area, the design added a mere 66 square feet to the footprint, but dramatically improved the flow.

Before: Kitchen

The kitchen was generally functional, with an ideal placement overlooking the home’s lush side yard—but it was closed off from the rest of the house by a dividing wall and an adjacent powder room. “It was a U-shaped kitchen that opened to the dining room, but it didn’t connect at all to the living room,” says Budd.

The solution was to remove the kitchen’s dividing partition and connect it with the living room, opening up the entire right side of the house for a connected kitchen/living room/sitting room/dining room. Relocating the powder room to a nook next to the garage also created an opportunity for a new mud room with a closet and bench. Introducing a grand island in the center of the kitchen completed the transformation.

After: Sitting Room, Kitchen, Living Room

In the newly defined sitting room, a pair of pivot doors connect to the front and back courtyards, allowing for cross-ventilation in the Bay Area’s temperate climate. “We were really clever about how to be more efficient in removing hallways and circulation spaces,” says Firdaus. The new design also reclaimed a meandering hallway leading to the bedrooms and turned it into a jack-and-jill bathroom for the two kids’ rooms. Firdaus and Stella welcomed their first daughter midway through construction, and their second daughter just after moving in.

The revamped floor plan also means the guest wing is now separated from the house with its own entrance off the entry courtyard. “Initially, we thought this space would be an in-law suite, but during Covid it became the perfect office,” says Firdaus. “Cutting it off eliminated the need for a hallway to access it. It made the sleeping wing a much more useful space on the whole.”

Throughout, the interior palette took a page from Eichler’s original design, with a restrained selection and emphasis on natural materials. All of the casework and paneling is white oak, and off-white poured terrazzo floors flow throughout the home. “We knew the focus should be on the view, so we didn’t want to make any interior design decisions that would distract from that,” says Firdaus, who worked closely with Budd on interior finishes and selected most of the furnishings. “What’s engaging your eye is outside, so everything inside should be neutral and calm.”

While the floors and finishes were updated, the original exposed roof structure and fenestration patterns were retained. “The goal was to change as little as possible and not interfere with the architecture,” explains Budd. “We needed to improve the systems such as heating, and make partition changes to improve the layout, but not much else.”

Before: Outdoor Courtyards and Pool

The home’s variety of outdoor living spaces was also a draw for Firdaus and Stella. “Eichler was very smart about designing homes with a strong indoor/outdoor connection, where there is a lot of glass and functional connections with the rear and side yards,” says Budd. With windows on both sides, as well as the front and back, the original design maximized access to daylight. New windows and doors, along with a light interior help maximize the home’s airy, bright feel.

After: Outdoor Courtyards, Fire Pit, and Pool

Outside, the home’s generous front and back courtyards, which establish protected exterior living spaces, appealed to Firdaus and Stella. “The house was sort of planned to be a glass box that maintains privacy on all sides,” says Firdaus. “We decided that if we were going to move out of the city, we wanted to feel like we were truly away, and not in a cookie-cutter house.”

Reclaiming outdoor areas through thoughtfully placed furniture and a fire pit, the new landscape design by Site Studio maintains the existing exterior layout with two courtyards, a pool, and two green side yards. Firdaus and Stella are currently building a detached office shed in one of the side yards, where Firdaus can work from home several days a week.

Before: Bathrooms

Although the design prioritized a minimal and restrained interior palette, the bathrooms introduce a dash of personality. “We had some fun with the bathroom walls,” says Firdaus. “The girls’ bathroom is a lot more playful, with its raindrop pattern.”

The design team also reconfigured the primary bathroom with an additional sink and a walk-in wet chamber containing a shower, bath, and bench. “The idea was to make the main bedroom a sleeping room, and then extend the bathroom as a linear piece along the side yard,” explains Budd.

After: Bathrooms

Ultimately, the design embraces the original intent of Eichler’s midcentury design, with a simple and direct layout separating public from private spaces, and an emphasis on gathering daylight inside and framing views. “From the beginning, we thought that if we could make the least amount of changes to this house, we’d be doing our job,” says Budd.

“At the end of the day, it just feels like home,” says Firdaus. “Every time I walk in the front door and look out the windows, I feel fortunate and thankful. It’s a very grounding home.”

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Project Credits:

Architect: Gast Architects / @gastarchitects

Builder: Starburst Construction

Structural Engineer: Daedalus Structural Engineering

Landscape Architect: Site Studio

Cabinetry Design/Installation: Strong Cabinetry

Photography: Mariko Reed / @marikoreed

Living Room Artwork: David Wightman

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