For Dani and Grady Hinsche, deciding on a location for their weekend home in coastal California came down to two key factors: surf and turf. “We’ve enjoyed visiting Monterey since we moved to Los Gatos in 2006,” says Dani. After Grady and their son, Graham, started surfing at a state beach in the area, and the couple began exploring the many golf courses in Monterey, they soon realized Pebble Beach checked all their boxes.

The house they decided to purchase, however, was less than perfect. “It had been sitting on the market for nearly a year, dilapidated, overgrown, and suffering from years as a rental,” recalls Dani. “But when we walked through it and took in the golf course and bay views, we knew we had found our home.” The couple enlisted San Francisco–based Feldman Architecture, who had recently worked with a friend of Grady’s, to take on the renovation.

Before: Living Room & Kitchen

“Even though the house is in a very traditional neighborhood, it feels like a coastal house because you can hear the ocean and catch views from the second story,” says Daniel Holbrook, an associate at Feldman Architecture who served as project architect. Because of the proximity to the ocean and the family’s love of surfing, a key directive was to bring a SoCal surf vibe to the home. “They were really drawn to a warm, modern aesthetic,” says Holbrook, who helped transform the main living area from a cramped series of segmented spaces to an open, warm gathering place.

After: Living Room & Kitchen

“When we first walked in, we felt like the house needed some reorganization of spaces to make it more functional and livable,” recalls Holbrook. Reorienting the kitchen from a cramped room adjacent to the entrance to a new spot in the back of the house (off the living room) was the first order of business. The living room was already double-height, but expanding that ceiling height to encompass the kitchen helped open things up even more.

Rotating the stair to frame the new kitchen and adding a small addition that opens to a outdoor living area completed the assignment. The addition also created room for a guest suite on the ground level, and new sliding glass doors and larger windows on this side of the home helped brighten up the space and create new connections to the outdoors.

A new island creates more usable space for the Hinsches, who love to host family and friends. White oak casework and splashes of green help soften the kitchen and demarcate it from the living room, while hemlock (stained to match the white oak) clads the staircase and ceiling. “There are so many different moments of wood in the house, so we worked really hard to make it feel like they were all coming from the same family,” says Holbrook.

White oak floors extend to the living room, where a newly rebuilt fireplace clad in white plaster offers a moment of visual reprieve from the many layers of wood on the lower level. Interior designer Raili Clasen sourced furnishings with a beachy aesthetic, for a feel she describes as “Sea Ranch meets Malibu.”

While removing carpets and adding layers of wood dramatically altered the space, for the Hinsches, the best part is the home’s enhanced connection to the landscape. “The first thing I do when I get to the house is open the kitchen, living, and primary bedroom windows to take in the ocean air and sounds,” says Dani.

Before: Mezzanine

“The original house wasn’t much to look at,” recalls Grady. “It was a totally neglected 1970s box that had received some updates in the 1980s.”

After: Mezzanine

The relocated staircase leads up to a lofty office. “We created a desk space upstairs, which was always a big design moment in our minds,” says Holbrook. “We wanted to have something to draw your eye up the stairs, and Grady loved the idea of a perch where you could see over the golf course.”

The new office nook, outfitted with a built-in white oak desk and bench, also contains custom shelving for the family to display their books, artworks, and sculptures. “I love the loft office,” says Grady. “It’s just an incredibly inspiring place to work.”

Throughout the upper level, wood floors, ceilings, and built-ins continue the materiality from downstairs—including a white oak dresser and vanity in the primary bedroom. “I love all the wood and the color scheme,” says Dani. “It’s very relaxing and reminds me of my childhood home, which was redwood inside and out.”

Before: Bathrooms

The existing bathrooms were cramped and had dated finishes, so Feldman updated them to better serve the family. The small addition on the lower level opened up space for a second suite, which the couple may use in the future but for now serves as guest quarters. Here, the bathroom opens to the outdoors, allowing the surfers in the family to walk directly inside to a green-tiled shower. A small powder room on the lower level incorporates pops of green, wood walls, and built-in casework.

After: Bathrooms

Before: Exterior

After: Exterior

While the Hinsches are still very connected to their community in Los Gatos, they find themselves spending more and more time in their Pebble Beach home now that the renovations are complete. "We are playing a lot of golf. Our son is catching a lot of waves,” says Grady. “And our pug, LuLu, loves a good run in the sand.”

More Before & After stories:

This $57K Ranch House Revamp Proves You Can Never Have Too Many Plants

Every Day Is Summer Camp at This Groovy, ’70s-Inspired Cabin

This Reinvented Monterey Bungalow Shows That Sometimes, Smaller Is Better

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Feldman Architecture / @feldmanarchitecture

General Contractor: McNickle Construction / @mcnickleconstruction

Interior Design: Raili CA Design

Structural Engineer: L Wong Engineering

Civil Engineer: L&S Engineering and Surveying

Mechanical Engineer: Monterey Energy Group

Landscape Design: Seven Springs Studio

Lighting Design: Tucci Lighting

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