Collection by Libby Jacobson
Remodel examples: SF
Because of cost constraints, Franz and Pare-Mayer were unable to alter the existing structure, so they designed built-in furniture and cabinetry to define and differentiate the spaces. They hired Chris Allen, of San Luis Obispo-based CWA Studios, to fabricate the pieces. At the base of the stairs is the study, where the residents' teenage daughter often finishes her homework in an Eames Aluminum Side Chair from Design Within Reach.
The biggest challenge of this project was cleaning out the space, Franz says. The second was that this was atelier KS's first solo project. "Suddenly you're in charge of the project and you get to--and have to--make all the decisions," Pare-Mayer says. "The learning curve is very high." The designers were given the opportunity to make all of the furniture decisions for the space and chose the Girard Table, Paulistano Armchair, and Neo Sectional Chaise from Design Within Reach for the living room. The two folding chairs were garage-clean-up finds.
The designers hired a carpenter friend to craft all of the built-ins and cabinetry. Behind the wood panels at the back of the living room is a Murphy bed. The residents' teenage daughter and her band practice in front of the panels and keep their equipment in the storage areas to either side of the fold-down bed behind it. Franz and Pare-Mayer finished the room with Paolo Rizzatto's 265 lamp from Flos and the AJ Floor Lamp and Yanagi Butterfly Stool from Design Within Reach.
Franz and Pare-Mayer left the front half of the garage as a car park and went to work on the rear 500-square-foot space. "The residents had a huge list of what they wanted to have: study, guest bedroom, family room, bathroom with a shower, laundry room, storage space, and so on," Franz says. "It was like a puzzle to fit in all these little pieces." Fit them in they did, however, with the study at the bottom of the stairs wrapping around to the family room, the storage and Murphy bed wall, and the laundry room and bathroom tucked behind the stairs.
Homes in San Francisco's Sunset District, where this is located, are almost all two-story houses in which the first floor is a deep garage and the second floor is the living space. "We'd seen renovations in this area before and they always ended up as cave-like spaces," Pare-Mayer says. "We knew we had to do this renovation in a smart way." But first they had to get into the space.
Franz and Pare-Mayer's carpenter paid painstaking attention to detail, aligning the wood grains from cabinet door to cabinet door (right). In the shower stall (left), the etched glass wall lets in light from the skylight above the stairwell (and though it's easy to see out to the stairwell, it's hard to see into the shower). The residents like the bathroom so much that they rarely shower in the bathroom on the main floor any more.Franz and Pare-Mayer have several residential and restaurant designs in the works. For more information about them and their projects, visit their site at
atelier-ks.com.
The new addition is spanned by a sliding glass door to the kitchen, bringing in much more natural light and creating easy flow between inside and out. The owners especially appreciate how the new deck is at grade with the exterior door for a seamless transition, making the kitchen feel “a part of the garden,” says the homeowner.