Minimal in Mill Valley

This home was purchased in 2015 by the client - a couple and their two children. It was a charming, simple, but well organized 1-story house with a lovely garden. However, the interior of the house was too busy and crowded and not aligned with the clients’ minimalistic way of life. Thus, they invested to transform their house into something that would reflect their aesthetic. The first step of this transformation happened in 2016 as they hired Red Dot Studio to transform their backyard garage into an office and den. Happy with the result and the spirit of the space Red Dot Studio designed, the clients contacted the agency in 2017 to remodel the main house and complete their vision.

The challenge for this second phase was to adapt the identity of the accessory building to the main house - to create a harmonious ensemble, without creating too much of a copy – that would remain interesting as time passed. It was important to bring calm and create unity between the two buildings. The first step was to create an echo of the particular fixed window into the dining room. Since the house layout was already well organized, the main objective was to transform the space through smartly designed and located windows and cabinetry. Most of the work was concentrated into the common spaces, kitchen, living and dining rooms and the two bathrooms.

The family’s way of life is driven by humility and simplicity. Loving and natural, their daily life is without artifice. It was important for the entire team that their house reflects this with honesty. The color palette is pure and warm. The main spaces are white with black details to frame and finish the look. Most furniture, as the floor and kitchen cabinetry details are wood. The slightly darker wood essence of the floor gives a subtle contrast with the furniture and adds a level of complexity to the minimalistic space. In the same idea, the geometrical tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms highlight the humble creativity of the owners.

Two items from the original house were removed: the fireplace and the kitchen island. Usually very appreciated in residential design, they were not appropriate to the owners’ life and cluttering the space when they wanted an open and pure one. So, the space was reorganized without those two items. The kitchen was reimagined as a welcoming space and passageway to the garden. In the two tall cabinets near the door, the particularity of the backyard building shelves was reused, with exposed grain wood wrap around shelves and doors.

The overall space was transformed into this human, playful and luminous space, as Red Dot Studio aims for in each project.