Portola Valley

The first home I helped design for these long time friends and clients was a very modest, century old place in the Bernal Heights neighborhood in San Francisco. Time passed and they started a family and it became time to find a more comfortable place. They found an L-shaped mid-century ranch style home with some decent bones. The goal for this project was to transform it into a more modern family friendly home that is light filled and more connected to the outside.

With the planning code limiting the expansion and with the desire to keep it a single level home we opted to play with the roof line to create clerestory and open ceiling to help flood the space with morning light. In addition the living room, dining room, kitchen and den are all connected and open to each other and the outside. While the spaces individually are not that large, the open connection between rooms, the natural light from the clerestory and the 16 foot wide sliding glass pocket door help make the space feel expansive. The pocket doors also help the outdoor patio become an extension of the living space.