On the second floor, the architects maintained the existing exposed post-and-beam structure. “That’s an amazingly small tensioning rod,” Depardon says of the bar between the two beams. “But if you didn’t have that, the house would open up – the roof could push the outer walls out.” Depardon and Ogawa exchanged the original furniture-grade Luan mahogany ceiling for a stained birch plywood and replaced what was left of the old cork floor with a new one.