Farm Hill | Redwood City
Addition & Remodel
Originally designed just before the pandemic, this project evolved from an 870-square-foot addition to a more intentional 440-square-foot addition due to rising construction and building material costs. The remodel features a new kitchen/bar, primary suite, and powder room, all styled in the homeowners' preferred Midcentury Modern aesthetic.
The design emphasizes indoor-outdoor connections, natural light, and focused use of ceiling vaulting while incorporating warmth through wood and texture with tile. The final result is a contemporary Midcentury Modern home that highlights clean lines, functionality, and simplicity.
| The Bar | …seamlessly flowing from & to the kitchen.
Quintessential Midcentury Modern teal bar backsplash.
Our vaulted ceiling with skylights over the new island brings in not only tremendous natural light, but provides vertical drama for our new kitchen.
| Appliance Garage |
13-Foot Long Island!
| Reclad Existing Fireplace | ... w/ Flanking Metal Floating Shelves
Midcentury Modern inspired geometric fireplace tile.
| Primary Bathroom |
Custom walnut horizontal grain match double vanity.
Adding legs under the vanity created a more furniture-like appearance & helps make our Primary Bathroom feel more open and airy.
Gradiant tile pattern!
| Powder Room |
Making small spaces sing with a splash of vibrant color & a sun tunnel to make an otherwise windowless interior space light & airy.
Exterior update to show our indoor/outdoor connection.
Our new exterior paint palette is coordinating well with Fall.
Mocking up exterior paint color candidates is an essential step to identifying the right colors. It is also critical to review colors at different times of the day.
Above our three new skylights is the “remote blower” for the kitchen exhaust fan. Remote blowers allows the exhaust fan to not only be more powerful, but also reduces the localized noise in the kitchen.
And then there was stucco - time flies when you are having construction fun… The formwork for the concrete patio stair is also underway.
Exterior is ready for stucco.
The black asphalt saturated building paper is a moisture barrier to protect the building from water damage.
The wire will provide the stucco something to adhere to. The use of square (shown here) or honeycomb pattern wire yields the same results & is simply a preference of the installer.
Note the piece of horizontal metal (=weep screed) with the holes. Where there is rain water that intrudes into the stucco, water will drain at the edge of the weep screed. The holes are for ventilation to help keep the wall dry.
With the exterior plywood now up, it’s time for building paper & metal wire lath which goes under stucco.
Addition roof is taking shape…
Our addition framing is rising from the ground.
Foundation work is underway.
Through strategic planning with the contractor, the homeowners were able to remain in the house during the initial month of construction which was focused on the new addition. This meant one month of rental savings which could be redirected towards the construction budget.
Seeing the vision come together…
One yard line…
No detail is too small… For all our kitchen cabinet doors & drawers, we detailed in aluminum integrated pulls for the finger pulls that our homeowner wanted. Without them, our avid cook clients would have quickly worn down the walnut finish with their food prep hands & fingers.
Layering in our clients’ preferred Midcentury Modern style through tile at the Fireplace & Bar.
Our curated geometric Fireplace tile captures the essence of the Midcentury Modern style.
Our carefully selected rich teal Bar tile is a tribute to a Midcentury Modern classic color.
Counters are in, but will take 48-hours to fully cure.
Our two day Kitchen & Bar counter installation is underway. Our counter installer uses electric seam clamps to ensure a perfect alignment between adjacent counter pieces.
While some designers might leave the exposed counter underside as raw plywood, no detail is too small as even the underside of our island overhang is matching finished walnut.
Our wonderful contractor has gone beyond the call of duty to provide 1/4” thick steel plates to support our island overhang.
The Kitchen cabinet installation is underway! 13-foot long island with 44 inch wide sink anybody?!
We use an eco friendly acoustical underlayment under all our new hardwood floors to help reduce floor noise by providing sound absorption.
From the entry, the beacon of natural light over the new kitchen island will draw you into the house and into the new addition.
With the drywall up, you can feel the new open Kitchen/Dining space with our new ceiling feature over the island.
Fiberglass “Pink Panther” thermal insulation is up & we are ready for drywall.
Reviewing progress of our walnut Kitchen cabinets at our millworker’s shop. The left unit will be our “appliance garage” and to the right is our sink base cabinet.
We use rockwool insulation between the Kitchen & Bedrooms to provide a better acoustical separation.
One of the most valuable services we provide is our construction support. Here, we provided the contractor comments for installed kitchen switch and outlet locations. These are relatively easy fixes at this stage of construction. It would be a very different & costly story after the drywall is in. We are here to protect both the design & owner!
Our ceiling pop-up over the island with anchor our new Kitchen.
Interior view from our future Kitchen. 12-Foot opening beyond to the rear yard awaits…
For education purposes, note the “button board” in the right foreground. While no longer used, button board was the successor to wood lathe & plaster.
Loving the leaning ladder rack!
When it all comes together…
With the vanity counter now in & the plumbing complete, our Primary Bath to-do list is dwindling everyday!
Our beautiful walnut double vanity is in position with both undermount sinks in place. We are now waiting for our vanity countertop and our glass shower surround which are both in production.
In a bathroom, waterproofing is critical. Therefore, sequencing which materials go in first must be well thought out.
With the horizontal floor tiling, tub surround, and curb complete, it’s time for the vertical wall tiling.
We also like seeing the vanity protected in place as potential damage is always a possibility on a busy construction site.
Our Primary Bath double vanity just arrived! Our millworker did an amazing job of matching the walnut veneers. The offset finger pulls on the first & last doors exemplifies our attention to millwork details.
The tub surround fits like a glove & the powered medicine cabinet installation is now underway!
A close up view of our quartz tub surround templating. Templating is done with a series of thin pieces of wood hot glued together. This process captures from the exact angle of the inside wall corner (which is never a perfect 90 degrees) to the outside tub angle to every dimension in between.
Accent tiling is complete & grouted. Our quartz tub surround is being templated to the left.
Our Primary Bathroom accent tiling is well underway. The tile pattern has a gorgeous gradation effect which we will highlight with our new cove light!
Liquid applied red waterproofing is applied & walls are ready for tile. Radiant heating floor membrane & tubing are also in & now ready for floor tiles.
Primary Bath tile walls are prepped with a mold-resistant tile backer.
Primary Bath undermount tub framing is complete.
Add beautiful countertop, cute sconce & accessories… done!
Our ceiling sun tunnel is bringing in much welcomed natural light into our otherwise windowless interior Powder Room.
Our rich dimensional turquoise hexagon tile is up & the undermount sink is in place - ready for the counter…
One of the most valuable services we provide is our construction support. Here, we provided the contractor sketches on how to install our selected tile to ensure that we have symmetry where needed and to make certain we don’t have any unsightly small slivers of tile any where.
Liquid applied red waterproofing is applied & walls are ready for tile. The floors have been leveled with a self leveling compound and are also ready for tile.
Powder Room rough framing & plumbing is complete. With our wall mounted faucet design, placement of the in-wall valve has to be perfect.
| Existing Living Room |