Renovations and Transformations

A few more Renovations and Transformations

The project directly below is located in Southern Marin County.
These clients were exceptionally fun to work with.
They had an open mind towards design and loved quality stone craftsmanship.
The husband had actually done a few small stone projects on the property which is what guided our design and build collaboration relationship.

The house was a plain square plywood sheathed box with a very shallow and steep front entry way. There were also several very large pine trees in poor bug infested health.



View looking across the front yard .
I’m standing at the front doorway.



The view below was taken at the exact same point .
We terraced the narrow steep yard to give it a bit more ‘depth perception’.
The stone walls are crafted from Sayers quarry stone in Napa Valley and the stone flagstone is called ‘Three Rivers’.
The lighting is from Arroyo Craftsman

Sun exposure is really quite tricky here.
The property is fairly close to the ocean so there is a lot of fog .
Directly across the private street is a huge stand of giant Eucalyptus trees that filter out a lot of sun.
So the area gets patches of extremely hot sun when it is not foggy and is heavily shaded sporadically. - A truly difficult planting situation.



The photo below shows the newly renovated front door entry.
Not only is the front yard shallow but the front entry doorway is shallow too.
We designed an arbor that adds a bit of depth to the front door .
The plywood veneer house was also shingled.
Note the extremely generous sized channel drain at the front entry.
The front street regularly floods. This channel drain is connected to a 6 inch diameter drain pipe system.

here is some side by side before and after photos.





Ouite a difference !