Berkeley Addition and Kitchen

The owners had a long time desire to live in this particular neighborhood and when this house became available they immediately bought it. The project consisted of tearing down the one story portion of the house at the rear, and building a two story addition and deck in its place. Downstairs, we added a large kitchen, family room, laundry, and 1/2 bath. Upstairs, we built a large master bedroom and bathroom suite with a walk-in closet. During the initial stages of the remodel the owners continued to live in their other home, but an early sale of that house required that they move into their remodeled home before the scheduled completion date.

Goals:

• Kitchen-Family Room: The owners wanted a large, open kitchen and family room where they could entertain and live all in one area. To achieve a large, open area, two large glu-lam beams were necessary to carry the upstairs loads. The integration of these two rooms into one space was partially achieved by the use of false beams on the ceiling. The false beams also served the purpose of hiding the glu-lams.
• Bedroom Suite: The existing house had only two small bedrooms. The owners needed more bedroom space. The solution was to add a large master bedroom\bathroom suite above the kitchen\family room addition. This resulted in a two-story addition in place of a small one-story structure tacked onto the back of the house.
• More Closet Space: The existing house had very little storage space. The new master bedroom included a large walk-in closet. Downstairs, we provided three closets off the kitchen, a pantry in the kitchen, cabinets in the laundry room, and multiple storage areas in the family room cabinets.
• Access to Sunlight: The owners wanted as much sunlight as possible. The bay window and the large family room windows addressed this need downstairs. Upstairs, the sun porch and the large bedroom windows and french doors brought light into both the bedroom and bathroom areas. A new skylight brought light into the existing upstairs hall which had been very dark.
• Earthquake Safety: In addition to the structural requirements called for by the building code in the new section, we bolted and strapped the existing part of the house to its foundation.
• Wheelchair Access: The owners asked that provisions be made for wheelchair access to the entire house, as one of the owners had a potentially disabling chronic disease. The final design included two closets, one above the other, which could be converted to an elevator shaft in the future.
• The Exterior Deck: The deck was given wheelchair access to the family room. The redwood used on the deck was attached with no visible fasteners.
• Within a few years, we came back and added the elevator with no disruption to the remodeled areas. We also provided wheelchair access from the driveway up to the deck.

Click on an image to view enlarged.

Small one-story addition to back of house was removed to make way for new two-story addition.		The existing kitchen
Note the sag in the beam on the right side of the house. This will get replaced with a glu-lam beam.		The designer and owner lay out tile for the countertops.
View from sink toward the family room fireplace and french doors leading to the deck. Closet at the far right of picture will eventually be converted to an elevator.		Note the roll-out chopping block at the end of the island. Also, note the shelf running the length of the sink counter.
View toward the bay window seat. All cabinets and trim are vertical grain douglas fir. The hood has a copper lining.		New deck will eventually get handicapped access to the driveway. Note how the upstairs deck gathers in the sun.

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