This expanded home exuberantly expresses its owner’s artistic style, rooted in her passion for texture and pattern. A master of craft and color with a background in textiles, art and photo styling, she is also part of the Studio BBA family as our materials librarian. Designing her family’s home was a highly collaborative process that was deeply rewarding and inspiring.

Located on a very steep street, the original structure was leaning downhill 14” along with its neighboring houses. To stabilize the home and make space for ground floor and under-deck additions, we embarked on an exciting process of careful demolition, shoring and pneumatic leveling to bring all the properties as close to level as humanly possible. The incrementally slow cranking of 1” per hour took an entire day.

The interior is a balance of 1910 Victorian coziness and modern great room lifestyle. We completely transformed the main floor living spaces by removing a partition wall and adding a large exterior door to the new deck—achieving an expansive openness and bringing in tons more daylight.

We were also able to add key functionality for the family, with a full bath on the main level and a new bath on the upper level. The latter is washed in gorgeous west light, and is a combination of simple luxury and kid-friendly utility. The whole house benefits from new radiant heating and passive cooling systems.

The rear yard is equally transformed, featuring a deck with cedar wall of built-in seating/planting and pop-out for grill on the main level. The new lower level guest suite opens onto an intimate patio with dog shower and potting bench, and enjoys a connection to the stunning and unusually large garden.