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An Interior Designer’s Bright Remodel of Her 1956 Home

The California pro opens up her family’s midcentury house and adds splashes of vibrant color

Margot Hartford
Margot HartfordJune 26, 2019
Houzz Contributor. Interiors photographer in the Bay Area for over 15 years. Publications include Veranda, California Home & Design, Sunset Magazine and Better Homes and Gardens.
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Interior designer Stacee Christen bought a 1956 fixer-upper tucked into the side of a hill in Northern California’s Marin County. Using her skills and resources, she went straight to work remodeling the neglected property. The day the house closed escrow, the first dumpster arrived. “Six weeks later, we moved in,” she says. “I started with opening up the main room by knocking down the walls that were blocking the flow and visual connection to the kitchen and stairs.”
Margot Hartford Photography
House at a Glance
Who lives here: Stacee Christen of Christen Interiors and her two sons, John Paul, 20, and George, 17
Location: Marin County, California
Size: 2,875 square feet (267 square meters); four bedrooms, 4½ bathrooms

“My first priority was to fix the floor plan problems,” Christen says. Opening up the wall separating the living room from the stairwell and kitchen was the initial step. It was important that the home felt “light and bright and inspirational for my family,” she says. Christen worked closely with local general contractor Rob Jackson to make the quick interior transformation.
Before Photo
Before: The house hadn’t been updated for decades. The previous owners had lived in it for over 40 years. The home had green wall-to-wall carpeting installed years before and original features that needed updating. The door next to the dining table led to the kitchen.

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Margot Hartford Photography
Christen sits in the remodeled living room with son John Paul, who attends college away from home.
Margot Hartford Photography
Christen was pleased when she pulled up a corner of the carpeting to see the condition of the original oak floors. She had them refinished and stained.

The custom sofa is upholstered in a turquoise indoor-outdoor fabric. “There was already a gas fireplace, and I had it clad and reframed with large slabs of marble,” Christen says. “Cladding the old fireplace with simple marble detail, in addition to painting the wall and ceiling white, made the space feel bright and clean.”

This view of the living room from the dining room table illustrates how open and effective the new floor plan is. “I wanted to create a mostly bright envelope with clean white lines,” she adds. “It’s easy to interchange the accent colors that way.”

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Margot Hartford Photography
The dining room is tucked perfectly beside the living room. Once the living room was opened up, there was no need to have a door to the kitchen.

Modern pendant light in chrome by Gino Sarfatti: Flos; table and chairs: Ligne Roset
Margot Hartford Photography
Christen bought the dining room’s collection of framed lithographs in Los Angeles.
Margot Hartford Photography
The family room is next to the main room, behind the fireplace. The home’s television is mounted on the wall. Above the custom purple mohair sofa are two oil paintings by Christen’s mother, Terry Ashcraft.

White chair and ottoman: Ligne Roset
Margot Hartford Photography
“In the kitchen, I wanted it to be open, light and bright with a big island,” Christen says. The room’s location stayed the same, but the front wall was taken out to open up the space. The designer also chose not to install upper cabinets. “I’m 5 feet, 2 inches, and it just doesn’t work functionally to be able to reach upper cabinets,” she says.

The island was designed to fit perfectly in the space. It has a seamless Caesarstone countertop.

Pam bar stools: Ligne Roset
Margot Hartford Photography
This kitchen feature wall sports modern Porcelanosa ceramic tile with a relief design. The range hood is custom.

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Margot Hartford Photography
Matching modern built-in cabinets border one wall of the kitchen.

Christen included a little desk next to the small window as a work area.

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Margot Hartford Photography
A large mirror and white paint brighten up the narrow entrance. Christen added an English house blessing by hand using a Sharpie and painters tape.

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Margot Hartford Photography
The master bedroom features pink as an accent color, with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s Facett armchair for Ligne Roset and a framed heart print.
Margot Hartford Photography
The master bathroom was a major renovation, with a new freestanding tub bought on Houzz and floating vanities from Porcelanosa. “Who doesn’t like a little mirror on the ceiling?” Christen asks. The large-format Porcelanosa tile, in light gray, extends from the floor to the ceiling on two walls.

Marisol bathtub: Transolid
Margot Hartford Photography
Christen’s son George sits in his room. “He’s the musical one in our family,” she says.
Before Photo
Before: This was the view of the back deck from the family room. The existing materials needed replacing, and a number of updates made the space more usable.
Margot Hartford Photography
After: Christen kept the deck’s footprint but added a gas fireplace and a comfortable Divano Lounge outdoor sectional that she found on Houzz. “Facing the valley, you feel like you are flying over Marin,” she says.

Square fire table and propane tank cover: Real Flame
Margot Hartford Photography
The existing wood deck was replaced with a synthetic teak.

The bar on the deck outside the living room enjoys beautiful valley views and a glimpse of San Francisco Bay.
Before Photo
Before: The side of the house beside the kitchen was neglected for many years, although the large tree offered great shade.
Margot Hartford Photography
After: “We created outdoor spaces in many different places,” Christen says. “This one is just outside the kitchen — a great location for the herb garden, the barbecue, the pingpong table and for lounging.” A power washer cleaned up the existing concrete patio, and Christen replaced the overgrown hillside plants with a variety of succulents.

Trim paint: Oxford White, Benjamin Moore
Margot Hartford Photography
“I love the retro style and fun party feeling in the pool area,” Christen says. She updated the existing backyard shed by painting it turquoise. On the concrete bench, colorful Turkish towels await swimmers after a dip in the pool.

My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.

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