Interior of Timber conservatory
Sunroom - transitional sunroom idea in Minneapolis

Atrium - AFTER
Deck - 1960s deck idea in San Francisco

Sunroom - mid-sized traditional sunroom idea in Minneapolis with a glass ceiling

Klopf Architecture and Outer space Landscape Architects designed a new warm, modern, open, indoor-outdoor home in Los Altos, California. Inspired by mid-century modern homes but looking for something completely new and custom, the owners, a couple with two children, bought an older ranch style home with the intention of replacing it. Created on a grid, the house is designed to be at rest with differentiated spaces for activities; living, playing, cooking, dining and a piano space. The low-sloping gable roof over the great room brings a grand feeling to the space. The clerestory windows at the high sloping roof make the grand space light and airy. Upon entering the house, an open atrium entry in the middle of the house provides light and nature to the great room. The Heath tile wall at the back of the atrium blocks direct view of the rear yard from the entry door for privacy. The bedrooms, bathrooms, play room and the sitting room are under flat wing-like roofs that balance on either side of the low sloping gable roof of the main space. Large sliding glass panels and pocketing glass doors foster openness to the front and back yards. In the front there is a fenced-in play space connected to the play room, creating an indoor-outdoor play space that could change in use over the years. The play room can also be closed off from the great room with a large pocketing door. In the rear, everything opens up to a deck overlooking a pool where the family can come together outdoors. Wood siding travels from exterior to interior, accentuating the indoor-outdoor nature of the house. Where the exterior siding doesn’t come inside, a palette of white oak floors, white walls, walnut cabinetry, and dark window frames ties all the spaces together to create a uniform feeling and flow throughout the house. The custom cabinetry matches the minimal joinery of the rest of the house, a trim-less, minimal appearance. Wood siding was mitered in the corners, including where siding meets the interior drywall. Wall materials were held up off the floor with a minimal reveal. This tight detailing gives a sense of cleanliness to the house. The garage door of the house is completely flush and of the same material as the garage wall, de-emphasizing the garage door and making the street presentation of the house kinder to the neighborhood. The house is akin to a custom, modern-day Eichler home in many ways. Inspired by mid-century modern homes with today’s materials, approaches, standards, and technologies. The goals were to create an indoor-outdoor home that was energy-efficient, light and flexible for young children to grow. This 3,000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom new house is located in Los Altos in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Klopf Architecture Project Team: John Klopf, AIA, and Chuang-Ming Liu 
Landscape Architect: Outer space Landscape Architects 
Structural Engineer: ZFA Structural Engineers 
Staging: Da Lusso Design 
Photography ©2018 Mariko Reed 
Location: Los Altos, CA
 Year completed: 2017

Looking into into the kitchen from the adjacent family room. The doors to the patio are just out of view to the left. To the right is the open air atrium. The skylights bring in abundant light, leaving the walls free for a long run of cabinetry. The over-sized island is used for informal meals and homework. The table to the left is used by the parents and two children for dinners and weekend pancakes.

Mid-sized trendy deck photo in Boise with a roof extension

Example of a mid-sized 1960s concrete floor, multicolored floor and vaulted ceiling entryway design in Sacramento with white walls and a white front door

There were to many disjointed spaces in the existing Eichler home, and the owners didn’t like entering right into the kitchen wall. There were not enough functional spaces in the house but it was tricky to see how or where to add to the home without losing the atrium. The Klopf team re-arranged the spaces in the house to put the bedroom functions under the flat, 8-foot ceiling and the whole great room under the higher gable roof, moving the kitchen to the corner and creating a symmetrical and regular-shaped great room. A narrow band of skylights and a reduced, but still open, atrium brighten the family’s days and bring more greenery into their lives. The Klopf team turned the small front bedroom into a laundry room, powder room, and hallway to a large, added work-from-home office/family room that can double as a guest room. From the street the addition looks like it might have been there all along, but for the family members it’s a game-changer. Klopf Architecture Project Team: John Klopf, AIA, Lucie Danigo, and Biliana Stremska Structural Engineer: Sezen & Moon General Contractor: Keycon Inc. Kitchen Cabinetry: Henrybuilt Photography: ©2023 Mariko Reed Year Completed: 2020

Example of a small 1960s sunroom design in Portland

Francis Dzikowski
Example of a large transitional light wood floor and brown floor kitchen/dining room combo design in New York with gray walls and no fireplace

Robin Hill
Trendy light wood floor and beige floor dining room photo in Miami with white walls

A view of the living room and foyer beyond. The bold orange entry door is a pleasant surprise one only sees after winding around a tall brick wall. Within the entry is a wall of walnut paneling with a hidden door leading to a large closet. The stairs lead up to a second floor landing with a glass railing that opens onto a double height space capped with a series of five over-scaled skylights.

Nearly two decades ago now, Susan and her husband put a letter in the mailbox of this eastside home: "If you have any interest in selling, please reach out." But really, who would give up a Flansburgh House? Fast forward to 2020, when the house went on the market! By then it was clear that three children and a busy home design studio couldn't be crammed into this efficient footprint. But what's second best to moving into your dream home? Being asked to redesign the functional core for the family that was. In this classic Flansburgh layout, all the rooms align tidily in a square around a central hall and open air atrium. As such, all the spaces are both connected to one another and also private; and all allow for visual access to the outdoors in two directions—toward the atrium and toward the exterior. All except, in this case, the utilitarian galley kitchen. That space, oft-relegated to second class in midcentury architecture, got the shaft, with narrow doorways on two ends and no good visual access to the atrium or the outside. Who spends time in the kitchen anyway? As is often the case with even the very best midcentury architecture, the kitchen at the Flansburgh House needed to be modernized; appliances and cabinetry have come a long way since 1970, but our culture has evolved too, becoming more casual and open in ways we at SYH believe are here to stay. People (gasp!) do spend time—lots of time!—in their kitchens! Nonetheless, our goal was to make this kitchen look as if it had been designed this way by Earl Flansburgh himself. The house came to us full of bold, bright color. We edited out some of it (along with the walls it was on) but kept and built upon the stunning red, orange and yellow closet doors in the family room adjacent to the kitchen. That pop was balanced by a few colorful midcentury pieces that our clients already owned, and the stunning light and verdant green coming in from both the atrium and the perimeter of the house, not to mention the many skylights. Thus, the rest of the space just needed to quiet down and be a beautiful, if neutral, foil. White terrazzo tile grounds custom plywood and black cabinetry, offset by a half wall that offers both camouflage for the cooking mess and also storage below, hidden behind seamless oak tambour. Contractor: Rusty Peterson Cabinetry: Stoll's Woodworking Photographer: Sarah Shields

Atrium with skylights doubles as eating area off the kitchen.
Inspiration for a small transitional medium tone wood floor enclosed dining room remodel in Boston with white walls and no fireplace

Light filled atrium, perfect for rleaxing. The custom built-ins steal the show.
Living room - mid-sized modern living room idea in Dallas

The dining room is flanked by an open air courtyard featuring a view through to kitchen beyond. The open shelving turns the corner and runs to a set of stairs leading down a half level to a bar and passage below the stair landing that leads to a concealed powder room. The closed walnut cabinetry is in the same material as the nearby staircase railing.

There were to many disjointed spaces in the existing Eichler home, and the owners didn’t like entering right into the kitchen wall. There were not enough functional spaces in the house but it was tricky to see how or where to add to the home without losing the atrium. The Klopf team re-arranged the spaces in the house to put the bedroom functions under the flat, 8-foot ceiling and the whole great room under the higher gable roof, moving the kitchen to the corner and creating a symmetrical and regular-shaped great room. A narrow band of skylights and a reduced, but still open, atrium brighten the family’s days and bring more greenery into their lives. The Klopf team turned the small front bedroom into a laundry room, powder room, and hallway to a large, added work-from-home office/family room that can double as a guest room. From the street the addition looks like it might have been there all along, but for the family members it’s a game-changer. Klopf Architecture Project Team: John Klopf, AIA, Lucie Danigo, and Biliana Stremska Structural Engineer: Sezen & Moon General Contractor: Keycon Inc. Kitchen Cabinetry: Henrybuilt Photography: ©2023 Mariko Reed Year Completed: 2020

Justin Krug Photography
Example of a huge cottage ceramic tile and gray floor sunroom design in Portland with a skylight

Eat-in kitchen - large modern single-wall ceramic tile eat-in kitchen idea in New York with flat-panel cabinets, brown cabinets, quartzite countertops, beige backsplash, ceramic backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and a single-bowl sink