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Klopf ArchitectureThree Phases, One Family: Inside a Klopf Eichler Remodel
When an executive mom and her two young children moved into their Eichler, she made a deliberate choice: to renovate the home in a way that honored, rather than erased, the qualities that make Eichlers distinctive in the first place. That decision set the tone for what would become a five-year, three-phase collaboration with architecture and interior design firm Klopf Architecture and general contractor Keycon, that touched nearly every room in the house and, along the way, turned a client-architect relationship into something closer.
Living Through the Work
Unlike many remodels where clients decamp to a rental during construction, this family stayed put through all three phases. That meant the Klopf team didn't just design the home, they watched it get lived in room by room in real time. Phase 1 covered the kitchen and living areas; by the time the team moved into later phases, they had already seen how the family actually used the spaces they'd designed earlier.
That feedback loop and conversations with the client shaped the rest of the project directly. She said “throughout the various phases as they were completed, each day I noticed a new detail,” and shared her feedback with the design team. For instance, she loved the countertops chosen for the kitchen in Phase 1, so those same countertops appeared in the bathrooms designed in later phases. She loved the playful backsplash tile in the kitchen, so a similar sense of pattern and play carried into her bathroom in Phase 2 and a second bath in Phase 3. The result is a home where each phase speaks to the ones before it, rather than reading as a series of disconnected updates.
Opening Up the Center of the House
At the heart of the project was a reorganization of the home's most-used spaces. Klopf reclaimed a former dining area off the great room to build a larger kitchen, opening it directly onto the living space and freeing up room for the family to actually gather for reading, games, meals, TV, and the ordinary business of daily life with two kids and a dog.
New floor-to-ceiling glass panels now connect the living space to the home's atrium, pulling light and views in from both directions, doubling down on the indoor-outdoor connection the style is known for. But more glass also meant less privacy, particularly at the entry, where a new wall of glass would otherwise open the courtyard directly to the street. Klopf's solution was a custom-designed slanted wood slat pivot gate at the front of the house: a piece that lets light filter through while blocking sight lines from passersby. It's a small architectural gesture that solves a real problem, creating privacy without sacrificing the light-filled openness the redesign was built around.
Each of the children's bedrooms was custom-tailored to its occupant, a detail that mattered more with each passing year as the "young kids" in Phase 1 grew into the teenagers they became by the project's close.
Five Years and Increased Capabilities
A project of this length rarely survives with the same team intact, and this one didn't. Klopf’s original project leader left the firm part way through, but John Klopf and Elise Webb remained on the project from start to finish for continuity. Instead of shrinking, the Klopf team actually grew when their new interior design department was formed in 2024. The client was excited about Klopf’s new interiors capabilities, and welcomed Justine Alvarez and Ekaterina Nesterova on board to expand what had been an architectural scope into an architecture-plus-interiors effort. In the end Klopf handled the design from exterior envelope and layout down to the materials, colors, furnishings, décor, and finishing touches.
What began as an architectural renovation ended up as something more comprehensive: a complete reimagining of the home's interiors as well as its bones, extending down to details as small as the containers on the bathroom counter.
Carrying the Vision Through to the Furnishings
Klopf's interior design department helped turn good architecture into a place a family actually lives. The interiors team worked closely with the client on furniture, fabrics, lighting, and accessories, sourcing and coordinating with makers and vendors in both the U.S. and Europe.
The guiding idea was continuity: every piece needed to feel like it belonged in the house, not added to it. The custom counter stools are a good example. Intended to pick up on the cabinetry materials already in the kitchen, they were designed with carefully selected leather so the seating reads as part of the same architectural language. The sofa, rug, pillows, and other pieces followed the same logic, with material, color, and proportion all considered against the architecture they'd sit inside. Even the playful character of the bathroom tile found its way into the furnishings, translating into fun, playful accents in the textiles and finishes while staying period-appropriate to the Eichler itself.
Benefitting from the feedback loop that shaped the architecture from phase to phase, the interiors team took cues from material and design decisions made in earlier phases when selecting the furnishings, so that the finished home reads as one continuous idea rather than a set of separate decisions layered on top of each other.
That continuity came with its own hardships. A few months after furniture purchasing began, new tariffs took effect, affecting the overall furniture budget and adding complexity to ordering and expediting pieces. Developing custom furniture added a further layer of coordination on top of that: aligning fabric and leather samples and wood finishes with the architecture meant close, ongoing communication with makers throughout fabrication. With some pieces produced internationally, lead times, shipping, and customs all had to be carefully managed; in a few instances, that pushed the timeline out further still. In the end, the extra time was worth it: it's what allowed the team to get the materials and details right and keep the design cohesive throughout the home.
A Relationship, Not Just a Project
Ask the Klopf team what made this project unique, and the answer isn't really about square footage or finishes. It's about time. Over five years, the team got to know the family in a way a shorter project never allows — watching the kids head off to summer camp, meeting the foster kittens that passed through the house, getting to know the dog walker's daily routine. It became a professional relationship that was also a personal one.
That closeness extended into the design process itself once the interiors team came on board. The client made a point of involving her kids in meetings about their own rooms, letting them weigh in on the vision and hopes they had for the spaces. Her daughter, in particular, was thrilled at the chance to work with an interior designer and help build her dream room, a small detail that speaks to how thoroughly this project became a family effort, not just a service delivered to one.
That closeness shows up in the house itself. During Phase 1, the client asked everyone involved to sign the pony wall in the new kitchen. The Klopf team, the client, her kids, and the Keycon crew all left their names there, a permanent record of the people who built the house together. The Client said: “I am filled with joy and gratitude to be able to live in such a beautiful space and to have gotten the chance to work with such a talented team. The mark of true artistry is the attention to detail that allows one to experience the design in different ways. One might be looking at the same view, but because of the way the light moves, it’s a totally different perspective.”
By the time the third phase wrapped, there was a running joke on site: nobody actually wanted the project to end, and the team half-seriously floated the idea of a "Phase 4." It's a fitting note for a project defined less by any single renovation than by five years of a family and their architects growing, quite literally, alongside one another.
Klopf Architecture Team: John Klopf, AIA, Elise Webb, Yegvenia Torres-Zavala, Justine Alvarez, and Ekaterina Nesterova
Interior Design and FF&E: Klopf Architecture
Structural Engineer: BASE Design Inc.
Contractor: Keycon Inc.
Photography: ©2026 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2026
Location: Palo Alto, CA
The Artisans Group, Inc.Winner of the 2018 Tour of Homes Best Remodel, this whole house re-design of a 1963 Bennet & Johnson mid-century raised ranch home is a beautiful example of the magic we can weave through the application of more sustainable modern design principles to existing spaces.
We worked closely with our client on extensive updates to create a modernized MCM gem.
Extensive alterations include:
- a completely redesigned floor plan to promote a more intuitive flow throughout
- vaulted the ceilings over the great room to create an amazing entrance and feeling of inspired openness
- redesigned entry and driveway to be more inviting and welcoming as well as to experientially set the mid-century modern stage
- the removal of a visually disruptive load bearing central wall and chimney system that formerly partitioned the homes’ entry, dining, kitchen and living rooms from each other
- added clerestory windows above the new kitchen to accentuate the new vaulted ceiling line and create a greater visual continuation of indoor to outdoor space
- drastically increased the access to natural light by increasing window sizes and opening up the floor plan
- placed natural wood elements throughout to provide a calming palette and cohesive Pacific Northwest feel
- incorporated Universal Design principles to make the home Aging In Place ready with wide hallways and accessible spaces, including single-floor living if needed
- moved and completely redesigned the stairway to work for the home’s occupants and be a part of the cohesive design aesthetic
- mixed custom tile layouts with more traditional tiling to create fun and playful visual experiences
- custom designed and sourced MCM specific elements such as the entry screen, cabinetry and lighting
- development of the downstairs for potential future use by an assisted living caretaker
- energy efficiency upgrades seamlessly woven in with much improved insulation, ductless mini splits and solar gain
The Artisans Group, Inc.Winner of the 2018 Tour of Homes Best Remodel, this whole house re-design of a 1963 Bennet & Johnson mid-century raised ranch home is a beautiful example of the magic we can weave through the application of more sustainable modern design principles to existing spaces.
We worked closely with our client on extensive updates to create a modernized MCM gem.
Extensive alterations include:
- a completely redesigned floor plan to promote a more intuitive flow throughout
- vaulted the ceilings over the great room to create an amazing entrance and feeling of inspired openness
- redesigned entry and driveway to be more inviting and welcoming as well as to experientially set the mid-century modern stage
- the removal of a visually disruptive load bearing central wall and chimney system that formerly partitioned the homes’ entry, dining, kitchen and living rooms from each other
- added clerestory windows above the new kitchen to accentuate the new vaulted ceiling line and create a greater visual continuation of indoor to outdoor space
- drastically increased the access to natural light by increasing window sizes and opening up the floor plan
- placed natural wood elements throughout to provide a calming palette and cohesive Pacific Northwest feel
- incorporated Universal Design principles to make the home Aging In Place ready with wide hallways and accessible spaces, including single-floor living if needed
- moved and completely redesigned the stairway to work for the home’s occupants and be a part of the cohesive design aesthetic
- mixed custom tile layouts with more traditional tiling to create fun and playful visual experiences
- custom designed and sourced MCM specific elements such as the entry screen, cabinetry and lighting
- development of the downstairs for potential future use by an assisted living caretaker
- energy efficiency upgrades seamlessly woven in with much improved insulation, ductless mini splits and solar gain
Find the right local pro for your project
The Artisans Group, Inc.Winner of the 2018 Tour of Homes Best Remodel, this whole house re-design of a 1963 Bennet & Johnson mid-century raised ranch home is a beautiful example of the magic we can weave through the application of more sustainable modern design principles to existing spaces.
We worked closely with our client on extensive updates to create a modernized MCM gem.
Extensive alterations include:
- a completely redesigned floor plan to promote a more intuitive flow throughout
- vaulted the ceilings over the great room to create an amazing entrance and feeling of inspired openness
- redesigned entry and driveway to be more inviting and welcoming as well as to experientially set the mid-century modern stage
- the removal of a visually disruptive load bearing central wall and chimney system that formerly partitioned the homes’ entry, dining, kitchen and living rooms from each other
- added clerestory windows above the new kitchen to accentuate the new vaulted ceiling line and create a greater visual continuation of indoor to outdoor space
- drastically increased the access to natural light by increasing window sizes and opening up the floor plan
- placed natural wood elements throughout to provide a calming palette and cohesive Pacific Northwest feel
- incorporated Universal Design principles to make the home Aging In Place ready with wide hallways and accessible spaces, including single-floor living if needed
- moved and completely redesigned the stairway to work for the home’s occupants and be a part of the cohesive design aesthetic
- mixed custom tile layouts with more traditional tiling to create fun and playful visual experiences
- custom designed and sourced MCM specific elements such as the entry screen, cabinetry and lighting
- development of the downstairs for potential future use by an assisted living caretaker
- energy efficiency upgrades seamlessly woven in with much improved insulation, ductless mini splits and solar gain
The Artisans Group, Inc.Winner of the 2018 Tour of Homes Best Remodel, this whole house re-design of a 1963 Bennet & Johnson mid-century raised ranch home is a beautiful example of the magic we can weave through the application of more sustainable modern design principles to existing spaces.
We worked closely with our client on extensive updates to create a modernized MCM gem.
Extensive alterations include:
- a completely redesigned floor plan to promote a more intuitive flow throughout
- vaulted the ceilings over the great room to create an amazing entrance and feeling of inspired openness
- redesigned entry and driveway to be more inviting and welcoming as well as to experientially set the mid-century modern stage
- the removal of a visually disruptive load bearing central wall and chimney system that formerly partitioned the homes’ entry, dining, kitchen and living rooms from each other
- added clerestory windows above the new kitchen to accentuate the new vaulted ceiling line and create a greater visual continuation of indoor to outdoor space
- drastically increased the access to natural light by increasing window sizes and opening up the floor plan
- placed natural wood elements throughout to provide a calming palette and cohesive Pacific Northwest feel
- incorporated Universal Design principles to make the home Aging In Place ready with wide hallways and accessible spaces, including single-floor living if needed
- moved and completely redesigned the stairway to work for the home’s occupants and be a part of the cohesive design aesthetic
- mixed custom tile layouts with more traditional tiling to create fun and playful visual experiences
- custom designed and sourced MCM specific elements such as the entry screen, cabinetry and lighting
- development of the downstairs for potential future use by an assisted living caretaker
- energy efficiency upgrades seamlessly woven in with much improved insulation, ductless mini splits and solar gain
The Artisans Group, Inc.Winner of the 2018 Tour of Homes Best Remodel, this whole house re-design of a 1963 Bennet & Johnson mid-century raised ranch home is a beautiful example of the magic we can weave through the application of more sustainable modern design principles to existing spaces.
We worked closely with our client on extensive updates to create a modernized MCM gem.
Extensive alterations include:
- a completely redesigned floor plan to promote a more intuitive flow throughout
- vaulted the ceilings over the great room to create an amazing entrance and feeling of inspired openness
- redesigned entry and driveway to be more inviting and welcoming as well as to experientially set the mid-century modern stage
- the removal of a visually disruptive load bearing central wall and chimney system that formerly partitioned the homes’ entry, dining, kitchen and living rooms from each other
- added clerestory windows above the new kitchen to accentuate the new vaulted ceiling line and create a greater visual continuation of indoor to outdoor space
- drastically increased the access to natural light by increasing window sizes and opening up the floor plan
- placed natural wood elements throughout to provide a calming palette and cohesive Pacific Northwest feel
- incorporated Universal Design principles to make the home Aging In Place ready with wide hallways and accessible spaces, including single-floor living if needed
- moved and completely redesigned the stairway to work for the home’s occupants and be a part of the cohesive design aesthetic
- mixed custom tile layouts with more traditional tiling to create fun and playful visual experiences
- custom designed and sourced MCM specific elements such as the entry screen, cabinetry and lighting
- development of the downstairs for potential future use by an assisted living caretaker
- energy efficiency upgrades seamlessly woven in with much improved insulation, ductless mini splits and solar gain
Klopf ArchitectureThree Phases, One Family: Inside a Klopf Eichler Remodel
When an executive mom and her two young children moved into their Eichler, she made a deliberate choice: to renovate the home in a way that honored, rather than erased, the qualities that make Eichlers distinctive in the first place. That decision set the tone for what would become a five-year, three-phase collaboration with architecture and interior design firm Klopf Architecture and general contractor Keycon, that touched nearly every room in the house and, along the way, turned a client-architect relationship into something closer.
Living Through the Work
Unlike many remodels where clients decamp to a rental during construction, this family stayed put through all three phases. That meant the Klopf team didn't just design the home, they watched it get lived in room by room in real time. Phase 1 covered the kitchen and living areas; by the time the team moved into later phases, they had already seen how the family actually used the spaces they'd designed earlier.
That feedback loop and conversations with the client shaped the rest of the project directly. She said “throughout the various phases as they were completed, each day I noticed a new detail,” and shared her feedback with the design team. For instance, she loved the countertops chosen for the kitchen in Phase 1, so those same countertops appeared in the bathrooms designed in later phases. She loved the playful backsplash tile in the kitchen, so a similar sense of pattern and play carried into her bathroom in Phase 2 and a second bath in Phase 3. The result is a home where each phase speaks to the ones before it, rather than reading as a series of disconnected updates.
Opening Up the Center of the House
At the heart of the project was a reorganization of the home's most-used spaces. Klopf reclaimed a former dining area off the great room to build a larger kitchen, opening it directly onto the living space and freeing up room for the family to actually gather for reading, games, meals, TV, and the ordinary business of daily life with two kids and a dog.
New floor-to-ceiling glass panels now connect the living space to the home's atrium, pulling light and views in from both directions, doubling down on the indoor-outdoor connection the style is known for. But more glass also meant less privacy, particularly at the entry, where a new wall of glass would otherwise open the courtyard directly to the street. Klopf's solution was a custom-designed slanted wood slat pivot gate at the front of the house: a piece that lets light filter through while blocking sight lines from passersby. It's a small architectural gesture that solves a real problem, creating privacy without sacrificing the light-filled openness the redesign was built around.
Each of the children's bedrooms was custom-tailored to its occupant, a detail that mattered more with each passing year as the "young kids" in Phase 1 grew into the teenagers they became by the project's close.
Five Years and Increased Capabilities
A project of this length rarely survives with the same team intact, and this one didn't. Klopf’s original project leader left the firm part way through, but John Klopf and Elise Webb remained on the project from start to finish for continuity. Instead of shrinking, the Klopf team actually grew when their new interior design department was formed in 2024. The client was excited about Klopf’s new interiors capabilities, and welcomed Justine Alvarez and Ekaterina Nesterova on board to expand what had been an architectural scope into an architecture-plus-interiors effort. In the end Klopf handled the design from exterior envelope and layout down to the materials, colors, furnishings, décor, and finishing touches.
What began as an architectural renovation ended up as something more comprehensive: a complete reimagining of the home's interiors as well as its bones, extending down to details as small as the containers on the bathroom counter.
Carrying the Vision Through to the Furnishings
Klopf's interior design department helped turn good architecture into a place a family actually lives. The interiors team worked closely with the client on furniture, fabrics, lighting, and accessories, sourcing and coordinating with makers and vendors in both the U.S. and Europe.
The guiding idea was continuity: every piece needed to feel like it belonged in the house, not added to it. The custom counter stools are a good example. Intended to pick up on the cabinetry materials already in the kitchen, they were designed with carefully selected leather so the seating reads as part of the same architectural language. The sofa, rug, pillows, and other pieces followed the same logic, with material, color, and proportion all considered against the architecture they'd sit inside. Even the playful character of the bathroom tile found its way into the furnishings, translating into fun, playful accents in the textiles and finishes while staying period-appropriate to the Eichler itself.
Benefitting from the feedback loop that shaped the architecture from phase to phase, the interiors team took cues from material and design decisions made in earlier phases when selecting the furnishings, so that the finished home reads as one continuous idea rather than a set of separate decisions layered on top of each other.
That continuity came with its own hardships. A few months after furniture purchasing began, new tariffs took effect, affecting the overall furniture budget and adding complexity to ordering and expediting pieces. Developing custom furniture added a further layer of coordination on top of that: aligning fabric and leather samples and wood finishes with the architecture meant close, ongoing communication with makers throughout fabrication. With some pieces produced internationally, lead times, shipping, and customs all had to be carefully managed; in a few instances, that pushed the timeline out further still. In the end, the extra time was worth it: it's what allowed the team to get the materials and details right and keep the design cohesive throughout the home.
A Relationship, Not Just a Project
Ask the Klopf team what made this project unique, and the answer isn't really about square footage or finishes. It's about time. Over five years, the team got to know the family in a way a shorter project never allows — watching the kids head off to summer camp, meeting the foster kittens that passed through the house, getting to know the dog walker's daily routine. It became a professional relationship that was also a personal one.
That closeness extended into the design process itself once the interiors team came on board. The client made a point of involving her kids in meetings about their own rooms, letting them weigh in on the vision and hopes they had for the spaces. Her daughter, in particular, was thrilled at the chance to work with an interior designer and help build her dream room, a small detail that speaks to how thoroughly this project became a family effort, not just a service delivered to one.
That closeness shows up in the house itself. During Phase 1, the client asked everyone involved to sign the pony wall in the new kitchen. The Klopf team, the client, her kids, and the Keycon crew all left their names there, a permanent record of the people who built the house together. The Client said: “I am filled with joy and gratitude to be able to live in such a beautiful space and to have gotten the chance to work with such a talented team. The mark of true artistry is the attention to detail that allows one to experience the design in different ways. One might be looking at the same view, but because of the way the light moves, it’s a totally different perspective.”
By the time the third phase wrapped, there was a running joke on site: nobody actually wanted the project to end, and the team half-seriously floated the idea of a "Phase 4." It's a fitting note for a project defined less by any single renovation than by five years of a family and their architects growing, quite literally, alongside one another.
Klopf Architecture Team: John Klopf, AIA, Elise Webb, Yegvenia Torres-Zavala, Justine Alvarez, and Ekaterina Nesterova
Interior Design and FF&E: Klopf Architecture
Structural Engineer: BASE Design Inc.
Contractor: Keycon Inc.
Photography: ©2026 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2026
Location: Palo Alto, CA
ZeroEnergy DesignThis renovated brick rowhome in Boston’s South End offers a modern aesthetic within a historic structure, creative use of space, exceptional thermal comfort, a reduced carbon footprint, and a passive stream of income.
DESIGN PRIORITIES. The goals for the project were clear - design the primary unit to accommodate the family’s modern lifestyle, rework the layout to create a desirable rental unit, improve thermal comfort and introduce a modern aesthetic. We designed the street-level entry as a shared entrance for both the primary and rental unit. The family uses it as their everyday entrance - we planned for bike storage and an open mudroom with bench and shoe storage to facilitate the change from shoes to slippers or bare feet as they enter their home. On the main level, we expanded the kitchen into the dining room to create an eat-in space with generous counter space and storage, as well as a comfortable connection to the living space. The second floor serves as master suite for the couple - a bedroom with a walk-in-closet and ensuite bathroom, and an adjacent study, with refinished original pumpkin pine floors. The upper floor, aside from a guest bedroom, is the child's domain with interconnected spaces for sleeping, work and play. In the play space, which can be separated from the work space with new translucent sliding doors, we incorporated recreational features inspired by adventurous and competitive television shows, at their son’s request.
MODERN MEETS TRADITIONAL. We left the historic front facade of the building largely unchanged - the security bars were removed from the windows and the single pane windows were replaced with higher performing historic replicas. We designed the interior and rear facade with a vision of warm modernism, weaving in the notable period features. Each element was either restored or reinterpreted to blend with the modern aesthetic. The detailed ceiling in the living space, for example, has a new matte monochromatic finish, and the wood stairs are covered in a dark grey floor paint, whereas the mahogany doors were simply refinished. New wide plank wood flooring with a neutral finish, floor-to-ceiling casework, and bold splashes of color in wall paint and tile, and oversized high-performance windows (on the rear facade) round out the modern aesthetic.
RENTAL INCOME. The existing rowhome was zoned for a 2-family dwelling but included an undesirable, single-floor studio apartment at the garden level with low ceiling heights and questionable emergency egress. In order to increase the quality and quantity of space in the rental unit, we reimagined it as a two-floor, 1 or 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with a modern aesthetic, increased ceiling height on the lowest level and provided an in-unit washer/dryer. The apartment was listed with Jackie O'Connor Real Estate and rented immediately, providing the owners with a source of passive income.
ENCLOSURE WITH BENEFITS. The homeowners sought a minimal carbon footprint, enabled by their urban location and lifestyle decisions, paired with the benefits of a high-performance home. The extent of the renovation allowed us to implement a deep energy retrofit (DER) to address air tightness, insulation, and high-performance windows. The historic front facade is insulated from the interior, while the rear facade is insulated on the exterior. Together with these building enclosure improvements, we designed an HVAC system comprised of continuous fresh air ventilation, and an efficient, all-electric heating and cooling system to decouple the house from natural gas. This strategy provides optimal thermal comfort and indoor air quality, improved acoustic isolation from street noise and neighbors, as well as a further reduced carbon footprint. We also took measures to prepare the roof for future solar panels, for when the South End neighborhood’s aging electrical infrastructure is upgraded to allow them.
URBAN LIVING. The desirable neighborhood location allows the both the homeowners and tenant to walk, bike, and use public transportation to access the city, while each charging their respective plug-in electric cars behind the building to travel greater distances.
OVERALL. The understated rowhouse is now ready for another century of urban living, offering the owners comfort and convenience as they live life as an expression of their values.
Eric Roth Photo
Klopf ArchitectureThree Phases, One Family: Inside a Klopf Eichler Remodel
When an executive mom and her two young children moved into their Eichler, she made a deliberate choice: to renovate the home in a way that honored, rather than erased, the qualities that make Eichlers distinctive in the first place. That decision set the tone for what would become a five-year, three-phase collaboration with architecture and interior design firm Klopf Architecture and general contractor Keycon, that touched nearly every room in the house and, along the way, turned a client-architect relationship into something closer.
Living Through the Work
Unlike many remodels where clients decamp to a rental during construction, this family stayed put through all three phases. That meant the Klopf team didn't just design the home, they watched it get lived in room by room in real time. Phase 1 covered the kitchen and living areas; by the time the team moved into later phases, they had already seen how the family actually used the spaces they'd designed earlier.
That feedback loop and conversations with the client shaped the rest of the project directly. She said “throughout the various phases as they were completed, each day I noticed a new detail,” and shared her feedback with the design team. For instance, she loved the countertops chosen for the kitchen in Phase 1, so those same countertops appeared in the bathrooms designed in later phases. She loved the playful backsplash tile in the kitchen, so a similar sense of pattern and play carried into her bathroom in Phase 2 and a second bath in Phase 3. The result is a home where each phase speaks to the ones before it, rather than reading as a series of disconnected updates.
Opening Up the Center of the House
At the heart of the project was a reorganization of the home's most-used spaces. Klopf reclaimed a former dining area off the great room to build a larger kitchen, opening it directly onto the living space and freeing up room for the family to actually gather for reading, games, meals, TV, and the ordinary business of daily life with two kids and a dog.
New floor-to-ceiling glass panels now connect the living space to the home's atrium, pulling light and views in from both directions, doubling down on the indoor-outdoor connection the style is known for. But more glass also meant less privacy, particularly at the entry, where a new wall of glass would otherwise open the courtyard directly to the street. Klopf's solution was a custom-designed slanted wood slat pivot gate at the front of the house: a piece that lets light filter through while blocking sight lines from passersby. It's a small architectural gesture that solves a real problem, creating privacy without sacrificing the light-filled openness the redesign was built around.
Each of the children's bedrooms was custom-tailored to its occupant, a detail that mattered more with each passing year as the "young kids" in Phase 1 grew into the teenagers they became by the project's close.
Five Years and Increased Capabilities
A project of this length rarely survives with the same team intact, and this one didn't. Klopf’s original project leader left the firm part way through, but John Klopf and Elise Webb remained on the project from start to finish for continuity. Instead of shrinking, the Klopf team actually grew when their new interior design department was formed in 2024. The client was excited about Klopf’s new interiors capabilities, and welcomed Justine Alvarez and Ekaterina Nesterova on board to expand what had been an architectural scope into an architecture-plus-interiors effort. In the end Klopf handled the design from exterior envelope and layout down to the materials, colors, furnishings, décor, and finishing touches.
What began as an architectural renovation ended up as something more comprehensive: a complete reimagining of the home's interiors as well as its bones, extending down to details as small as the containers on the bathroom counter.
Carrying the Vision Through to the Furnishings
Klopf's interior design department helped turn good architecture into a place a family actually lives. The interiors team worked closely with the client on furniture, fabrics, lighting, and accessories, sourcing and coordinating with makers and vendors in both the U.S. and Europe.
The guiding idea was continuity: every piece needed to feel like it belonged in the house, not added to it. The custom counter stools are a good example. Intended to pick up on the cabinetry materials already in the kitchen, they were designed with carefully selected leather so the seating reads as part of the same architectural language. The sofa, rug, pillows, and other pieces followed the same logic, with material, color, and proportion all considered against the architecture they'd sit inside. Even the playful character of the bathroom tile found its way into the furnishings, translating into fun, playful accents in the textiles and finishes while staying period-appropriate to the Eichler itself.
Benefitting from the feedback loop that shaped the architecture from phase to phase, the interiors team took cues from material and design decisions made in earlier phases when selecting the furnishings, so that the finished home reads as one continuous idea rather than a set of separate decisions layered on top of each other.
That continuity came with its own hardships. A few months after furniture purchasing began, new tariffs took effect, affecting the overall furniture budget and adding complexity to ordering and expediting pieces. Developing custom furniture added a further layer of coordination on top of that: aligning fabric and leather samples and wood finishes with the architecture meant close, ongoing communication with makers throughout fabrication. With some pieces produced internationally, lead times, shipping, and customs all had to be carefully managed; in a few instances, that pushed the timeline out further still. In the end, the extra time was worth it: it's what allowed the team to get the materials and details right and keep the design cohesive throughout the home.
A Relationship, Not Just a Project
Ask the Klopf team what made this project unique, and the answer isn't really about square footage or finishes. It's about time. Over five years, the team got to know the family in a way a shorter project never allows — watching the kids head off to summer camp, meeting the foster kittens that passed through the house, getting to know the dog walker's daily routine. It became a professional relationship that was also a personal one.
That closeness extended into the design process itself once the interiors team came on board. The client made a point of involving her kids in meetings about their own rooms, letting them weigh in on the vision and hopes they had for the spaces. Her daughter, in particular, was thrilled at the chance to work with an interior designer and help build her dream room, a small detail that speaks to how thoroughly this project became a family effort, not just a service delivered to one.
That closeness shows up in the house itself. During Phase 1, the client asked everyone involved to sign the pony wall in the new kitchen. The Klopf team, the client, her kids, and the Keycon crew all left their names there, a permanent record of the people who built the house together. The Client said: “I am filled with joy and gratitude to be able to live in such a beautiful space and to have gotten the chance to work with such a talented team. The mark of true artistry is the attention to detail that allows one to experience the design in different ways. One might be looking at the same view, but because of the way the light moves, it’s a totally different perspective.”
By the time the third phase wrapped, there was a running joke on site: nobody actually wanted the project to end, and the team half-seriously floated the idea of a "Phase 4." It's a fitting note for a project defined less by any single renovation than by five years of a family and their architects growing, quite literally, alongside one another.
Klopf Architecture Team: John Klopf, AIA, Elise Webb, Yegvenia Torres-Zavala, Justine Alvarez, and Ekaterina Nesterova
Interior Design and FF&E: Klopf Architecture
Structural Engineer: BASE Design Inc.
Contractor: Keycon Inc.
Photography: ©2026 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2026
Location: Palo Alto, CA
ZeroEnergy DesignThis renovated brick rowhome in Boston’s South End offers a modern aesthetic within a historic structure, creative use of space, exceptional thermal comfort, a reduced carbon footprint, and a passive stream of income.
DESIGN PRIORITIES. The goals for the project were clear - design the primary unit to accommodate the family’s modern lifestyle, rework the layout to create a desirable rental unit, improve thermal comfort and introduce a modern aesthetic. We designed the street-level entry as a shared entrance for both the primary and rental unit. The family uses it as their everyday entrance - we planned for bike storage and an open mudroom with bench and shoe storage to facilitate the change from shoes to slippers or bare feet as they enter their home. On the main level, we expanded the kitchen into the dining room to create an eat-in space with generous counter space and storage, as well as a comfortable connection to the living space. The second floor serves as master suite for the couple - a bedroom with a walk-in-closet and ensuite bathroom, and an adjacent study, with refinished original pumpkin pine floors. The upper floor, aside from a guest bedroom, is the child's domain with interconnected spaces for sleeping, work and play. In the play space, which can be separated from the work space with new translucent sliding doors, we incorporated recreational features inspired by adventurous and competitive television shows, at their son’s request.
MODERN MEETS TRADITIONAL. We left the historic front facade of the building largely unchanged - the security bars were removed from the windows and the single pane windows were replaced with higher performing historic replicas. We designed the interior and rear facade with a vision of warm modernism, weaving in the notable period features. Each element was either restored or reinterpreted to blend with the modern aesthetic. The detailed ceiling in the living space, for example, has a new matte monochromatic finish, and the wood stairs are covered in a dark grey floor paint, whereas the mahogany doors were simply refinished. New wide plank wood flooring with a neutral finish, floor-to-ceiling casework, and bold splashes of color in wall paint and tile, and oversized high-performance windows (on the rear facade) round out the modern aesthetic.
RENTAL INCOME. The existing rowhome was zoned for a 2-family dwelling but included an undesirable, single-floor studio apartment at the garden level with low ceiling heights and questionable emergency egress. In order to increase the quality and quantity of space in the rental unit, we reimagined it as a two-floor, 1 or 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with a modern aesthetic, increased ceiling height on the lowest level and provided an in-unit washer/dryer. The apartment was listed with Jackie O'Connor Real Estate and rented immediately, providing the owners with a source of passive income.
ENCLOSURE WITH BENEFITS. The homeowners sought a minimal carbon footprint, enabled by their urban location and lifestyle decisions, paired with the benefits of a high-performance home. The extent of the renovation allowed us to implement a deep energy retrofit (DER) to address air tightness, insulation, and high-performance windows. The historic front facade is insulated from the interior, while the rear facade is insulated on the exterior. Together with these building enclosure improvements, we designed an HVAC system comprised of continuous fresh air ventilation, and an efficient, all-electric heating and cooling system to decouple the house from natural gas. This strategy provides optimal thermal comfort and indoor air quality, improved acoustic isolation from street noise and neighbors, as well as a further reduced carbon footprint. We also took measures to prepare the roof for future solar panels, for when the South End neighborhood’s aging electrical infrastructure is upgraded to allow them.
URBAN LIVING. The desirable neighborhood location allows the both the homeowners and tenant to walk, bike, and use public transportation to access the city, while each charging their respective plug-in electric cars behind the building to travel greater distances.
OVERALL. The understated rowhouse is now ready for another century of urban living, offering the owners comfort and convenience as they live life as an expression of their values.
Photography: Eric Roth Photo
The Artisans Group, Inc.Winner of the 2018 Tour of Homes Best Remodel, this whole house re-design of a 1963 Bennet & Johnson mid-century raised ranch home is a beautiful example of the magic we can weave through the application of more sustainable modern design principles to existing spaces.
We worked closely with our client on extensive updates to create a modernized MCM gem.
Extensive alterations include:
- a completely redesigned floor plan to promote a more intuitive flow throughout
- vaulted the ceilings over the great room to create an amazing entrance and feeling of inspired openness
- redesigned entry and driveway to be more inviting and welcoming as well as to experientially set the mid-century modern stage
- the removal of a visually disruptive load bearing central wall and chimney system that formerly partitioned the homes’ entry, dining, kitchen and living rooms from each other
- added clerestory windows above the new kitchen to accentuate the new vaulted ceiling line and create a greater visual continuation of indoor to outdoor space
- drastically increased the access to natural light by increasing window sizes and opening up the floor plan
- placed natural wood elements throughout to provide a calming palette and cohesive Pacific Northwest feel
- incorporated Universal Design principles to make the home Aging In Place ready with wide hallways and accessible spaces, including single-floor living if needed
- moved and completely redesigned the stairway to work for the home’s occupants and be a part of the cohesive design aesthetic
- mixed custom tile layouts with more traditional tiling to create fun and playful visual experiences
- custom designed and sourced MCM specific elements such as the entry screen, cabinetry and lighting
- development of the downstairs for potential future use by an assisted living caretaker
- energy efficiency upgrades seamlessly woven in with much improved insulation, ductless mini splits and solar gain
Bruns ArchitectureTricia Shay Photography
Deck - mid-sized contemporary side yard deck idea in Milwaukee with a roof extension and a fireplace
Deck - mid-sized contemporary side yard deck idea in Milwaukee with a roof extension and a fireplace
Dynamic Garage DoorDynamic Garage Door specializes in Tuscan Architectural beautification in the Newport Beach, CA through our custom designed and hand made architectural shutters, garden gates and garage doors. This Newport-Mesa Tuscan home was exquisitely decorated with a combination of custom gates, decorative shutters and balcony barn door style shutters all handcrafted out of authentic, century-old reclaimed barn wood specifically harvested for this custom project.
Beginning with the balcony shutters which actually slide from side to side like a real barn door we worked a charming rustic shutter design that would typically be seen in the Tuscan Riviera. We opted for sliding shutters as the balcony spacing limited the swing action of even bi-folding shutters. Incorporating real barn door hardware railing and crowing it behind the faux reclaimed wood beam made an excellent statement while adding functional shutters that can be shut close for comfort during the summer morning when the sun beats down into the master suite. The four shutter leafs are decorated with real hand forged dummy straps that were hammered and crafted by hand to achieve that gorgeous rustic charm typical of Tuscan architecture. The reclaimed barn wood from a century-old barn gives off a timeless appearance that increase in characters as the years go by. Because rustic barn wood has already aged beautifully over hundreds of years, the next century will only increase its authentically gorgeous appearance. The culmination of this project has been a meticulous collaborative input of our in-house head designer and the clients themselves. Although the completion of this project is lengthy and intricate, the results speak volumes and the wait simply justifies the outcome.
The rest of thew windows on this Tuscan home have been accessorized with rustic barn wood as well and accentuated with our custom designed and handmade dummy iron hinge straps. Our dummy hardware is so authentically done in the same tradition used for hundreds of years in Europe to create shutter hardware that looks authentic and functional although it is only decorative. The details of our custom shutters is evident in the slightest of details including the bolts used to hold the shutter straps in place. Each of the shutter also has a decorative ring pull with a hand-hammered back plate which enhances the appearance of true functional shutters and defining that authentic Tuscan look.
The beauty of this Tuscan home is visible throughout the entire property including the garden gates, garage doors and entry door. Again, for the garden gates, we went with rustic barn wood carefully crafted to preserve the original surface that has aged over hundreds of years but building the gates on galvanized steel frames that will ensure structural durability for the next few hundred years. The gates are highly secure, sound and can definitely hold back a crowd with authentic rustic charm. Don't be fooled with the simple-looking gate design. It is quite intricate with its 45 degree angle cuts around the perimeter of the trim which deviates water away from crevices that would otherwise make the gates vulnerable to the accumulation of moisture from the elements, sprinkler system or simply air humidity since the home is located near the ocean. Each one of the garden gates is equipped with European style mortise lock mechanisms and roller catches. Dynamic Garage Door gates are not your typical garden gates, they are truly made with quality and durability in mind as well as aesthetic attention to detail. Everything, from the hardware used, the core steel frame and overlay material used is hand selected and approved individually for maximum beauty and timeless appreciation.
At Dynamic Garage Door, we specialize in multiple facet projects that include garden gates, driveway gates as well as barn doors and shutters. It is very important because these are the accessories that can make or break the beauty and continuity of your home's architectural style and authenticity.
Increase your curb appeal and home value with Dynamic Garage Door's gates, shutters and automatic custom garage doors. Our in-house designers would love to speak with you today!
Design Consultation Center: (855) 343-3667
Dynamic Garage DoorDynamic Garage Door specializes in Tuscan Architectural beautification in the Newport Beach, CA through our custom designed and hand made architectural shutters, garden gates and garage doors. This Newport-Mesa Tuscan home was exquisitely decorated with a combination of custom gates, decorative shutters and balcony barn door style shutters all handcrafted out of authentic, century-old reclaimed barn wood specifically harvested for this custom project.
Beginning with the balcony shutters which actually slide from side to side like a real barn door we worked a charming rustic shutter design that would typically be seen in the Tuscan Riviera. We opted for sliding shutters as the balcony spacing limited the swing action of even bi-folding shutters. Incorporating real barn door hardware railing and crowing it behind the faux reclaimed wood beam made an excellent statement while adding functional shutters that can be shut close for comfort during the summer morning when the sun beats down into the master suite. The four shutter leafs are decorated with real hand forged dummy straps that were hammered and crafted by hand to achieve that gorgeous rustic charm typical of Tuscan architecture. The reclaimed barn wood from a century-old barn gives off a timeless appearance that increase in characters as the years go by. Because rustic barn wood has already aged beautifully over hundreds of years, the next century will only increase its authentically gorgeous appearance. The culmination of this project has been a meticulous collaborative input of our in-house head designer and the clients themselves. Although the completion of this project is lengthy and intricate, the results speak volumes and the wait simply justifies the outcome.
The rest of thew windows on this Tuscan home have been accessorized with rustic barn wood as well and accentuated with our custom designed and handmade dummy iron hinge straps. Our dummy hardware is so authentically done in the same tradition used for hundreds of years in Europe to create shutter hardware that looks authentic and functional although it is only decorative. The details of our custom shutters is evident in the slightest of details including the bolts used to hold the shutter straps in place. Each of the shutter also has a decorative ring pull with a hand-hammered back plate which enhances the appearance of true functional shutters and defining that authentic Tuscan look.
The beauty of this Tuscan home is visible throughout the entire property including the garden gates, garage doors and entry door. Again, for the garden gates, we went with rustic barn wood carefully crafted to preserve the original surface that has aged over hundreds of years but building the gates on galvanized steel frames that will ensure structural durability for the next few hundred years. The gates are highly secure, sound and can definitely hold back a crowd with authentic rustic charm. Don't be fooled with the simple-looking gate design. It is quite intricate with its 45 degree angle cuts around the perimeter of the trim which deviates water away from crevices that would otherwise make the gates vulnerable to the accumulation of moisture from the elements, sprinkler system or simply air humidity since the home is located near the ocean. Each one of the garden gates is equipped with European style mortise lock mechanisms and roller catches. Dynamic Garage Door gates are not your typical garden gates, they are truly made with quality and durability in mind as well as aesthetic attention to detail. Everything, from the hardware used, the core steel frame and overlay material used is hand selected and approved individually for maximum beauty and timeless appreciation.
At Dynamic Garage Door, we specialize in multiple facet projects that include garden gates, driveway gates as well as barn doors and shutters. It is very important because these are the accessories that can make or break the beauty and continuity of your home's architectural style and authenticity.
Increase your curb appeal and home value with Dynamic Garage Door's gates, shutters and automatic custom garage doors. Our in-house designers would love to speak with you today!
Design Consultation Center: (855) 343-3667
The Artisans Group, Inc.Winner of the 2018 Tour of Homes Best Remodel, this whole house re-design of a 1963 Bennet & Johnson mid-century raised ranch home is a beautiful example of the magic we can weave through the application of more sustainable modern design principles to existing spaces.
We worked closely with our client on extensive updates to create a modernized MCM gem.
Extensive alterations include:
- a completely redesigned floor plan to promote a more intuitive flow throughout
- vaulted the ceilings over the great room to create an amazing entrance and feeling of inspired openness
- redesigned entry and driveway to be more inviting and welcoming as well as to experientially set the mid-century modern stage
- the removal of a visually disruptive load bearing central wall and chimney system that formerly partitioned the homes’ entry, dining, kitchen and living rooms from each other
- added clerestory windows above the new kitchen to accentuate the new vaulted ceiling line and create a greater visual continuation of indoor to outdoor space
- drastically increased the access to natural light by increasing window sizes and opening up the floor plan
- placed natural wood elements throughout to provide a calming palette and cohesive Pacific Northwest feel
- incorporated Universal Design principles to make the home Aging In Place ready with wide hallways and accessible spaces, including single-floor living if needed
- moved and completely redesigned the stairway to work for the home’s occupants and be a part of the cohesive design aesthetic
- mixed custom tile layouts with more traditional tiling to create fun and playful visual experiences
- custom designed and sourced MCM specific elements such as the entry screen, cabinetry and lighting
- development of the downstairs for potential future use by an assisted living caretaker
- energy efficiency upgrades seamlessly woven in with much improved insulation, ductless mini splits and solar gain
Klopf ArchitectureThree Phases, One Family: Inside a Klopf Eichler Remodel
When an executive mom and her two young children moved into their Eichler, she made a deliberate choice: to renovate the home in a way that honored, rather than erased, the qualities that make Eichlers distinctive in the first place. That decision set the tone for what would become a five-year, three-phase collaboration with architecture and interior design firm Klopf Architecture and general contractor Keycon, that touched nearly every room in the house and, along the way, turned a client-architect relationship into something closer.
Living Through the Work
Unlike many remodels where clients decamp to a rental during construction, this family stayed put through all three phases. That meant the Klopf team didn't just design the home, they watched it get lived in room by room in real time. Phase 1 covered the kitchen and living areas; by the time the team moved into later phases, they had already seen how the family actually used the spaces they'd designed earlier.
That feedback loop and conversations with the client shaped the rest of the project directly. She said “throughout the various phases as they were completed, each day I noticed a new detail,” and shared her feedback with the design team. For instance, she loved the countertops chosen for the kitchen in Phase 1, so those same countertops appeared in the bathrooms designed in later phases. She loved the playful backsplash tile in the kitchen, so a similar sense of pattern and play carried into her bathroom in Phase 2 and a second bath in Phase 3. The result is a home where each phase speaks to the ones before it, rather than reading as a series of disconnected updates.
Opening Up the Center of the House
At the heart of the project was a reorganization of the home's most-used spaces. Klopf reclaimed a former dining area off the great room to build a larger kitchen, opening it directly onto the living space and freeing up room for the family to actually gather for reading, games, meals, TV, and the ordinary business of daily life with two kids and a dog.
New floor-to-ceiling glass panels now connect the living space to the home's atrium, pulling light and views in from both directions, doubling down on the indoor-outdoor connection the style is known for. But more glass also meant less privacy, particularly at the entry, where a new wall of glass would otherwise open the courtyard directly to the street. Klopf's solution was a custom-designed slanted wood slat pivot gate at the front of the house: a piece that lets light filter through while blocking sight lines from passersby. It's a small architectural gesture that solves a real problem, creating privacy without sacrificing the light-filled openness the redesign was built around.
Each of the children's bedrooms was custom-tailored to its occupant, a detail that mattered more with each passing year as the "young kids" in Phase 1 grew into the teenagers they became by the project's close.
Five Years and Increased Capabilities
A project of this length rarely survives with the same team intact, and this one didn't. Klopf’s original project leader left the firm part way through, but John Klopf and Elise Webb remained on the project from start to finish for continuity. Instead of shrinking, the Klopf team actually grew when their new interior design department was formed in 2024. The client was excited about Klopf’s new interiors capabilities, and welcomed Justine Alvarez and Ekaterina Nesterova on board to expand what had been an architectural scope into an architecture-plus-interiors effort. In the end Klopf handled the design from exterior envelope and layout down to the materials, colors, furnishings, décor, and finishing touches.
What began as an architectural renovation ended up as something more comprehensive: a complete reimagining of the home's interiors as well as its bones, extending down to details as small as the containers on the bathroom counter.
Carrying the Vision Through to the Furnishings
Klopf's interior design department helped turn good architecture into a place a family actually lives. The interiors team worked closely with the client on furniture, fabrics, lighting, and accessories, sourcing and coordinating with makers and vendors in both the U.S. and Europe.
The guiding idea was continuity: every piece needed to feel like it belonged in the house, not added to it. The custom counter stools are a good example. Intended to pick up on the cabinetry materials already in the kitchen, they were designed with carefully selected leather so the seating reads as part of the same architectural language. The sofa, rug, pillows, and other pieces followed the same logic, with material, color, and proportion all considered against the architecture they'd sit inside. Even the playful character of the bathroom tile found its way into the furnishings, translating into fun, playful accents in the textiles and finishes while staying period-appropriate to the Eichler itself.
Benefitting from the feedback loop that shaped the architecture from phase to phase, the interiors team took cues from material and design decisions made in earlier phases when selecting the furnishings, so that the finished home reads as one continuous idea rather than a set of separate decisions layered on top of each other.
That continuity came with its own hardships. A few months after furniture purchasing began, new tariffs took effect, affecting the overall furniture budget and adding complexity to ordering and expediting pieces. Developing custom furniture added a further layer of coordination on top of that: aligning fabric and leather samples and wood finishes with the architecture meant close, ongoing communication with makers throughout fabrication. With some pieces produced internationally, lead times, shipping, and customs all had to be carefully managed; in a few instances, that pushed the timeline out further still. In the end, the extra time was worth it: it's what allowed the team to get the materials and details right and keep the design cohesive throughout the home.
A Relationship, Not Just a Project
Ask the Klopf team what made this project unique, and the answer isn't really about square footage or finishes. It's about time. Over five years, the team got to know the family in a way a shorter project never allows — watching the kids head off to summer camp, meeting the foster kittens that passed through the house, getting to know the dog walker's daily routine. It became a professional relationship that was also a personal one.
That closeness extended into the design process itself once the interiors team came on board. The client made a point of involving her kids in meetings about their own rooms, letting them weigh in on the vision and hopes they had for the spaces. Her daughter, in particular, was thrilled at the chance to work with an interior designer and help build her dream room, a small detail that speaks to how thoroughly this project became a family effort, not just a service delivered to one.
That closeness shows up in the house itself. During Phase 1, the client asked everyone involved to sign the pony wall in the new kitchen. The Klopf team, the client, her kids, and the Keycon crew all left their names there, a permanent record of the people who built the house together. The Client said: “I am filled with joy and gratitude to be able to live in such a beautiful space and to have gotten the chance to work with such a talented team. The mark of true artistry is the attention to detail that allows one to experience the design in different ways. One might be looking at the same view, but because of the way the light moves, it’s a totally different perspective.”
By the time the third phase wrapped, there was a running joke on site: nobody actually wanted the project to end, and the team half-seriously floated the idea of a "Phase 4." It's a fitting note for a project defined less by any single renovation than by five years of a family and their architects growing, quite literally, alongside one another.
Klopf Architecture Team: John Klopf, AIA, Elise Webb, Yegvenia Torres-Zavala, Justine Alvarez, and Ekaterina Nesterova
Interior Design and FF&E: Klopf Architecture
Structural Engineer: BASE Design Inc.
Contractor: Keycon Inc.
Photography: ©2026 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2026
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Alair Homes PlanoOur clients came to us wanting to maximize the space they had. They were not planning on moving anytime soon, as they loved their neighborhood. They wanted to renovate the front of their house, which included the front atrium, living room, kitchen, and powder bath. They hated their kitchen because it was completely closed off, had low ceilings, was dark and outdated, not to mention the floors were different in each of these rooms! The pantry was in the breakfast area and the kitchen table became a junk catcher, being the first thing you see when coming in from the garage/laundry room. In their living room, they wanted the spaces on either side of the fireplace to be symmetrical, whether that be bookshelves, a wet bar or closed off. Both parents are working professionals with no time and/or desire to design, create and figure this out on their own. They needed help figuring out how to reconfigure their current space in order to maximize what they already had, as they could not see an obvious solution. They could not envision how it would look so the fact that our designers were able to show them their new kitchen in 3D was pertinent.
We removed the pass-through windows that surrounded the atrium and front dining room, as well as the entire kitchen wall, completely opening up those two rooms. We removed a hall that used to lead between the kitchen and the living room since it was a complete waste of space! The ceilings were raised to 10’ in the kitchen and we were able to leave the skylight, letting in that natural light they wanted. We were able to give them a much larger pantry with tons of shelving and increase the size of their laundry room by utilizing the space of their old breakfast nook.
We relocated the door to the garage into their new elongated laundry room, built a wet bar across from their new larger pantry (with a pocket door) and the flow and functionality of these new spaces is just perfect! All new Waypoint cabinets were installed one two main kitchen surrounding walls painted Linen. Calacatta Bianco Polished Porcelain Tile 4x12 was used for the backsplash. A large eat-at island was installed, painted Stone, where the family can now gather for homework, meals, and mingling. The soft champagne bronze hardware and accent lighting really give this white and gray kitchen a soft classic look.
In the living room, we removed the built-in bookshelves to the left of the fireplace and closed off the wet-bar on the other side, giving them more space in their master suite. White Oak wood flooring, stained Putney, was installed throughout the entire new space, giving it the continuity they were looking for.
In the guest bathroom, Carrara white herringbone marble mosaic 12x12 tile was used on the shower floor and niche, while basic marble Bianco polished 12x24 porcelain tile was used on the walls. Luxart polished chrome traditional hardware gives this timeless bathroom the perfect shine.
Our clients are so happy with the new functionality and look of their space. It has definitely changed their lives in a way they could have never imagined!
The Artisans Group, Inc.Winner of the 2018 Tour of Homes Best Remodel, this whole house re-design of a 1963 Bennet & Johnson mid-century raised ranch home is a beautiful example of the magic we can weave through the application of more sustainable modern design principles to existing spaces.
We worked closely with our client on extensive updates to create a modernized MCM gem.
Extensive alterations include:
- a completely redesigned floor plan to promote a more intuitive flow throughout
- vaulted the ceilings over the great room to create an amazing entrance and feeling of inspired openness
- redesigned entry and driveway to be more inviting and welcoming as well as to experientially set the mid-century modern stage
- the removal of a visually disruptive load bearing central wall and chimney system that formerly partitioned the homes’ entry, dining, kitchen and living rooms from each other
- added clerestory windows above the new kitchen to accentuate the new vaulted ceiling line and create a greater visual continuation of indoor to outdoor space
- drastically increased the access to natural light by increasing window sizes and opening up the floor plan
- placed natural wood elements throughout to provide a calming palette and cohesive Pacific Northwest feel
- incorporated Universal Design principles to make the home Aging In Place ready with wide hallways and accessible spaces, including single-floor living if needed
- moved and completely redesigned the stairway to work for the home’s occupants and be a part of the cohesive design aesthetic
- mixed custom tile layouts with more traditional tiling to create fun and playful visual experiences
- custom designed and sourced MCM specific elements such as the entry screen, cabinetry and lighting
- development of the downstairs for potential future use by an assisted living caretaker
- energy efficiency upgrades seamlessly woven in with much improved insulation, ductless mini splits and solar gain
Klopf ArchitectureThree Phases, One Family: Inside a Klopf Eichler Remodel
When an executive mom and her two young children moved into their Eichler, she made a deliberate choice: to renovate the home in a way that honored, rather than erased, the qualities that make Eichlers distinctive in the first place. That decision set the tone for what would become a five-year, three-phase collaboration with architecture and interior design firm Klopf Architecture and general contractor Keycon, that touched nearly every room in the house and, along the way, turned a client-architect relationship into something closer.
Living Through the Work
Unlike many remodels where clients decamp to a rental during construction, this family stayed put through all three phases. That meant the Klopf team didn't just design the home, they watched it get lived in room by room in real time. Phase 1 covered the kitchen and living areas; by the time the team moved into later phases, they had already seen how the family actually used the spaces they'd designed earlier.
That feedback loop and conversations with the client shaped the rest of the project directly. She said “throughout the various phases as they were completed, each day I noticed a new detail,” and shared her feedback with the design team. For instance, she loved the countertops chosen for the kitchen in Phase 1, so those same countertops appeared in the bathrooms designed in later phases. She loved the playful backsplash tile in the kitchen, so a similar sense of pattern and play carried into her bathroom in Phase 2 and a second bath in Phase 3. The result is a home where each phase speaks to the ones before it, rather than reading as a series of disconnected updates.
Opening Up the Center of the House
At the heart of the project was a reorganization of the home's most-used spaces. Klopf reclaimed a former dining area off the great room to build a larger kitchen, opening it directly onto the living space and freeing up room for the family to actually gather for reading, games, meals, TV, and the ordinary business of daily life with two kids and a dog.
New floor-to-ceiling glass panels now connect the living space to the home's atrium, pulling light and views in from both directions, doubling down on the indoor-outdoor connection the style is known for. But more glass also meant less privacy, particularly at the entry, where a new wall of glass would otherwise open the courtyard directly to the street. Klopf's solution was a custom-designed slanted wood slat pivot gate at the front of the house: a piece that lets light filter through while blocking sight lines from passersby. It's a small architectural gesture that solves a real problem, creating privacy without sacrificing the light-filled openness the redesign was built around.
Each of the children's bedrooms was custom-tailored to its occupant, a detail that mattered more with each passing year as the "young kids" in Phase 1 grew into the teenagers they became by the project's close.
Five Years and Increased Capabilities
A project of this length rarely survives with the same team intact, and this one didn't. Klopf’s original project leader left the firm part way through, but John Klopf and Elise Webb remained on the project from start to finish for continuity. Instead of shrinking, the Klopf team actually grew when their new interior design department was formed in 2024. The client was excited about Klopf’s new interiors capabilities, and welcomed Justine Alvarez and Ekaterina Nesterova on board to expand what had been an architectural scope into an architecture-plus-interiors effort. In the end Klopf handled the design from exterior envelope and layout down to the materials, colors, furnishings, décor, and finishing touches.
What began as an architectural renovation ended up as something more comprehensive: a complete reimagining of the home's interiors as well as its bones, extending down to details as small as the containers on the bathroom counter.
Carrying the Vision Through to the Furnishings
Klopf's interior design department helped turn good architecture into a place a family actually lives. The interiors team worked closely with the client on furniture, fabrics, lighting, and accessories, sourcing and coordinating with makers and vendors in both the U.S. and Europe.
The guiding idea was continuity: every piece needed to feel like it belonged in the house, not added to it. The custom counter stools are a good example. Intended to pick up on the cabinetry materials already in the kitchen, they were designed with carefully selected leather so the seating reads as part of the same architectural language. The sofa, rug, pillows, and other pieces followed the same logic, with material, color, and proportion all considered against the architecture they'd sit inside. Even the playful character of the bathroom tile found its way into the furnishings, translating into fun, playful accents in the textiles and finishes while staying period-appropriate to the Eichler itself.
Benefitting from the feedback loop that shaped the architecture from phase to phase, the interiors team took cues from material and design decisions made in earlier phases when selecting the furnishings, so that the finished home reads as one continuous idea rather than a set of separate decisions layered on top of each other.
That continuity came with its own hardships. A few months after furniture purchasing began, new tariffs took effect, affecting the overall furniture budget and adding complexity to ordering and expediting pieces. Developing custom furniture added a further layer of coordination on top of that: aligning fabric and leather samples and wood finishes with the architecture meant close, ongoing communication with makers throughout fabrication. With some pieces produced internationally, lead times, shipping, and customs all had to be carefully managed; in a few instances, that pushed the timeline out further still. In the end, the extra time was worth it: it's what allowed the team to get the materials and details right and keep the design cohesive throughout the home.
A Relationship, Not Just a Project
Ask the Klopf team what made this project unique, and the answer isn't really about square footage or finishes. It's about time. Over five years, the team got to know the family in a way a shorter project never allows — watching the kids head off to summer camp, meeting the foster kittens that passed through the house, getting to know the dog walker's daily routine. It became a professional relationship that was also a personal one.
That closeness extended into the design process itself once the interiors team came on board. The client made a point of involving her kids in meetings about their own rooms, letting them weigh in on the vision and hopes they had for the spaces. Her daughter, in particular, was thrilled at the chance to work with an interior designer and help build her dream room, a small detail that speaks to how thoroughly this project became a family effort, not just a service delivered to one.
That closeness shows up in the house itself. During Phase 1, the client asked everyone involved to sign the pony wall in the new kitchen. The Klopf team, the client, her kids, and the Keycon crew all left their names there, a permanent record of the people who built the house together. The Client said: “I am filled with joy and gratitude to be able to live in such a beautiful space and to have gotten the chance to work with such a talented team. The mark of true artistry is the attention to detail that allows one to experience the design in different ways. One might be looking at the same view, but because of the way the light moves, it’s a totally different perspective.”
By the time the third phase wrapped, there was a running joke on site: nobody actually wanted the project to end, and the team half-seriously floated the idea of a "Phase 4." It's a fitting note for a project defined less by any single renovation than by five years of a family and their architects growing, quite literally, alongside one another.
Klopf Architecture Team: John Klopf, AIA, Elise Webb, Yegvenia Torres-Zavala, Justine Alvarez, and Ekaterina Nesterova
Interior Design and FF&E: Klopf Architecture
Structural Engineer: BASE Design Inc.
Contractor: Keycon Inc.
Photography: ©2026 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2026
Location: Palo Alto, CA
User A uniform and cohesive look adds simplicity to the overall aesthetic, supporting the minimalist design. The A5s is Glo’s slimmest profile, allowing for more glass, less frame, and wider sightlines. The concealed hinge creates a clean interior look while also providing a more energy-efficient air-tight window. The increased performance is also seen in the triple pane glazing used in both series. The windows and doors alike provide a larger continuous thermal break, multiple air seals, high-performance spacers, Low-E glass, and argon filled glazing, with U-values as low as 0.20. Energy efficiency and effortless minimalism create a breathtaking Scandinavian-style remodel.
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