The owners of this kitchen had spent the money to upgrade the finishes in their kitchen upon building the home 12 years ago, but after living in the space for several years they realized how nonfunctional the layout really was. The (then) two preschool aged children had grown into busy, hungry teenagers with many friends who also liked to hang out at the house. So the family needed a more functional kitchen with better traffic flow, space for daily activities revolving around the kitchen at different times of day, and a kitchen that could accommodate cooking for and serving large groups. Furthermore, the dark, traditional finishes no longer reflected the homeowners’ style. They requested a brighter, more relaxed, coastal style that reflected their love of the seaside cities they like to visit. Originally, the kitchen was U-shaped with a narrow island in the middle. The island created narrow aisles that bottle-necked at the dishwasher, refrigerator, and cooktop areas. There was a pass-through from the foyer into the kitchen, but the owners never liked that the pass-through was also located so close to the powder room. The awkward proximity was unappealing and made guests feel uncomfortable. The kitchen’s storage was made up of lots of narrow cabinets, apothecary drawers, clipped corner units, and very few drawers. It lacked useful storage for the larger items the family used on a daily basis. And the kitchen’s only pantry was small closet that had only builder-grade, narrow shelving with no illumination to be able to see the contents inside. Overall, the kitchen’s lighting plan was poorly executed. Only six recessed cans illuminated the entire kitchen and nook areas. The under cabinet lighting was not evenly distributed either. In fact, the builder had mis-placed the under cabinet lighting around the decorative pilasters which made for choppy, dark cubbies. Further, the builder didn’t include any lighting over the sink or the bar area, which meant whoever was doing the dishes was always in their own shadow. That, coupled with the steep overhang of the game room above made the bar area feel like a dim, cavernous space that wasn’t inviting or task oriented. The kitchen looked out into the main living space, but the raised bar and a narrow wall (which held the only large cabinet in the kitchen) created more of a barrier than a relationship to the living room or breakfast nook. In fact, one couldn’t even see the breakfast nook from the cooktop or sink areas due to its orientation. The raised bar top was too narrow to comfortably sit to either dine at or chat from due to the lack of knee space. The the homeowners confided that the kitchen felt more like a dark, dirty prison than place where the family, or their guests, wanted to gather and commune. The clients' needs and desires were: ➢ to create a kitchen that would be a space the family loved to be in; to relate to the adjacent spaces all around, and to have better flow for entertaining large groups ➢ to remove the walls between the breakfast nook and living area and to be able to utilize the natural light from the windows in both those areas ➢ to incorporate a functional chopping block for prepping fresh food for home cooked meals, an island with a large sink and drain board, 2 pull out trash cans, and seating for at least the 2 teens to eat or do homework ➢ to design a kitchen and breakfast nook with an airy, coastal, relaxed vibe that blended with the rest of the house's coastal theme ➢ to integrate a layered lighting plan which would include ample general illumination, specific task lighting, decorative lighting, and lots of illuminated storage ➢ to design a kitchen with not only more storage for all the husband’s kitchen gadgets and collection of oils and spices, but smart storage, including a coffee/breakfast bar and a place to store and conceal the toaster oven and microwave ➢ to find a way to utilize the large open space between the kitchen, pantry area, and breakfast nook Twelve Stones Designs achieved the owner's goals by: ➢ removing the walls between the kitchen and living room to allow the natural light to filter in from the adjacent rooms and to create a connection between the kitchen, nook, and living spaces for a sense of unity and communion ➢ removing the existing pantry and designing 3 large pantry style cabinets with LED tape lights and rollout drawers to house lots of kitchen appliances, gadgets, and tons of groceries. We also took the cabinets all the way up to the 9’ ceiling for additional storage for seasonal items and bulk storage. ➢ designing 2 islands - 1 with a gorgeous black walnut chopping block that houses a drawer for chopping and carving knives and a custom double pull out trash unit for point of use utilization - and 1 that houses the dishwasher, a large Blanco Gourmet sink with integrated drain board, woven baskets for fresh root vegetables and kitchen towels, plenty of drawer storage for kitchen items, and bar seating for up to 4 diners. ➢ closing off the space between the kitchen and the powder room to create a beautiful new private alcove for the powder room as well as adding some decorative storage. This also gave us space to include more tall storage near the new range for precision placement of the husband’s extensive oil and spice collection as well as a location for a combo-steam oven the wife wanted for baking and cooking healthy meals. The project is enhanced functionally by: ➢ incorporated USB and standard receptacles for the kids’ laptops and phone charging in the large island ➢ designing the small island to include additional open shelving for items used on a daily basis such as a variety of bowls, plates, and colanders. This set up also works well for the husband who prefers to “plate” his dinners in restaurant-style fashion before presenting them to the table. ➢ the integration of specific storage units, such as double stacked cutlery drawers, a custom spice pull-out, a Kuerig coffee and tea pod drawer, and custom double stacked utensil drawers ➢ moving the refrigerator to the old oven location - this eliminated the bottle neck as well as created a better relationship to the eating table. It also utilizes the floor space between the pantry, nook, and kitchen ➢ creating a banquet style breakfast nook - this banquette seating not only doubles the amount of seating for large gatherings but it better utilizes the odd space between the kitchen and the previous nook area. It also helps to create a distinct pathway from the mudroom room through the pantry area, kitchen, nook, and living room. ➢ the coffee/breakfast bar area which includes the perfect location for the concealed microwave and toaster oven, convenient storage for the coffee pods and tea accoutrements. Roll-out drawers below also house the smoothie maker, hot water kettle, and a plethora of smoothie-making ingredients such as protein powders, smoothie additives, etc. Furthermore, the drawers below the Keurig house measuring utensil, cutlery, baking supplies and tupperware storage. ➢ incorporating lots of wide drawers and pullouts to accommodate large cookware. ➢ utilizing as much vertical space as possible by building storage to the ceiling which accommodates the family’s abundant amount of serving platters, baking sheets, bakeware, casserole dishes, and additional cutting boards. The project is enhanced aesthetically by: ➢ new 5-piece Versailles pattern porcelain tile that now seamlessly joins the entire down stairs area together creating a bright, cohesiveness feeling instead of choppy separated spaces - it also adds a coastal feeling ➢ designing a cabinet to conceal the microwave and toaster oven ➢ the coastal influenced light fixtures over the nook table and island ➢ the sandy colors of the Langdon Cambria countertops. The swirling pattern and sparkling quartz pieces remind the homeowner of black-and-tan sandy beaches ➢ the striped banquet seating whose creamy white background and blue-green stripes were the inspiration for the cabinet and wall colors. ➢ All the interior doors were painted black to coordinate with the blacks and grays in the backsplash tile and countertop. This also adds a hint of tailored formality to an otherwise casual space. ➢ the use of WAC's Oculux small aperture LED units for the overhead lighting complimented with Diode LED strips for task lighting under the cabinets and inside the pantry and glass wall cabinets. All of the lighting applications are on separate dimmer switches. Innovative uses of materials or construction methods by Realty Restoration LLC: ➢ Each 1-1/2” x 3” block of reclaimed end-grain black walnut that makes up the center island chopping block was hand milled and built in the shop. It was designed to look substantial and proportional to the surrounding elements, executed by creating the 4 inch tall top with a solid wood chamfered edge band. ➢ The metal doors on either side of the vent hood were also custom designed for this project and built in the Realty Restoration LLC shop. They are made 1x2, 11-gauge mild steel with ribbed glass. Weighing 60 lbs a piece, heavy duty cabinet hinges were added to support the weight of the door and keep them from sagging. ➢ Under-cabinet receptacles were added along the range wall in order to have a clean, uninterrupted backsplash. Design obstacles to overcome: ➢ Because we were removing the demising walls between the kitchen and living room, we had to find a way to plumb and vent the new island. We did this by tunneling through the slab (the slab had post tension cables which prevented us from just trenching) to run a new wet vent through a nearby structural wall. We pulled the existing hot and cold lines between upper floor joists and ran them down the structural wall as well and up through a conduit in the tunnel. ➢ Since we were converting from wall overs to a gas range it allowed us to utilize the 220 feed for the wall ovens to provide a new sub panel for all the new kitchen circuits ➢ Due to framing deficiencies inherited from the original build there was a 1-1/2” differential in the floor-to-ceiling height over a 20 foot span; by utilizing the process of cutting and furring coupled with the crown moulding details on the cabinet elevations we were able to mask the problem and provide seamless transitions between the cabinet components. Evidence of superior craftsmanship: ➢ uniquely designed, one-of-a-kind metal “X” end panels on the large island. The end panels were custom made in the Realty Restoration LLC shop and fitted to the exact dimensions of the island. The welding seams are completely indistinguishable - the posts look like they are cut from a single sheet of metal ➢ square metal posts on the small island were also custom made and designed to compliment and carry through the metal element s throughout the kitchen ➢ the beautiful, oversized end panels on the pantry cabinets which give the breakfast nook a tailored look ➢ integrating a large format 5 piece Versailles tile pattern to seamlessly flow from the existing spaces into the new kitchen space ➢ By constructing a custom cabinet that jogged around a corner we could not remodel (housing the entry way coat closet) we were able to camouflage the adjacent wall offset within the upper and lower cabinets. By designing around the existing jog in the structural walls we accomplished a few things: we were able to find the space to house, and hide, the microwave and toaster oven yet still have a clean cohesive appearance from the kitchen side. Additionally, the owners were able to keep their much needed coat closet and we didn’t have to increase the budget with unnecessary structural work.

Three 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

Three 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

Solar Luminance – Semi-Custom Daylight Light Fixture Model#: DLF-149 Style: Semi-Flush Pendant Finish: Brushed Nickel *Note: Price does not include Daylight Tube Product and/or Installation Semi-Custom Product Shipment Lead Time: 6-10 Weeks* The Solar Luminance DLF-149, is an Architectural Element Transitional Semi Flush Pendant, designed to assist the home owner, retail location and/or office location, the ability to benefit from Natural Daylight available with Tubular Skylight systems, while also reflecting your custom interior design and décor theme and needs. Natural Daylight provides incredible mental and physical health and wellness benefits that help the human body and mind maintain a sense of time, absorb natural vitamins, and work with the human eye to perceive color and definition in clarity and contrast to increase visual awareness. Our hope is that your friends, colleagues and guests will be “Inspired & Design” in a way that is both elegant and considerate of the impact we have on the earth and its resources. The DLF-149 is a Semi-Custom Fixture. Full Custom Versions and Options are available for price quote. Please feel free to contact a Solar Luminance Design Assistant for Full Custom Options. Product Specification (List Price based on the following) Over All Dimensions: Over All Height: 22” Shade Dims: 10” H. X 24” Dia. – ¾” Metal Trim with 1” Opening Square Weld Metal Mesh Drop Length: 12” Column Sleeve Diameter: 11 3/4” Dia. Center Wireway: (1) 3/8” Dia. Wireway Hangers: (4) Medium Oval Standard Chain (3 and 4 Hanger Options Available) (Chain available in Various Size Options, pricing may vary) Lamping Specification Daylight Tube System*: 10” Dia. Daylight Tube System – Includes Dome, Flashing, 8’-0” Length of Tube Extension, Tube Manufacturer provided Installation, Product and Installation Warranty 10” Diameter Tube provides the Equivalent of (10) 100Watt White Lamps Secondary Lamping Canopy Lamping: (1) 1.8 Watts (Per Foot) - 48”L. - LED Flex Strip, 5,000K - 12 Volts DC (Lamp Life: 50,000 Hour Rating) Candelabra Lamping: (6) 3.5Watt LED Candelabra Based Screw in Torpedo Warm White Bulbs, 120v 2700K (25Watt Equiv.) (Provided by Solar Luminance) Finish Specification and Materials Metal Finish: Brushed Nickel (Available in other Color Options – Some Color Options may require a price adjustment) Glass Diffuser: Clear Glass (Sandblasted Interior) (Not Tempered) Product Notes Daylight Tubular Product is Supplied and Installed by Tube Product Manufacturer. Tube Product Manufacturer is responsible for all Product, Installation, Warranty, and Service of Tube Related issues. Solar Luminance is not responsible for any errors and/or omissions related the tube related issues that may arise. Solar Luminance will assist in sourcing a local and/or regional Daylight Tubular Product Supplier and Installer, to assist with Roof and Ceiling inspection and Tube supply and Installation. Solar Luminance is not responsible for the Tube Installers quality of work or service. All Secondary Electrical must be performed by a Licensed and/or certified Electrician and/or General Contractor. Solar Luminance is not responsible for the Installation of the fixture. Solar Luminance is not responsible for any errors and/or omissions, damaged and or fault or injury caused by the general contractor. Shipping and Payments Shipping and/or Freight is the responsibility of the purchaser. Solar Luminance will supply a quote based on the fixture size, weight, crating method and delivery location, prior to commencement of fabrication and production. All Finishes and Semi-Custom Modifications must be Signed and Approved via the Solar Luminance Client Approval Drawings, in order for your Custom Daylight Light Fixture to begin Fabrication and Production. Any and all Price adjustments and shipping and/or freight must be paid in full prior to shipment of product. Semi-Custom Product Shipment Lead Time is estimated at 6-10 Weeks, to begin upon receipt of all of the following: • Receipt of full payment • Receipt of signed & approved Client Approval Drawings • Receipt and Confirmation of Approved Finish and Materials • And Verification and Approval of All Price adjustments for Custom Modifications and Shipping and/or Freight Cost Return Policy Product must be inspected upon arrival and receipt of product, at the designated delivery location. Any damage must be reported to Solar Luminance in a written statement of reported damage, by email (Sales@SolarLuminance.com), along with dated and time stamped photo documentation of reported damage. Report of product damage must emailed within 24 hours of receipt of product. Solar Luminance will work with Purchaser and/or Purchasers Agents, to replace and/or fix any damaged and/or missing parts in a timely manner. If damage occurs and/or is reported beyond the 24 hour reporting period Solar Luminance maintains no liability and/or responsibility for the product and/or its condition. Solar Luminance does take pride in our work, craftsmanship, and product, so we do promise to provide exceptional support in remedying any situation that may arise related to your fixture. We do promise to do all that we can to make you happy with your Custom Solar Luminance Daylight Light Fixture. Please feel free to contact us with any Questions or Concerns you may have. Sales@SolarLuminance.com (855) 687-6233 A California based company.

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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

Three 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