A family of passionate athletes and sports aficionados embarked on a remarkable endeavor alongside our team and Studio M Merge. Their vision? To breathe new life into their outdated mid-century modern home and neglected pool, resulting in the dramatic “Sports Enthusiasts’ Hideaway.” The transformative journey focused on opening the interior spaces out toward the beautiful gardens and amenities. The renewed house features expanded open-plan living areas, a new bedroom, and a reimagined primary bath. An attached ADU added a sports bar and a flexible office space that can double as a private guest bedroom. The outdoor spaces were brought to life with the addition of expansive decks, inviting patios, a horseshoe pit, a basketball half-court, refreshing plunge pools, and a lush sports lawn. A pool house artfully frames the view from the pool to the neighboring golf course. This family of five finds themselves immersed in their expanded home and experiential outdoor hideaway. Every element has been thoughtfully designed to cater to their favorite activities, providing a peaceful haven where they can fully indulge their shared passion for sports. Klopf Architecture Project Team: John Klopf, AIA, Angela Todorova, Geoff Campen
Interior Architectural Design: Klopf Architecture
Landscape Architect: Studio M Merge
Contractor: Flegels Construction
Landscape Contractor: Frank & Grossman (phase 1), Garden Group (phase 2)
Photography: ©2013-2023 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2012 through 2020 Location: Los Gatos, CA

Neglected Garden bed and pool area resurfaced, cleaned and painted.
Photo of a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard raised garden bed in Los Angeles for summer.

The Randolph flip is another successful project by an energetic client always looking to fix up a very uncared home and flip it to a lucky buyer. The end result is a very open clean house with many beautiful features. THis home had been neglected for years starting on the outside with very overgrown landscaping making it a very unfriendly looking home nobody would want to approach. We cleaned up the yard gave it some new bright siding. But the real magic happened on the inside by opening up the living room, kitchen and dining area creating a welcome and entertaining amenable space. We relocated the kitchen to give it a better flow and allowing for the kitchen to enlarge in size. Created a more friendly family room by refacing the fireplace in stone and giving everything a fresh look. Upstairs we expanded the master bedroom and gave it a beautiful master bathroom. Take a look and see the transformation! Front door photography, llc

This is a half-acre garden near the center of Towson, so it’s on the edge between urban and suburban. My dad, Wolfgang Oehme, designed the garden initially. After a change in ownership, I was asked to redesign much of the garden since it needed some help since it had been neglected. I designed and installed much of the planting that you see in the photos. I also redesigned the planting for the fish pond, butterfly garden in the rear, pollinator garden in the front, and I install annuals that fill the 9 pots at the front steps and rear deck and patio. I also have designed many fruiting trees and shrubs throughout. I continue to oversee the maintenance of this garden. Photo by Roland Oehme. Original garden, including swimming pool and lily pond, was previously designed by Wolfgang Oehme.

Opportunity: The unusual shape of this space, low ceilings, and poorly located appliances combined to make guests feel cramped and unsure of where to sit in this kitchen. The access doors to the exterior deck begged for more space to make for a more natural flow from the inside out. And the adjacent TV area off of the kitchen felt neglected and disjointed. With some holistic thinking and beautiful details, we were able to turn this awkward space into a focal point of a warm and cozy home. RESULT: The range backsplash became our piece de resistance and our focus on creating a cohesive design of the spaces. A blue/gray and white theme with gold accents evolved and combined to bring it all together.

I gave the house a new look; it previously looked gloomy and neglected. I used high-quality materials, including special ones for plant care and to delay the reappearance of mold. With the right tools and my experience, I was able to finish washing it in two days, which helped my client keep costs low.

The outdoor space is often a neglected area as far as makeovers for holiday festivities are concerned. This Christmas, make sure that your garden space is not left out. Here is a blog with more tips for the purpose. http://blog.californiafenceco.com/5-best-ways-to-decorate-your-garden-with-christmas-lights/

In the winter months that somehow always seem to last at least forever (or even longer, if that's possible), we tend to neglect the spaces of our patios. Mostly because there is no sane reason for us to even exist there. What's the point of being there if it's way too cold to get out of the house unless getting out is absolutely necessary? No point at all. But while we sit at our homes and enjoy the warmth they provide, everything on our patios is left to die in a slow, miserable death. It doesn't probably happen over one winter season or two, but one way or the other, it's simply inevitable. Nothing lasts forever, except probably diamonds, if you believe the Bond movie. Sooner or later there will come a time when you have to dispose of your old patio furniture and get a new set. You will most likely discover it in the spring or summer when the damage is already done. If you need furniture that will last more than just a handful of years, check Toja furniture. We are well known and well liked for the qualities of our furniture which involve great durability and weather-resistance. Our sofas, chair and dining sets are meant to last for a long time and they're designed in a way that never goes out of style.

Design and installed by Good Earth Inc. Turned a bare and neglected lawn into a simple but elegant modern landscape to compliments the modern remodel of the home. Contact Good Earth for information on lawn and home.

After a large renovation in the back of the house, this front room was looking neglected. The space had become cluttered and the furniture didn’t reflect the family’s aesthetic. I interviewed them to determine how they wanted to use the room and why it wasn’t working for them. Then, I created several design mock-ups. Once we landed on a style direction, I provided a shopping list for big items and sourced accessories. Now, this little room is one of their favorites!

Neglected Garden bed and pool area resurfaced, cleaned and painted.
This is an example of a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard raised garden bed in Los Angeles for summer.

Opportunity: The unusual shape of this space, low ceilings, and poorly located appliances combined to make guests feel cramped and unsure of where to sit in this kitchen. The access doors to the exterior deck begged for more space to make for a more natural flow from the inside out. And the adjacent TV area off of the kitchen felt neglected and disjointed. With some holistic thinking and beautiful details, we were able to turn this awkward space into a focal point of a warm and cozy home. RESULT: The range backsplash became our piece de resistance and our focus on creating a cohesive design of the spaces. A blue/gray and white theme with gold accents evolved and combined to bring it all together.

Extensive or compact, no details will be neglected
Minimalist l-shaped marble floor and gray floor enclosed kitchen photo in Los Angeles with a single-bowl sink, open cabinets, white cabinets, marble countertops, multicolored backsplash, marble backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and white countertops

After decades of neglect left its yard overgrown with weeds and wild flora, we have painstakingly restored the landscapes back to a simple and beautiful state where old growth is enhanced by new additions.

Spaces by Jacflash has transformed this old rental home from a neglected, drab space into a luxuriously, ornate and cozy dwelling. We added an elegant crystal chandelier, organically polished table and refined chairs in the dining room, and topped a console table with a large patina mirror held by ornamented corbels while also filling the room with chic and contemporary vignettes. The team also used instant granite, white marble stickers on the master washroom's vanity and tub, along with textured wallpaper as a quick and inexpensive way to revamp the once dated and daunting space.

This Dutch Renaissance Revival style Brownstone located in a historic district of the Crown heights neighborhood of Brooklyn was built in 1899. The brownstone was converted to a boarding house in the 1950’s and experienced many years of neglect which made much of the interior detailing unsalvageable with the exception of the stairwell. Therefore the new owners decided to gut renovate the majority of the home, converting it into a four family home. The bottom two units are owner occupied, the design of each includes common elements yet also reflects the style of each owner. Both units have modern kitchens with new high end appliances and stone countertops. They both have had the original wood paneling restored or repaired and both feature large open bathrooms with freestanding tubs, marble slab walls and radiant heated concrete floors. The garden apartment features an open living/dining area that flows through the kitchen to get to the outdoor space. In the kitchen and living room feature large steel French doors which serve to bring the outdoors in. The garden was fully renovated and features a deck with a pergola. Other unique features of this apartment include a modern custom crown molding, a bright geometric tiled fireplace and the labyrinth wallpaper in the powder room. The upper two floors were designed as rental units and feature open kitchens/living areas, exposed brick walls and white subway tiled bathrooms.

Located in Church Hill, Richmond’s oldest neighborhood, this very early 1900s Victorian had tons of historical details, but the house itself had been neglected (badly!). The home had two major renovation periods – one in 1950’s, and then again in the 1980s’s, which covered over or disrupted the original aesthetics of the house (think open ductwork, framing and drywall obscuring the beautiful mantels and moldings, and the hot water heater taking up valuable kitchen space). Our Piperbear team had to “undo” much before we could tackle the restoration of the historical features, while at the same time modernizing the layout.

Greg Hadley The biggest change to the first floor is the new kitchen. The existing kitchen, pantry, and dining room were three cramped rooms. We combined these three rooms to create one large beautiful kitchen and a mudroom that is central to the family’s everyday life. In order to be able to remove the bearing wall between the dining room and kitchen, we installed a steel beam with columns, all of which are hidden behind walls and in the ceiling.

Lincoln has a lot of woods, woods that have grown up in neglect and are mostly oaks with tall trunks. This habitat creates a dearth of habitat for birds and other edge-loving species. This owner wanted to encourage birds while keeping views to neighbors' yards minimal, and have some large lawn play area that didn't look out of place. We created lobes of lawn within the woods, two large bean-shaped rooms with lots of edge and plant species for supporting birds.