Our clients for this remodel of a 100 year old home in San Francisco’s Liberty Hill neighborhood recently moved to San Francisco. The house they purchased was very stately and had great bones, but lacked a true master suite and had recently been remodeled in a slightly generic modern style. We helped them with projects throughout the house. Our biggest project was creating a true master suite out of two bedrooms and an existing bathroom. We created an open concept bathroom with custom gray lacquer wardrobes and shoe storage units with a dramatic slot skylight overhead. Access to the master bedroom is through this room. The clean lines of the bathroom are complimented by a very long wall hung vanity with a CaesarStone counter which flows into the walk-in shower and becomes the curb. A variety of tiles including locally fabricated tile from Heath Ceramics were carefully selected to create a warm and inviting, yet modern, feeling. Oak floors similar to those in the rest of the house were used throughout the master suite for continuity. By using the same tile on the back wall of the bathroom we were able to create a visual unity from the shower through the vanity and the water closet. Our work also included a new fireplace in the living room. Photography by Christopher Stark.

Built for the Bluff, A Sea Ranch Home is Remade from the Inside Out The house had always been grounded, on an ocean bluff at The Sea Ranch. It sits unencumbered, adjacent to one of the most dramatic stretches of the Sonoma coast with protected commons meadow to the east, uninterrupted Pacific views to the west, and a bluff trail running alongside. What it lacked was the feeling of home, one that could hold up its own against the natural landscape. The owners are entrepreneurs with deep involvement across tech, real estate, and development and they know how things are built. The Sea Ranch house had been in their lives for years, a second residence and a place for family to gather. Built for a different time, it felt more compromising than comfortable. Sitting in a closed off nook, the kitchen fit one cook at a time and turned its back on the rest of the house. The entry was dim and compressed, divided by a structural column that presented itself at exactly the wrong moment. The primary suite was small relative to the view outside it. A large rear bedroom sat behind a lowered ceiling with a bathroom that had never been added. The house was certainly worth the trouble of doing it right. What followed was not one project but four, each with its own design challenge, each addressed over a period of time. Where the House Meets the Ocean The most complex piece of the project, in both structural and spatial terms, was the kitchen expansion. The existing room was a single-person galley squeezed in as an afterthought with no meaningful connection to the dining room, the living space, or the deck outside. To make it useful for a family that cooks and gathers, it needed to grow outward into an existing patio and flow into the rooms around it. A big challenge was the roofline. Several planes at different pitches and angles converged directly where additional volume was needed. A new form had to join that geometry without reading as a correction. The solution found the simplest possible connection between the existing angles, a roofline that from outside the structure, appears entirely original. From the bluff trail where the addition is visible, there is no discernible seam. Inside, the kitchen is now open to the living and dining rooms without interruption. A large sliding glass door connects the space onto the rear deck. The deck itself was expanded and oriented so that the body of the house shields it from the coastal wind which is a common consideration that determines whether outdoor space at The Sea Ranch actually gets used. The result is a room that works for large family gatherings where no one feels cutoff, and one that makes the boundary between being inside and outside easy to ignore. Welcoming Light A structural column stood at the convergence of eight distinct roof planes in the entry. It was load-bearing, but it was also the reason the entry had always felt like a hallway rather than a welcoming arrival. With the structural engineer, a custom steel connector was designed to receive beams from six separate directions, redistributing the load through a single new continuous beam. The column was surgically removed. Three triangular skylights were then cut into the roof above, their shapes drawn from the existing geometry of the planes around them. The entry is now bright and open. The skylights feel native to the structure because they follow the logic already present in the roof. Two Suites, Two Views At opposite ends of the house, the two bedroom suites were each reconfigured, and each found a different way to introduce more of the landscape into the room. An addition to the primary suite extended the structure outward to create a wraparound plan with a loop from the bedroom through bath and closet that had not been possible before. The expansion opened a slot view from the tub and shower toward the ocean. The view is precise and private. The ocean view is present and deliberate. The rear bedroom absorbed an adjacent storage room to transform it into a full second suite with a vaulted ceiling, a large bathroom with a tub, a shower, and a sauna. A private fenced garden courtyard sits just beyond the glass bringing the outdoors inside. The tub was placed so that, looking past the courtyard and through the bedroom beyond, the ocean is visible at the far end. It is a long view and it makes the room feel larger and more settled than its footprint would suggest. Glass on Four Sides, Fire at the Center The main living and gathering room had always been caught between two competing facts: glass on four sides meant exceptional views but at The Sea Ranch, it also meant a cold room. A 360-degree cylindrical fireplace was added at the center on a raised stone base, providing radiant heat in every direction and giving the room a focal point around which a group naturally orients itself, whether that means two people at the end of the day or the whole family after dinner. Owners Who Picked Up the Tools The owner was not a passive client. they came with construction knowledge, specific ideas, and the desire to be an active part of the process, a dynamic that other architects may had found difficult, which Klopf Architecture accepted as an asset. They took it upon themselves to complete some of the work during construction, including the installation of a new radiant heating system beneath the floors. The radiant system added to the older and less-desirable forced-air setup. At The Sea Ranch, that change matters as the house sits close enough to the ocean and moving air competes with the sound of it, where radiant heat does not. Solar panels were added to the roof as part of the new system. Insulation was upgraded throughout the walls, roof, and crawl space. The house that had always had the right setting now holds warmth the way a house on the bluff should. They were also deeply involved in the design and selections throughout, and the finished house reflects both of them in ways that are specific rather than generic. The process took longer and moved through more iterations than a more arms-length relationship might have allowed. The result is more defined and personal because of it. The Landscape Holds Priority Every exterior decision was shaped by The Sea Ranch Design Standards, which require that buildings defer to the landscape around them rather than compete with it. Because this house sits on the bluff and is visible from the public trail, the additions faced a close review. Existing materials were matched. Geometries were resolved. The additions had to become indistinguishable from the original building. From the trail, the house reads exactly as it always has — low, cedar-clad, secondary to the meadow and the water. The setting holds priority. Inside, the house has been remade. Klopf Architecture Project Team: Geoff Campen and Trenton Jewett
Contractor: Shawn Bettega Construction
Photography: ©2025 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2023
Location: The Sea Ranch, CA

Built for the Bluff, A Sea Ranch Home is Remade from the Inside Out The house had always been grounded, on an ocean bluff at The Sea Ranch. It sits unencumbered, adjacent to one of the most dramatic stretches of the Sonoma coast with protected commons meadow to the east, uninterrupted Pacific views to the west, and a bluff trail running alongside. What it lacked was the feeling of home, one that could hold up its own against the natural landscape. The owners are entrepreneurs with deep involvement across tech, real estate, and development and they know how things are built. The Sea Ranch house had been in their lives for years, a second residence and a place for family to gather. Built for a different time, it felt more compromising than comfortable. Sitting in a closed off nook, the kitchen fit one cook at a time and turned its back on the rest of the house. The entry was dim and compressed, divided by a structural column that presented itself at exactly the wrong moment. The primary suite was small relative to the view outside it. A large rear bedroom sat behind a lowered ceiling with a bathroom that had never been added. The house was certainly worth the trouble of doing it right. What followed was not one project but four, each with its own design challenge, each addressed over a period of time. Where the House Meets the Ocean The most complex piece of the project, in both structural and spatial terms, was the kitchen expansion. The existing room was a single-person galley squeezed in as an afterthought with no meaningful connection to the dining room, the living space, or the deck outside. To make it useful for a family that cooks and gathers, it needed to grow outward into an existing patio and flow into the rooms around it. A big challenge was the roofline. Several planes at different pitches and angles converged directly where additional volume was needed. A new form had to join that geometry without reading as a correction. The solution found the simplest possible connection between the existing angles, a roofline that from outside the structure, appears entirely original. From the bluff trail where the addition is visible, there is no discernible seam. Inside, the kitchen is now open to the living and dining rooms without interruption. A large sliding glass door connects the space onto the rear deck. The deck itself was expanded and oriented so that the body of the house shields it from the coastal wind which is a common consideration that determines whether outdoor space at The Sea Ranch actually gets used. The result is a room that works for large family gatherings where no one feels cutoff, and one that makes the boundary between being inside and outside easy to ignore. Welcoming Light A structural column stood at the convergence of eight distinct roof planes in the entry. It was load-bearing, but it was also the reason the entry had always felt like a hallway rather than a welcoming arrival. With the structural engineer, a custom steel connector was designed to receive beams from six separate directions, redistributing the load through a single new continuous beam. The column was surgically removed. Three triangular skylights were then cut into the roof above, their shapes drawn from the existing geometry of the planes around them. The entry is now bright and open. The skylights feel native to the structure because they follow the logic already present in the roof. Two Suites, Two Views At opposite ends of the house, the two bedroom suites were each reconfigured, and each found a different way to introduce more of the landscape into the room. An addition to the primary suite extended the structure outward to create a wraparound plan with a loop from the bedroom through bath and closet that had not been possible before. The expansion opened a slot view from the tub and shower toward the ocean. The view is precise and private. The ocean view is present and deliberate. The rear bedroom absorbed an adjacent storage room to transform it into a full second suite with a vaulted ceiling, a large bathroom with a tub, a shower, and a sauna. A private fenced garden courtyard sits just beyond the glass bringing the outdoors inside. The tub was placed so that, looking past the courtyard and through the bedroom beyond, the ocean is visible at the far end. It is a long view and it makes the room feel larger and more settled than its footprint would suggest. Glass on Four Sides, Fire at the Center The main living and gathering room had always been caught between two competing facts: glass on four sides meant exceptional views but at The Sea Ranch, it also meant a cold room. A 360-degree cylindrical fireplace was added at the center on a raised stone base, providing radiant heat in every direction and giving the room a focal point around which a group naturally orients itself, whether that means two people at the end of the day or the whole family after dinner. Owners Who Picked Up the Tools The owner was not a passive client. they came with construction knowledge, specific ideas, and the desire to be an active part of the process, a dynamic that other architects may had found difficult, which Klopf Architecture accepted as an asset. They took it upon themselves to complete some of the work during construction, including the installation of a new radiant heating system beneath the floors. The radiant system added to the older and less-desirable forced-air setup. At The Sea Ranch, that change matters as the house sits close enough to the ocean and moving air competes with the sound of it, where radiant heat does not. Solar panels were added to the roof as part of the new system. Insulation was upgraded throughout the walls, roof, and crawl space. The house that had always had the right setting now holds warmth the way a house on the bluff should. They were also deeply involved in the design and selections throughout, and the finished house reflects both of them in ways that are specific rather than generic. The process took longer and moved through more iterations than a more arms-length relationship might have allowed. The result is more defined and personal because of it. The Landscape Holds Priority Every exterior decision was shaped by The Sea Ranch Design Standards, which require that buildings defer to the landscape around them rather than compete with it. Because this house sits on the bluff and is visible from the public trail, the additions faced a close review. Existing materials were matched. Geometries were resolved. The additions had to become indistinguishable from the original building. From the trail, the house reads exactly as it always has — low, cedar-clad, secondary to the meadow and the water. The setting holds priority. Inside, the house has been remade. Klopf Architecture Project Team: Geoff Campen and Trenton Jewett
Contractor: Shawn Bettega Construction
Photography: ©2025 Mariko Reed
Year Completed: 2023
Location: The Sea Ranch, CA

Our clients for this remodel of a 100 year old home in San Francisco’s Liberty Hill neighborhood recently moved to San Francisco. The house they purchased was very stately and had great bones, but lacked a true master suite and had recently been remodeled in a slightly generic modern style. We helped them with projects throughout the house. Our biggest project was creating a true master suite out of two bedrooms and an existing bathroom. We created an open concept bathroom with custom gray lacquer wardrobes and shoe storage units with a dramatic slot skylight overhead. Access to the master bedroom is through this room. The clean lines of the bathroom are complimented by a very long wall hung vanity with a CaesarStone counter which flows into the walk-in shower and becomes the curb. A variety of tiles including locally fabricated tile from Heath Ceramics were carefully selected to create a warm and inviting, yet modern, feeling. Oak floors similar to those in the rest of the house were used throughout the master suite for continuity. By using the same tile on the back wall of the bathroom we were able to create a visual unity from the shower through the vanity and the water closet. Our work also included a new fireplace in the living room. Photography by Christopher Stark.

In a wooded area of Lafayette, a mid-century home was re-imagined for a graphic designer and kindergarten teacher couple and their three children. A major new design feature is a high ceiling great room that wraps from the front to the back yard, turning a corner at the kitchen and ending at the family room fireplace. This room was designed with a high flat roof to work in conjunction with existing roof forms to create a unified whole, and raise interior ceiling heights from eight to over ten feet. All new lighting and large floor to ceiling Fleetwood aluminum windows expand views of the trees beyond. The existing home was enlarged by 700 square feet with a small exterior addition enlarging the kitchen over an existing deck, and a larger amount by excavating out crawlspace at the garage level to create a new home office with full bath, and separate laundry utility room. The remodeled residence became 3,847 square feet in total area including the garage. Exterior curb appeal was improved with all new Fleetwood windows, stained wood siding and stucco. New steel railing and concrete steps lead up to the front entry. Front and rear yard new landscape design by Huettl Landscape Architecture dramatically alters the site. New planting was added at the front yard with landscape lighting and modern concrete pavers and the rear yard has multiple decks for family gatherings with the focal point a concrete conversation circle with central fire feature. Everything revolves around the corner kitchen, large windows to the backyard, quartz countertops and cabinetry in painted and walnut finishes. The homeowners enjoyed the process of selecting Heath Tile for the kitchen backsplash and white oval tiles at the family room fireplace. Black brick tiles by Fireclay were used on the living room hearth. The kitchen flows into the family room all with views to the beautifully landscaped yards. The primary suite has a built-in window seat with large windows overlooking the garden, walnut cabinetry in a skylit walk-in closet, and a large dramatic skylight bouncing light into the shower. The kid’s bath also has a skylight slot with light angling downward over double sinks. More colorful tile shows up in these spaces, as does a geometric patterned tile in the downstairs office bath shower. The large yard is taken full advantage of with concrete paved walkways, stairs and firepit circle. New retaining walls in the rear yard helped to add more level usable outdoor space, with wood slats to visually blend them into the overall design. The end result is a beautiful transformation of a mid-century home, that both captures the client’s personalities and elevates the house into the modern age.

Denver Image Photography, Tahvory Bunting
Eat-in kitchen - large traditional medium tone wood floor eat-in kitchen idea in Denver with a farmhouse sink, raised-panel cabinets, medium tone wood cabinets, marble countertops, white backsplash, stone tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

Photography by Anice Hoachlander
Bathroom - contemporary bathroom idea in DC Metro

We’ve come across this particularly where twin’s share a room, and the immediate question is: should we double up on everything or give them their own unique items? Well, the answer (for once) is you can do both! Take a minute to think what characteristics each child displays and slot in favorite colors, tendencies toward frills or no-frills, introvert, extrovert, tomboy, girlie and combine with any functional needs you’ll need to accommodate. Dream up the style you’d like to portray the space in, and then divide and conquer with variations in PALETTE.

Replicating the feel of New Zealand’s Blanket Bay Resort was achieved through the thoughtful selection of hardscape materials: large bluestone pavers for the expansive terrace, as well as impressive granite boulders, outcropping stones, and steps.

Clear Alder wood entry door, with glass panels, oil-rubbed bronze handle set and dark brown accent trim surround.
Inspiration for a mid-sized mid-century modern entryway remodel in Portland with a medium wood front door

Transitional kitchen pantry photo in Nashville

Juliet- Both edgy and graceful, the Juliet has an organic design and fluid lines that flow asymmetrically in counterpoint. Also features an integral pedestal and integrated slotted overflow. Recipient of the very prestigious Good Design award, named Best of Year Honoree 2013 by Interior Design, received Platinum ADEX award and Bronze IDEA award.

Inspiration for a timeless entryway remodel in Las Vegas

Joe Dodd
Design ideas for a modern landscaping in San Diego.

Hydroscapes
Minimalist pool photo in Phoenix

This is a view of the other leg of the L-shaped Her Master Closet; the pocket door opening to the Master Bedroom is at the end of the row of clothes rods. If you've followed the sequence of the last few photos, you should be able to visualize how these spaces were organized for accessibility and economy of movement: Client's rises from right hand side of bed enters the linear bathroom, proceeds to closet which turns back toward bedroom. Wheelchair accessible space, Hafele pull-down clothes rods.The cabinets are maple, the floor No. 1 select hickory. Photo: David H. Lidsky Architect

Dovetailed Select Hard Maple Pans Drawer Photo by David Bowen
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary u-shaped ceramic tile enclosed kitchen remodel in New York with a single-bowl sink, flat-panel cabinets, light wood cabinets, marble countertops, gray backsplash, glass tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and no island

Michelle Jones Photography
Kitchen - mid-sized transitional u-shaped porcelain tile kitchen idea in Austin with a farmhouse sink, shaker cabinets, gray cabinets, quartz countertops, gray backsplash, stone tile backsplash, stainless steel appliances and an island

This young growing family was in desperate need of a Master suite for the themselves. They wanted to convert their loft and old small bathroom into their master suite. This small family home located in heart of City of Falls Church. The old bathroom and closet space were under the front dormer and which 7 ½ feet ceiling height, small closet, vinyl floor, oddly placed toilet and literally lots of wasted space. The wanted it all, high ceiling, large shower, big free-standing tub, decorative old look tile, private commode area, lots of storage, bigger vanities and much much more Agreed to get their full wish list done and put our plans into action. That meant take down ceiling joist and raise up the entire ceiling. Raise up the front dormer to allow new shower placement. The double headed large shower stall tiled in with Persian rug flower pattern floor tile and dome ceiling behind the Barn style glass enclosure is the feature wall of this project. The toilet was relocated in a corner behind frosted glass pocket doors, long five panel door style was used to upscale the look of this project. A new slipper tub was placed where used to be dead space behind small shower area, offering space for large double vanity space as well. A built-in cabinetry with spa look was taken over south wall given more storage. The wise selection of light color wood plank floor tile contrasting with chrome fixtures, subway wall tiles and flower pattern shower floor creates a soothing bath space.