Posted in Design Projects, tagged bathroom, Berkeley, botanical, houses, interior window, metal, natural light, Oak, passive solar, remodel, stairway, Vanity, winter sun on July 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
This 2016 remodel recently sold. I was shocked by the selling price. The realtor was kind enough to share her photos. We remodeled the back of the house and the second floor to better connect to the yard and the south light. She also hired Shawn Lovell to build a very special staircase.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged British COlumbia, clean lines, color, fir, Galiano Island, green, green building, houses, Kable lighting, kitchen, lighting design, passive solar, remodel, simplify, steel, wood on June 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
My client for a remodel of a 1960s house on Galiano Island invited my family up to see the almost finished house. (a few details and exterior paint not finished yet)
The location is truly spectacular and I was very happy with the improvements that we made. Improvements included: on the practical side: tightening up the exterior envelope (including new fibercement rainscreen siding, all new windows, & insulation), upgrading to an energy efficient heating system, and adding a HRV, and then rearranging the interior extensively to simplifying and improve the transitions between spaces. The lower level was majorly improved, but it was a pretty straight forward rearrangement breaking it up into more usable rooms, guest suite, familyroom, office and storage. I didn’t include those photos.
The main event is the view to the south to Active Pass and all the way to the Olympic National Park 70 miles to the south. We spent many hours enjoying the view of wildlife and boats from the covered porch.
You can see some before shots of the house here.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Canada, clean, fir, houses, modern, remodel, simple, steel, transitions, wood on September 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
My clients sent me a few photos last week!
Here are a few more photos: 1) Lower floor TV room – nice the way the TV disappears into the dark wall. 2) Primary bath curbless shower 3) Burnt orange Powder room with interior window to adjacent skylight 4) Looking in from the front door 5) Dining room 6) Kitchen – Kitchen features paperstone countertops and dark cabinets…a cantilevered island seating area and the best view in the house.
The initial concept was to remodel and possibly expand the kitchen, relocate the stairs down, fix the funky half wall between living room and hall….improve the primary suite, but we ended up doing a fair bit more. The sunroom was a bit too sunny with all those skylights, and it didn’t have any insulation in the roof, so we made some big changes there. (switched to high south windows instead of the skylights)
The big updates to energy efficiency are not evident in the photos.
There was a lot of good teamwork on this project between the very involved owners, the local builder and architect and myself.
Below are some before and after plans, then a few before photos.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, houses, light, remodel, small projects, translucent floor on May 15, 2024| 2 Comments »
I visited a ten year old project yesterday. This client commissioned me to design a translucent floor in her dark entry hall. There was already a skylight directly above.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged houses, Islanders, metal, process, remodel, steel, structure on March 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Justin Prevadoros, the builder for our Galiano Island project, sent this great photo of his crew testing the steel beam that will span the living room and support a dual purpose hearth & bench.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, bungalow, kitchen, Porch, remodel, small buildings on October 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Not 100% finished…but I visited last week and took some snapshots. This started as a kitchen remodel….but expanded into structural repairs of porch and roof, addition of a small porch on the back, and a tiny half bath in a strange little hallway. The owners chose many of the details themselves…lights, appliances, hardware etc, but McBride Construction and I pulled it all together.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, fun, living architecture, remodel on April 5, 2021| Leave a Comment »
This was a really fun project with creative owners. It was a house with a lot of character to start with, but also in need of reorganizing and re-tuning.
It started off as a duplex. The family lived upstairs and there was a dark, low ceiling rental below. We turned it into a single family home with the addition of a stairs between the floors. The lower floor became a fun space for the two boys plus storage and we moved the water heater out of the attic into the lower floor as well. (Upgrading to an Electric heat pump water heater to serve the main house plus the new ADU behind)
It is always hard to explain the subtle rearranging of the floor plan in a remodel..but one example is flipping a door and a window in the dining area to bend the traffic flow and improve the dining area tremendously.
One of my favorite things about this project and client is the instantaneous lived-in feeling, the retention of spaces like the boys workshop where they can be messy and creative, and the addition of details like the in progress mural on the new cabinets behind the stairs.
Tons more I could say…but pictures are more fun.
Contractor – McBride Construction
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, interiors, kitchen, open plan, process, remodel, value on August 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Since we are in a pandemic I wasn’t able to do a more formal photoshoot of these two projects. I also was not involved in every little decision, but they turned out well and the owners are happy to have nice new kitchens now as they shelter in place. Both projects involved removing a wall between kitchen and dining rooms, new cabinets, layout rearrangements, updated lighting, bar seating, a mix of wood and solid surface counters. One also got a skylight.
This first one was built by McBride Construction (Photos by John McBride)
Wood-topped peninsula between kitchen and dining room makes a great place to informally eat or do homework, but also serves as a buffet for the dining room
Herringbone Tile
The next one was built by 360 Property Solutions
Wall removed between dining and kitchen to let the south light flow through and connect the spaces
Posted in Design Projects, tagged addition, Back Porch, bathroom, Berkeley, energy efficiency, kitchen, remodel, storage on July 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »
The clients desired a refreshed kitchen and another bathroom. They ended up updating much of the house including a new ducted mini split heating system, new patio and porch, insulation and air sealing throughout, interior and exterior paint, and a lot more storage.
I’ll first give you a few before shots of this little stucco house.
We were all pretty happy with the new layout.
Construction by McBride Construction, Landscape by Hornby Garden Design and Construction, Photos by Nancy Kalter Dills, Engineering by Verdant Structural Engineers
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, efficiency, kitchen, remodel, small, tile, triangles, zinc on June 7, 2019| 2 Comments »
This small kitchen is in the center of a small house. The house had been lovingly and artistically updated over the years, but the owners were waiting for the right time to tackle the kitchen. The budget was tight, but the owners had a lot of energy for carefully considering every detail and the contractor, Steve Coleman, was the perfect fit. He had the skill and the patience to accomplish it all.
Most of the cabinet boxes are standard IKEA with the faces upgraded by Steve. The mahogany corner shelves and the refrigerator side panel and upper cabinet are custom made. The cabinet kick and the end panel are zinc with patina. (The end panel has steel behind the zinc so that it is magnetic for displaying pictures) The dark metal kick is quite visible from the entry and livingroom…but by visible I mean it actually nicely disappears into the shadows. Fluorescent recessed lights and dated dining table lighting have been upgraded beautifully. The deep window at the sink got a splash of pale yellow with vertical white tiles below. The range side got a bright red tiled backsplash. The improved below counter storage allowed for the elimination of the cabinets surrounding the cooking area. The range and dishwasher were saved, but a new taller and shallower refrigerator improves the space. The long counter on the sink side is 6 inches deeper than normal which yields more counter space for working and for objects such as toasters and fruit baskets. (Some objects were removed for the photoshoot)
Now all they need is some art on the white walls!
Photos by Nancy Kalter Dills
Posted in Design Projects, tagged addition, Berkeley, framing, process, remodel, small spaces, vaulted ceiling, windowseat on September 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, construction process, excavation, remodel on March 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »
deedsdesign 