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Posts Tagged ‘small buildings’

Some Great Recent Work

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Accessory Dwelling Units, Berkeley, bright colors, cabinets, color, details, Emeryville, energy efficiency, framing, Limeplaster, process, skylight, small buildings on December 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We have been busy with all sorts of great projects the last few months. Here are a few snapshots.

Mudroom Bench – Very similar to one we did 10 years ago, but customized to perfectly fit the new space: narrower on one wall than the other. The lid is solid ash and the rest is painted. I need to get some photos of the blue interior. Thanks to Kelly Best and McBride Construction for the excellent craftsmanship.

Copper induction range with battery and walnut knobs (Berkeley company!)

SANCO₂ heat pump hot water heater (tank inside, heatpump outside) that doubles as house heating system (Harvest System)

ADU slab..getting ready for the concrete pour

The slab was poured and beautiful saw cut control joints added. Now the structural framing is underway. The tolerances are very tight in these small living spaces. Every inch matters. I was delighted to discover that the concrete work and framing has resulted in walls that match my drawings to the 1/16 inch.

Framing Underway (Oscar of McBride Construction hard at work)

A small addition at the back of a small Berkeley house (we moved the storage, laundry and water heater to the middle and put the kitchen, dining nook, half bath, and reading nook at the back of the house by the yard. I like the deep eave over the door and windows and the pretty fir rafter tails

We added a skylight in the middle of the house…a lot of bang for the skylight buck. To right of skylight is laundry, pantry, and mechanical space and to the left is the kitchen and then the back yard.

Finally did a photoshoot at a recently finished Accessory Dwelling Unit in the Berkeley Hills. Below you will see the photographer, Lenny Gonzalez, and the photoshoot models Eowyn & John.

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Very Small ADU with Redwood Barn Shakes

Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, barn shakes, Berkeley, curbless shower, redwood, small buildings, wood on June 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

This ADU is 160 SF. Backyard is small and client chose not to move the ADU to 4′ setbacks and enlarge because it would make the usable yard even smaller. It was quite challenging to fit all the Accessory Dwelling Unit requirements in such a tiny space. We got the redwood shakes from Humboldt county, Doors are Blomberg and the high performance skylights have exterior shades.

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Berkeley Hills Accessory Dwelling Unit Getting Close!

Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, Berkeley, color, Lime Plaster, process, small buildings on June 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Here are a few exterior shots of the integral color plaster walls. Action shots of the plastering team at work courtesy of Michael Scott.

The tiny house with its venerable mother house adjacent

Interior and detail shots will hopefully be forthcoming, (hard to get photos in such a small space with ongoing work and protection in place) but the exterior is really looking good.

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ADU Underway Up The Hill

Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, Berkeley, eaves, housing, process, small buildings, wood, WUI on January 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The owner took these photos for me of our little ADU taking shape. In the first photo you can see our 4×6 rafter tails with a curve. These will get gyp sheathing above with non flammable (Hardiboard & Boral) material on the outside. No venting. (Roof sheathing is kept above the dewpoint with rigid insulation on top.) The lower eaves that are less visible will be enclosed completely. The last photo is john rabbeting one of the exposed fir beams for the interior.

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Remodel of a 1910 Bungalow

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.

Felix in his new kitchen — Felix in his new Kitchen

We moved the door between kitchen and living room over a foot and made room for this wall of storage & small appliances to left of range (Where once there was a blank wall)

Induction range with functional shelf and decorative shelf for art above the hood

The porch and railing was entirely rebuilt and we added some little LED lights in the posts

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East Bay Green Home Tour This Weekend!

Posted in Design Projects, Information, tagged Accessory Dwelling Units, Berkeley, Electrification, green, small buildings, Strawbale, tiny houses on May 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

John McBride and I have two projects on this years tour. A strawbale accessory dwelling unit and a stick framed accessory dwelling unit. We are proud of both projects and put a lot of extra heart and soul into them. The tour is free. you just sign up HERE. I’ll be there to answer questions.

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Music Studio again

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, copper, fasteners, lighting design, McBride Construction, metal, music studio, rooflet, small buildings on August 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »

This was a remodel and tune-up of an existing music studio and adjacent decks and stairs

Bent copper rooflet and extra large craftsman sconce

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Music Studio Lighting

Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, lighting design, small buildings on August 3, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I went up to check out the lighting installation at the little music studio. Cable lighting can look very 80s…but sometimes it works well and allows for a very flexible solution. Exterior lights are large arts and crafts lanterns. No photo of the pathway lighting…stay tuned for a few more photos soon.

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Recent ADU Kitchen

Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, appleply, Berkeley, kitchen, practical, small buildings on July 14, 2021| 1 Comment »

It turned out nicely. I’d like to have a drying rack/dish storage hanging over my drainboard sink too.

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Snapshots of a recent ADU in West Berkeley

Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, Berkeley, details, green, lighting design, process, small buildings on June 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »

First here is a 3d model we built as a schematic design tool. A few things changed and not all the details are there, but you can get a sense of the overall layout.

This one was a rebuild of an existing garage. (We had to rebuild it to meet the energy standards for habitable space, but we had to keep it the same as the garage in footprint, height, and roofline. ) The owners wanted to keep it simple…and kind of traditional. We think it turned out well.

The heating is a Fujitsu minisplit, the insulation is beyond code including slab edge insulation, lighting is all LED, high efficacy, & high CRI. A spot HRV keeps the air fresh even when the owners are out of town.