I’ve never seen one of these before, and then I saw two! Similar, but slightly different variations.
Posts Tagged ‘wood’
Inspired Carved Post Finial
Posted in Found Objects, tagged carved post, carving, decks and railings, details, finial, Massachusetts, octadecahedon, post, tetradecahedron, whimsy, wood on August 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Back of House Rearrangements
Posted in Design Projects, tagged Berkeley, chicago faucet, green, harvest, heat pump hot water heater, houses, John Mcbride, kitchen, McBride Construction, natural stone counters, process, remodel, salvaged fir, sanco2, skylight, small buildings, small houses, stone countertops, wood on March 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »
This was a very typical job here in Berkeley. So many older houses have strange, bad additions at the back of the house. Perhaps when they were built people still had garbage dumps in their backyards and had no interest in connecting their living space to the yard. These guys had a badly built 1950s era closet tacked on to the back of their kitchen that contained the laundry and a bunch of other stuff. We moved the laundry and all the storage to the middle of the house and moved the kitchen to the back, adding a dining nook and a half bath and a very small extension to the back bedroom.
The owner is still finishing up details like the nook and the pantry so I will hopefully have one more update on this project.
Recent ADU in the Hills
Posted in Design Projects, tagged accessory dwelling unit, ADU, Berkeley, Berkeley Hills, bright colors, cabinets, colors, coral green, cottage, fir, Limeplaster, small bathroom, small buildings, wildfire, wood on February 25, 2026| 2 Comments »
I am finally getting around to sharing the photos of this recent 440 SF Accessory Dwelling Unit. It is an unusual shape due to many constraints including preserving the bay views from the main house, and preserving as much garden as possible. It is also located on an active landslide and in a wildland -urban interface with strict wild fire safety provisions.
2017 Visit to the Faculty Club
Posted in Found Objects, tagged animal beam ends, eyes on beams, Faculty Club, Maybeck, monster beam ends, nostrils, teeth, wood on February 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »
I was looking for these photos of an inspiring architectural tour…old phone photos, but such a cool spot. We’ve done a few monster beam ends inspired by these.
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.
Visit to Island Remodel Project
Posted in Design Projects, tagged British COlumbia, clean lines, color, fir, Galiano Island, green, green building, houses, Kable lighting, kitchen, lighting design, modern, paperstone, passive solar, remodel, simplify, steel, tile, 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.
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.
Snapshots of Remodel and Energy Upgrade in Point Reyes
Posted in Design Projects, tagged bathroom, bespoke, design, diamonds, fir, green, home, houses, interior design, Inverness, kitchen, LED, lighting design, patterns, Point Reyes, Porch, tile, wood, wood-carving on September 26, 2024| 2 Comments »
Some More Snapshots of Recent Remodel on an Island in British Columbia
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!
The ceiling transitions from vaulted in the kitchen to flat elsewhere, and the wall between living and hallway stops short of the ceiling to allow for privacy and natural light beyond the wall. (Most of the windows are on the south side)
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.
Bathroom
Posted in Design Projects, tagged ash, bathroom, Berkeley, color, lighting design, marmoleum, metrolighting, paperstone, wood on May 14, 2024| 2 Comments »
I just realized that I never added this recent bathroom remodel to my digital diary. I wish I had a photo of the tiled shower surround because it is really pretty, but here is the vanity.
The countertop is Paperstone (FSC certified and also acoustically and thermally more like wood than most counters, but very durable) The bright purple floor is Marmoleum. The cabinet and mirror frame are ash. The light is from Metrolighting in Berkeley. The white rectangle is a secret cabinet. 🙂 There is space under the vanity for scale, stool, & waste bin….even a basket of bath toys.
A Tiled Backsplash from the Forest and Island Posts from a Castle.
Posted in Design Projects, tagged ash, diamonds, eclectic, green, houses, kitchen, lighting design, patterns, whimsy, wood on March 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
We still are not ready for a full photo shoot, but we got a chance to visit this project in Inverness over the weekend. The remodel (Bay Builders general contractor) was extensive and included many upgrades to the exterior for energy efficiency, wild fire safety and general design improvement. We got to have some fun in the interior including the green Arto tile backsplash and the handmade ash island posts with diamonds cut into them. (They match the three redwood posts on the back porch)
Diamond Post in Ash
Posted in Design Projects, tagged ash, details, kitchen, process, wood on March 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Weve done a few of these in fir for interior and exterior, but this is the first one in ash. It will support a sitting area at the end of a kitchen island. Ill post photos after it is installed.
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