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Editor’s note: Due to an editing error, the original story initially published with these renovation photos was incorrect and has been updated with the correct story. We apologize for the confusion.
After living in their midcentury modern home in Palo Alto’s Midtown neighborhood for five years, Shannon and Steve Beres decided to tackle what wasn’t working for them and their two children: The family of four not only needed more space, they needed a better way to use the space they had.
Working with architect Helena Barrios Vincent, they soon had a vision of what their fairly nondescript tract house could be: They needed to simplify the flow of the house and think about its functionality.
“Everything’s different,” Shannon said of their newly remodeled home built in the 1950s by Mackay Homes, an early competitor of Joseph Eichler known for their modernist tract style.
That means no more oddly configured bedrooms, tiny primary bathroom or water heater in the kids’ bathroom.
Great room & Kitchen: Bigger, brighter
By pushing out one side of their great room and adding sliding glass doors to the backyard, they gained space for their dining area, which is now located near the kitchen.
They kept the original configuration of the kitchen – and most of the stainless-steel counters – but added new walnut Berkeley Mills cabinets and updated appliances, including a Wolf induction cooktop and range and Bosch dishwasher. They kept their 8-year-old Samsung refrigerator.
Among the family’s favorite changes to the room are: the toe-tap, hands-free faucet over the heightened, deep stainless-steel sink; plenty of rollout drawers for storing containers (and their tops nearby); and the raised ceiling that allows clerestory windows.
Midtown fixer| Embarcadero Media | designed by Linda TaaffeOne challenge was finding someone to craft extra stainless-steel countertop pieces and a new backsplash to accommodate the latest electrical-plug placement requirements.
Above the new fireplace in the great room – by Energy House, which now opens on three sides and has no mantel – is Island Stone textured tile. Benches extend from the bottom of the fireplace for additional seating.
Bedroom: Now a laundry room
A bedroom was transformed into the new laundry room, with a chunk carved out for a desk space in one daughter’s bedroom. The nearby bathroom was radically changed by removing the water heater and replacing it with a tankless electric water heater on an exterior wall. Two sinks and a white quartz counter top the West Elm alder vanity. Instead of an all-glass shower door, they installed glass about one-third of the way across the tub, then added a curtain to assure privacy when sharing the room. Special hooks allow multiple swimsuits to drip into the shower.
The second bedroom was largely untouched.
Primary bedroom: All about the light
The new primary bedroom is all about light – from large windows facing the backyard to the clerestory windows in the raised roof. The customized Kolbe window frames are stained ebony.
Lunada Bay Tile glass subway tiles line the shower in the new primary bathroom, with a tumbled-pebbles mosaic tile floor. Another West Elm vanity, customized by Steve to include a pullout rack for a hair dryer and accessories, is topped by Carrera marble.
Even the large, walk-in closet features skylights, requiring no extra lighting during the day.
Share your remodel story
Have you recently completed a project or are you about to embark on one? Tell us your good (and bad) renovation/remodel stories so we can feature them online to share and inspire other homeowners. Projects must have been completed in the past three years and be located in the cities of Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Woodside or Redwood City. Contact our Home & Real Estate editor: ltaaffe@paweekly.com
All during the 13 months of construction, Shannon said, the family of four lived in their garage, jury-rigging everything from cooking to laundry.
“The kids loved it. It was probably their favorite year,” she said, recalling the Christmas tree suspended from a corner table and the bed they had to bring down every night. “It was like living in an RV,” she added.
Now that they’ve been settled in for a couple of years, the family is ready to take on phase two, which they hope will include changing the front of the house, adding an office and turning the garage into an ADU.
This time, they’ll be able to sleep in their own bedrooms, with a highly functional kitchen and bathrooms.
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Would have like the article to include BEFORE pictures to compare to the ones showcasing the remodel.