By Serena Brown
As a few of our projects start hitting the finishing stages, office sites visits have been popping up on our calendar. Today about half of the office gathered bright and early in St. Francis Wood to check out a home that’s set to be move-in ready within the next two weeks.
The project of interest is a full remodel of a single-family home constructed in 1916. The original designer, Henry H Gutterson, designed 83 homes in the St. Francis neighborhood, combining revival-style architecture with his own personal tastes.
Being located on a prominent double lot provides the house and yard considerable space for San Francisco. Our tour began on the bottom floor in what used to be part of the basement but has since been excavated and converted into the family room. The lower floor also houses a guest suite, office/gym, and a large playroom for the entire family with access to the backyard. Despite being lower than ground level, large clerestory windows allow for natural light to stream into the space.
After donning our paper shoe covers to protect the reclaimed teak flooring, our group headed up to the main floor to scope out the great room, kitchen, living room, and dining room. The southern wall of the great room was pushed out and a deck was added for more living space. A fireplace sits along the west wall, with ventilation sneaking up from behind the TV to the roof. A second fireplace can be found in the living room, along with a few light fixtures that got our designers talking.
The top floor houses three kids’ rooms, as well as the master suite. The color scheme throughout the house is soft and minimal, sans the creative bathroom wallpapers (our favorite was the leafy gold main powder room). Alongside the stair, a gorgeous wall of reclaimed cedar climbs steadily upwards toward the ceiling, a simple backdrop to what will soon be a beautiful chandelier.
Unlike our last office site visit, this house had so much to see. Thus, our tour “group” split off into smaller pods of people, based on interest and walking speed. Chris and I took the time to walk around the exterior as he explained the level of excavation that took place to create the lower floor. The back retaining wall is still in process and the landscape has yet to be started, but it’s easy to see how all the pieces will come together. As we were leaving, one of the client’s children appeared looking for his dad. After asking one of the construction workers if he could enter the structure, he received the answer “of course! It’s your house.” Perhaps once the finishes go up and the scaffolding comes down, it’ll feel more like a home.
It’s always interesting to see projects in different stages of construction, besides simply through photos. There are a few projects on the boards that are coming together, so hopefully we’ll visit some of those next. Stay tuned!