Atwater - Spanish Revival Remodel
Atwater Village - Spanish Revival Remodel with Contemporary Updates and Bold Color
A remodeled, classic Atwater Spanish bungalow shows update a historic home, while preserving character. Our client loved her historic home but was ready for a refresh with some long overdue kitchen-bath-bedroom updates, sorely needed closet space and that half-bath she had always wanted. Plus improvements to indoor-outdoor flow. But had some limitations to work through to achieve the design. The biggest hurdle was that the house was maxed out in square footage allowed by the zoning code … there was nowhere to grow. We had to get clever and make all the updates within the existing house footprint.
To get clever we laser focused our design efforts. We carefully preserved the historic character of the front of the house, with gentle updates to living and dining spaces. However, the rear of the house was a different matter. The back of the house demanded a full makeover. Poof went the rabbit warren of backrooms that were a source of frustration for years and clogged the connection to the outdoors. We consolidated all that square footage into one simpler volume and successfully kept to the original house footprint. By adding new windows, skylights, sliding glass doors and wall openings, we transformed congested, dark cramped spaces into beautiful, airy, high ceiling-ed, light filled spaces. Where there was darkness, the was now, a new graceful arched opening allowing light and air to flow into a brand new kitchen and to the rear courtyard. Where there was no access, there was now sliding glass doors letting in the breeze and a wet bar with a bar window allowing entertaining to unfold on the new courtyard. Where there was a cramped Primary bedroom, with no closet space, there was now new windows and a nice walk-in closet and an ensuite bath.
For the kitchen, lucky for us, our client loved bold colors and Mexican tile as much as we do. A match made in heaven. The contemporary kitchen design blends sleek white oak fronted cabinets, with the bold earthiness of handmade Mexican tile. The client from the first meeting fell in love with the bold yellow Mexican tile. It was delightfully non-negotiable and we were more than happy to build the design palette around it, carefully adding other colors, patterns and materials to complement.