A Family Home Grows and Gets a New Face

‘I give a lot of the aesthetic credit to my clients. They put their heart and souls into this job,” says residential designer Leigha Heydt. They added 705 square feet, redesigned the floor plan and altered all the prominent architectural attributes, Heydt states. “When they discovered this home, it was an obsolete, modern lodge-style home with two bedrooms and 2 baths which had not been updated since the 1980s. They purchased the home planning to enlarge it and change it into something they loved; they wanted a comfortable but beautiful family home.”

at a Glance
Who lives here: A family with 3 children and a fourth on how
Location: Mill Valley, California
Size: 2,700 square feet; 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths

Heydt Designs

Heydt clarifies the new style of the home as with Craftsman shingle style and Spanish colonial influences outdoors, with modern elements inside.

This home doesn’t have much of a garden, so the owners treat their front yard like a garden. There is a patio off the kitchen to the right.

Before Photo

BEFORE: This is your front facade before the redesign; its massing seemed disjointed, as did the obsolete architectural components.

Heydt Designs

This entry foyer, the full family space, part of the living area and the breakfast nook are a part of the new addition to the first floor.

Heydt Designs

The foyer includes a side and a casual side, which offers a spot for sitting, removing one’s shoes and stashing them under the window seat — a smart design movement for a family with young children.

Heydt Designs

The relaxed, light floors throughout the home are an engineered, prefinished product by Navarre; the top layer is actual bamboo. The colour is called Montauban.

Heydt Designs

Heydt Designs

An over-the-mantel TV is concealed by an antiqued mirrored cabinet. Its panes offer a link to the curved windows used on the house’s facade.

Heydt Designs

Zoning regulations prohibited a picture window which Heydt had initially intended for the wall in which the hutch is, therefore inside designer Benjamin Dhong created the concept of the blue and white accent wall. “It was a great alternative as a desperately desired focal point,” states Heydt.

Dining room pendant: Goodman Hanging Lamp by Thomas O’Brien

Heydt Designs

While Heydt designed the design of these appliances, the corner as well as the windows, the spouse, her mother-in-law (a kitchen designer who lived on the East Coast) and interior designer Dhong and layout adviser Matthew MacCaul Turner chose it from there.

An oversized necklace brings the attention to the middle of the space, lending balance. Cabinet-front panels camouflage the fridge, while bright yellowish industrial counter stools add sunny color.

Heydt Designs

The spouse picked the elegant Calacatta Oro marble countertops. “She’s great flavor, and that made a massive difference with the project,” states Heydt.

A white subway tile backpsplash and glass-front cupboard doors reflect the light and brighten the windowless wall of the kitchen.

Pendant mild: Victorian Hotel Pendant, Restoration Hardware

Heydt Designs

The built-in breakfast nook enjoys a lot of natural light, thanks to the expansive windows and transoms. There is storage beneath the banquette.

The kitchen conveniently opens to front patio, in which the family loves to enjoy meals al fresco.

Heydt Designs

This cozy family room demonstrates that comfortable rooms should not be vast. Smart custom cabinetry and media storage store things from looking cluttered.

The area opens to front porch, a part of Heydt’s careful placement of chambers in relation to the outdoor spaces. “The link to the landscape was quite intentional. The site is quite beautiful, with large, old-growth redwood trees. We wanted to be certain that you feature the house’s connection to the site via the use of strategically placed windows and glass French doors,” states Heydt. Therefore, the family room opens to the front porch, the kitchen opens to the patio, and the bedrooms have private balconies that love views of the top parts of the yard.

Heydt Designs

A jewel box of a powder room joys having a blue faux-bois wall covering and also a perspective outside instead of a mirror. A Chinese garden blossom and smoky foo dogs include Far Eastern flair.

Heydt Designs

The upstairs hall is an ideal example of the new and old combinations seen throughout the home. It features a traditional console table, a classic architectural element, a contemporary drum shade and crisp white walls.

“The present upstairs bedrooms needed vaulted ceilings with triangular windows in the upper parts of the gables,” states Heydt. “Since we eliminated the triangular windows for style reasons, we replaced them with curved windows to finish the look of the new aesthetic. We still wanted windows up there, and circular windows tend to look the very best in a triangular space.”

Heydt Designs

Another dynamic wallpaper accent adds a jolt of vivid colour without overpowering the girls’ bedroom. The space is a brand new mixture of Victorian and contemporary pieces, such as painted Victorian twin beds plus a Swedish contemporary wicker pendant.

Heydt Designs

“We added the balcony to the girls’ space to complement the master bedroom patio and also to make an outdoor architectural element within the breakfast nook,” states Heydt.

Heydt Designs

The guest bath is clean and modern. Boston Library Lights are an unexpected and clever choice for bathroom lighting.

Tip: A vanity on a base like this one or attached to the wall may make a modest bathroom feel much more spacious.

Heydt Designs

The bedroom is based upon the cathedral ceiling’s beam. It also has a private balcony which overlooks the front yard.

“The rooms are extremely streamlined, but the home feels more spacious than it actually is due to the tall, vaulted ceilings, both the windows and the glass doors,” states Heydt.

Heydt Designs

The master bedroom, master bath, kids’ bath and guest bath were a part of the new addition upstairs. The vaulted ceiling, natural light and soft hues of the master bath make it look much larger than it actually is.

Heydt Designs

The space combines elegant finishes and streamlined accessories with the occasional antique, like the dressing table chair along with the urn, and having the eclectic Moravian star pendant light. The result is one each parent of four children deserves, a relaxing and serene area.

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