Completed client project. The owners came to us with their two-level home on Almendral Avenue in Atherton, a modern 2026 construction of about 8,805 square feet on a 43,560-square-foot lot, with eight bedrooms and seven and a half baths. Stone and horizontal wood siding, black-framed windows, white oak floors, and flat metal roofs gave it a clear architectural language. The family wanted the whole home to feel warmer and more comfortable without losing its generous connection to the outdoors. The living room opened through retractable glass to the deck and pool, while the kitchen, entry, primary suite, guest house, and covered cabana each had their own role in how the property worked.
The photographs on this page are from the Designed & Curated portfolio and show finishes we have used on other projects. They are not photographs of this house.
My first question was: what did the flat roof leave between the roof assembly and the ceilings, and how did the forced-air system move through those spaces? On site, we found that the flat roof did not create one continuous, walkable attic above the main rooms. The ceiling zones and service routes varied across the house, so we measured the transitions room by room instead of treating the tall ceilings as one uninterrupted plane. That finding shaped the work: we kept the existing roof profile and focused on the ceiling surfaces, lighting, and comfort below it.
The flat metal roof and the living-room ceiling
The recorded Atherton closings offered context, not a template. Among 71 single-family homes, the median build year was 1989, 39% were built before 1960, and 48% before 1980. The median home measured 4,766 square feet on a 43,124-square-foot lot, and none had an HOA fee. The most common build decades were the 1950s, 2020s, and 2010s. Those figures showed a range of local housing, but the flat metal roof and high ceilings in this house determined our decisions. We used the recorded Atherton home data as context, not as a design specification.
We opened selected ceiling areas from the room side, improved insulation within the accessible roof assembly, and closed those areas at the existing ceiling height. We kept the crisp roofline and the long sightlines to the black-framed windows. In the living room, we replaced the overly even ceiling-light effect with warmer, dimmable lighting and focused light at seating and reading areas. The white oak floor and the minimalist fireplace surround stayed visible, while softer textiles reduced the hard-edged feeling of stone, glass, and metal gathered in one space.
The central forced-air heating and cooling system also influenced the ceiling work. We traced the existing routes before finalizing the lighting positions, then coordinated the finished ceiling details with the air outlets so the rooms remained comfortable. Seven fireplaces were recorded across the family room, living room, primary bedroom, and other locations. We kept those as separate focal points rather than extending one ceiling treatment across every room. Each space gained a warmer light level without competing with its fireplace or the view through the glass wall.
The entry and primary suite
The double glass doors opened into a bright foyer, but the stone and wood accents left little visual relief for everyday items. We added built-in closed storage at the entry and kept the main floor area clear, so the first view into the house felt calmer. In the upstairs primary suite, we kept the floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights as the source of daylight, then layered in softer textiles and warmer bedside lighting. The fireplace remained the room's anchor; the new materials softened the white oak and neutral surfaces without interrupting the view.
The kitchen already had custom cabinetry, Taj Mahal stone counters, premium appliances, gas hookups, and an island sink. We kept the kitchen's established arrangement and worked with its warm stone and wood tones in the nearby rooms. That kept the ceiling project from turning into an unnecessary kitchen reconfiguration. We also kept the distinction between the public rooms and private spaces, so the open living area still connected to the outdoors while bedrooms remained more settled and quiet.
The deck, pool, and cabana
The retractable glass wall already connected the living room to the deck and pool, so we chose to improve how that connection felt rather than add more glass. A published Atherton project had also explored indoor-outdoor living, and its contemporary home tour reinforced our decision to make the existing opening work harder. We reorganized the outdoor seating into clearer conversation and dining areas, added adjustable shade where the patio needed protection, and used softer natural textures to balance the stone and metal finishes. The covered heated cabana, outdoor kitchen, pool, and spa continued to function as connected gathering spaces, while the mature perimeter trees preserved a sense of privacy.
Before construction, we checked the Title 24 building climate zone 3 designation when we finalized the roof insulation and lighting decisions. The work stayed within the existing roof profile and ceiling heights, and the completed rooms kept the house's indoor-outdoor flow while feeling more comfortable after dark.
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