Completed client project. The owners of the 1967 house on Purdue Drive in Davis came to us wanting the whole home to feel more connected without losing its Mid-Century Modern character. The one-story, post-and-beam house had about 2,110 square feet, three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a flat roof, clerestory windows and natural materials already setting its tone. They wanted us to make thoughtful window decisions across the house, improve the connection to the garden and keep the existing rooms working together. My first question was: which parts of the light and the original architecture mattered most to them? Their answer shaped the work: keep the strong daylight and the clear lines, and make the rooms feel more open to the outdoors.
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.
The entry skylights and the tiled threshold
The entry already made a distinct first impression: gray porcelain tile, large skylights, a dark gray front door with a glass sidelight, and a reclaimed redwood accent wall with its integrated planter. The Nicoyan Nogal wood flooring began beyond the tile, and the straight hallway led toward the glazed rear wall. The room and system record gave us a starting point, then we measured the thresholds and checked how the daylight reached the hall on site.
We found that the entry skylights and the clerestory glazing worked with the house’s one-story post-and-beam form, drawing light into a long, low roofline without breaking its horizontal character. We kept those openings, and we kept the skylights over the kitchen, dining room, family room and living room. We also kept the rear glazed wall, which carried the view and daylight through the east-west length of the house. We chose not to enlarge or add openings, because the existing glazing already made the indoor-outdoor connection the owners wanted to retain.
The tile-to-wood transition needed to feel smooth underfoot. We aligned the finish heights and kept the gray tile in the entry pathway, where it remained a durable contrast to the wood. We retained the redwood wall and planter at the entry rather than moving the feature deeper into the hallway. The front-facing, two-car garage and its gray vertical wood door remained part of the facade, so we balanced that solid surface with the light coming through the sidelight and the entry glazing.
The clerestories over the kitchen and great rooms
The kitchen, dining room and family room were already connected, and the record described the kitchen and family room as a combination. On site, we found the post-and-beam structure supported that open arrangement beneath the flat roof. We kept the room boundaries and ceiling lines intact instead of changing the openings between the shared rooms. That let the skylights remain the main source of overhead daylight and kept the house’s simple horizontal character visible from the entry through to the garden.
The kitchen had a breakfast area, a skylight, slab counters, a gas cooktop, a hood and double ovens. We kept the cooking area in its existing location and coordinated the finish work around it. The dining room and family room each had their own skylights, and the living room also had a skylight and a great-room layout. We kept those windows in place, so daylight continued to reach the spaces without adding new roof penetrations. We replaced the existing full dual-pane windows while retaining their established openings and sightlines. Across the house, our window-by-window decisions were to replace those units, leave the clerestories and skylights, and leave the glazed rear wall as it was.
The house’s central heating and cooling stayed in service, as did the tankless water heater. We left the 220-volt laundry connection and the inside laundry room with its sink undisturbed. The existing solar utility system remained part of the home’s services. Those decisions kept the work focused on the rooms and windows the owners wanted us to improve, rather than introducing changes to systems that already served the house.
The bedroom windows and the garden edge
The three bedrooms and two bathrooms stayed within the original single-story footprint. In the primary suite, the walk-in closet, sitting area and bathroom with double sinks and a shower stall remained in place. The second bathroom, with its tub and shower, also kept its existing arrangement. We coordinated the finishes so the natural wood and porcelain tile related to the entry materials without turning every room into the same surface.
The lot measured about 7,919 square feet, with front and rear landscaping, a covered patio and an uncovered courtyard. The garden and the rear glazing already gave the shared rooms an outdoor outlook, so we kept that relationship clear rather than screening it with a new feature. We selected water-conscious planting choices for the landscaped areas and kept the pathway and entry legible from the driveway. The house worked as a sequence: tile at the entrance, wood beyond it, and a daylight-filled route toward the garden.
Before the work proceeded, we checked the City of Davis requirements that applied to the water and sewer scope. The city’s building guidance covered water conservation, and its rules called for water-efficient fixtures and landscaping for remodels; Davis also required private sewer lateral inspections and replacements when a property was sold or underwent significant remodeling, including adding a bathroom (City of Davis Building Division). We selected water-efficient fixtures and landscaping and kept the bathroom count and plumbing locations unchanged.
If you wanted to discuss a remodel of your own, you could get in touch with us.
