Mill Valley’s grading rules make the downhill lot part of the remodel brief: excavation, fill, or grading generally requires a permit unless an exemption applies, including grading under 50 cubic yards or on slopes under 10 percent (Mill Valley Municipal Code, Chapter 14.32). This is Amy’s project for the house on Reed Boulevard in Strawberry, where a single-level, wood-frame home sits above a terraced yard, decks, and a pool. The point is not to redraw the slope. It is to make the approach, the outdoor rooms, and the interior work together without unnecessary disturbance to the land.
A downhill approach, not a new hillside
The house has a downslope lot, an asphalt driveway, front landscaping, and uncovered decks, with no garage listed. I would keep the arrival legible from the street: clarify the path from the driveway to the front porch, use low planting to soften the front slope, and add restrained lighting where people move between the entry and the deck doors. Those changes address the daily arrival without assuming the site needs new retaining work or broad regrading.
That restraint matters here. The municipal code says grading necessary to construct a home must remain within the home’s footprint (Mill Valley Municipal Code, Chapter 14.32). For this project, that makes a landscape plan based on planting, lighting, and repair preferable to reshaping the hillside to create a new outdoor platform. Before applications, confirm the parcel’s jurisdiction and the proposed grading scope with the City of Mill Valley, which says its permit routing applies only to properties within incorporated boundaries (City permit application process; grading code).
Deck doors as the interior’s compass
The one-level plan runs parallel to the deck area, and multiple exterior doors already connect the house to its outdoor spaces. I would use those openings to organize the whole-home layout: keep the routes to the decks clear, and arrange the principal shared rooms so that the long horizontal relationship between inside and outside remains easy to read. The house’s wood frame and concrete foundation are reasons to understand the existing structure before changing interior partitions, not reasons to remove walls on assumption. The kitchen can be coordinated with that circulation plan while retaining the existing gas range and range hood unless the final layout gives a clear reason to change them.
Light should follow the same logic. Rather than enlarging every opening, first test where daylight reaches the interior from the existing deck doors, then add layered lighting where the plan needs it after dark. On the decks, warmer lighting and planting can soften the black metal railings without sacrificing the views. I would keep the stained wood decking as the connecting material, and consider a more comfortable, larger-format stone at the pool rather than treating the yard as a separate style project.
Heat, roof, and the rooms between
The house has central heating and room air cooling. That combination should shape the open-plan decision: if shared rooms are joined, the design needs to account for how the existing room-based cooling serves the enlarged space, rather than assuming that central heat means the whole area will feel even in warm weather. Map the existing cooling locations against the proposed furniture and circulation before fixing the room layout. That is the practical test for whether the interior can open further without creating a hot, poorly served corner.
The tar-and-gravel roof and solar generation also make roof work a coordinated decision. I would not fold a roof replacement into the remodel without a documented need; if roof work is proposed, its detailing should be coordinated with the solar equipment and the low-profile roof form. The aim is to preserve the home’s clean horizontal outline while avoiding a later conflict between roof repairs and the panels.
Sewer work belongs in the permit budget
The house connects to public sewer. Mill Valley requires a private sewer lateral inspection when a building permit application covers improvements valued at $50,000 or more, so the project’s permit valuation can affect whether sewer work must be addressed alongside the interior and site plans (City of Mill Valley Sewer Lateral Ordinance). That is a useful early budget boundary: establish the project scope and valuation before treating the existing lateral as outside the work.
The completed plan would make the decks feel like part of the home’s everyday footprint, not a destination reached through leftover space. If you own a one-level house with a downhill yard and want the interior and outdoor areas to work as one, get in touch with Amy.