The living room wall, not another opening
The central design decision in this two-story, 2017 house is what the living room’s media wall should do for the open room around it. The kitchen and living room already connect, and the bright living room has multiple windows, plantation shutters, gray walls, a ceiling fan, and a wooden media console. More demolition would not solve the main problem: the white, cool finishes and single focal point need a warmer, more considered counterbalance. This is Amy’s project for the house on Dullanty Way, where the family’s whole-home remodel would make the shared rooms feel connected without making them feel unfinished or all alike.
We keep the media wall as the living room’s anchor rather than treating it as a reason to open more of the plan. A shallow, built-in composition around the television could give the screen and media equipment a clear place, with closed storage below and a restrained oak or walnut detail to relate to the existing wood console. A warm, muted clay or putty paint on that wall would soften the gray without competing with daylight through the shuttered windows. The point is not to add a decorative feature for its own sake. It is to give the eye a settled place to land, so the rest of the open room can stay quieter.
The family’s main-level engineered hardwood is a useful through-line, so we keep it visible rather than covering it with more built-in cabinetry or extending a new finish across the entire floor. A generous rug in the sitting area would define the living zone, soften sound, and add texture without interrupting the open connection to the dining area. We replace the ceiling fan with a sculptural fan and integrated light, not a fixture that gives up air movement: this house has central heating and cooling as well as a ceiling fan, and the open room benefits from both an intentional light source and the existing air circulation. Layered dimmable light at the media wall and in the seating area would let the family shift from bright shared time to a calmer evening without relying on one overhead light.
The open kitchen stays open
The kitchen already has white shaker cabinets, quartz counters, a subway-tile backsplash, and a central island, so we leave its layout and backsplash in place and use a small amount of warmer wood and a more deliberate lighting scheme to connect it to the living room instead of starting a second renovation inside the first.
Because this is a two-story home with bedrooms and a loft upstairs, the living room should read as the main shared space without making the upper floor feel like an extension of the television area. The built-in stays low, with no tall shelving that would block the room’s window light or turn the wall into a visual barrier. Upstairs, a consistent warm neutral on the walls can relate the rooms to the main level while allowing the existing carpet, laminate, and tile finishes to remain distinct. The house has a tankless water heater and three and a half bathrooms; this plan leaves the bathroom locations and water-heating system alone, keeping the work focused on the rooms that need a more coherent finish.
Services that shape the scope
This house is connected to public water, but that fact alone does not tell us whether a softener belongs in the project. The City’s 2025 Consumer Confidence Report gives an average hardness of 83 mg/L and reports variation by supply source and zone. We would not add a whole-house softener on an average alone; first, the owners can confirm the address-specific source and hardness with the City’s Water Quality Lab, then decide whether treatment is useful for this home’s fixtures and appliances (City of Sacramento Consumer Confidence Report).
The house also has public sewer, so keeping the kitchen and bathroom plumbing in place avoids making drain relocation part of a living-room-focused project. If any construction reaches the private lateral, the owners should ask Sacramento Public Works whether its Sewer Lateral Program applies to this scope; the City’s program information does not establish that an interior finish remodel alone triggers it (City of Sacramento Public Works Sewer Lateral Program). The City’s required-permits page distinguishes a single fixture replacement from work involving multiple items or electrical changes, so the owners should also confirm the permit scope with Community Development before construction (City of Sacramento required permits).
The attached two-car garage has a 220-volt EV charging outlet, which stays dedicated to the car rather than being treated as spare capacity for new interior loads. With the wall treatment, lighting, and finish work kept focused, the family could retain the use of its open kitchen and most of its existing rooms during construction. When the work is done, the living room could feel warmer and more composed, while still working as part of the open main floor. If your home has a room that needs to feel more settled without losing its connection to the rest of the house, get in touch and we can talk through the plan.
