Completed client project. The owners came to us for a whole-home remodel that would bring more daylight into their upstairs retreat and make the dated kitchen, bathrooms, and other rooms feel considered without losing the house’s rustic character. Their home on Ridge Road in Mokelumne Hill was built in 1995, measured about 2,446 square feet, and had wood-frame construction, two stories, two bedrooms, and two and a half baths. It sat on a 12.49-acre forested lot, with a pitched composition-shingle roof, wood siding, covered wrap-around decks, a finished basement, and a detached heated garage and workshop. The main living spaces already opened beneath soaring beams and large windows; the upstairs suite and loft, finished basement, and outdoor rooms gave the project a whole-house scope rather than a single-room one.
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 where the owners wanted the day to begin: at the living-room windows, or in the upstairs rooms that felt dimmer. They wanted the windows to remain the heart of the house, but they also wanted the loft and primary suite to feel inviting throughout the day. On site, we found that the downstairs windows already brought forest light across the wood floor, while the upstairs loft sat beneath the pitched roof and received less direct daylight. The local context helped us keep the work specific to this home: among 23 single-family homes that closed in Mokelumne Hill over the recorded year, the median home dated to 1983 and measured 1,526 square feet on a 191,228-square-foot lot; 22% were built before 1960, 43% before 1980, and 4% had an HOA fee. The most common decades were the 1990s, 1980s, and 1960s (Redfin sold data). This house’s larger, forested setting and 1990s construction made preserving its established openings and natural materials a better fit than imposing a generic interior scheme.
The living-room windows and the light map
We measured the path of light from the living-room windows into the open main floor before choosing finishes. The expansive windows, open-beam ceiling, wood trim, and rich wood flooring already made a strong connection to the trees outside. We kept that connection clear, and chose warm, low-sheen wall finishes that reflected daylight without flattening the beams or making the wood feel overly dark. The dual-pane windows stayed in place, and we kept the main living spaces open so the daylight continued to reach beyond the window wall.
The two wood-burning stoves were part of the room’s character, but they were dated. We replaced them with efficient inserts sized for the existing stove locations. The house’s central heating and cooling, ceiling fans, and the inserts then served different roles: the central system handled everyday comfort, while the stoves provided supplemental warmth and a focal point. We did not treat either stove as the home’s only heat source. The existing 220-volt electrical service also informed our decisions about lighting and equipment, and we coordinated the new work with the home’s electrical capacity.
The upstairs roof, suite, and loft
The upstairs primary suite and adjacent loft needed a more direct relationship to daylight. We traced the roof framing on site and selected a skylight location that fit the pitched composition roof and brought light into the loft. The opening changed the feel of the reading and children’s hideaway without taking away the suite’s privacy. We kept the wood floors, trim, and exposed beams, and used a lighter wall finish to carry the new daylight farther into both upstairs rooms.
The primary bathroom’s tile and tub with shower, and the other bathroom’s tiled shower stall and window, already established practical layouts. We updated fixtures and finishes within those footprints instead of relocating plumbing. That choice mattered because the property used public water, a well, and a storage tank, and its wastewater went to a septic system. We traced the existing supply and drain routes before specifying the work, and kept the tankless water heater and bathroom locations in the project’s coordination.
The finished basement, workshop, and covered decks
The finished basement had flexibility for hobbies, games, or wine storage, but the sloping, terraced site shaped how much natural light it could receive. We found that the existing below-grade room worked best with layered interior lighting, so we improved the lighting and kept the room adaptable rather than adding a new exterior opening. The public soil survey identified the site as Nedsgulch-Sites complex, with well-drained soil and up to 2.1% shrink-swell; the gently sloped ground and retaining walls also mattered to the decision to leave the basement wall and garden terraces undisturbed.
The detached heated garage and workshop remained useful parts of daily life on the property. We improved task lighting and workshop finishes, making better use of the existing 220-volt service and the garage’s heat. On the covered wrap-around decks, we added screening at the seating areas so the owners could spend more time outside while keeping the wood structure and forest views. The completed house still felt like a mountain retreat, but its interior lighting, work areas, and outdoor rooms supported more of the owners’ everyday routines.
We checked the project against the property’s listed Title 24 building climate zone, zone 12, as we selected lighting and heating controls, and kept the work within the existing house openings and service routes where possible. The local closing data we used to understand Mokelumne Hill’s housing context came from Redfin’s recorded sales; the decisions themselves followed the conditions we measured in this home.
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