Completed client project. The owners came to me wanting a more connected kitchen and living area, a large island, and finishes that made their whole home feel considered. Their house on Napoli Street in San Marco was built in 2026, with about 2,371 square feet on a 4,683-square-foot lot. It was a two-story, stucco-clad single-family home with a tile roof, four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The kitchen and living area occupied the main level; upstairs were two bedrooms, a primary suite, and a loft. The owners were drawn to opening the main floor, but they also wanted the remodel to respect how the house had been built.
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 wall between the kitchen and living area carry, and where did the kitchen services run? On site, we found the upper-level framing aligned over that wall, with the bedrooms and loft above. In this two-story house, removing it casually would have meant changing the support for the floor above, not simply making a wider room. We measured the kitchen and living area together and looked at the existing tile and carpet before settling on the order of work. The photographs shown here are from the Designed & Curated portfolio and show finishes, not this house.
The wall between the kitchen and living room
The owners had pictured a large island and a fully open room. We decided against removing the wall. Keeping its structural role avoided turning the main-floor remodel into a major change to the upstairs framing, and it let us work with the house’s existing arrangement instead of forcing an island into the circulation between rooms. We kept the kitchen in its established position and used finishes and lighting to make the kitchen and living area feel more connected.
That decision also suited the house’s existing range and its electric systems. The kitchen had a free-standing electric range; heating was electric, cooling was central air, and the water heater was electric. Seller-owned photovoltaic panels were part of the house’s electrical setup. We kept the range where it was rather than relocating cooking to an island, and we coordinated the lighting and kitchen work around the existing services. The electrical service size was not in the house facts, so we did not base appliance choices on an assumed capacity.
The floors and the main-floor connection
Tile and carpet were the existing floor finishes. We mapped their transitions through the kitchen and living area before choosing a continuous, warm-toned finish for the connected main-floor space. That gave the rooms a shared visual ground without pretending their uses were identical. We kept the more practical tile where it made sense for the kitchen and used a softer finish in the living zone, with the change located where the rooms naturally met.
We also treated lighting as part of the connection. We installed focused light at the kitchen work surfaces and softer, controllable light in the living area, so the retained wall did not leave either side feeling like a separate, dim room. The white-framed windows with mullions brought daylight into the house, while the mature trees and dense shrubs around the flat lot shaded and screened it. We chose interior finishes that related quietly to the off-white stucco and beige stone accents outside rather than competing with them.
The house’s attached two-car garage sat to the left of the front elevation, and laundry was listed as hookups only. We kept the garage and laundry functions in their existing locations instead of borrowing space from the main rooms. Upstairs, the two bedrooms, primary suite, and loft retained their separation from the busier kitchen and living area. That left the main floor more cohesive while preserving the house’s existing room arrangement.
Pittsburg’s recorded closings gave us useful context, not a template for this house. Among 257 single-family homes that closed in the period covered by the data, the median house dated to 1978 and measured 1,550 square feet on a 6,125-square-foot lot; 21 percent were built before 1960 and 52 percent before 1980. The most common decades were the 1970s, 1980s, and 1950s, and 14 percent had an HOA fee. This 2026 house was newer and larger than that median, which reinforced our decision to respond to its actual two-story structure and existing systems (Redfin Pittsburg sold-home data).
The sewer and water requirements
Before finalizing the kitchen plumbing and fixtures, we checked the local requirements that affected those choices. The Delta Diablo Sanitation District information stated that buildings in its service area, including Pittsburg, had to connect to public sewer if it was available within 300 feet, and that permits were managed by the district. Pittsburg’s sale process also required private sewer lateral inspections and replacements when applicable. We kept the sink near its existing service route rather than creating an unnecessary relocation, and we checked the sewer information through Delta Diablo Sanitation District. The City of Pittsburg provided water service, and its building information described water-efficient fixture standards for remodels, so we selected compliant fixtures and checked the requirements through the City of Pittsburg building FAQs.
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