Completed client project. The owners came to us wanting their whole home to feel more personal and better finished without losing the easy flow of its open rooms. Their Riverbank house, on Santa Fe Street, had been built in 2025 and measured about 1,708 square feet on a 5,300-square-foot lot. It was a single-story, four-bedroom, two-bath home with stucco walls, brick veneer accents, a composition-shingle roof, and a covered front entry. Inside, the open kitchen and family room shared a large island and granite counters, while the private main suite had a walk-in closet and en-suite bath. The house was new, but the owners saw places where added detail, more flexible lighting, and purposeful storage could make it feel like theirs.
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 which parts of the house they already enjoyed using, and which rooms still felt unfinished to them. As we walked in, we found the roof and exterior finishes that came with the new construction, and the single-story arrangement made the route from the covered porch into the kitchen and family room direct. The owners wanted the front entry to feel more welcoming, the shared room to have better storage and lighting, and the finishes to feel more considered throughout. Redfin's Riverbank closed-sale data covered 212 single-family homes, with a median size of 1,739 square feet on a 5,998-square-foot lot, and 4% with HOA fees (Redfin sold-home data). That comparison helped us keep our choices specific to this house and its flat, regular-shaped lot, rather than treating it as a generic remodel.
The covered porch and front entry
At the front porch, we found an integrated covered entry beside the front-facing, attached two-car garage. We kept the straightforward arrival route and gave the porch a more finished, welcoming feel with added seating space. Brick accents already gave the stucco facade texture, so we added restrained exterior trim instead of covering the front in new materials. We also introduced window awnings for shade and a more defined facade. The front landscaping had young trees and shrubs set in mulch beds, with an auto-sprinkler system and low-maintenance planting. We expanded the variety of plants for color and texture while keeping the care level appropriate to the lot.
The public map layers helped us make those outdoor choices with the site in mind. The FEMA map placed the property in flood zone X, an area of minimal flood hazard. The soil survey mapped San Joaquin sandy loam with zero to three percent slopes, moderate drainage, hydrologic group D, shrink-swell potential up to 5.7%, and clay content up to 42%. We kept the landscape work at the surface and did not change the lot's grade. The fenced backyard remained private, and we added a defined outdoor living area so the owners had a place to sit beyond the front porch.
The kitchen and family room
Inside, the kitchen opened directly to the family room, and we kept that connection intact. The granite island, pantry closet, and energy-efficient appliances were already working features, so we retained them rather than replacing sound finishes for the sake of change. The kitchen had a free-standing electric range and oven, cooktop, microwave, dishwasher, and refrigerator. We added layered lighting over the kitchen work areas and softer, dimmable lighting in the family room, so the owners could adjust the rooms for cooking or relaxing. We installed built-in storage and shelving in the family room, keeping the main seating area open and the route through the great room clear.
The existing floors were vinyl and carpet, and their different textures made the shared rooms feel less cohesive. We replaced the public-room flooring with a consistent, more tactile finish that suited the granite and the home's clean, contemporary lines, and kept carpet in the bedrooms. The single-story house had central electric heating and cooling, ceiling fans, energy-efficient windows, and a thermostat listed among its efficiency features. We arranged the new lighting and family-room furniture around the existing air movement and fan locations. The tankless water heater, solar features, and underground utilities remained part of the home's existing systems.
The private suite and bedroom wing
The main suite sat apart from the other bedrooms, and we preserved that separation. Its walk-in closet and en-suite bath already gave the owners privacy and useful storage. We refreshed the bath with more considered fixtures and layered lighting, while keeping the walk-in shower, vanity, and existing plumbing locations. The other full bathroom had a tub with a shower over it, stone surfaces, and a low-flow toilet. We kept that practical arrangement and updated its fittings to coordinate with the main bath. The laundry room was inside the house and had electric hookups only, so we kept the laundry function in place and made its storage more orderly without changing the service setup.
Before we finalized the electrical and plumbing choices, we checked Riverbank's published local service information. It stated that the City supplied water, electric service came from either PG&E or Modesto Irrigation District, and gas service came from PG&E (City of Riverbank resident information). The house record listed 220-volt electric service and public sewer, so we kept the kitchen appliances electric and left the water and sewer routes in place. That check kept the completed work aligned with the services available to the home.
We invited you to get in touch about making your home work better for you.
