Redfin’s record of 97 single-family home closings in Tiburon puts the median build year at 1964, making the 1963 bones of this house part of the design conversation, not a blank slate (Redfin). What should change in a house whose open rooms and exposed structure already do so much? This is Amy’s project for the house on Mar West Street in Tiburon: a whole-home plan centered on making the bathrooms work as well as the architecture does.
Four and a half baths, not a shortage of them
The house has five bedrooms and four and a half baths, with the primary bath finished in blue Marmorino plaster, blue Zia tile, and a Stratus Blue quartzite vanity. That count matters. This is not a plan to squeeze in another bathroom just because a busy household might sometimes queue; there is no evidence here that more fixtures are the answer. I’d start by keeping the primary bath’s strongest materials and improving how its storage, lighting, and daily-use surfaces work together. The blue is a confident choice, and the natural stone gives it weight. It should stay.
The house rises two stories and has no basement, so I would keep major bathroom fixtures close to their existing locations rather than assume the plumbing can be shifted freely below the floor. The sewer is public, but that alone does not tell us where the drains run or how the upstairs bath connects. We would verify the existing plumbing and floor build-up before settling the bathroom layouts. That is a practical way to avoid turning a focused remodel into unnecessary work in a house with finished rooms above and below.
Keep the timber; make the rooms quieter
The house was rebuilt in the 1960s as an architect’s studio, with post-and-beam construction and restored barn framing reinforced by custom Alaskan yellow cedar beams. Its weathered-zinc panels, cedar siding, and cement brick are part of the same strong material story. I would keep the exposed structure and let the bathrooms feel related to it through natural materials and clear, simple detailing, rather than add another competing statement finish.
That restraint also suits the existing open kitchen, dining, and living area beneath a double-height ceiling. The kitchen is already open to those rooms, so the plan does not need to make it more open; it needs the bathrooms and quieter rooms to feel considered alongside that volume. A published Tiburon home tour in Rue shows one version of California indoor-outdoor living, but this house’s post-and-beam frame and blue stone and plaster already give it a distinct direction (Rue). I would not borrow another home’s look when the house has such clear materials of its own.
Radiant floors and a two-story plan
Central heating with radiant floors and central cooling are both listed for this house. That is a reason to coordinate bathroom floor decisions with the existing heating system, not to treat the floor as an ordinary surface that can be cut or rebuilt without checking what is below it. I would first establish where the radiant runs and how the bathroom floors are assembled, then choose a tile and underfoot detail that fits the system. In the larger rooms, I would keep the existing floor and the timber structure as the visual anchors, and use rugs and softer furnishings to bring warmth and absorb some of the sound a tall open room can carry.
The house’s two levels also make the upstairs bathing spaces part of the whole-home circulation, not an isolated finish project. With four and a half baths already in place, the useful change is a more deliberate relationship between each bath’s storage and its users, while keeping the existing count. In the primary bath, that means treating the blue plaster, tile, and quartzite as a palette to preserve, then choosing any new fittings and lighting to make those surfaces easier to use and maintain. A calmer, well-lit start to the day would feel more natural here than a larger bathroom that sacrifices the character of the wing.
The family who owns a house like this should not have to choose between its unusual structure and rooms that function well. If you have a post-and-beam home with bathrooms that need a more thoughtful plan, get in touch and we can begin by looking closely at what should stay and what is getting in the way.
