Raully and his team were also excited to work with the newer materials while still employing some good old-fashioned construction expertise. The planar cement fiber board with it’s half-inch reveals meant that precision and attention to detail were required. The polycarbonate created challenges especially around corners, but a small hairdryer and an abundance of patience came to the rescue. In terms of the more typical challenges, the large beam was carefully hoisted into place, supported, and stained to match our mid-century teak furniture. Raully’s team custom crafted the glassed in wine cellar to create a beautiful focal point in the dining area. They even matched the existing beadboard ceiling so one would never know that our dining space used to be an outdoor carport! At the last minute, we discovered that the skylight shone light directly into the wine cellar at certain times of the day, but they quickly covered it with a milky lens.
We wanted to downsize and looked for a small, single-level house in a particular neighborhood in Sausalito. We found the perfect house built in 1950 with great bones, but it was missing a light-filled kitchen, a wine cellar, and a dining area. We come from the wine industry and love to host small dinner parties but there was no obvious place to put a dining table for even four people. Our prior home had a lovely light-filled open plan living room, kitchen, and eating area which we wanted to recreate on a smaller scale. We found a wonderful local architect who incorporated the previous carport into the house to create a large open living space. A large beam carried the weight across the long expanse, and two sets of large windows along with a skylight brought balanced light into the space. We were also excited to work with some newer materials, namely polycarbonate for the garage and cement fiber board for the exterior siding, in order to arrive at an “modern mid-century” home.
After many gatherings from four to fourteen, we are very excited about the utility and beauty of our “new” home. Our architect and contractor deserve major kudos!