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Restorative Powers

Issue: 
March 2010

An architect/builder couple bring their 1960s contemporary home into the new millennium

Photographs by: 
David Dietrich
They ended up tearing off the old roof and roof framing gutting the interior (including the walls, electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems) and removing the outside decks. Although the footprint of the house stayed the same, both the interior and exterior were reduced to the studs.
The couple rebuilt and extended the decks, using cypress accented by recycled copper piping in the railings. To avoid blocking the view of the forest from the front downstairs bedroom and office, Tom cantilevered the support beams for the deck at an angle
The flat roof is lined with a polyvinyl chloride membrane over rigid insulation. The gravel serves to protect the PVC from the sun and adds a natural look. The Virants originally planned to install a garden roof with a large deck in the middle, but they never got around to putting in the dirt, although the structure was designed to support the additional weight.
Though the home's footprint looks segmented from above, the floor plan offers a natural flow.
The layout of the kitchen basically stayed the same, though the Virants repositioned a wall to enlarge the room. They also replaced the long peninsula dividing the kitchen from the dining room with an island counter to create a better traffic flow. The white oak cabinets and all of the appliances are new, except the refrigerator.
The stairs leading to the home’s lower level were awkwardly placed behind the front door. Thus, the door needed to be closed to access the stairs. Because of the position of the stairwell in the small hallway (below), you felt “like you were going to fall down a hole,” Yumiko says. So the Virants reversed the stairs’ direction. The stairwell now opens from the opposite end of the hallway between the master bedroom and powder room, and the steps themselves consist of open risers made from thick slabs of wood. The handrail was carved from maple harvested from the property.
The dining room (right) opens to the kitchen and living room, and floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls flood the area with natural light. The couple moved and added windows so that the side of the house facing the forest is open to nature, while the home’s front on Sunset Drive has minimal glass to maintain the family’s privacy. They also added 13-inch clerestory glass windows around the entire first floor to further brighten the home and deepen the connection between inside and out. The home’s perch on the side of the mountain, plus sliding doors on two sides of the house, open it up to cool breezes in the summer.
Tom and Yumiko liked the idea of built-in cabinets on the back wall of the family room, but they wanted to update the look to complement the modern décor.
A wood stove was installed in the family room, which adds a cozy, natural warmth to the space.
The countertop on the cabinet is a laminate, but the couple used Baltic birch as the substrate and left the edges exposed.
Although the before and after photos of the home are startling, much of the renovation isn’t visible. The baseboard heating system was replaced with radiant heat piping under Ash hardwood floors.