5 Fantastic Home Renovations in California That Cost Less Than $200K

Spring has sprung, and so have the savings.

ESCAPE, the well-known designers of tiny homes on wheels, unveils EscapeSpace—modern portable sheds that can be placed anywhere and used for almost anything.

1. How did you land the project and what was the brief? Initially the customers were looking for a house with volumetry that would hide the roofs, but the regulation of the condominium did not allow the use of flat slabs, nor a built-in roof. It would be our first house with apparent roofs. The required needs program and the size of the plot had the exact proportion for what we believed to be ideal for a single-storey house with plenty of open space for outside living, and so we did.
Haras house came up as a pavilion installation consisting of 3 volumes: two parallels, with NE-SW orientation and a third perpendicular connecting with NW-SE orientation, as an “H”. The idea was based on the desire to have the central leisure area in the other spaces of the house, and with the proposed implantation, we were able to create two outdoor living areas: a main one with a deck and a swimming pool and a secondary area with a spa, a water mirror and a bonfire separated by the perpendicular volume and visually connected by the transparency of the sliding glass doors. 2. What was significant about the site? The land chosen within a stall in the interior of São Paulo, concentrated a number of positive aspects for the design of the project: views, large plot, solar orientation, generous setbacks, high soil permeability, no outside walls. 3. What was the overall design goal? The simple volume and purity of the gable roof in all 3 blocks of the house ended up contributing significantly to the harmony of the whole and to the desired country house aspect, which was further strengthened by the use of natural materials such as the stone coating on the gables of the walls and the use of the wood in the panels of doors and slatted of the facade. 4. What was the color pallet? The project explores in exterior areas the colors of natural materials such as the wood used in the slats of the whole facade of the house, the roof, also wood but with a shade of gray and stone walls. The contrast is quite striking with some internal areas, where the walls and white lining create a neutral and minimalist space. 5. What was particularly challenging? The main challenge of the project was to create a contemporary home using sloped roofs, in a minimalist architecture using natural materials. This challenge sought to coherently insert the project in the place that was built, a condominium in a stable – called “Haras” in Portuguese which gives the name of the house, with an air of farm in the interior of São Paulo- Brazil, a refuge for the tranquility at the weekends. 6. How does this project compare to other projects you have completed? This project differs from others for being a single-story house in a large terrain and with natural landscape around it. The fact that the house is single-story provided a widespread deployment in the land that generated direct relations of all the environments with the outdoor areas landscaped, which increased the sensation of the built space and strengthened the use of the external areas as a continuity of the built environment. 7. Could you please go into detail about a few pieces of furniture,including why these were selected? The pieces of furniture were selected especially for each room, proposing an integrating of the spaces. The sofa in the living room, for example, integrate both spaces, the fireplace and the outside gardens. The mix of materials is certainly a charm in this project. In the dinning room, the wood dinning table signed by the Brazilian designer Theo Egami contrasts with the metal chairs feet by Fernando Jaeger. 8. Could you please go into detail about a few fixtures, including whythese were selected? The lighting is mostly made by points of indirect light, creating a more intimate look in the house. In the social central pavilion, spots were used facing the wood lining, creating a light effect on the wood. Some interesting pieces have been used in specific spaces, such as in the kitchen, hanging with the exposed wiring that run through the wall and ceiling until they reach the bench and lavatory point, where the architects used hydraulic copper pieces to create a luminaire exclusively to the project. 9. What did you intend to impart with the rooms and how are theydifferent from each other? The flat distribution of the house program gives all rooms and environments a sense of continuity beyond the limit built, since all have direct visual relation through glazed sliding doors with more than 1150 m² of free ground and high permeability index of the ground, have secured a generous area for landscaping that embraces the house by the front, side and back indents, and advance through the central core. The differences between the rooms are related to the user, 1 double suite fully integrated with the bathroom, which has a glazed shower facing the bedroom. There are two other similar suites, also with double beds, but to receive guests in the house and finally the children’s room, a suite that has two large beds that can be shared.

It is barely a surprise that an apartment that was designed for a couple who own a chain of bakeries and are avid cooking aficionados has a fabulous kitchen at its heart. That is just what one gets with the exquisite FF Apartment renovation carried out by Studio 2 Arquitetura e Interiores in Brazil as […]

You’re reading FF Apartment: Sophisticated Contemporary Home with a Social Kitchen at its Heart, originally posted on Decoist. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Decoist on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Originally built as a modest beachfront cabin in the 1960s and subsequently modified through a series of piecemeal renovations, by the time the client acquired the house its design integrity had long ceased to exist. The forested one-acre property, however, was ideally suited to the creation of a quiet refuge with direct connections to nature. The path from street to house is conceived as a journey where work and public life give way to nature and private reflection. The 60-foot change in elevation from entry drive to water’s edge, was not without challenges. The upper driveway is transformed into a winding forest drive, while the final steps to the house pass through a series of intimate landscapes. A two-story glazed entry provides glimpses through the house to the water from the moment one enters the site. “To preserve the original view experience,” notes Brett Baba, principal architect for the project, “we carved big glass slots through the house both vertically and horizontally so a visitor can see right through to the water as they descend to the house.” Planted roof surfaces help to merge the house with its setting. Inside, the house was taken back to the studs and completely reworked. Previously lacking visual connections to the lake, all major interior spaces were reoriented to the views. “One of the most challenging aspects of this project,” adds Baba, “was the limited buildable area of the site. The homeowner had an ambitious program, so we needed to be creative in finding ways to solve space needs and elevate the quality of the space we had.” The main floor and formal entry, the middle of the house’s three floors, serve as the public zone of the house. Here, spaces including the galley kitchen and breakfast room, and dining and living, which flow one to the other. A small guest room rounds out the main floor. A second floor was added to provide separation for private spaces, and includes the master suite and kids bedrooms. The staircase connecting the floors was conceived as a set of wood slabs (fumed white oak) that appear to float within a wood enclosure. The partial, below-grade basement, was previously closed off from the waterfront. The space now opens directly to the water, enabling activities to flow from inside to outside. The basement provides family-oriented spaces including the family room, gym, wine room, kitchenette, laundry, powder bath and playroom for the children. Family room furnishing are simple, dominated by an L-shaped sofa, and a large television above a fireplace—a “hangout area” for the kids. Baba and Hunziker worked closely with the homeowner on the selection of finishes. “He pushed us to explore the most elegant design that we could,” notes Baba. “He has great taste and was open to very sophisticated finishes and details” Materially rich finishes—such as polished concrete, stone, cerused rift white oak and fumed oak, and blackened steel—balance the otherwise crisp and spare detailing found throughout the house. Everything from door pulls to sink faucet levers were meticulously designed, detailed, and fabricated. Stand out features include the staircase with floating wood slabs, custom bead-blasted nickel hardware, an oversized Japanese soaking tub, and sliding leather paneled pocket doors to master bedroom and bathroom. Concealed doors and integrated handrails reinforce the minimal aesthetic without sacrificing rich materiality. Outside, variously-sized, dark-stained cedar siding provides subtle dimension and shadow effects. Cor-Ten siding wraps selected portions of the exterior to articulate the composition and massing. Integrated sun shades and fins on all west-facing windows marry function with aesthetics, adding visual texture while mitigating direct sun exposure. Graham Baba Architects team
Brett Baba, design principal
Francesco Borghesi, project team
Noreen Shinohara, project team Project team
Graham Baba Architects (architecture)
Terry Hunziker Inc. (interiors)
CPL (civil engineer)
Carissa Farkas (structural engineer)
Geotech Consultants (geotechnical engineer)
Rich Haag and Associates / Anne James Landscape Architect (landscape architecture)
Brian Hood (lighting design)
Lockhart | Suver LLC (contractor)
Fleetwood USA (windows and selected doors)