N-01 The program
What the house had to do
A 1961 post-and-beam house by a well-loved local architect, worn down by sixty years: mahogany ceilings under three layers of paint, single-pane glass, and a floor plan built for cocktail parties rather than the family of four who now owned it.
The project stripped the house back to its bones, restored what was worth restoring, and added a bedroom wing that steps down the hill on the original structural grid. Same rhythm, new verse.
N-02 The materials
The palette, and why
- Restored mahogany ceilings
- Stripped, sanded and oiled. Sixty years of paint came off one board at a time.
- Steel-framed glazing
- Thermally broken steel replaced the single-pane walls. The sightlines survived; the heating bill did not.
- Poured terrazzo
- Continuous through the kitchen and gallery, ground in place, with the stone mix matched to 1961 photographs.
- Clear-sealed concrete block
- The original chimney core, cleaned and left honest: the spine of the house, visible again.
- Vertical cedar siding
- Re-milled to the 1961 profile and finished in the original warm stain.
N-03 The timeline
As it actually ran
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Discovery 5 weeks
A structural review of the original frame. The 1961 beams passed. The 1980s deck did not.
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Design & documents 6 months
Every new detail was drawn against the original blueprints, which the owners found rolled up in a closet.
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Permitting 2 months
Hillside soils review for the stepped addition, scheduled first so it never held up the line.
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Construction 13 months
The family moved out. We are honest about that: nobody should live inside this much dust.
- Final cost vs. signed budget
- 1.2% over (contingency included)
- Move-in vs. promised date
- On the promised day
Fictional figures for a demonstration project. Every project's results
N-04 The collaboration
Designed in-house
Designed in-house, with the original 1961 drawings pinned above the drafting table. The estimator priced restoring against replacing for every original element. The mahogany stayed because the numbers said it could, not on sentiment alone.
