A Magical Undertaking
Author:Lindsey ShookCatherine Kwong and Ken Linsteadt Architects usher a family’s existing home into the future
Designing this project was such a dream,” says Catherine Kwong, founder and principal of Catherine Kwong Design, about her clients’ residence in Ross. “We worked with lovely clients, a talented architect and an expert builder in a beautiful location, but it took a lot of planning!” Even for a seasoned designer with many years of experience, the project was challenging in part because it was a massive renovation of a Bay Area home her clients had lived in for years.
Kwong and her team worked strategically alongside architect Ken Linsteadt Architects to create solutions that would carry the home into its next generation. “We started by asking a lot of questions: What is working? What needs fixing? What is it that the clients love about this part of the house? Is it something about the aesthetic, or is it the function?” she recalls. Their in-depth understanding of how the structure needed to be transformed in order to please the client was key. Any considerable changes needed a compelling purpose. “We were very intent on paying homage to what made the house their home and maintaining those elements,” Kwong notes. “But alongside that, the overarching goal was to really elevate the space, make it beautiful, and update it to meet the clients’ evolving needs.”
Having lived there for some time, the family had already grown with the home. However, changes to the interior architecture were imperative not just to make it feel more current but also to carve out more space for family fun. “We wanted to elevate the home while keeping all the things that the clients loved about it,” she says. “We felt that it was important to maintain that familiarity, especially in the kids’ bedrooms, but some careful shifts—like aligning doorways, adding new drapery, replacing hardware and updating all of the rooms to make them more welcoming—were important.”
One of the main goals overall was to improve the circulation for both everyday living and frequent entertaining. “The original layout maintained a very distinct separation between the more formal parts of the house, like the entry and the dining room, and the most often-used rooms, such as the kitchen and living room,” she notes. “A key part of the architect’s redesign was connecting these separate parts of the house and bringing them together in a way that made more sense for a modern lifestyle.”
To maximize the enlarged floor plan, Kwong’s team designed larger-scale furniture pieces to support the expanded rooms, which now featured taller windows and doors. “Of course we always want every room we design to be beautiful,” Kwong remarks. “But it’s equally important for all of the rooms in the house to be inviting and feel connected to one another and to the outdoors.”
Architect Ken Linsteadt is known and widely respected for distilling a house down to its essential elements and making it feel more natural and livable. “To connect the different parts of the house, Ken designed a sculptural staircase in the center of the house,” Kwong says. “It’s exquisite in its simplicity, and it brings the disparate areas of the house together in a cohesive way. When the house was finished, it was hard to imagine that it had ever been anything else.”
The surrounding gardens and beautiful scenery played a key role in the level of sophistication that both the client and the teams desired. The family is extremely active and spend a ton of time in the expansive backyard, which is set amongst large redwood and oak trees. “It was essential for the landscape to remain an integral part of the property, and the wonderfully talented Janell Denler Hobart spearheaded that effort,” Kwong says. “She designed a natural, understated backdrop to the house, inviting guests to be drawn outside, where the yard terraces down to a swimming pool and lawn.” The team created multiple seating areas where the family could enjoy outdoor living. “Behind the large steel-framed windows of the kitchen banquette, Denler Hobart planted a flower garden in layers, following the incline of the neighboring hillside,” she notes. “The result is a tall, vibrant, and colorful backdrop of flowers, destined to upstage any interior.”
After conquering any hurdles that arose, Kwong and her team completed the project at the beginning of summer, just in time for the clients’ family reunion, where they would be welcoming extended family. “Our clients ended up hosting dozens of family members at the house right after they moved back in,” she proclaims. “We were so excited that they were able to do that, and that the new version of their home dovetailed with creating even more happy memories.”