apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This house looked so beautiful in the pictures! The one with the children on their ponies made me completely envious.

I love those windows.

Inheriting money is usually the easiest way to make it.

Great house!

I'm surprised that Apartment Therapy finds it tolerable, though-- so much wood paneling, in dire need of painting!

(See Nov. 25th: "Before and After, Christine's Living Room by This Young House")

I agree with Bolder. The inheritance and surfing and kayak instruction portion of the article pissed me off.

I own a small software company in Oakland and couldn't afford this house or its laughable list of contractors.

I'm with cisopen on this.

Oh, and Bolder, too!

Bitterness is not your best color, Cisopen and Bolder.

Beautiful home...lovelovelove the windows.

I don't understand why the fact that the owners inherited money should bother anyone. So what if your chosen career doesn't allow for this couples lifestyle. So what if you weren't lucky enough to inherit some money. So what if many of us couldn't afford this home (or for that matter, manymany homes on this site, along with the vast majority of mid-century pieces). The point is that this couple could afford it, and it's beautiful. (Also, if you were to come into some money, you're telling me you'd turn it down? And if not, why be whiny about other people?)

what a beautiful home - why so bitter folks? I can't afford half the stuff on this site, doesn't mean I can't appreciate it

This is a very beautiful home, tasteful in almost every way. I would love to live in this house.

I am baffled by what makes this a green house though. I saw no mention of solar energy or a water catchment system. The article calls it a green house because it has tall opening french doors......huh.

There is a huge tub in the bathroom that must use tons of water. The beams are laminated. It's 2400 sq. feet for 4 people, this is not small. It's not huge, but it sure isn't small. Okay the floor is recylced, big deal. It's teak, it's reclaimed and it's oh so trendy. Hardly a concious choice.

I don't care if it's green or not, it just bugs me to see builders/owners grasping onto anything to claim a "green" design.

Oops I meant to say "hardly a choice of conscience". I'm assuming they were conscious when they made the choice :-)

I'm with you, mmwitke. There are plenty of people who inherit money and then build hideous, by-the-numbers McMansions. Why not celebrate the people who inherit money and then use it to do something tasteful?

As for the house itself, I especially like the tapered columns on the front porch. At first I thought they were paneled with copper, which would have been awesome, but even in wood they're imaginative and striking.

speaking of inheritance, the owners of this home have chosen to spend theirs very tastefully

i love that the house and the walls are not cluttered with silly objects and flea-market 'finds'

the whole place seems sensibly utilitarian

like

Peachpie,

It's not a "green" house--it simply uses a few elements that are recycled or contribute to lower energy costs (the french doors--ok, sure).

If you want to read snarky comments, go to the original article. There's a whole discussion on how not "green" the home is. Not only is it large and includes all the un-environmental friendly things you mention, the location is fairly remote and requires driving to pretty much anywhere in the Bay area.

I don't have a problem with the people inheriting the money for the house, and they don't seem especially pretentious. But I think homes like this are pretty far away from the original intention of this website. Maybe we need a spinoff site for all the "dream" houses being featured lately. I think anything that appears on the original AT should have features or ideas that people in modest homes or apartments can copy. And this house does not do that for me.

Man, some people on here need to get over themselves and let the bitterness and jealousy fade away.

Oops looks like a faux pas, Leslie.

this is the perfect house

I'm not afraid to admit that I'm bitter. That said, this is a cool house. Those kids must love that ladder. And the horseback riding, and the surfing. Nice work if you can get it.

The house itself cost 1.2M to build. Of course people are bitter about this. There's millions of people in this country and others working their butts off and not being able to afford to buy groceries. So when someone doesn't work for what they have, they live a very leisurely lifestyle and still live in what most of what of would consider to be a "green" mansion (2400 sq ft), yes, people are going to be annoyed.

YAWN! it's boring, it's pedestrian, it's beige.... for what they spent, you'd think it'd be a bit more fabulous. I'm sure most will disagree with me but, while it's "tasteful" it shows lack of imagination and uniqueness. If, I was as lucky as them financially, I would have spent my money quite differently.

When I was a kid growing up, I was taught that it was tacky to walk into Neiman Marcus and say "Eh - I can get a (blank) like this at Sears for way less." - We would say "Very Nice, but not for me today."

Good for these folks for being for being fortunate enough to build a tasteful home for their family that they love - and not going over the top with excess.

Beautiful house.

I wonder though how well the kitchen works without all the upper cabinets? I wanted to build my kitchen this way but I was worried about the lack of storage space. Anyone have any similar experiences with kitchens like this?

"I wonder though how well the kitchen works without all the upper cabinets? I wanted to build my kitchen this way but I was worried about the lack of storage space. Anyone have any similar experiences with kitchens like this?"

Yes - Plates and glassware go in drawers and pantry cupboards...
...if you have the floorspace - not only does it make the room feel more open, but it's actually easier for shorter folks, children and people with disabilities to participate in preparing meals and cleanup.

Having read the article, I think some are missing the point here, true, it's expensive as hell and true, it's out in the boonies and yes, the word green in terms of green building might be a little over used here but where they went green is in some of the details.

The floors are reclaimed, that is in essence a green practice, the french doors, very green for when you need cooling, that's often the most green way, simply open them for the breezes, although I'd wager being where they are most of the time summers are not too hot to require any additional cooling, outside of the Santa Anna Winds in the fall but even there, moving air is one of the most cost effective ways to cool off, which is why attic fans work so well.

So yes, it has some green aspects but even I will agree it's not the greenest house out there. I will agree that while pretty, some elements of the house come off as somewhat utilitarian looking. As for the lack of upper cabinets, it can work if you have plenty of lower cabinet storage in the form of drawers to put your dishes etc in and I've always loved that concept to a large degree.

But I will agree it needs more color in at least the furnishings and the artwork to bring in a bit of pop to the space and 2400 Sq Ft was just 200 Square feet more than the house I grew up in, that is, 2200 Sq Ft split level from the 60's and barely big enough for a family of 6 (4 siblings and 2 parents and all the pets) although in this space, 2400Sq Ft is a bit more than they "trully" need but still I find the house not ostentatious in the least and I love quality materials for they will hold up much better than cheaply made stuff over the longer haul.

But I agree, at 1.2M to build or 500Sq Ft, it's not cheap.

I think we can all agree that it isn't green: there was no mention of soy-based insulating foam, how much fly-ash content is in their cement, I saw no triple pane windows infused with Argon to lessen the UV and save money on utilities, no composting toilets ...

Okay, kidding folks. It's easy to make fun when it is invited, ie: the apologetic description of the kitchen appliances practically stammers 'sorry we has money not you kbai' but - I'd like to see an occasional home like this sans the misleading green lens held in front of camera when shooting regular ole American consumption.

To not have solar shingles on that baby and hybrid cars when you have the money, well, that's another story altogether. Lets pretend they do and that our inheritance is just around the corner. With my inheritance, I will buy land, solar panels & solar trees and a Jay Shafer Tumbleweed house for every member of my family... http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

I'm starting to sound like a shill, so anything under 400sf is cool. Frankly the Tortoise Shell homes are looking more affordable every day in this economy ...
http://tortoiseshellhome.com/Pricing.html

In your face, rich people! (Seriously: kidding.)

When I read the original article in the Chronicle, I wondered about the price - $500/sq ft. This seemed imposible, but I think it must include the land. This is in Inverness, after all, does it have a water view, possibly?

I love the house, but Sardar practically wet himself:
"In keeping with our newly straitened times, it is a sensible building (as post-World War II ranch homes were),"

Oh, get real, buddy. $500 a square foot? The inheritance might not be all that much, but they got bucks from somewhere.

Lovely house! So tasteful.
Good post Leslie.

Perhaps someone could update me on teak. Perhaps it's ok for a marine use, but it doesn't seem suitable (in the green sense) for a typical home.

I understand that this couple recycled the floors, but having teak around as flooring or furniture just makes more people want it, putting more pressure on harvesting it. Better perhaps, to put it on a few dozen sailboats as the highest and best use?

Monocultural "sustainable" tree farms doesn't seem to be much of an green alternative.

Its nice to see people with money making and designing a beautiful home as this instead of the over the top tasteless macmansion.

This house is perfectly beautiful.