Sorry, not for sale!

During the 10 months our house was under construction on Monterey Road in Pacifica, there were many rubberneckers (I saw them when I was assisting our tile installer with the mosaic tile on the roof ) and many neighbors came by our site to comment on our unique design and ask questions. One uphill neighbor’s daughter actually wanted her dad to tear down his house and build our exact house on their lot! Neighbors a few doors down were arguing among themselves as to whether this was a spec home, or a custom home for a family. The husband said there were too many custom design elements for it to be a spec home. He won the bet of course! One neighbor came to an open house and asked what our asking price was going to be. Sorry, it’s not for sale.

Besides wanting to create a high performance home on a budget, we also wanted to incorporate a lot of artwork in our home. We as architects have always dabbled in different art forms and our young adult children were raised in a “Maker” oriented household. Our old dining room was used for projects over the years such as woodworking, glass and ceramics, electronics, 3D printing, and painting in a variety of media. It was natural for us to start with designing laser cut railings and geometric patterns for the mosaic glass tile on the turret and at the entry.

In February we got our temporary occupancy permit and started moving in. Other things took priority for a few months as we caught up on work and family issues, but then this summer with kids home, we worked together to add more artwork, such as a “Tree of Life” mural in the tall stair tower. In the fall, Bob and I took up ceramics at Skyline again and have been busy making sea themed covers for our mechanical vents on the roof, a light fixture cover of an owl, a dragon with flames for our faux “fireplace” and hand made tile for backsplashes.

A few more pieces are on our long term wish list, like the backsplash at the main kitchen stove and making a “Little Free Library” for the front yard to share our love of reading. Fortunately as we’re going to be here a long time we can now relax and enjoy the process as much as the finished product! We’ll be offering more tours in January, so let us know if you’re interested in an invitation. In the meantime, please enjoy the wonderful photos above, mostly taken by Open Homes Photography

And a big thank you to our new community in Pacifica! We are committed to helping you protect this amazing part of California!

Photos of our new Net Zero Energy home and office

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