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Attracted to the charm of their 1925 Tudor Revival-style home, Cathy and Ralph Bredenberg acknowledged that the three bedroom, one-and-a-half bath house was a tad small for their family of four.
So they lived there for a year, enjoying the Crescent Park location and the deep lot, before making changes.
The results of their thoughtful remodel can be seen on the Charming Cottages of Palo Alto tour April 3 and 4, along with four other homes in Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The tour, an annual fundraising event for the Palo Alto Area Mills College Club, focuses on homes that have been remodeled by local architects and designers.
After seeing examples of architect Stephen Pogue’s work around town — mainly in newer houses — the Bredenbergs chose Pogue to sensitively expand their home, without losing its sense of tradition.
“We started with the architect and a wish list,” Cathy Bredenberg said.
Today, the facade is similar to the original, with its repeated, pointed gables, arched front door with an iron grille and brick front landing. While attempting to retain many of the original details — double-hung, wood-framed windows, for example — much had to be replaced due to water damage. Before they even moved in, in 2004, the Bredenbergs had to upgrade the only full bathroom in the house.
Now instead of three bedrooms, a bath and a basement (about 1,600 square feet), the house holds five bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths and no basement — with extra space gained by pushing out 6 feet in the back and capturing former attic space.
And landscape designer Janet Bell was engaged early in the process, so the front and back landscaping were incorporated into the plan — rather than added as an afterthought, Bredenberg said.
The first element to change was the entrance to the house: Instead of walking up a cracked, pink concrete driveway, visitors enter via a curving brick pathway between two low brick columns. Inside and to the right is the mainly original living room, with its large mullioned front-facing window and a new wooden mantel above the fireplace. All the infrastructure — electricity, plumbing, many windows — is new, as well as walls and doors.
The kitchen is in essentially the same place, but the whole flow was changed, adding a honed-black-granite-topped island in the center, with a prep sink, microwave, trash area, storage and seating for two.
Previous owners had done a “quick kitchen remodel” to ready the house for sale, Bredenberg said, adding that it worked “great for a year, but the flow was wrong.”
Now light pours in through a large window over the sink, as well as windows between the marble countertops and painted white upper cabinets. White subway tiles line the backsplash.
“The room doesn’t get a lot of light. We wanted white to lift the light,” she added.
The room features a six-burner Dacor cooktop and just enough pull-out drawers. “I made an inventory about where everything would go,” Bredenberg said.
The dining room, which used to be an exterior-facing room, “is light challenged,” she added, so they installed a French pocket door between the dining room and kitchen, left open a large pass-through “window” and added a light well that extends to the second story. To further enhance the lighting, they put in a Lutron low-voltage scene-lighting system, with several control panels downstairs.
The biggest change downstairs was adding a family room, with large glass windows and doors extending living space outdoors. The room faces a new dogwood tree, replacement for an ancient oak that died recently, and leads to the built-in grill, hot tub, trampoline and grassy yard, as well as the tandem two-car garage and workshop.
Other additions to the downstairs include adding a mud room with washer and dryer, a master bathroom and extending the master bedroom out 6 feet, allowing much more closet space.
Upstairs, the former attic became another two bedrooms — one used as play space and the other as an office — as well as office space at the top of the landing and a boiler room.
Other homes on tour include:
o 1938 Menlo Park house, remodeled in 2007 — Mission touches, Frank Lloyd Wright-designed stained-glass window, great room with vaulted ceiling, dream kitchen (architect: Michelle Belden)
o 1908 “Category Two” historic Palo Alto home. Originally built with plans from Sunset Magazine, the home has been remodeled inside to create a two-bedroom, two-bath home with attached studio apartment — while keeping the exterior intact (designer: owners)
o 1979 home that needed major updating (design/build: Harrell Remodeling, Inc.)
o 1948 ranch turned “French Country jewel” — including playful fountain by artist Adrian Litman (architect: Michael Carilli)
Although the homes are chock full of design ideas, visitors are not allowed to take photographs or record “visually or acoustically.” No problem with taking notes.
What: Charming Cottages of Palo Alto
When: Friday, April 3, and Saturday, April 4, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Five homes in Palo Alto and Menlo Park
Tickets: Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door (310 Laurel Ave., Menlo Park between Pope and Gilbert). Checks payable to PAAMCC should be mailed, with a stamped, self-addressed envelope, to PAAMCC, c/o Bishop, 664 Draco Lane, Foster City, CA 94404-2755. Ticket orders received after March 27 will not be mailed but will be held at the door. Be prepared to remove your shoes at some homes.
Info: Call 650-325-2990.
