Bay Area designer Stefanie Cannizzo, owner of Emerson Grace Design, recently had a project that was a bit different from her typical work. “It’s unusual because the house was designed by the renowned architect Warren Callister and was renovated without increasing square footage,” she explained. “The intent to stay true to the original design of this mid century modern home.” The home was originally built in the 1950s and has really unique features. There’s a variety of woods, like Philippine mahogany paneling combined with redwood trim in the interior. The large floor-to-ceiling living room fireplace juts out into the room with an angular design. There’s decking that spans one side of the home, bringing the outdoors in beautifully with a wall of windows. These details combine to give the home a beautiful view, both looking in and out. In the slideshow, see some of the design decisions made to both honor the history of the home and bring it into the present day.
Now and Then: Updating A Historic Home While Honoring Its Roots

In the main living room, all of the Philippine mahogany wood paneling was refinished, there are new windows and doors (and the corresponding redwood trim was refinished), and skylights were added to the existing ceiling soffit. However, the fireplace mantel and tile was left as is since it’s an integral design element to the original architecture.

Emerson Grace Design made two rooms (dining and living room) out of one space. They also designed a custom table that was both true to the home’s mid century modern roots and enhances the unique nature of the fireplace design.




The kitchen was relocated and expanded to improve efficiency for the family. Style-wise, concrete countertops tie into the fireplaces in both the living (original) and family rooms. They used tile from Fireclay and added shelves to give the kitchen design an updated yet still mid century feel.

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