Designer Susie Novak gets straight to the point when telling us about this recent remodel. “It’s an incredibly charming California Tudor located in an incredibly charming, as hell, neighborhood in the Oakland Hills,” she says. “It’s a sweet, beautiful area in Oakland with a school at the top of the hill. What makes it so beautiful is the charming 1920s stucco, Tudor-style homes nestled between lots of trees, where a small valley with a little creek runs between the hills, along with small parks and secret walking stairs sprinkled through the area. The sidewalks are lined with beautiful leafy trees and feature underground electricity. It has a small-town feel in a big urban city, which makes for a wonderful community of people who choose to live here and creates a very coveted neighborhood.”

Her clients reached out to Susie’s design studio to update many of the rooms, including the dining room, living room, kitchen, primary bedroom, laundry, and daughter’s room. “There were some sentimental pieces we incorporated from the clients’ existing items, such as a rug in the living room, their existing dining table, and existing cabinetry in the kitchen that was in great shape,” she recalls. But overall? “We completely transformed the spaces, adding color and depth while highlighting the home’s existing character.”

Susie admits that the main challenge in designing this home was preserving as many original details as possible while making an impact with her team’s new design concepts. “We value-engineered our way through,” she says. “I am calling elements of this project ‘Affordably Tailored’—not every project needs, or should be, a complete gut or all-new everything.”

They designed and created many custom elements for this home that were cost-friendly and attainable. “It is absolutely still a high-end renovation, but we considered the clients’ resources carefully,” she says. “We custom-crafted furniture and drapery that were also cost-considered. We worked with many of our own respected tradespeople for this project, in addition to our contractor, so we organized a strict project schedule for areas like the kitchen for our tradespeople to adhere to and execute the project in a timely fashion.” 

What emerged is a home that feels renewed yet deeply connected to its roots. Take a tour in the slideshow.