Seeking Architect or Design/Build Firm for a Small Home Remodel!

Hello folks!

We live in a small Berkeley bungalow and I adore it - I love our block, love our neighborhood, my adorable postage size yard, and overall love the small (1,200sqft) size of our house (easier to keep clean, forces minim clutter, etc). EXCEPT, I wish the existing space were reconfigured a little bit better to better match our family - one bedroom is huge and one is small, with 2 awkwardly shoe-horned bathrooms in the middle, and my dream is more built in storage and less bulky stupid dressers. I recently visited my bestie in Japan and I love how thoughtful they design shelving, storage, etc. for small homes. I've fallen in a rabbit hole of researching small home renovations in urban centers that have no choice (London, Paris, Tokyo, etc.) and I know there must be something similar around us, maybe San Francisco? It's opened up my eyes to what is possible when working with a creative designer that actually appreciates small space living. I really want someone to redesign our 2 bedrooms and crappy bathrooms but I with an eye for making the best use of the existing space - built in wall to wall shelving (like in Tokyo) so I can ditch storage furniture, reconfiguring the rooms so our master bedroom isn't so ginormous. There have been at least 2 additions to the orig house and its a bit Frankenstein at this point. I have no desire to make our actual house footprint any bigger and  absolutely do not want an addition. 

All the previous architect recommendations seem focused on additions and house expansions, or dropping an ADU, but I don't want any of that - I'm convinced we can live better in our cute bungalow with some thoughtful interior remodeling. I've tried searching, to no avail. Does anyone know any architects or design/build firms that do well redesigning small urban homes? 

Parent Replies

Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.

Highly recommend Christine at CLS Studio. She transformed our kitchen, converted a closet into a bathroom that looks so spacious despite being a closet before and also helped with landscaping design. Her email is christine [at] clstudioarchitecture.com

We just remodeled our small Mill Valley treehouse type home and added no square footage.  We LOVED our designer. She worked with our budget, style and heard our needs and suggested things we NEVER would have thought of. We now have more storage and better spaces in our kitchen, bathrooms and living room.  She works all over the Bay Area so location not an issue. If you want to chat feel free to reach out directly to me at Gretchen_davidson [at] yahoo.com (Gretchen_davidson[at]yahoo[dot]com)

Her name is Annie Lazarus and her phone is 415-378-4506.