Showcase for an Eichler Remodel
My wife and I love Eichler homes.
We purchased our Eichler, built in 1969, from the estate of the original owner in June 1997. We live in a small enclave of 16 Eichlers, located just off Winchester Boulevard in Monte Sereno (Los Gatos), and enjoy living in the community. However, since purchasing our Eichler, our situation has changed as we now have two children and parents that are frequent visitors.
The problem with our Eichler is that it is simply too small. We need more area (square feet) for our family to live comfortably. Looking at the alternatives, we decided to undertake extensive renovations and add square feet to the existing house. We love the Eichler style and we want to stay in the community.
We are remodeling the main floor of our Eichler and putting a lower level under it. The original atrium is being covered and will extend into the lower level, bringing light throughout the house. At the same time, we are concerned about the high use of resources in our existing house, including energy and water, and will be following 'green building practices' to reduce our energy consumption and the resources used. We are pursuing LEED Platinum certification for the renovations.
This is an immense undertaking for us, in both time and financial terms. We have a 'Construction Blog' to have fun, show our progress and to generate ideas. The URL is:
Any thoughts, comments, suggestions or recommendations that you have on the finishes, features, appliances or other items that we should consider are most welcome and very much appreciated.
We intend to make our home a showcase for an Eichler remodel.
Best,
Bryan
what was the original squarefootage?
Original living space was 2,147 sq ft. The original house footprint was 3,028 sq ft. This included a 468 sq ft garage and 413 sq ft atrium, resulting in total living space of 2,147 sq ft. In the remodel, we increased the footprint of the house by 18 sq ft to 3,046 sq ft and reduced the size of the garage to 415 sq ft and reduced the size of the atrium to the lower level to 220 sq ft, resulting in total living space on the main floor of 2,411 sq ft. Thus, we have a net increase in living space on the main floor of 264 sq ft.
2147 sqft seems like a good amount of space
Hello Bryan,
I drive by every now and then to see the progress on your house. Good luck on your project. I want to be invited to the open house when it's done!
Brad G
Of course we will invite you Brad! You will have to inspect, and approve of, our red door!
We focused on our neighbors for the Open Hole (vs. Open House Party because our neighbors on VIa Sereno were curious regarding what we were doing behind the fence.
We intend to to host our next event in March.
Hello Bryan,
How far along do you plan to be by March? Last time I drove by there wasn't much there! Send me an email to [email protected], I'd like to get your read on some other items.
Best Regards, Brad
Your remodel is amazing. Look forward to following it in on your website.
Simply awesome remodel. I've always suspected a lower level held the key to expanding Eichler floor space while maintaining architectural integrity and your remodel demonstrates this elegantly.
It's nice to see such an intelligent, tasteful Eichler remodel celebrated in this forum.
Wow - such a huge undertaking! Helps me put our recent remodel (http://myeichler.blogspot.com) into perspective!
Looking forward to seeing the finished results.
Steve
