Restoring a Two-Story Eichler in Palo Alto | A Homeowner’s Experience with Keycon

I am an Eichler homeowner who recently engaged Keycon to remodel my house. I had an extremely positive experience with Keycon’s entire team during that process, so I decided to put pen to paper to document our collaboration!

Background

I am the lucky owner of one of the 40 two-story Eichler's that were built towards the tail-end of Joseph Eichler’s amazing run, where he developed over 11,000 homes in various parts of northern and southern California between 1949-74.

I moved to Palo Alto five years ago, after spending about twenty years living in Europe. While in Germany, I developed an interest in Bauhaus design and northern European minimalism. When I relocated to the South Bay and stumbled upon my first Eichler's, I was intrigued by the prospect of living in a European-feeling house—but in open, warm and sunny California.

I was lucky to find a two-story Eichler for sale in 2015 in Palo Alto that was in great condition, and I lived in that house for four years without changing a thing. I eventually decided to have a whole-house remodel completed, though, and I knew that I would need a competent partner for that project.
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The Restoration Project

Since the two-story species of Eichler's is somewhat rare, I wanted to vest the restoration work with a group that seemed sensitive to the Eichler design philosophy and skilled in the art of restoring these homes. After screening a short list of candidates, I chose Keycon because they scored high on those criteria.

The restoration project was comprehensive, which is why I characterize it as a whole-house restoration rather thana typical remodel. In the course of the six-month project, Keycon replaced, repainted or repaired literally every surface of the house. They also eliminated interior walls to make the spaces feel more roomy and open, and they added skylights, windows and new lighting to add even more brightness. Keycon was also able to put the house in complete conformance with Palo Alto building codes, which have changed substantially since the house was built in 1974.Along the way, we also upgraded the energy-efficiency of the house, which had the convenient consequence of lowering my utility expenses.

Restoration Objectives:

I wanted to achieve a number of things with the remodel, not least to justify the cost of the project. My over-arching objective was to be a responsible Eichler owner and to do my part in preserving this small but important element of California post-war architectural history.

 My design goals were to:

•       Restore my Eichler to its midcentury modern roots, by removing some of the 1980-90’s features that had been added subsequent to the original house construction.

•       Completely open up the ground floor spaces--to handle more people at the social events I like to organize.

•      Expand the bathrooms—to provide more light and space. Eichler's have notoriously small bathrooms, and so I decided to claim some volume to have roomier and airier bathrooms.

•       Maximize the use of materials, paint colors, wood paneling and finishes that were used in original Eichler builds.

•      Make the kitchen much larger, more functional and aesthetically interesting. That’s where everyone congregates at parties, so I wanted to make loitering in that space inviting!

Thanks to Keycon’s team, all of these goals were achieved on time and on budget.

Design Choices, Project Management and Change Orders

During the initial scoping phase of the project, I came to appreciate Keycon’s business model— integrating the design, engineering, permitting and construction disciplines under one roof. That full-service approach greatly simplified the process for me, as I had neither the time nor skill to organize and manage the complexities of a residential renovation. Although there is a cost for Keycon’s program management, I think that I actually saved money by having an expert handle the sub-contractors, the material sourcing and the permitting processes. It’s like they say in the software business: “You never have enough time to do it right, but you always have enough time and money to do it over to clean up the mistakes!”

Keycon has a very well-developed project management system. I was able to track progress with their Gantt chart that laid-out the entire six-month project on a single piece of paper, and I was able to provide feedback at weekly meetings with their design and construction team.

After breaking ground, I changed my mind about a number of initial decisions I had made. That happens to many people taking on a new project, I am sure, because there are learnings and new inspirations that unfold as the project evolves. Keycon listened closely and patiently to what I was trying to achieve, and they offered a number of options and suggestions prior to freezing the design. In cases where I decided to amend the design, Keycon employed a formal change order process where that documents the incremental labor and materials involved and prices that work as a separate sub-project.

Restoration Part Deux – The Accessory Dwelling Unit

Shortly after the main house remodel was completed, COVID hit. I started reading about other homeowners converting their garages and attics into “Zoom rooms”, and so I started to look at the dusty and unfinished 420 sq. ft. garage as a space that could be converted into a comfortable studio. I also realized that if I re-built that space into a code-compliant accessory dwelling unit, that it would add a large amount of square footage to my home. So the math worked: For every dollar I invested in the ADU conversion project, I would be adding $3-4 in market value to my home.

I had two main objectives for the re-model: I wanted it to feel like a “glass cube”, which meant I needed to maximize the amount of window area on the side walls of the garage; I also wanted to have all of the finishes (including the flooring, lighting and backsplash) be identical to those features in the main house, so that the ADU ties into the house and gives the appearance of having been part of the original overall home design.

To accomplish the first objective, Keycon needed to do a lot of structural work, as the garage would lose rigidity when the wooden walls were replaced with glass. We needed to have load-bearing beams and posts installed around the window frames and around the main garage doorframe. A total of 27 feet of wood-covered side walls was replaced with floor-to-ceiling windows and a sliding glass door.

One highlight of the ADU is the double bi-fold door that was custom-designed. We wanted to allow very easy access to the ADU from the driveway, without having a bulky, monolithic garage door swinging outwards or rolling up into the interior of the ADU. We decided that heavy-duty bi-fold doors were the best solution, and Keycon found a contractor who was able to product the doors. The doors are easy to open and close, and when fully open they create an entrance width of over 11 feet—wide enough to accommodate a car. The slab doors were painted the same color as the main slab door for the house—a vivid orange.

The kitchenette was designed by the same firm that designed the main kitchen, and identical cabinets and countertops and sinks/faucets were used. We used the same epoxy flooring as the main house, and all of the sliding doors covering the storage cabinets were identical to those used in the house—right down to the brushed aluminum pulls.

Heating and air-conditioning is supplied by a mini-split unit that fit into the ceiling, which meant we did not need to “give up” any usable space for HVAC systems. We also removed the water heater and associated plumbing from the garage, and Keycon installed a tankless water heater outside of the ADU in the side yard.

The finished product looks great and is very functional. It has been used as an office, a party room, and a storage space for bikes. I have not used it for the ostensible purpose of an ADU (e.g., a living space for someone), but who knows what the future holds!

Highlights of the Restoration

We had a tough needle to thread: I wanted to preserve the Eichler look and feel of the house, while at the same time making it a more suitable for today’s American living preferences and habits. Set out below are some of the results of those considerations:

•       We demolished the fireplace and added an 8’ x8’ foot window in its place, which “activated” that section of the ground floor by making it a source of light and free space. Although fireplaces are aniconic element of many Eichler's, they are virtually unusable now, due to the adverse effect they have on Bay Area air quality.

•       We removed the wall separating the kitchen and living room, making a more natural flow between those rooms.

•       On the ground floor, we removed the existing carpet and laminate, which exposed the bare concrete slab. We ground/polished the slab, which now serves as the flooring for the entirety of the ground floor. We now have natural flooring material that has a neutral tone, is easy to clean, and blends in seamlessly with the concrete pavers in the rear patio and front atrium.

•       We also added mahogany wall paneling in the living room, as a further nod to early Eichler builds. I have chosen to keep the mahogany walls clear of any wall hangings. The natural lines and tones of the wood surfaces represent artistry in itself, which eliminated the need to hang any wall art .

•       We removed the carpet from the upstairs floor and replaced it with cork flooring. Cork is another material was used extensively in Eichler's through the 1960’s, and I am happy we were able to introduce that feature into the restoration.

•       We also added a number of “standard” midcentury modern accents: We installed a total of 18 bowtie sconces throughout the interior, we added a Charles Eames coat rack, and we cleaned and re-installed the original globe lights on both floors.

•       We chose Springfield Sage for the exterior house color, which was the only green tone in the original Eichler color palette. To complement that color, the front slab door was painted orange. To accentuate the horizontal lines of the house, Keycon installed an wide, orange-painted band that spans the area over the top of the garage and front door.

•       The entire interior of the house—walls and ceilings—were painted white, which has the visual effect of opening up the interior spaces.

Post-Mortem

The Eichler restoration turned out beautifully. In the course of working with Ron Key’s team, three things stood out to me:

•       Keycon is extremely proficient at handling midcentury modern remodels, which is a natural outcome for a business that has focused solely on that subject matter for over three decades. They stuck to their knitting, and they thoroughly understand the bones-- and all the idiosyncrasies--of Eichler's.

•       Keycon has a unique culture that is based on teamwork and fairness. I observed how well Ron Key treats and develops his employees, and how his whole team works hard to do high-quality work.

•       Keycon has systems and processes in place that seem to be much more evolved than what is standard in the residential remodel business. I’m not saying their project management tools are as evolved as NASA's, but I was really impressed at how precisely the overall project was managed.

In short, I learned a lot of interesting things about Eichler's during that process, but it was also a pleasure to experience Keycon’s design creativity, engineering and construction skills, hard work and professionalism.

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