Houzz Tour: Japanese Calm on the Outside, Drama on the Inside
An architect infuses a midcentury home in San Francisco with dramatic and otherworldly moments
With bright pops of color, dazzling stone, a reimagined floor plan and elements like shou-sugi-ban, architect John Lum brought this midcentury home in San Francisco roaring back to life. When he first saw the house, it was in a dilapidated state. “But I could see it had great bones, and the views were incredible — you can see the Pacific Ocean, the Marin Headlands and downtown San Francisco,” Lum says.
The homeowner already had an incredible collection of art and proto-modern furniture, and he was ready to amp up the drama inside with texture, color and unique objects. The home’s midcentury vintage and 1970s glam were also inspirations for the style. “He was so amenable to any ideas we came up with and never said never, which made working on this project really fun,” Lum says. While the interiors are lively, he gave the exterior a calm Japanese modern-inspired facade. And he teamed up with landscape designer Rich Radford, who transformed the steep hill into a lush terraced space inspired by Japanese Zen gardens.
The homeowner already had an incredible collection of art and proto-modern furniture, and he was ready to amp up the drama inside with texture, color and unique objects. The home’s midcentury vintage and 1970s glam were also inspirations for the style. “He was so amenable to any ideas we came up with and never said never, which made working on this project really fun,” Lum says. While the interiors are lively, he gave the exterior a calm Japanese modern-inspired facade. And he teamed up with landscape designer Rich Radford, who transformed the steep hill into a lush terraced space inspired by Japanese Zen gardens.
After: Lum simplified the facade of the house while keeping it engaged with the street. He anchored it with vertical boards of black shou-sugi-ban siding. This is Japanese cypress that’s been burned using a traditional Japanese method, giving it a blackened appearance. “This gave the house a strong and dramatic base and also hid the garage doors,” Lum says. By contrast, the upper levels stress strong horizontal lines, with cedar siding and a new steel-and-wood railing wrapping the balcony.
The house’s windows and doors are also new. On the main level, Lum replaced existing windows with a continuous wall of sliding doors that open up the living spaces to the amazing San Francisco Bay views.
The house’s windows and doors are also new. On the main level, Lum replaced existing windows with a continuous wall of sliding doors that open up the living spaces to the amazing San Francisco Bay views.
Lum wanted to create a dramatic moment at the entry. “I wanted people to walk by and think, ‘What is going on there?’ ” he says. Inspired by artists of the midcentury Light and Space movement such as Robert Irwin and James Turrell, he chose orange glass for the door that glows and intrigues. The door opens to an open-air stone staircase and cedar-clad walls. “It’s kind of like an otherworldly mysterious space, with the orange glow from the glass and the sky overhead,” Lum says. “Walking in, it’s kind of like that moment in The Wizard of Oz when Judy Garland opens” the door to Munchkinland.
The open-air staircase leads up to the backyard, where there’s an entry to the main floor of the house. The stairs are composed of black basalt stone, which landscape designer Rich Radford also used in the backyard. Repeating the material created continuity from front to back.
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The open-air staircase leads up to the backyard, where there’s an entry to the main floor of the house. The stairs are composed of black basalt stone, which landscape designer Rich Radford also used in the backyard. Repeating the material created continuity from front to back.
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Before: The floor plan was compartmentalized, and the kitchen was closed off from the rest of the living spaces.
After: Lum opened up the floor plan, and now the kitchen, dining area and living room are all within one large space. The main entry door on this level opens into it. He used a blue-encased range alcove with a long brass band along the range hood to draw the eye. Brass is an element he used throughout the home to amp up the 1970s-inspired glamour his client wanted.
Lum delineated the kitchen within the open floor plan by using a lowered ceiling with teak millwork. “The homeowner wanted live-edge teak for the island countertop and also chose this marble for the base, which is very dramatic and wild,” Lum says. “The raw teak was tough to source — this is a repurposed piece from Indonesia.” The cabinets are also teak, and the perimeter countertops are flame-cut granite. This means the stone was treated with a flame to give it a rough look.
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Lum delineated the kitchen within the open floor plan by using a lowered ceiling with teak millwork. “The homeowner wanted live-edge teak for the island countertop and also chose this marble for the base, which is very dramatic and wild,” Lum says. “The raw teak was tough to source — this is a repurposed piece from Indonesia.” The cabinets are also teak, and the perimeter countertops are flame-cut granite. This means the stone was treated with a flame to give it a rough look.
Browse counter stools in the Houzz Shop
The dining room wasn’t photographed — you get a peek at it through a doorway later — but it sits between the kitchen and this living room-projection room. Lum hid a projection screen in the wood ceiling in front of the fireplace. “Each one of these rooms is almost like its own little stage set, and my client wanted to be able to host live performances here,” Lum says. The architect was inspired to create a raised wood platform and inglenook around the existing fireplace.
He dressed up the fireplace with vertical lines of folded brass that pop against the black wall behind it. That wall is a repetition of the base of the home’s facade. But these vertical pieces are what Lum jokingly calls faux-sugi-ban. “This isn’t actually shou-sugi-ban, it’s cedar stained black to look like it,” he says. The look creates a strong connection between the interior and the exterior.
This photo also provides a good look at the flooring, which is oak with a dark stain.
He dressed up the fireplace with vertical lines of folded brass that pop against the black wall behind it. That wall is a repetition of the base of the home’s facade. But these vertical pieces are what Lum jokingly calls faux-sugi-ban. “This isn’t actually shou-sugi-ban, it’s cedar stained black to look like it,” he says. The look creates a strong connection between the interior and the exterior.
This photo also provides a good look at the flooring, which is oak with a dark stain.
In the powder room, Lum used true shou-sugi-ban on the walls and repeated the brass on the plumbing fixtures.
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Shop for a bathroom mirror
The family room is in a wing off the spaces we just toured — that’s the dining area through the opening on the right. Space Age Sputnik style and 1970s glam inspired the bar, which provides another of those colorful, otherworldly moments. Lum used another slab of the lively marble stone on the bar’s base and wrapped it in a teak waterfall countertop.
But the biggest impact comes from behind the bar, where he installed orange Chroma, a thick resin panel that can transmit light. He had it lit from behind with LED lights. “We had a great lighting consultant who helped us with this,” Lum says. Custom brass-and-glass shelves as well as brass bar stools add to the glamour. The paneling on the walls is teak.
But the biggest impact comes from behind the bar, where he installed orange Chroma, a thick resin panel that can transmit light. He had it lit from behind with LED lights. “We had a great lighting consultant who helped us with this,” Lum says. Custom brass-and-glass shelves as well as brass bar stools add to the glamour. The paneling on the walls is teak.
Before: The home had two original fireplaces that Lum kept intact. The concrete on the back of the bench doubles as a retaining wall that holds up part of the backyard.
After: “We used brass panels on the existing fireplace because why not?” Lum says. “It was so much fun to work with a client who just drank the design Kool-Aid and was so open to ideas like this. Then one day during the project he came in with this dragon, so we placed it over the fireplace.” The client added more drama with the chartreuse chairs and the sculptural light fixtures.
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Shop for side tables
Before: This was the opening from the family room to the patio.
After: Lum installed almost an entire wall of accordion doors to open the family room up to the back garden.
In contrast with all the drama inside, Radford created a calm, Zen-inspired garden. Once a steep and rugged slope, the backyard is now terraced with basalt stone stairs that also form garden beds. “Now there’s a magical feel back here,” Lum says. “The stairs are rough-cut and cleft, which lend a rustic sensibility that contrast nicely with the very precise cedar siding.”
The steps and the bridge off the bedroom level lead to an existing guesthouse.
See more photos of the garden
The steps and the bridge off the bedroom level lead to an existing guesthouse.
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Upstairs is this study, a guest room that the homeowner uses as a gym and the primary suite. The desk and shelves play with rectangular forms and intersections. The desk appears to cantilever in a gravity-defying way because the hairpin leg is so thin.
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New to home remodeling? Click here to learn the basics
The primary suite has a calm feel. The main event in here is the vast view out the big windows.
Lum took out walls to turn two existing bedrooms into one large primary suite. A teak box that encloses the closet provides some separation between the bed and this sitting area. “Because this is a midcentury house, it has 8-foot ceilings,” Lum says. “This open feel lent a sense of spaciousness.”
“The primary bathroom has an Asiatic tropical feel,” Lum says. He kept the palette minimalist: white porcelain penny tiles on the floor, charcoal slate wall tile and a teak tub and shower floor. The Japanese Ofuro tub allows for a deep soak. The niche blends into the wall, and towel bars are convenient to both the tub and shower. The windows are switchable smart glass windows that transform from transparent to opaque when privacy is needed.
“This house has some calm and it has some crazy moments, and it was about making these seemingly disparate things come together,” Lum says. “I love the fact that it’s so eclectic. It made the project so much more interesting.”
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“This house has some calm and it has some crazy moments, and it was about making these seemingly disparate things come together,” Lum says. “I love the fact that it’s so eclectic. It made the project so much more interesting.”
More on Houzz
Tour more homes
Browse photos of midcentury homes
Hire a local design pro
Shop for your home
House at a Glance
Location: Golden Gate Heights area of San Francisco
Size: 2,951 square feet (274 square meters); three bedrooms, 2½ bathrooms
Architect: John Lum Architecture
Contractor: Floyd Construction
Landscaper: Rich Radford of The Garden Route Co.
Engineer: Design Everest
Before: The house sits on a steep slope. It had playful midcentury style and good bones, but it was no longer in good shape. Inside, the rooms were small and compartmentalized.
Lum was able to completely transform the house, making it feel larger and more open without having to increase its footprint. “If you don’t need to add on, don’t — that’s wasteful. It’s all about talking to the client and seeing what they need,” he says.
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