CaBOOM! Day 3 Part 1

The best house of the whole 3 days was the first house on the tour on Sunday. The architect, Robert Thibodeau of DesignUniversal, had this home on the tour 2 years ago that I really liked.

 

Here is the home from this year's tour.

When I talked to the architect, I told him how I loved the warmth that the materials he chooses bring to his building.  He said that his design philosophy is "regional modern" where he uses locally sourced materials to give it the flavor of California. In the case of this home, that means using lots of redwood from the region for the outside decking, ceiling and floors.

The home essentially consists of two rectangular forms placed side by side. One form contains the public areas - kitchen, dining, living, while the other contains the private areas such as the bedrooms, den and bathrooms.

What I thought was particularly striking was the use of custom shelves to separate to the two areas of the house. It provides separation without closing off the space. Plus all the walnut they used is just gorgeous.

Who knew that 15th century religious art could look so good in a modern home?

As I said in my post on Day 2 of the tour, I'm really partial to the use of concrete block, which I think was used to perfection for the fireplace.

I also loved how he continued this theme into the backyard.

Corridor for the private areas.

The floor in the public space was a highly polished concrete that looked really pretty.
I absolutely loved the flooring in the private areas. I had never seen an end-grain floor before. The architect explained that it is a commercially available product that used to be used for factory floors quite frequently. This product is a redwood that comes in panels to make installation a little easier.

The brightly colored exterior doors were a nice touch.

Finally, a renewable source of fresh eggs out in the backyard.