Haven in the Hills

A former one-story adobe house nestled in the hills of California's Marin County is reimagined into a rambling family home with a nod to its past

- Patricia Shannon

It was time to go. Bay Area-based designer Courtney Smith had decorated and redecorated her family's traditional Georgian to the point of excess. She was ready for a new project, and children Jackie and Drew were ready for a shorter school commute. The answer came in the form of a 1950s-era adobe with a 1980s addition nestled in the hills of Tiburon, a small town just over the Golden Gate bridge in Marin County. While the house might have lacked promise to the untrained eye, Smith could see the bones, and they were begging for a new beginning. "It was a one-story ranch with a tile roof and adobe construction in hacienda style," she says. "It had that overgrown Santa Barbara thing with a great view." The full acre property was a find for the area, and the commute to school was nearly nonexistent. It was a done deal. With the help of architect Jessica Fairchild of Fairchild Broms Design, Smith and her husband, Greg, began with a set of plans but revised them as they spent time in the house and got to know it better, she says. What resulted made the most of the home's original adobe construction while introducing thoughtful additions that added breathing room and space for the family to entertain. "I really wanted our house to feel like it could have been here for a long time," says Smith. "I wanted the feeling of not so shiny and new, but more welcoming and approachable. But still spacious, like it might have been here forever."

CITRUS NOTES

Top: "The first thing I selected for this project was the kitchen wallcovering," says Smith. The circa-1947 vintage print, Citrus Garden by Josef Frank, "had many of the elements I wanted to repeat on our property," she adds, from citrus trees in the front garden to design choices throughout the interior. "Because the home is so open," everything else has to relate. Things don't need to match, but need to flow from room to room."