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Simplicity and geometry are principles of Eichler homes architecture, to create clean, tidy and spacious ambiance. The original interior designs complemented the architecture and style. It is recognizable that these homes were actually designed by architects, and they represent a symmetry and balance that is often absent in both older and modern track homes. Even though our previous home was a new construction, this one - despite being 40 years old and significantly smaller - immediately "felt" right. After forty years, and multiple owners and re-models, a lot of the original ambiance is of course often lost. Since we have moved here, we have looked at a lot of Eichler's for sale in the area, and have seen homes that were barely recognizable, as well as homes that were beautifully conserved, or nicely restored. When we bought the house we were prepared to make investments, and we considered it better to buy a house in need of remodel, rather than paying a premium for a place that had already been remodeled but not to our liking. When planning work on the house, we started first with the simple things, and with the things that we wanted to get done before moving in: We probably all know the "feel" of a new home, either from looking at model homes, or from having had the opportunity to build or buy a new home. In a new home everything looks (hopefully) neat and tidy: the wall and floor coverings are new and match; all rooms have same type of light switches, and outlets, the kitchen cabinets match with the bathroom cabinets, the baseboards are the same throughout the house. After a house has been lived in for 40 years, switches have been replaced, new outlets have been added, cabinets have been replaced, and the tidiness is gone. One of the fairly simple things that we did early on, was to renew all light switches and outlets in the house with matching ones - a fairly small investment that made quite a difference. We also replaced baseboards that were not matching, or installed baseboards were they had disappeared over time. Next came the big ticket items: We wanted to do the floors before moving in, as well as some painting. At the same time we also started to think about windows and lighting, which we then did after moving in. We also started to consider replacing the kitchen immediately, expecting this would require some lead time. The following section describes our approach for these main subjects. Click on one of the pictures above or simply scroll down this page to learn more about the individual topics listed above. In addition, you will find more pictures and descriptions on other pages within this site. Back to Top
______________ __________________________________________________ __________________________ Resources Quality & Discount Tile, Palo Alto HY Tile Installation We addressed the floor coverings first, since it obviously would be much easier to work on floors before moving in with the house being empty. We have in previous homes always preferred hardwood or tile over carpeting. Typically tile and wood are "cold" floors, especially when installed on a concrete slab, however, the radiant floor heating in an Eichler provides the perfect opportunity for tile or similar materials. We planned to install new floors in the entire house and the atrium, and were therefore looking at a fairly big investment. When selecting floor coverings we looked at various materials, including cork, but really did not find anything besides tile that was readily available and could be installed at an acceptable cost. We selected a single tile design that we could use throughout the house, and in the atrium as well. Our intent was to support the simplicity of the design by not having multiple different floor styles and colors throughout the house. With both bathrooms and the kitchen backsplash already tiled, we also felt that we had enough tile variety already. The project to replace the floors took about two weeks - two days to tear out the old floor coverings, and the remainder of the time to install the new. We were very happy with the results and the quality job delivered by HY Tile. Back Tiles in living room and atrium ______________ ___________________________________________________ __________________________ The easy decision was to paint all the rooms in which the mahogany paneling had already been painted over. The more difficult question was what to do with the remaining mahogany paneling... Focusing on the easy part first, we painted master bedroom, master bathroom and closet, two of the bedrooms and the family room before moving in, while the floors were being redone. In terms of colors, we were kind of tired of "off-white" walls, and thought that the house could support bolder colors. The ceilings and ceiling beams had already been painted white throughout the house, and more of the same would look boring. We also did not want to go as far has have a different color for every room, and settled on "Navajo White" as color for all rooms mentioned above. We added some structure to the paint, to give the walls some texture. We also repainted the doors, door frames, crown moldings and baseboards in white to match the ceilings and ceiling beams. The more difficult decision was the mahogany paneling. When we moved in, the original paneling was still in place in the living room, hallway, laundry area, and in the bedroom used as an office. We first decided to not change anything, and wait a couple of months before deciding what to do. Obviously, the mahogany paneling is a unique feature of Eichler homes, and I have read a lot about people really wanting to preserve that particular feature. Our paneling was in fairly good shape: some areas with more exposure to sunlight were more faded than others, some walls were scratched, and all paneling had holes from nails. etc. In the end, and after having lived in the house for four months, we decided to paint the paneling. The decision was made after returning from a trip to Germany - an environment with a more contemporary ambiance: all of a sudden, we felt that our house looked old and worn, and not as modern and contemporary as it was originally envisioned by the builder and architects. We have not regretted our decision. Walls and rooms are now a lot brighter compared to before, the house feels newer, more modern, and more spacious than it did with the mahogany. Back View from bedroom into laundry area Our guest room ______________ ___________________________________________________ __________________________ Resources Noise Solutions   Our house came with all original single pane aluminum frame windows. We also have a lot of the floor-to-ceiling glass "walls" in our living room. The sliding glass doors were all in good shape, however, the windows in the bedrooms and bathrooms needed attention. Our main concern with the single plane windows was noise and heat insulation. The "regular" windows in bedrooms, etc were easy to deal with, however, the sliding glass and "Eichler" windows presented more of an issue. To our knowledge, the Sunnyvale building code does not allow windows of the size we have anymore, so replacements with double pane would not work. The only other alternatives we have found is foil - which reduces the UV radiation, but doesn't do anything for heat loss or noise, and the acrylic inserts provided by Noise Solutions, which provide a little of both. We worked with Noise Solutions to replace all bedroom/bathroom windows with dual pane, and we used our master bedroom as test case for the acrylic insert and Noise Solutions' sliding glass doors. We have been very happy with the results, but have so far decided against using the acrylic inserts for other windows. The reduction of heat loss is really minimal, and the additional frame spoils the look a bit. Noise Solutions seems to have gone out of business since then. Back New bedroom window View into the atrium ______________ ___________________________________________________ __________________________ Resources Delight, Palo Alto Eichler homes are not easy for electrical and lighting installation, since it is hard to get power to the right places in the ceiling or walls. The roof construction makes it difficult to run wire trough the house, therefore flexibility regarding placement of light fixtures is quite limited. One solution to the problem is low voltage track or cable lighting. Transformers can be placed at the power source - potentially even hidden in walls or on the roof, while the light fixtures can be distributed along the tracks or cables. We had used low voltage cable and track lighting before, and therefore had some experience with it. Low voltage lighting has been popular in Europe for quite a number of years, and we had used this type of lighting extensively in our previous home in Germany. We replaced almost all light fixtures in the house, and we did use a lot of cable and track lighting. It not only adds flexibility but also complements the Eichler architecture and style very well. Back Low voltage lighting in dining area   _____________ ___________________________________________________ __________________________ Resources LEICHT Kitchens Kitchens of Los Altos Home Depot EXPO We assume the kitchen we found in the house when we bought it was probably installed in the early 80's, with oak cabinetry and beige Formica countertops. The kitchen layout must have been pretty identical to the original, with cabinets and countertop along the wall separating the dining area and kitchen, and an island with attached dining table towards the family room. Although cabinets and countertops did not look too bad on first glance, a closer look revealed that the kitchen was overall not in a very good shape. We also inherited an older dishwasher and slide-in range. The top picture on the right show the kitchen as it was when we bought the house. As a first step, we removed the island in order to be able to put tiles in, and put it back in afterwards. When starting to think about replacing the kitchen, we started with the appliances and opted for a stainless steel look. Our first investments were a new refrigerator, dishwasher, slide-in range and microwave. We also thought it would be easier to do the kitchen plan, if the dimensions of appliances could be factored in based on "real" measurements. After that, we started looking for kitchen cabinetry and countertops. We first went to IKEA, and while we liked their designs and materials in principle, we did not find something we were really comfortable with. By pure coincidence, we walked into Kitchens of Los Altos, and ended up importing a kitchen from Germany. Kitchens of Los Altos already had a relationship with LEICHT, one of the biggest manufacturers in Germany, and at the time the exchange rate between US Dollar and German Mark was favorable, and despite shipping and customs charges, we did not have to pay more than for a comparable domestic kitchen. The only drawback was the delay caused by having to ship all the material from overseas. We ordered all cabinets and countertops for kitchen, bathrooms and laundry area from LEICHT. Similar to IKEA kitchens, the individual components (cabinets, etc) come pre-assembled, and the installation process is somewhat like doing a puzzle: sorting all the pieces and then determining how they fit together. We did all the assembly ourselves, with the exception of making the cutouts for sink, range, etc in the countertops. The most difficult part in this was the dismantling of the old kitchen, and the installation of the new kitchen went actually quite smoothly. Back Before Today ______________ ___________________________________________________ __________________________ Resources LEICHT Kitchens Kitchens of Los Altos Home Depot EXPO Barron Park Supply We wanted to stay away from a major bathroom remodel, mainly because of the cost associated. Instead, we chose to focus on things that would have significant impact, but could easily be accomplished. Both bathrooms had been redone at some point, and the shower and bathtub areas in both bathrooms were nice enough to preserve. The vanity area and fixtures in the master bath needed to be changed: it featured oak cabinets similar to the kitchen; and mirror, sink, faucets needed an upgrade as well. The shower enclosure and fixtures were in brass/gold finish, which we wanted to change to chrome/silver. The main trick was to replace cabinetry and sink without damaging the tile work. We succeeded halfway, and ended up having to replace some of the tiles, however, we were lucky to find replacement tiles that blend very well with the original. The second (hall) bathroom vanity area was due for a replacement as well. We threw out the vanity unit, mirror, lighting, and replaced it with cabinetry and countertop from our kitchen manufacturer, and a sink and faucet from EXPO. In both bathrooms we replaced the shower fixtures, and in both cases we were able to find exact replacements for the type of fixtures that we installed, and therefore did not have to do any major work. Back Master Bath - Today Hall Bath - Today Copyright 2003, 2005 Raoul & Bärbel Schuhmacher