Art house: a husband-and-wife team turns their home into a design lab - Jennifer Madden and Jeff Reed of Reed Madden Designs

Sunset, April, 2004 by Peter O. Whiteley

By acting as their own clients, landscape designer Jennifer Madden and architect-trained sculptor Jeff Reed enjoyed the freedom to experiment as they remodeled their 90-year-old bungalow in Albany, California.

Over five years, the couple added a 400-square-foot master bedroom and bath to the upper floor and opened the lower floor to a new garden. The process turned the home into a kind of design laboratory, showcasing ways to intertwine indoors and outdoors.

The extended construction period "gave us time to stand back and refine things," says Reed. It also gave them the chance to capitalize on surprising finds, like the Douglas fir plywood that surfaced during the demolition of the upper floor. This spirit of discovery, found beauty, and ingenuity is evident throughout the home.

TEXTURAL REMODEL

New layers and textures soften and upgrade the house while remaining true to the character of the neighborhood. Next to the street is a parking area of Connecticut blue-stone and a concrete walkway through a landscape of dripirrigated plants. The new front porch is framed by a trellis over three tapered columns on high bases that create a sense of privacy without blocking views. Shingled walls and crisp white trim reinforce the bungalow look.

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SCULPTURAL TABLE

The garden table is one of many that the couple designed and built for the house. It includes an ever-changing centerpiece: A tapered, square stainless steel pedestal rises through the center of a green glass top--supported on hidden stainless steel arms--and contains a water basin for floating blossoms. An uplight and a recirculating pump give the water an alluring shimmer. (For information on purchasing Reed and Madden's work, turn to page 167.)

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PRIVATE LIGHT

The new master bedroom and bath on the top floor overlook the rear garden. The adjacent deck, with a bench built into the stainless steel railing, crowns a new porch over the doors to the dining room. Slateclad stairs lead down to the garden between pairs of columns that echo the style of those at the front of the house.

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ENTRY BORDER

A slender row of Equisetum hyemale (horsetail) creates a low "fence" in the front garden that defines the new entry walk. The upright plant grows in an elongated galvanized metal box set into the ground. "We learned their roots are invasive and travel farther and faster than bamboo," Reed explains. "Besides, they are a bog plant and don't mind having wet feet."

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The eclectic garden uses Mexican pebbles as a ground-cover and is punctuated with yellow-blooming kangaroo paws and purple-flowered hebes. The path zigs and zags through the garden to show off views.

SUN SPLASH

A pair of recycled, steel-framed windows make a bright open corner beside the upstairs deck. Madden and Reed designed and built the cabinets and intersecting bench to highlight the view of San Francisco. The vessel-style sink is sunk partway into the ivory-colored, cast-in-place concrete counter. Fir salvaged from the attic forms the cabinet shell and the bench seat and back. The big splurges were the adjustable-height light fixtures from Germany and the nickel-plated faucet.

PALM PEDESTAL

Surrounded by small Mexican pebbles, a young sago palm rises from a square, 30-inch-deep stain-less steel planter column, one of two flanking the rear stairway. Each planter is built into a square base made of plywood covered with pieces of mitered medium density overlay (MDO) 1-by-8s and metal strips, and each contains a copper drain in its base.

FIREWOOD BENCH

On the front porch, this cast-concrete bench--designed and built by Reed--doubles as a storage bin for wood. The 18- by 18- by 40-inch bench features a top made of white cement that has a grid of square openings. The top notches into legs made of multicolored concrete that has a patina. The floor of the porch is covered in green 12-inch square slate tiles.

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WATER TABLE

"We like to create places of contemplation, so we built this table as an interior oasis," Madden says. The 42- by 84-inch table is constructed like the garden one, but with a limestone top. The centerpiece is a 10-by 49-inch overflowing and recirculating trough, perfect for floating blossoms. Two uplights mounted under the trough cast a dancing pattern on the ceiling at night. During the day, sunlight reflects off the burbling surface. The long table seats 10 under a candle-filled chandelier. The base bolts to the floor for stability.

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PIPE FENCE

"We found these 5-foot-long terracotta drainpipes at a local recycling yard for $5 apiece," says Madden, who turned them into fence posts. The pipes were put on end and centered around pieces of rebar rising from a concrete footing that follows the property line. Concrete was poured into the pipes to stabilize and strengthen them. The fence is built in sections to stair-step down the slope. Center panels are redwood 2-by-4s framing grids of 1-by-2s suspended from dowels set in the drainpipe posts.