"You used to walk right into the living room" More space, privacy for this San Diego home

Sunset, August, 1985

"You used to walk right into the living room" Layers of walls wrap around Kate Kennedy's house in Del Mar, California. They expand the interior, enclose a courtyard patio, and provide privacy from the street. At the core of these layers, a 30-foot-square room combines kitchen, dining, and living areas. On two sides of this space, walls that once defined the exterior are now part of the interior plan. A new layer of glass doors and solid walls added along the eave line defines the house.

"It was one of those houses where you used to walk right into the living room," says San Diego architect Peter Rodi, who designed the remodel. He first demolished walls around the former kitchen to open up the core, then removed the old outside doors and windows.

The new exterior walls create a 6-foot-wide bricked gallery one step down from the main room, making a gentle transition to the outside. In warm summer weather, the glass doors open the interior to a curving brick patio on the same level as the gallery, allowing easy access and generous space for outdoor entertaining.

To enclose the courtyard, the outermost "walls" are actually solid, 6-foot-high fence sections that step down the sloping lot. The board-and-batten fence, which matches the house siding, stands far enough back from the street to permit the height in the front. Outside the fence, existing eucalyptus trees and ivy make a low-maintenance yard.