Bringing Up Bungalow

How two local Realtors made their historic house on Seventh Avenue perfect for today

They started by redoing the layout, and with a design from Doug Walter Architects began knocking down interior walls to open up the restrictive floor plan. Over the next 19 months, the old home was stripped down to the studs and rebuilt. On the first floor, three rooms were consolidated into a large kitchen with a sunny breakfast nook. Digging out a new section of the basement added 300 square feet of living space. And instead of popping the top, they used two dormers to expand the master suite and add space for an expanded bedroom and bath on the second floor.

With a bigger slate, Bachelder and Freyer sat down with interior designers Kristi Dinner and Beth Armijo of Company KD to puzzle out ways to think beyond the traditional Mission-style look, so often seen in bungalows. Glass tiles inspired by rainforest colors, modern art, and chandeliers with cascading glass spheres were just a few of the design team's ideas. "We asked them, 'What will bring this project into modern day?'" says Dinner. "And they were really good at telling us what they did not like," adds Armijo.

Bachelder and Freyer made it clear that they did not want anything "fussy," and the designers ultimately settled on a watery palette of exquisite blues and pale greens to set a fluid, yet quiet environment. A coat of creamy-white paint on the traditional wood moldings brought classical elements into the 21st century. Dinner and Armijo handpicked sleek granite slab countertops, with tactile names like "Verde Waterfall," to match the scheme. With the furniture and accents, they went for splashes of vibrant color—bright oranges, rich reds, and ebony wood stains—as a contrast to the soft background colors.