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How We Completely TRANSFORMED This San Francisco Mansion
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Jun 29, 2025
Located in the Fillmore District, this home had good bones, but it was stuck in the past. So we tore it down to the studs and started over — rethinking every wall, every material, every detail. In this video, I’m taking you behind the scenes of one of our boldest transformations yet. From gutting the original layout to building it back into something truly custom, this was about more than renovating — it was about reimagining what this home could be. Whether you're a homeowner, real estate agent, or investor, these insights will help you position your property as a must-have on the luxury market! Follow us for more home transformations & design inspiration: https://www.kylehilldesign.com/contact-6
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We found this mansion close to downtown San Francisco right by the painted ladies
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Yes, the ones from Full House. So what did we do? We wrecked it of course
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We have two options. Option A, we just do a little bit of a refresh, spend a
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little bit of money and give a almost turnkey house. Option B we spend a little
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bit more money and we completely renovate the house so that way it's
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turnkey. Now this house is located in the amazing Fillmore District which is
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just steps away from Alamo Square, steps away from City Hall. The views from this
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house are so iconic. It has over 5,000 square feet of usable space. Four bedrooms, three and a half
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bathrooms. As is, the owners can sell this home and make a pretty great profit. But if we decided
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to go full Monty on this, you know, painting interior, exteriors, floors, kitchens, bathrooms
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the great thing that we would do is this house would be turnkey and ready to live in for the
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the next owners which would make the house sell quicker and for more money
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I've been with this house for 17 plus years you know we came in and the rush
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was to get in here and get here into the house and get moved in before my wife
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I've had twins. So we moved in and we've been here ever since
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Full disclosure, our clients have said to us, essentially, we can do whatever we need to
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do to help make this house sell, to help make it be truly turnkey and to turn into the glory
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it once was. Now, there's one thing that you might be wondering right now
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What do the clients choose? I'm here to tell you that we have approval for option B
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Let's do it. We're doing the whole thing. We obviously, while we lived here, it was a single family home and that's how we used it
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And I assume that whoever moves in here is going to continue to be a single family home
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And that's what they're going to use it for. How do you transform this into, transform this space into make it more modern, keep the things that are cool, you know
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So it doesn't lose, you know, you don't lose the moldings, you don't lose the things, but make it really livable for, you know, for a family in 2025
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One of the biggest dilemmas we had were the cabinets that were in the middle hallway in between the kitchen and the formal dining room
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The thing is, if we remove them, it's going to take us over our budget
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But if we keep them, I just really feel like it's going to be extremely dated and we're going to lose so much light
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But on a bright side, look at these amazing floors. These floors initially were just old
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They didn't even have another sand left in them because the wood had become too thin
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But because we have such an understanding and amazing client, he agreed to let us replace the floors throughout the whole house
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Let's start with the powder room. So the powder room, I want it to feel modern
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I want it to feel classic at the same time. I don't want it to feel like your grandma's powder room
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So I feel like there's a fine balance right there. And one of the things that I'm obsessed with right now is I found this amazing wallpaper from CB2
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that has like this reminiscent of fans. It feels very classic, but it's done in a very modern way
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I'm currently obsessed with lilac marble. It is all the rage, I love the drama
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You know, but when we're looking at this, for the sense of cohesiveness, unfortunately
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I think this one might be just a little too wild to go with this wallpaper
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So dramatic. So dramatic. I think as much as we want to be wild and fun in there
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I think we're gonna have it be a little bit more of a chill party instead
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I want to keep the countertops light and bright Because the family room there and the kitchen
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it's all connected, it gets a good amount of light, but certain parts of the day, it gets a little dark
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As we're looking here, we see a little bit of the gray, we see a little bit of the brown
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You know, throughout these, I just feel like these are gonna be the colors that we wanna go with
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I think this idea for our kitchen countertops and backsplash are gonna be absolutely perfect
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We've decided to carry the new oak flooring all the way down to this staircase as well
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Not only does it make an amazing entrance, but like it's just one of those details
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that new buyers are absolutely gonna die for. Like I'm losing my mind right now
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How are you doing? I'm good. How are you today? Good. So listen, I'm really here in Fillmore
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I just saw that you took down those cabinets like you know when you are going to the kitchen right next to the powder room Uh So I think it going to look very cool because like a lot of light coming out right from the windows that were before hidden
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Yes, absolutely. I think it's going to be great. What are we going to do in that area though
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We're going to make it feel like a little bit of a buffet and a china cabinet
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So we'll reuse some of the cabinets that were already there hanging, but we'll stack them on top of each other
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so it gives you you know it gives the feel of a china cabinet but also gives it purpose and i mean
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also it's the perfect space for if they have kids they can do homework or things like that right
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there as well okay see you soon all right back to you later bye as you can see the team is moving at
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lightning speed of course their attention to detail is brilliant i mean we've got to keep
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moving and keep this going so quickly because we want everybody to be able to enjoy the landscape
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of San Francisco from right here. But on top of everything else that we're updating, changing
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remodeling, renovating, however you want to say it, the biggest is going to be the primary bedroom
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and bathroom. These two areas are just getting completely reimagined. The shower is going to be
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in a different place. We've decided to relocate the jacuzzi tub to now just like a clean classic
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freestanding tub and the double vanity is now going to be where the shower used to be. The
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primary closet had the laundry room in it but now we've relocated the laundry room into the hallway
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I mean I tell you what we have so many changes happening so now everybody can do their laundry
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and you don't have to walk through the primary bedroom then the primary bathroom then the
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primary closet to finally get to the washer dryer. So this year has been honestly such an incredible year for all of our different projects
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I mean, let's not forget Masonic. Let's not forget Hayes. Sorry. I received a little call and I have something to tell you
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Uh-huh. There is a leak in Fillmore. A leak in Fillmore? Mm-hmm
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Great. Home renovation wouldn't be fun without a side of drama. I mean, let's be real
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Who doesn't love a little gossip? Who doesn't love a little tea? And guess what? I'm going to spill it right now
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In our garden apartment level, we ended up having a plumbing leak with the bathroom
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as we were renovating it, and it went through the floors into the wall
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Okay. It's definitely not good, but these seasons sometimes happen, and what we're going to need to do is make sure it's done right
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So we're going to have to take these boards up and then replace the boards
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and make sure everything is sealed underneath. We've had to halt work down there for a few days
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while we get a dehumidifier to open up the wall and to take all of that moisture out
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This house started as a single-family residence, a social hall, rooms to let
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But then there was a period in 2004 that an Austrian ice skater and his wife
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who's an American, he owned this place and he turned it into a bed and breakfast
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So it operated as a bed and breakfast for a number of years to make rooms for overnight stays
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And if you go outside, there's a brass plaque out there that says, No Name Victoria
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That was the name of the bed and breakfast. One of my favorite rooms in the house, which so much work has happened in, is the primary bathroom
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In the primary, I want to keep that idea of nice blues, grays, and marble
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With this primary bathroom, we've decided that we're going to mix scale and we're going to mix shapes
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How do you do that? So for our shower pan, just because we want to make sure it's, of course, safe
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we're going to be using a Bianco Carrera honed marble in the hexagon shape
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The reason why we're doing it with this is because A, it works great for floors and bathrooms and showers
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But it also gives a little bit more texture and things like that
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So it's going to be non-slip when you're showering. Important. That's very important
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Very important. I like this. And normally this would just be something that we might even want to do on the walls
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But what I'm thinking in there is I want to carry this all the way throughout the floors of the bathroom
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the primary closet, and the water closet there. So I think with the three of these together, I think it'll be a really classic, chic bathroom
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It's gonna feel modern because we're gonna be doing chrome accents, but it's also gonna feel very classic
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It's time for us to start the staging and I'm gonna be very honest with you
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The house construction wise hasn't been completed. So So we're going to be constructing not only the house, but the staging at the same time
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It is now time for the big reveal of honestly the biggest project we ever taken on here at kyle
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hill design and i tell you what i think all of us couldn't be more proud of everything we've
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accomplished so right now i'm standing in the front parlor followed by the middle parlor on the
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other side of the middle parlor we have the formal dining room the things that we've done
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to these three rooms are pretty much consistent throughout the house as well. We have patched
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painted, sanded. We've ripped out all the original flooring and added in brand new European oak
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floors. We found different ways to add accent colors and to kind of really bring this house to
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life. You know, one of the things that I love is I love finding original architectural moments
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and just modernizing them. One of the things that we did here
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is we took the exact same courts that we used for the kitchen countertops
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and added a whole new fireplace facade. Another like fun, simple thing that we did
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is instead of just keeping the mantle white, we took it to the cheating hearts color
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which to me just adds a little bit of drama. And I think everywhere needs a little bit of drama
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Don't you agree? So now we are truly standing in a chef's kitchen. The same things that we accomplished in the front
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rooms, we did exactly the same thing back here. We stayed true to the architecture of the home
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We put in all new European oak flooring. We took out every single appliance that was here prior
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and we added in all new Thermador appliances. With the cabinetry, since it was in such great
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shape, what we decided to do here is just take the time and bring it back to life. We sanded it
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we repaired it, we primed it, we painted it, and what we did is to create a nice through line and
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a design story throughout the home is we painted the cabinets in here the exact same color as we
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the mantle in the front parlor which again is cheating hearts by benjamin moore we updated all
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of the countertops here we extended the island out by about two feet and made it a truly great
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area for entertaining and the other thing that we did that i love to do in a lot of our homes
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is we carried the countertop that we utilized all the way to the backsplash because why it just gives
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a nice modern clean feel so when you're entertaining when you're cooking i mean honestly it's just like
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you're wrapped in luxury i keep saying that these areas are my most favorite in the house
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but i'm gonna have to say that this is definitely one of my most favorite areas what used to be
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this tight crowded dark hallway the things that we did were so simple and such a quick fix like
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it brings it into a whole new life. So over here on this side
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they had kitchen cabinetry that went the whole length of the hallway
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And it even blocked the windows that were up there. We decided to take the cabinetry down
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turn this homework zone into like a great little like China cabinet moment
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a buffet for different parties, things like that. Like if the kiddos still wanna do homework
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and sit here and there, by all means, they can do it. But what used to be this dark, congested hallway has suddenly become a truly like showstopping area
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Now I'm standing in the primary bedroom of this house. In this room, you know, we did quite a few little things
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One of the biggest things that we did is we updated all the flooring
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We've painted out the fireplace so that way it just kind of has that nice feel so it feels very cohesive throughout the home
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But the biggest thing we did is we took the primary closet that used to be right here in the room
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walled it off to help create an amazing laundry room that everybody can use and not just the primary people here
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I mean, honestly, who wouldn't want to take a shower in here
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Who wouldn't want to read a book? I don't know. Take a nice bath
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In this room, this is one of the rooms that we did most of our work in
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We have a gorgeous Carrera-honed marble all the way throughout on the floors
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We took a nice fluted limestone to encase the walls so it feels truly luxurious
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and then have a hint of playfulness. We added in this really great mid-century modern linen
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wallpaper. Of course, we still have a double vanity as everyone needs. And what we decided
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to do here with the double vanity, instead of doing the normal, typical two sink moment
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what we decided to do is really have a nice, amazing, long trough sink made. And the reason
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why we did that is that way nobody's fighting over, you know, elbow room and those kinds of
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things. And plus it just gives a really nice aesthetic feel to it. So I keep raving about
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this laundry room that we created. Well, wait, no more because here it is. So like I was telling you
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we took the linen closet that was in the hallway we grabbed one of the closets from the primary bedroom and we turned it into this expansive laundry room When you have a house of this size you want to make sure that you have a really nice spot to be doing your laundry
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This way, it's completely accessible for everyone in the house. We have hanging, we have storage, we have updated appliances
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I mean, I don't know about you, but a lot of the laundry rooms I've seen lately don't have fully quartz countertops as well
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So one of the best rooms in the house for me personally is the kids room, you know, and this
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room, we kept things, we kept things pretty simple. I would say, you know, we added in the white
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European oak floors. We, you know, updated the light fixtures. There was also a fireplace in
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here that was the only non-functioning fireplace in the house. So instead of it becoming this eyesore
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and this monstrosity or like albatross in the room, what we decided to do is let's make it fun
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Let's make it playful. So we closed up the fireplace so that way it wasn't a hazard
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for any of the new prospective buyers. And we added a nice fun geometric wallpaper with it
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So that way it's really, truly a fun kid's room. I mean, if I was still a kid
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I think I'd like to be here. We'll see you next time
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I think the biggest feat that we had with this house was we literally added a roof deck
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I looked at doing it before. Well, it was going to cost you a quarter million dollars, and we're going to have to bring in cranes to put in steel, to put in steel beans
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and we're going to have to shut down Muni because of the wires. I mean, it was like a whole
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production. I was like, I got a little scared, and I was like, and I don't have a quarter million dollars to spend on a debt, we would structurally we didn't need to do any of that. The space
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up there always supported an entire extra floor. Where I'm standing right now, this did not exist as of a few months ago. So we went through
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city planning, we went through the permitting process, and we were able to in record time
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get approval for this roof deck. And this just isn't any roof deck. We were able to
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to add 500 square feet of usable living space to the home
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I mean, where else are you gonna get unobstructed views of City Hall, Salesforce, Transamerican Bay Tower
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Like, all of these things are right here for you on your own roof deck
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This right here is your legal one-bedroom apartment. Did somebody say income property
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It also could double as your family room, an in-law suite, a media room
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I mean, the list in this area goes on and on and on
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But my favorite part about this is the original fireplace. This fireplace has been here since it was built
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And the thing that we decided to do to it? Absolutely nothing
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Because why would you? This character and this charm, it's quintessential San Francisco
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And it's also quintessentially Victorian. So the only thing that we did to it is we painted out the firebox in a high heat black paint
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Just because after years and years of use, I mean, it was looking a little crusty and dusty
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Follow me this way. I mean, honestly, step right up into your new, fully renovated garden apartment kitchen
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Before, it was dark. It was just not very appealing. And the big thing about this was it did not make me want to come make a thing of popcorn to watch my movies
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So what we did here is we added in just simple, clean, white shaker kitchen cabinets
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We expanded the cabinetry by basically double the size. By increasing the lowers that go all the way here, we added in a whole new area on this side
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But the thing that I love the most is what was once an unusable space, we created this super cute little like breakfast bar area
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So, you know, you can just saddle right up, have your morning oatmeal
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You know, it's a late night. Have a breakfast burrito in the evening
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I don't know. But this space here, we made it so usable and so much fun
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The plan from the get-go was hands down better than anybody else's
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But before, like, come over once a week or whatever, and it's like, and every time I come over, I get excited
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I go, oh, Kyle, I can't believe this. at Kevla's, what I feel really good about
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We're laying the grounds for another family to come in here and live in a really great space
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in a really great neighborhood, and in a really cool house
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