Although iconic 20th-century architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe coined the now-familiar phrase less is more, many designers, if given the chance, would expand their own home rather than simply make its existing spaces work better.

That’s not to say architect Merritt Amanti Palminteri and her husband, Rogers Hawley, weren’t tempted to go bigger. Upon returning to Merritt’s hometown of Monterey, California, after several years in New York City, they purchased a 1,700-square-foot, three-bedroom 1950 ranch house on a street that her mother had lived on during in high school; the house had even belonged to one of her mother’s friends.

Before: Living Room

“We were driving by it one day and my mom said, ‘Look, Peggy’s house is for sale,’” Merritt recalls. Theirs was one of several offers, but the couple won out in part because they told the sellers they didn’t plan to significantly add on to the home, or demolish it.

The house was easy to like, with its classic midcentury vibe and brick cladding (a relative rarity in California), and its shoebox form was filled with natural light. The couple could enjoy views through the trees to Monterey Bay, and the expansive backyard had plenty of space for their three young boys to play in.

But the existing house’s interior was, in Merritt’s words, “pretty cramped” for their family—the couple’s six-year-old twins would have to share a bedroom. Fortunately, a previous expansion, which had created a wood-paneled rec room at one end of the house for the previous owner (a ham radio enthusiast), could be set up as a third bedroom or a family room/play area.

After: Living Room

The family lived in the house without renovating it for nearly a decade, save for a few economical choices like bold wallpaper for the entry foyer and the combination playroom/bedroom. But eventually Merritt, who spent several years designing residences for acclaimed New York architect Anik Pearson before founding her own Monterey firm, got to work on an expansion plan.

“We designed something dream house–level: a master suite...all kinds of stuff,” Merritt says. “And then we were like, ‘This is kind of silly—we actually have plenty of space.’ If this was a New York apartment, you would just rework the configuration. So that's the tactic we took: ‘We’re just going to use what we have and make it work better.’”

Before: Kitchen

To reconfigure the relatively small footprint without expanding, Merritt’s redesign focused on a few simple moves.

First, she removed the drop ceilings to expose the split-roofed home’s natural vault. Then she designed a suite of new built-ins throughout the interior. The family opted to take down a wall between the kitchen and dining area and relocated the latter to a spot beside the living room. The plan relocated a laundry room in the front of the house to the back, creating space for a cozy breakfast nook, and it reprised an arched entry at the foyer as a repeated motif.

Entering the home today, the living room is awash in illumination, with sunlight bouncing off the newly exposed and whitewashed ceiling, and a pair of arched doorways bookending a wall of cupboards and cabinetry. The homeowners retained and refinished the original red oak floors, and Merritt consulted a structural engineer before going forward with the ceiling removal.

After: Kitchen

“You just have to introduce some more posts and tie that to the foundation,” she explains. “It was my husband’s idea, and it was worth the effort. It’s a small room, so it definitely opens it up.”

The living room enjoys some of the home’s best views, looking west toward Monterey Bay through the pines. "On Wednesdays, there’s a regatta at the yacht club down in the bay, so you see all these sailboats going around in a circle and you always know what day it is," Merritt says. “It’s really nice.”

The kitchen is an altogether different experience compared to the original; it’s much more spacious and full of light. The rich tones of the walnut-clad cabinetry and island give way to a variety of finishes—including brass sink hardware and a matching countertop and backsplash.

“It’s just pretty,” Merritt says of the material choice. “I always wanted to do it, and it’s naturally antibacterial—hospitals used to have brass countertops. It was a splurge, but not an outrageous one: a couple hundred dollars more.”

Before: Laundry Room

After: Breakfast Nook

The kitchen’s most popular feature may be its new nook, created from the low-ceilinged former laundry room. Merritt added new windows and a walnut-clad booth, and coated the upper shelves, cabinetry, and ceiling in bold red paint to create a vibrant yet cozy space.

Before: Bathroom

After: Bathroom

“It’s funny, kids are always drawn to it when they come over. They like to sit in the booth and read books or draw,” the architect says, “which is exactly what I wanted to happen.”

At the far south end of the house, Merritt turned a portion of the former rec room into a laundry/pantry area with a wall of storage clad in monotone floral wallpaper—and the nearby playroom can be converted in a kid’s bedroom in the future.

Before: Bedroom

After: Bedrooms

“It's a cozy room,” Merritt says. “It’s funny because we have a big living room, but they’re always in the smaller playroom.”

Above the entrance to the playroom is a transom window with a custom piece of stained glass—a gift from Rogers's mother—featuring an infinity symbol that the couple used as a graphic on their wedding invitation.

The family finished the renovation and moved in just after the pandemic lockdowns began in 2020. “We were immediately sequestered with each other, and it was really lovely, to be honest,” Merritt says. “We had little kids, so we weren’t leaving the house much anyway. We were just intensely around each other all the time. And it worked out.”

More Before & After Stories:

A Couple Fix Up an Heirloom Cottage in the Town Where They First Met

A Choppy San Francisco Home Finds Its Flow After a Mullet Renovation

A Nature-Forward Napa Valley Home Kicks Off a New Era

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Merritt Amanti Palminteri Architect / @maparchitect

Builder: Merritt Amanti Palminteri Architect

Structural Engineer: Kyler Engineering

Cabinetry: A & A Cabinetry Works

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Before & After: This Reinvented Monterey Bungalow Shows That Sometimes, Smaller Is Better