Before & After: A Complete Overhaul Lifts a Jumbled Hilltop Home to Cloud Nine

Perched high above Oakland, the expanded midcentury soaks up jaw-dropping views—even from the bathroom.
Photos by
Joe Fletcher

Something about unfinished business just doesn’t sit right—and that goes for spaces, too. A partial renovation in the ’90s left this Oakland home feeling clunky and awkward, with clashing styles and massings. But the homeowners (a Las Vegas–based couple who work in finance and have two children) saw the potential beneath the clutter; the lot, after all, offers sweeping views of the Bay Area that no dated reno could hide. So they tapped husband-and-wife team Kerstin and Andrew Fischer of Fischer Architecture to start from (almost) scratch and create a home worthy of the striking views.

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Stacey McLachlan
Dwell Contributor
Stacey McLachlan is an award-winning writer and magazine editor living and working in British Columbia, Canada.