Music Box

music box

Music Box is an existing house rebuilt and enlarged, for two professors and their two college-age children. Music — both playing and composing – is an integral part of their lives. The great room, between the two bedroom wings, is designed as a Music Box for playing music, while also serving as the kitchen/dining/living area. Rather than isolate the process of creating music, it is integrated in the heart of the house, in an inspiring space with a tall ceiling and expansive glass overlooking gardens and a pool – connected to the Central Valley sky and sun. A concert grand piano used for creating compositions fits in one end where, occasionally, intimate concerts can be held.

The original 1150-square-foot 50’s tract home consisted of a living / dining room with a traditional, separate kitchen, flanked on one side by a bedroom wing with three bedrooms, and a garage on the other. The remodeled and enlarged house grew to 2050 square feet, with a single 850-square-foot great room at the center, with tall walls and a high ceiling. The garage wing was expanded to include a private master bedroom suite, which serves as a retreat for the owners when guests occupy the rest of the house.

The Music Box was designed to contain precious musical instruments. The beloved concert grand piano traveled from the owners’ homeland of Argentina, to its new home in the California Central Valley — to a space specifically created for it, to continue providing inspiration, albeit in a new setting.