<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Marika Sakellariou was walking to the ferry connecting Marin County to San Francisco one day when she was engaged in conversation by a beret-wearing bon vivant watering his plants to the accompaniment of a blaring Bach cello concerto: It was Raphael Soriano, a midcentury architect and, like Sakellariou, a Greek expatriate. He became one of her closest friends. &amp;quot;He opened my eyes to California architecture,&amp;quot; says Sakellariou, who settled in the Bay Area in the 1970s and went on to a much-lauded career with the San Francisco Opera Ballet. &amp;quot;He talked about friends and contemporaries like A. Quincy Jones, Julius Shulman, John Lautner and Charles and Ray Eames,&amp;quot; she remembers. In fact, Soriano, who died in 1988, used video of Sakellariou&amp;#039;s minimalist dances in lectures he gave with Buckminster Fuller to explain the similarities between dance, art and architecture. He also introduced the ballerina to the work of one of his most famous clients, the developer Joseph Eichler, whose singular vision of contemporary, architect-designed homes for the postwar middle class transformed California&amp;#039;s domestic landscape.  In 2006 Sakellariou, now a licensed Realtor, discovered a 1960-era Eichler in its original state in San Rafael. It was the answer to her dream of living in an Eichler house. The dancer enlisted the aid of architects Marek Slosar and Lucian Rosciszewski to bring the 2,000-square-foot gem into the 21st century. She wanted to maximize the indoor/outdoor heart of the home and to honor its form, but she also wanted to move it a century forward in style. Sakellariou&amp;#039;s brief to Rosciszewski and Slosar (then partners, they have since set up separate firms) was to preserve the home&amp;#039;s original bones, ceiling beams, overhangs and the front entrance, which leads through the interior courtyard. She wanted to keep the 2,000-square-foot plan of the house intact, even though it is half the size of her former home. And she wanted everything neat. &amp;quot;I find that clutter creates clutter in my brain,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;The cleaner the space, the cleaner my process.&amp;quot; The architects replaced all the sliding patio doors and windows with new energy-saving double-pane Low-E coated glass. They also dropped the ceiling a few inches to accommodate insulation and track lighting and laid 12- by 24-inch porcelain tiles over radiant-heated floors throughout. Original dark paneling was replaced with drywall, now painted white. &amp;quot;Marika wanted a more monolithic, smooth finish,&amp;quot; explains Slosar &amp;quot;The drywall also creates space for wiring. I don&amp;#039;t think it kills Eichler&amp;#039;s intent.&amp;quot; Although the home has four bedrooms, Sakellariou uses the one next to her master suite as a walk-in closet; another, adjacent to the courtyard, was claimed as a home office. The fourth is now a guest room. Moving the original laundry space to the garage made room for additional storage and a new master bath. The design team also took down the walls between the kitchen, dining and living rooms, creating an open space divided by two 12-foot-long islands that accommodate seating, storage and dishwasher drawers on either side of the sink. Click here to see the gallery for &amp;quot;A Gracefully Modern Home.&amp;quot;  Eichler aficionados were able to tour Sakellariou&amp;#039;s home (before it was finished, in 2008) during a fund-raising tour of local dwellings by the developer that was organized by the non-profit group Hospice by the Bay. Ever the complete artist, Sakellariou composed contemporary music with her nephew for her home&amp;#039;s segment of the tour and allowed only small groups of people in at a time, so they could fully appreciate the experience. Tour guests, including Catherine Munson, who began selling Eichlers as part of the developer&amp;#039;s original team and continues to sell them today, showered Sakellariou with enthusiastic praise. &amp;quot;Mr. Eichler would be so proud of this home,&amp;quot; Munson says. &amp;quot;This is truly the zenith of Eichler interpretation.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Marika always wanted to push the envelope,&amp;quot; says Slosar. &amp;quot;She was not afraid to take a risk and go for more unorthodox solutions. What also helped in creating a successful project was her sense of beauty, excellent taste and love for truly modern design.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I have always wanted to remodel an Eichler,&amp;quot; says the multi-talented Sakellariou. &amp;quot;I began the redesign with the thought &amp;#039;How would Eichler and his team of architects approach the design of Eichlers today?&amp;#039; I wanted the space to really touch people. Redesigning a space and choreographing a ballet are extensions of movement,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;This is like choreographing your own ballet, except the ballet is the people who are in your home.&amp;quot; What The Pros Know Knowing which design elements to emphasize, match or play down can make a space appear infinitely larger. &amp;quot;The color of the kitchen islands had to be light to tie to the ceramic flooring,&amp;quot; states Lucian Rosciszewski. &amp;quot;A darker color would make them more prominent and destroy the unity of the space.&amp;quot; Uncovered windows draw the eye outside; accent windows were frosted for privacy where needed. Floating sliding doors finished with reflective laminate visually expand the space leading to the media room. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not always comfortable to have a large swinging door,&amp;quot; Marek Slosar observes. &amp;quot;This is flexible, looks very modern and creates very nice flow between the rooms. I am always telling clients that square footage is deceiving. Open spaces, connections between rooms and connections to the outside change the perception of square footage.&amp;quot; Click here to see the gallery for &amp;quot;A Gracefully Modern Home.&amp;quot; Click here to see the resources. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elledecor.com/home-remodeling-renovating/a3941/a-gracefully-modern-home-a-58667/?src=shelter_footer>