At Annie and Rob Lazarus’s home, nothing is uptight, off limits, or hidden away. Rob’s

50-inch TV is front and center in the living room, and when the dining room gets a

little crowded, the family pulls open French doors and slides part of the table onto the

porch. “On Thanksgiving, we’ll have 23 people at that table and I’ll make a toast and

apologize for the tight fit,” Annie says. “But people say they love it because it’s cozy.”

After living in a house with closed-off spaces and seldom-used rooms, the

California couple took a waste-not approach to building a home. On the main level,

the kitchen, living room, and dining room dissolve into one another—and into the

outdoors, thanks to maxed-out windows. The closest thing to formal is the back

porch, with its chandelier and fireplace. And forget about the master suite being a

parents-only zone. It’s the preferred spot for the three kids, ages 2 to 12, to read and

get ready for bed. “Our house doesn’t have formal divisions of space,” Rob says. “If you

have kids, you have to be about casual living so you’re not stressed all the time.”

The couple was also mindful of green building practices. Prefabricated structural

insulated panels (SIPs) made with recycled materials make up the walls. “They come

on a flatbed and workers literally tilt them up and build the house like Legos,” says

Annie, who designed the house. Rob pulled redwood planks from an old carport to

reuse for porch floors. And solar cells on the roof power the house.

As for that TV Annie calls “the monster,” she tamed it by surrounding it with

cabinets, a solution that not only helps it blend in but stores lots of stuff in this not-so-

large home. “Sometimes I wish we could pop everything out, but in reality, the kids

barely even use their own bathroom,” Annie says. “For us, this home works.”

Windows were a priority

in the kitchen,

opposite

,

even at the expense of

upper cabinetry. To keep

dishes accessible for

everybody, Annie designed

open lower shelving Sage

cabinets and limestone

peri meter countertops are

her twist on the classic

white kitchen.

Slightly secluded from the

kitchen, the banquette is

a light-filled nook,

above.

“I wanted it to seem like

you were outside in a little

glass box,” Annie says.

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS AUGUST 2008

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