Construction Diary: How a California Designer Crafted His New Family Home—On Top of Their First Home

Eric Johnson appreciates sleight of hand, especially when it comes to design. The educator and designer’s own home in Encinitas, California, appears as a two-level single-family dwelling—one front door, uniform cladding, and few windows on the lower level—but is in fact two homes. Having been in his ’50s beach home for 17 years, Eric wanted more space (and more bathrooms) for his growing family, so he designed a 1,430-square-foot indoor/outdoor plan on top of it, moving in upstairs and using the original space as a rental.

"The new house essentially fits over the old one and hovers above it," explains Eric. He doesn’t mean that his family’s floor literally "hovers," of course, but that it has its own structural system that ties into the existing home, separated with a cavity between the roof and the new floor that holds mechanical equipment dedicated to the top level. Each home has its own entrance, and Eric kept the office downstairs for himself, which has its own access, and sits adjacent to his standalone woodshop.

In another of a series of surprises, because Eric maintained and lightly updated the interiors of the ’50s home while he and his family lived there, entering the freshly clad building on the lower level is something of a time warp. Below, the designer explains how he preserved their beloved beach home while creating an upstairs addition—or perhaps, more accurately, a house on a house—that works for both his family and the neighborhood.

Something Old, Something New

Eric Johnson: My family and I had been living in this house for a while before we decided to add on. Both of my kids were born here. It’s a typical 1950s coastal beach house: single story, two bedrooms, one bath, very little storage. Over time, I removed all the carpeting and refinished the floors, and I redid the bathroom and the kitchen—mostly cosmetic stuff. As our kids were getting older, it started to feel tight, especially when you’re sharing one bathroom with four people. It was time to expand.