After facing the sticker shock of Marin home prices, though, they decided to rent for a while, living first in Corte Madera and then San Anselmo. When their second lease ended earlier this year, they decided to buy. On their wish list? An aesthetically interesting home that was move-in ready, in a good school district.
So they threw the kids in the car one Sunday and took a tour of open houses, including this renovated Eichler. When Forrelli walked in, she was struck by how tranquil it seemed. Her first thought: “This actually feels good.”
Their realtor, Debbie Bernier, thought so too. “I was really surprised to find an Eichler in this condition, on a flat lot, in the Dixie school district, in this price range,” she says.
Forrelli, who reads design magazines in her leisure time, found that the house, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and many sliding-glass doors, was a fitting backdrop for her style, a mix of midcentury modern, artistic and, of course, natural. In the living room, for example, beneath the classic Eichler beamed ceiling, she’s combined a gray Design Within Reach sectional couch with a “Dune” rug by Liora Manne (“It looked like sand to me,” Forrelli says) and vibrant cubist-style paintings by Douglas Theralson and Marlina Vera.
The Details
WHERE THEY PURCHASED The Terra Linda neighborhood of San Rafael
WHAT THEY BOUGHT A renovated, three-bedroom Eichler
LISTING AGENT For sale by owner
SELLING AGENT Debbie Bernier, Pacific Union and Christie’s International Real Estate
THE STATS Price per square foot for homes in the neighborhood: $582–$741