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When Sally and Joel Phillips purchased their Portola Valley property, it didn’t exactly come with the home of their dreams. The old 1,000-square-foot cabin was barely habitable, but it was what the newly married couple could afford in the neighborhood at the time, so they decided to make the best of it.
Joel said the place was a “derelict mess.” The foreclosed property had been abandoned and overrun with wildlife for months.
For most buyers, the structure likely would have been an immediate teardown — but not for the Phillipses, who lived in the two-bedroom cabin for 12 years and came to love the place before building a larger home on the property for their growing family.
“We could just barely afford to buy an acre of land in Portola Valley, so we decided that if we could live in (the cabin) for a bit, that would get us an acre … We thought of the cabin as a bonus, a free house that came with the lot,” Joel said.
That strategy, combined with the couple’s perseverance, paid off. Today, the property has a 4,450-square-foot custom-built rustic home with pieces of the original cabin incorporated into the design. There’s also a detached 750-square-foot accessory dwelling unit that sits above a garage.
Their meticulously designed one-of-kind home is now listed on the market for $5.85 million.
Cabin life
The Phillipses said living in the cabin during the early days after moving there in 1992 hinged on having the right state of mind.
If you decide something is doable, it becomes doable, the couple explained.
“I would tell myself, ‘I’m walking on floors not made of dirt … so what do I have to complain about?'” Joel said.
They soldiered on with that state of mind while working to make the home habitable.
“Before we knew it, it was Sally and I and then two dogs, and then Sally and I and one baby girl, and then Sally and I and one little girl and one baby girl,” Joel said. “It got to a point where we were feeling the desire to spread out a bit more, so we began planning our new home.”
The renovatedproperty now includes a main home and a detached accessory dwelling unit built above a three-car garage. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti. 
The homeowners wanted to build something that was rustic and blended into the rural, woodsy neighborhood. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti. 
The 750-square-foot accessory dwelling unit sits above a garage. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti. 
An inside view of the accessory dwelling unit, which includes one bedroom. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti.
A place for family and guests
The couple needed more space to accommodate their family, as well as relatives visiting from Europe and out of state, but wanted to build something that was rustic and blended into the rural, woodsy neighborhood adjacent to Windy Hill Open Space Preserve. Rather than doing a single, large home expansion, they opted to create a group of smaller buildings that includes a main house with a larger footprint and a separate guest house and garage.
Against the recommendations of their contractor, they split the project into two phases, building the garage and the ADU first and the main home later. The entire project took about five years to complete.
By doing the work in two phases, Sally said they were able to live on the property during construction, saving them about $50,000 that they otherwise would have had to spend on renting a place to live off-site.
“We traded time for money,” she said. “We wanted to spend all the money on our property, not renting another property.”
Goodbye cabin
Sally said the family fought hard to keep the cabin and incorporate it into the home expansion.
Built in 1948, when the property was part of a 2-acre parcel that included a main house, the cabin was originally used as a guest house and later as a darkroom for a professional photographer who lived on the site.
Their architect, Carter Warr from CJW Architecture in Portola Valley, who designed the town’s Station 6 firehouse, told the couple it couldn’t be done: The foundation would never pass an inspection, and it would cost twice as much to try to fix it.
Discouraged, but not completely defeated, the couple did the next best thing: They deconstructed the cabin by hand, pulling off old-growth redwood siding from its exterior and framing to use in the new construction. They salvaged materials, such as concrete and the cinder block foundation, that could be recycled and reused for driveways and other projects. The rest of the materials that couldn’t be recycled went to the dump.
The kitchen island with mixed-and-matched tiles from Heath Ceramics in Sausalito. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti. 
The French Lacanche stove imported from Europe. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti. 
The guest bathroom features Montana Chief Cliff wainscoting and a wooden Chinese altar table that serves as a vanity with a sink made from coal fly ash. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti. 
The home features three fireplaces, including this one made of Montana Chief Cliff stone. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti. 
The office features oak flooring from the original cabin. Photo by So Gold Photo, courtesy Nathan Visconti.
A new home with pieces of the old one
Sally said the process cost more, but it made them “feel a little better” about demolishing the old cabin — and, as an extra bonus, they received a tax write-off for recycling the home’s materials.
The new family home, with its wood siding and stone wainscoting, has a rustic vibe like the old cabin but is more than four times its size. It features five bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a chef’s kitchen with a French Lacanche stove imported from Europe, 16-foot vaulted ceilings, three fireplaces and a basement with room for a gym and home theater.
Sally said there was no room in the budget for an interior designer, so the duo “winged it.”
Each room was personally designed by the Phillipses and features one-of-kind details, like the Montana Chief Cliff stone in the guest bathroom just off the living room. Sally explained she had a difficult time figuring out what tiles to use on the wall. That’s when she decided to carry the natural quartzite stone from the fireplace into the bathroom.
The wainscoting runs on the wall behind a wooden Chinese altar table that Sally found on eBay and turned into a vanity with a black sink made from coal fly ash (a powdery byproduct produced from burning coal).
“It remains one of my favorite pieces in the home,” she said.
On the wall of the kitchen island, Sally mixed and matched discontinued handcrafted tiles from Heath Ceramics in Sausalito.
“I liked a particular tile, but there wasn’t enough quantity in the off-white to do the whole kitchen,” she said. “I thought, ‘Why not combine these different whites and blend them together.’ That’s how I got really expensive, cool tile for 70% off.”
The duo scoured online marketplaces for inspiration and unique items, as well as for materials at discounted prices.
“That’s how we got limestone tile,” Sally said. “There was an over-quantity of tile from a project in Santa Cruz. We took a truck down and picked it up. … It’s important to pick your battles. You might not have the funds to have everything, so choose special things that really stand out.”
Joel said the home’s English-style Rumford fireplace, which is taller and shallower than a typical fireplace, is among his favorite features. For Sally, the fireplace is reminiscent of her British roots.
The Montana Chief Cliff stones used on the fireplace were so heavy, the couple had to shore up the foundation under it.
The floor in the office is another of Joel’s favorite details. They couple reused the 2-inch plank oak floor from the original cabin in this space.
“We used those as a nod to the former house,” he said.
Both Sally and Joel say the home turned out better than they had hoped.
“I would say overall, we are exceedingly happy with the house we ended up with,” Sally said. “We lived on this property for over 30 years from newly married to empty nesters. The property fulfilled important phases of our lives, but it’s time for us to move on.”