Medium Plenty's Holistic Designs are defined by Material Honesty

Medium Plenty, a burgeoning boutique architecture and interior design practice based in Oakland and Sonoma, CA, has built a reputation for its sophisticated, integrated design process and modern aesthetics with projects found across California and throughout the Western United States. Co-founders Gretchen Krebs and Ian Read have crafted a practice where every detail is always carefully considered, honored, and elevated through an exploration of light, materiality, and spatial authenticity.

Beach House: Whimsical cloud pendants mix beautifully with a Lisa Kairos painting.
Photo credit: Suzanna Scott Photography

Known for designing intimate, thoughtful spaces, the husband-and-wife duo brings a range of specialties—from interior design and architectural expertise to custom millwork and craftsmanship—to their collaborative design process. The result is a holistic, distinctive style that is evident across their wide-ranging works, which include hospitality, residential and retail environments.

Recent portfolio highlights include:

Thatcher Hotel

This newly restored Victorian-style inn and cafe in Hopland, California are surrounded by wineries, farms, and the open countryside of Southern Mendicino County. The space is the perfect getaway for those looking for a weekend getaway that is truly off the beaten path. In an effort to emphasize the hotel’s intriguing history, Medium Plenty introduced an appropriately dark and dramatic, modern paint accented with brass details that set the tone for the eclectic design aesthetic throughout the main level.

Thatcher Hotel: A perfect combination of old and new worlds.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

The lobby, bar, and cafe convey the spirit of a European inn with a large wooden bar with a mirror backdrop that doubles as guest check-in and brass banded cafe tables. The deeply hued library offers another rest area for guests to lounge on large leather sofas surrounded by carefully curated books, furniture, and rare flea market finds. Upstairs, the light-filled guest rooms are designed to feel easy and comfortable with clean lines and modern furniture.

Thatcher Hotel: The refreshed hotel includes a mahogany-lined library with a restored grand fireplace, an immaculately restored bar and restaurant, 18 guest rooms, a pool, ample outdoor spaces for seating, and more.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

Thatcher Hotel: The pool area includes an updated exterior with landscaping by Terremoto.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

Beach House 

The intention for this seaside residence was to create a place of calm and comfort, evoking the sand and sea just blocks away. Over time, the scope evolved to be a full interior renovation of the 2,400-square-foot, two-story home with a focus on representing female artists and designers in all aspects of the design.

Beach House: Medium Plenty used sumptuous materials that feel good to the touch and create a light and warm environment.
Photo credit: Suzanna Scott Photography

The interior palette is quiet and soft with a mix of woods, soft hues, subtle curves, and rich textures. The resulting design is a soothing, light-filled, comfortable, but sumptuous, retreat for the homeowner that evokes the surrounding beach locale.

Beach House: Female designed furniture was a focus. Designers include Nickey Kehoe, Shoppe Amber Interiors and more.
Photo credit: Suzanna Scott Photography

Walavista Residence

Looking to expand and reinvent their 1912 craftsman-style home, these forward-thinking homeowners tapped Medium Plenty to realize—and enhance—their vision for their family’s dream home. Specific needs included expanding the original kitchen, connecting the interior and exterior spaces to flow better, and adding a new master bedroom suite.

Walavista Residence: Medium Plenty designed custom lighting fixtures to further modernize and blend the two spaces.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

Walavista Residence: Medium Plenty designed custom lighting fixtures to further modernize and blend the two spaces.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

In order to accomplish these goals, Medium Plenty reconfigured the interior and added a 750 sq ft, two-story addition to the rear of the existing house. The addition of the dark-stained, modern cedar cube with abundant windows now graciously contrasts the home’s original, craftsman architecture.

Walavista Residence: Simple and updated, modern bath.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

Carriage House

With a growing family and a need for more space in their circa 1800s San Francisco carriage house condo, these homeowners hired Medium Plenty to help them expand and utilize a uniquely underutilized space in their building. Not wanting to leave the city, the clients reclaimed the building’s previously untouched hayloft, directly below the condo.

Carriage House: A new bedroom was built from the existing century old hayloft.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

Carriage House: The rebuilt hayloft is now a contemporary contrast to the historic features in the home.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

Gretchen and Ian connected the old hayloft to the existing space to become the new master suite and updated the existing interior, while seamlessly blending the original character of the home. Now offering ample space and fully reflective of the clients' lifestyle, the home offers a soft, modern feel with white walls, light woods, and a distinctive sense of expansiveness.

Carriage House: A fixed glass shower divider creates a room within a room and allows subtle texture. A lightwell is exposed from the roof deck above the bathtub.
Photo credit: Melissa Kaseman Photography

About Medium Plenty

With an established background in both architecture and interior design, Medium Plenty founders Gretchen Krebs and Ian Read infuse a signature approach dedicated to material honesty and respect for beauty in all its many forms. The Oakland and Sonoma-based firm’s integrated design philosophy is evident in the thoughtful spaces they design, each of which is wholly reflective of their clients’ lives. Every detail is always carefully considered, honored, and elevated through an exploration of light, materiality, and space.