Marre Design Group, Ltd.

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Hillsborough, CA
Marre Design Group, Ltd.

Marre Design Group specializes in bespoke custom home design. Meticulous attention to detail with a Marre Design Group, Ltd.

was established in 2000, as a residential design firm specializing in bespoke custom homes, perfectly tailored to each client. At Marre, timeless design principles meet cutting-edge building technologies, coupled with meticulously planned details uniquely suited to each family's lifestyle. We're small on purpose, typically only taking on 4-6 homes each year, so that each client (and their builder) gets our full attention. Over these past 20 years, we've continually honed our unique design process, and our clients love it. We ventured with the belief that quality design strengthens the communities where we live, work, and play. Our goal is to consistently provide meaningful, beautiful, and functional designs... all while making the whole design and building process less stressful and more fun for our clients. When you're ready for change, think Marre.

09/04/2026

I wonder if there will ever come a day when I stop loving to visit a project site. Well, it's been 25 years, and I still love it, so probably not!

I always start a site walk-thru, before being critical of every little flaw, by taking in what's great! I allow myself a moment or two to just be excited about the progress! The materials, the interior views throughout the house, with openings layered and aligned just right, exterior views deliberately framed outside the many windows, the layout, the flow, and the incredible craftsmanship done by a team of true artisans. By the end of the day, a "punch list" of items to fine-tune will follow, of course; it's a combined effort to take what's already done so well, to another world of precision.

Our attention to, and fuss over, every tiny detail doesn't stop when the construction drawings are completed! Thank goodness!

05/14/2026

The first drawing sets that I ever produced were done by hand on vellum, and then turned into “blueprints” by painstakingly placing them over ammonium ferric citrate and potassium ferricyanide coated sheets that turned blue when exposed to light. I still remember the smell of them!

Computer drafting software like AutoCAD, though, very quickly replaced those wonderful hand drawings. And rightfully so! I’d seemingly get sucked into the computer when I was on AutoCAD! It was so much faster… especially for changes! Running AutoCAD, I could just watch the screen, while my fingers feverishly tapped away. Keyboard commands committed to muscle memory, as I brought designs to life in 2d and later in 3d.

Computer software has obviously greatly improved our ability to accurately annotate and detail our projects. Because of it, we can share incredible amounts of information with the highly skilled build teams on our projects. These days Revit, and other go-to software, makes collaboration with engineers and other consultants much more manageable. And, in many cases, today our clients are even able to see photo-realistic 3d renderings or have virtual walk-thru’s of their homes well ahead of construction. Which is so fun! These software programs are a critical, indispensable tool in architecture!

That said, there is just something almost romantic about hand drawing! I’ve never abandoned the practice; virtually all my designs still start that way. Although I admit that SOME of my hand drawings are now done on an iPad Pro. Gasp! Whether using Morpholio on my tablet, or having my favorite Staedtler pens in hand on tracing paper taped to my nearly 30-year-old vinyl-covered drafting table… I absolutely love sketching out ideas that used to just be in my mind. Ideas seem to flow from my brain to paper just a little more easily with a pen in hand. And spending a sublime session sitting at that nearly worn-out, well-loved, oversized drafting table just kind of relaxes me somehow. Honestly, everyone should have one in their lives!

05/11/2026

Okay, seriously, who doesn’t love a secret passageway?! To the unknowing user, behind this door will just be a linen closet. It’s directly connected to a large Jack and Jill bathroom connecting two of the kids' bedrooms. No big deal. Certainly not worth an Instagram post!

But for those who know just where to push, the otherwise ordinary linen closet slides away to reveal a secret passage, leading to a large Bunk Room and children’s play area, complete with a wide array of board games, toys, and a large TV opposite the bunks for video games and other media. On the Play Room side of the tunnel, the secret hallway is accessed from a panel in some wainscot paneling. Yes, there’s admittedly secondary back stairwell off of the Mud Room that also provides access to this space, so that it can be properly furnished and cleaned and all that boring adult stuff. But foregoing the stairs, there is a whimsy of “sneaking” through that secret little hallway that makes this Bunk / Games Room feel… kind of magical!

05/08/2026

Marre Design has always been a very small boutique firm that provides an exceptionally high level of service to each of our clients, coupled with extremely detailed construction drawings… humbly, among the very best in the entire industry! We’re deliberately small enough to ensure that everyone who works with us gets our full attention all the time, and we get to know literally every detail of every project, so we’re able to provide responses to the build teams uncommonly quick!

That attention to detail on each of our projects, along with engaging design process, and working closely with the build team, led the builder of this home to share a really kind review for us online: “If people really understood Marre Design’s process and the quality that they deliver, no one would ever use anyone else!”

The negative side of being small, however, is that I don’t have a “social media guy”, and so our online presence has always lagged way behind… frankly, at this point, it’s years behind! That said, we’ll finally be getting photos of several past projects this summer, and I can’t wait! Included in the upcoming photo shoots will be this East Coast legacy home, still under construction last summer when this photo was taken. The home sit’s on an absolutely stunning ocean front property; a property that’s been in our client’s family for over 150 years! We were so honored to help them bring the stunning property to new life, for my clients now, as well as for the generations to come!

We recently shared an old video from drywall stage of this home’s interior… I still love the coffered ceiling in that Great Room!! : )

05/06/2026

This is just a fun little tour from late 2024 of what eventually will become the formal living areas from one of our projects… The Great Room, Kitchen, Sun Porch, Nook, Library, Entry, etc. So much detail in these spaces that I’m excited to share soon!

You can start to understand some of the thought that went into it, even with just in the blank canvas of the drywall stage! Coffered ceilings with beams that exactly align with windows and openings into the Great Room, and which will draw your eye to a focal stone fireplace. Multi-sliding doors that connect the kitchen to a heated sun porch with stone floors, with views of the Atlantic Ocean as far as you can see in every direction. An alcove surrounded by windows that will enclose a built-in Breakfast Nook. I can easily imagine sitting there in the morning with a warm cup of hot chocolate looking out at that incredible shoreline! The bespoke cabinetry continues beyond the Kitchen, through a beautiful Butler’s Pantry, where beyond there’s a full-wall 1000+ bottle custom w**e cabinet, with temperature and humidity controls and LED lighting. I love considering exactly what will be centered down a view through the house, or those carved out deliberate glimpses you get looking from one space to another. Each interior “view” painstakingly planned.

It can be difficult for some to exactly articulate why a space feels SO “good” to be in. It’s really the culmination of the types of details described above, with proportions and depths and textures that compliment one another, each working together to create spaces that you simply love to be in. The end result are spaces that are cozy, comfortable, and warm. They feel secure and solid. They’re open, inviting and welcoming where that’s appropriate, while remaining quiet and private where privacy is needed. Rooms are designed thoughtfully to capture and use lighting just so. Both interior and exterior views are equally contemplated to become part of the homes narrative. The end result didn’t happen by chance… those things that are so hard to articulate have been carefully curated, starting from the very first design vignettes and sketches on tracing paper.

05/04/2026

This morning I thought it might be fun to offer a little peek behind the design curtain! These are very early Schematic Designs for what will become a really beautiful and highly detailed mountain home in … This is literally step one in the design process! These drawings are loose and they’re messy, but they are to scale, and they convey a LOT of information!

During this critical Design Phase, we start to conceive how the spaces will relate to one another, the “flow” of the house. In this design study, we, of course, think about how our clients live and will actually use the various spaces. Then the home's “flow” is organized as we consider each key view; both within and throughout the home, as well as those critical panoramas outside the oversized steel windows and doors. These schematics allow us to quickly see potential ways to maximize the use of space, or perhaps ways to eliminate wasted square footage, and how and where to stack floors. Even each color has a meaning: dark green for public spaces and light green for private, red for needed circulation spaces, blue for bathrooms, and so on.

Bubble diagrams, like I’m sharing here, start to paint a picture that responds in a very direct and highly thought-out way to the unique wants, needs, hopes, budget, visions, and tastes of each client. In architects’ terms, those things are called the “program”. And all the while, it’s being sketched directly over the site survey, drawn to scale, setting us up for success, even on a complicated site. From these first sketches and vignettes, there’s more than enough information for us to start to sketch out concepts of the exterior shapes of this home, or what’s called the “massing”, as the home starts to take its shape, set directly and naturally into the landscape.

Seriously, isn’t residential architecture the greatest?! I love this stuff! : )

05/01/2026

Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous “Fallingwater” house is said to have had only about 11 pages of architectural drawings! It’s amazing what they were able to accomplish with them! By comparison, many of my projects today end up with over 100 pages of architectural sheets, some WELL over, not even including the needed pages from civil, geotechnical, structural, and mechanical engineers, landscape architects, waterproofing consultants, interior designers, and so on. On top of those critical consultants, we also review shop drawings with a fine-tooth comb, from the many artisans and craftsman working on these bespoke projects: drawings of foundations, cabinets, floor joists, roof trusses, steel structures, windows, and audio/visual, just to name a few that we see on nearly every one of our homes these days.

I LOVE designing homes for my clients but as construction on these luxury residential projects has gotten progressively more and more sophisticated (and complicated) over the years, coordination on the drawings has become a critical part of a successful project. Without it, even great design can be ruined… or, more likely, construction budgets are dramatically impacted, and much MUCH more time is required on site. The building process can quickly become a lot less enjoyable for everyone involved!

Good coordination not only takes painstakingly careful review of each drawing set, comparing and ensuring that everything exactly matches between each page and across every discipline. It also takes experience, foresight, a breadth of construction knowledge, and a strong understanding of relevant building codes. And did I mention experience?! There’s no substitute for it! Good design incorporates much more than simply complying with building codes or making sure you have adequate headroom in stairwells. Coordination includes thinking about exactly where light switches will go and the space the keypads will need. It’s understanding, exactly, the space needed for both framing and finishing materials. It’s foreseeing dropped ceilings for mechanical ducts, to seamlessly be incorporated into the architecture, or planning where air grills should be placed in the walls, floors and ceilings to be exactly centered or symmetrical. It’s planning for integrated appliances, and equipment, well ahead of construction. This detailed drawing review we call: “redlining”. Although it’s maybe not the “sexy” part of architecture (which would surely be beautiful hand sketches and shadow studies), I love to do it, because I love the design so much. And when done successfully, proper redlining review can make good design become outstanding to live in!

For the past 5 years or so, I’ve not only redlined my own projects, but I’ve been honored to start to provide this important service for multiple other amazing architecture firms as well. A couple years ago, a staff member at one of the firms I work with, , jokingly made this “WANTED” poster of me! I love it!!

04/29/2026

I have to admit that I LOVE the Construction Administration Phase! After 25 years designing custom homes, being on site and seeing our designs and details crafted to life by talented artisans never ceases to bring a smile to my face! We work extremely closely with the builders and trades to make sure that everything comes together exactly as envisioned. And we’ve found that the extra attention during this important project phase makes all the difference to the finished home!

I’m not sure if everyone can quite see the vision quite yet, but walking through these projects, just before the drywall goes up, is one of my favourite visits. Maybe that’s partly because, before studying architecture, I spent 5 years framing custom homes like these, and I loved the unique experience and perspective that real world background has given me in my practice over the years. When we walk through projects at this stage, we want to make sure that everything is exactly right… proper provision for casings and millwork, down lights specifically selected and centered right where they should be in the ceilings and between beams, mechanical systems meticulously planned, and even down to floor registers specified and precisely placed to center exactly on the windows or these oversized LaCantina folding doors. Every little detail working in unison to create… a finished feeling of comfort, warmth, protection, order, and ease to be in. In other words, a home.

On this home we’re again working in collaboration with and (a fantastic builder!) to create something truly special for very happy clients! I love to see all those 100+ year old reclaimed, hand-hewn timbers, carefully pulled out of an old barn and repurposed for new life here, combined with old corral board siding used to clad this beautiful home with such warmth and character. And, seriously… how fun are the timbers in that Great Room ceiling?! I can’t wait to see the charm and beauty of the reclaimed white oak paneling that will be installed inside this beautiful home… but I guess that will have to wait until the next site visit!

04/27/2026

My work has been published on a number of occasions, like many other firms have. No big deal. I’ve been quoted multiple times in articles and magazines, and in an “Ask a Pro” section of a local newspaper's “Home Section” (that probably dates me). Images of my work have been saved and shared on Houzz and Pinterest literally thousands of times, and one house was even used nationally as the cover of a Kolbe Windows catalogue. However, the reality is that I’m bad at social media—it’s simply not my strength—and I outright neglect website updates!

Historically, I’ve very rarely posted anything online and I virtually never seek publication or self-publish, like I know so many other firms do. Although, I don't blame them for doing that! Instead, I’ve always preferred to just work quietly in the background, humbly trying to improve with each new project, while consistently providing thoughtful design and unparallelled service for incredible clients… most of whom only knew of us through a friend, family member, neighbor, or builder who we’ve been honored to work with in the past. Because that IS where my strengths lie; although, I’ll grant you it’s probably not a recommended business model to grow a firm!

A couple of years ago, the small cabin on a lake shown here, with some quickly taken iPhone photos, won the Bild Alberta “Best New Estate Home” in 2024, in the under $2M category. While we’re obviously pleased to hear that our work was so well received, all we were striving for, what we always strive for, really, is to provide our clients with the best new estate home for THEM and their budget, and the needs and desires they have for their family. Publication or awards have always been far less critical to me than the kind words privately shared from so many clients who couldn’t be happier with the finished homes that we’ve designed for them over the past 25 years!

04/27/2026

Working with amazing clients for this stunning hillside property is really a perfect example of why I love residential architecture so much! It’s so personal and intimate as we get to truly help our clients create a “home” that’s perfect for them and their family, in every sense of the word! Every homesite and every family is totally unique; our designs endeavor to provide thoughtful and meaningful design responses to both!

I was thrilled to design and oversee every detail of this beautiful mountain home, partnered with and teamed with doing the landscape architecture (who provided these amazing renderings for us)! Looking forward to our continued collaborations!!

Address

Hillsborough, CA
94010

Website

http://www.marredesign.com/

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