The House that Clare & Mer Built

This post will be a detailed description of the house, including photos.

The San Carlos house that Clare and Mer Berryhill built in the late 1970s is in a "gated community" - in that you have to punch in a code so the gate will lift. But the code is written right on the gate and there is no guard or anything so anyone can get in - hahaha. You drive up a steep cobblestone rode to the house. The house is a peach terracotta color, with two gates that enclose the front yard. A wrought iron gate door serves as the door to the single car garage.


The house looks over the San Francisco Bay in both the front (west) and back (east) of the house. The view from the front of the house includes the main San Carlos landmark, Mount Tetakawa. It is a twin peak rocky mountain with desert plant life on it. Our view is the side of the mountain so we only see one of the two peaks. A few fishing boats are always in the bay at the front of the house. Brown Mexican Pelicans and seagulls fly by routinely.



You enter through an arched gateway into an enclosed garden. The walkway is adobe tile. There are several small raised beds for flowers and shrubs. An ornate bench sits against an adobe wall.


A two foot tall statue with a bowl does double duty as an ornament and dog water.




Once through the front door, you are in a medium size entry foyer. The flooring throughout the house is adobe tile, including the stairways, porches and balconies. Straight ahead is a sunken living room, three steps down. Here are several comfy couches and chairs. A large stone fireplace and chimney is off to one side. It extends up to the second floor where a second fire place resides in my bedroom.






The view outside the living room window includes a rock covered in seguaro cactus. There are a few holes in the rock that kayakers like to paddle through. The water is usually calm. A door in the living room leads to the lowest of the five porches/balconies. It takes you down six steps.




Right of the sunken living room is the break- fast bar and kitchen. Beyond that is a bar and dining room. A sliding glass door at the end of the dining room leads to an outdoor patio.













A bedroom with a kingsize bed is left of the entry hall as is the main bathroom. A semi-circular tile stairway leads to the 2nd floor. At the top of the stairs is a loft area which serves as a family room or TV room. Two large bedrooms are on the second floor, one on each side of the loft area.



My bedroom is to the left. It has a king size bed and a fireplace directly across from the bed. Next to the fireplace is an area that is about five feet wide that is open in a loft style and looks down into the living room. Beyond all of this is a writing or computer desk, next to a sliding glass door with an east facing view and small balcony. I have a separate bathroom. The bathroom has swinging doors in the style of an old west saloon. It has a large walk in closet area. The bathtub area is all done in sunflower tile including the giant bathtub.



I chose this room because of the amount of natural light with windows and ocean views in three directions. Frances' pillows is by the sliding glass door. She sleeps with her ancient afghan that Mom made in the 1970s.



The other bedroom on the second floor has two queen size beds and a private bathroom. It also has a large outdoor patio-balcony on each end - one facing east and one facing west.














Last but not least, another semi-circular staircase leads to the flat rooftop - once again tiled in adobe. We take the dogs up here because it's large enough for them to run around and chase either. It has 360 degree views and full sun. Folding lawn chairs are available to relax in.

The house is filled with colorful art work that depicts fishing, oceanic themes and Mexican plant life and lifestyles. Betsy's sister Jane - also a good friend of mine - did eight stained glass window pieces throughout the house - none smaller than 2x4 feet.

Well, my post has rejected my attempts at a few final photos, so I guess I'll sign off for now. Hope you enjoy this little tour of the Berryhill San Carlos home. Between the learning curve on my new camera and software, and the learning curve on posting photos on this blog (which included a refresher journey into what miniscule knowledge I have of HTML Computer Code), it's taken me about six hours to write this post. It has been worth it though. Hope you enjoy and are perhaps enticed to travel down to join us. Unfortunately the airfare is outrageously expensive. We have thought a few times that we stumbled onto cheapers fares but alas...

Anyhoo... ttfn. Off to something immensely important like smelling the roses.