Inside the Oakland Bungalow Designed to Blur Indoor Boundaries

What happens when a professional stylist turns his attention to his own small home? For Aaron Hom, the answer is less about making an 870-square-foot bungalow appear bigger and more about challenging the idea of where the house ends. His latest personal project, 2921 55th Avenue in Oakland’s Maxwell Park neighbourhood, extends living well beyond its 1922 walls, creating a layered indoor-outdoor retreat that is now on the market for $750,000.

Hom has spent much of his career shaping the visual worlds of leading American home brands. His experience includes seven years with Smith & Hawken, a decade directing style at Design Within Reach and seven years as a lead stylist for Restoration Hardware, alongside portfolio work for brands including Pottery Barn and CB2 x Lenny Kravitz.

His own homes, however, reveal something particularly interesting about his approach to design. In 2009, House Beautiful featured one of Hom’s previous California Craftsman homes, where he used Modernist furniture, considered placement, natural light and a strong relationship with the outdoors to give the compact property a greater sense of scale. His philosophy was straightforward: “Good, simple design. I've never fallen into the trap of getting too trendy or gimmicky”.

Nearly two decades later, that principle remains evident. The 870-square-foot Oakland bungalow is not about filling a small footprint with more furniture or decoration. Instead, Hom has concentrated on continuity, proportion and the relationship between the house and its garden.

The kitchen and deck are central to this approach. Hom says that opening the kitchen’s French doors to the deck in his previous home made the room “feel huge”. At 2921 55th Avenue, the same idea has been taken considerably further. The deck functions as an additional living and dining room, creating a natural transition from the kitchen into the garden and allowing everyday life to spill outdoors.

“The kitchen and deck are at the heart of how we experience the home,” Hom says. “You can be cooking while looking directly out onto the garden, and the deck essentially functions as another living and dining room. It makes the home feel so much larger, blurring the lines between indoors and out and allowing the garden to become part of everyday life.”

A Garden That Extends The Home

The garden became particularly important to Hom during the pandemic, when he was living in a loft and began looking for a home with outdoor space. After touring roughly 40 houses, he discovered the Maxwell Park bungalow in 2021 and was drawn to what lay beyond its unassuming street-facing façade.

“I love old homes, but what makes this one especially remarkable is the sense of escape. The moment you close the front door and step into the backyard, you enter an entirely private world—lush, peaceful, and completely unexpected,” he says.

That private world now comprises layered garden spaces, drought-conscious planting, mature and fruiting trees, raised planters, multiple entertaining areas, a vine-covered arbor and an expansive deck. Pathways lead towards a sculpture garden patio, while a detached garden office or studio creates another destination within the property.

The result is a home where the garden is not simply an attractive backdrop but an extension of the architecture. Outdoor dining, cooking, entertaining, working and relaxing can all happen beyond the bungalow itself, effectively increasing the home's usable living space without changing its compact footprint.

A Historic Oakland Bungalow

The property also retains a connection to its neighbourhood’s history. Maxwell Park was established in 1921 by Oakland developer John P. Maxwell, whose early promotional material described the area as a “veritable little Piedmont”. He wanted its houses to “bear the stamp of artistic individuality”.

Built in 1922, 2921 55th Avenue remains a compact two-bedroom bungalow surrounded by Craftsman and Period Revival homes from the same era. Inside, classic architectural character is paired with a modern kitchen and artful bathroom, while the exterior offers an unusually expansive collection of spaces.

For Hom, the result is less a lesson in making a small home look large than an example of reconsidering how a home can function. By extending the rooms into the garden, carefully controlling the visual clutter and prioritising simple, enduring design, this Oakland bungalow demonstrates that small-space living can be generous without becoming excessive.

Credits

Photographer: Open Homes Photography & Aaron Hom