Karen Knell is a mother of four big kids and with a 2,200 square-foot house, life got kind of tight. Take away the dining and living rooms — which were rarely used — and the house seemed even smaller.

Ever the organizer, Karen came up with a plan to maximize every square foot of her traditional home in Pleasanton’s “Gas Lamp” neighborhood, from converting the dining and living rooms to usable space and reconfiguring her hall closets to be models of efficiency. (She even created drawers just the right size for wrapping paper rolls. Now that’s my kind of woman!)

And here’s one more thing: she did it with style! (Insert applause here.)

Walk into the spacious entry hall and you’ll be greeted by tone-on-tone striped walls that let you know this is a family home with flair. The dining room on the left, which was only used twice a year, is now an office and study area with built in desks and two computers. But glancing in from the entry hall, it looks like a designer library, with a big white table (for projects and puzzles) as the focal point.

“We use it all the time now,” she said of the dining room. “There’s always at least two people in this room.”

Her four children range in age from 11 to 19 and it’s the 16-year-old who gets the living room as a bedroom. Now that’s not something Karen likes to brag about (“It kills me. I hate it.”) At least she can close it off with French doors. But that hasn’t stopped her from asking, “You want to go away to college, don’t you?”

But Karen is a practical woman, and used as inspiration the best-selling “The Not So Big House” for ideas on every inch.

From the broad, entry hall closet, she stole about a foot off the end and turned it into open bookshelves. In the hallway linen closet that faces the bedrooms, she converted the sliding doors into built-in cabinetry, with classic pull-open doors on top and sliding drawers on the bottom. (This is where she keeps her gift wrap and ribbon and the kids’ games.) Some of her neighbors were so impressed, they did the same.

But it’s Karen’s laundry room that is the real envy of the neighborhood. What used to have a side-by-side washer and dryer with a rarely-used sink, now has stacking appliances with a deep folding counter on top of a set of organizing cubby holes. Each child has their own cubby for their laundry.

“It’s so functional,” she said. “It’s like the best room in the house.” (Spoken like a true mother of four!)

But still, she finds the time and desire to fuss a bit with designer details. In the children’s bathroom, the family’s collection of heart-shaped stones is embedded into the tile backsplash. In her master bedroom, a neutral palette is spiced up seasonal with colorful pillows. “I have a problem with pillows,” she said, as she opens a cabinet full. She splurged on smocked curtains for her bedroom from the Warmth Company in Aptos. But many of her favorite finds come from the Alameda flea market and garage sales.

Her kitchen, which opens to the family room, is classic Americana. PG&E even chose it to film a commercial there. “It’s so normal,” they told her. “Who has a white fridge? No one has a white fridge.”

She tried to take that as a complement.

Karen loves her home. But that doesn’t stop her from dreaming about having her own retreat space someday. And that room behind the French doors might be the perfect spot.

“In my head I’ve got my living room all decorated and painted,” Karen said.

Ah. Don’t we all?

(photos by Desiree Northend)

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