Founded [organically] by home enthusiasts that turned a blog into a business, and turned a few heads along the way. Destination Eichler started as a design blog for homeowners Karen Nepacena and John Shum to chronicle their journey renovating a mid-century modern Eichler home in Northern California.
Their home renovation projects and blog gained national attention and soon the couple began taking on clients who were attracted to their modern design aesthetic and focus on mid-century modern architecture. Fast-forward a few years, Destination Eichler transitioned from an online blog into a full service interior design firm helping homeowners re-imagine and transform their homes.
Karen brings a wealth of home furnishings and design industry experience to her designs and projects. She held various positions in product development, merchandising, and product management for Target, Restoration Hardware, Z Gallerie, YLighting/Lumens and Gump's San Francisco, which help to give greater depth to her design offerings and offer a holistic approach to space design.
Their home renovation projects and blog gained national attention and soon the couple began taking on clients who were attracted to their modern design aesthetic and focus on mid-century modern architecture. Fast-forward a few years, Destination Eichler transitioned from an online blog into a full service interior design firm helping homeowners re-imagine and transform their homes.
Karen brings a wealth of home furnishings and design industry experience to her designs and projects. She held various positions in product development, merchandising, and product management for Target, Restoration Hardware, Z Gallerie, YLighting/Lumens and Gump's San Francisco, which help to give greater depth to her design offerings and offer a holistic approach to space design.
Services
The kitchen involved the most work. From demolition and smashing tiles, to digging trenches and casting the last piece of concrete countertop, we spent 7 months on this project. The previous owner had put in a walk-in closet behind the fridge wall, so we had to take down that wall. There were two sections of floor-to-ceiling windows that were drywalled, so we had to take down those walls as well to put back in the glass.
Destination Eichler is a boutique residential design firm, with a specialty in mid-century modern architecture and design. We are located in Walnut Creek, CA, serving clients all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Projects range from whole house remodels to extensive furnishing and accessory selection.
After hearing more about your project via our Contact Form, we usually recommend an in-depth 1:1 consultation so that we can can discuss your project in great detail together. In-home walk-through of your space, and deep discussion about needs, wish list, and style preferences. After the design consultation, we will put together a detailed proposal to outline the scope of work and give you an estimate on the overall design services cost.
After signing some paperwork (a Design Services Agreement), we will be on our way to help you plan and design your project. We help you visualize your new space, through our detailed design concept creation process. What starts off as an idea or inspiration, will come to life through visual sketches, drawings, and 3D modeling, resulting in your fully transformed space.
She saved my kitchen and laundry room remodel from several expensive-go-nowhere experiences. Within a month or so of contacting her the kitchen remodel was finally underway. I'd hired many so called professionals who kept billing me while the project never got off the ground. Quite frustrating as my kitchen had flooded and was non-functional.
Reviews (7)
J. Catalano
Dec 21, 2020
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We are so happy that we engaged Destination Eichler for the refurbishment of our apartment, which is in a building erected in 1960. Karen and her team did a fantastic job, making our place homey, stylish, and reflective of who we are. We were very pleased with the professionalism, creativity, communication and responsiveness throughout the project. We could not be more grateful to Karen and her team.
Sara Yoo
Nov 16, 2020
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We worked with Karen on a remodel of our laundry/storage room as well as on a new interior design for our living and dining rooms and couldn't be more thrilled with the process and the outcome! For each project, Karen took the time to listen to our needs for each space and our personal preferences. The resulting designs blew us away with how well they addressed all of our requests as well as with the new, fresh perspective she brought to these parts of our home. She sourced a great mix of high and low materials to stay within our budget, and she was always accessible and responsive when we had
Sarah Nguyen
Nov 07, 2020
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I have worked with Karen on various projects for both my homes since 2017, I am always impressed with her innate sense of style and unique mid century and contemporary flare she brings! She is also cost conscious and will take that into consideration for projects of any size. She is accessible, personable, down to earth, and most important someone you can trust to take your home to the next level. I love following her on Ig and am inspired by her current and past projects. I recommend her wholeheartedly and look forward to working with her on my forever home for years to come.
Trish O.
Oct 16, 2020
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My experience with Destination Eichler was amazing. I should say is, because I will absolutely use them for every one of my projects -- that is the kind of relationship Karen fosters -- one of trust and collaboration. Not only does she have a great sense of style, but she is warm and attentive and has this ability to seamlessly blend the old and the new, which gives her projects a uniqueness not always realized when working with designers. The most fun part of a Karen experience, other than getting to live in the finished product, is when she brings the renderings -- not only does she include the
Thomas Nixon
Aug 29, 2020
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I love working with Karen. She has a great eye for design and is easy to work with. She's responsive, supportive, and knowledgeable of design and products. She has helped me on a couple of projects now. I found Karen on the Semihandmade Website as a kitchen designer. Semihandmade makes custom fronts for IKEA cabinets. After meeting, I quickly realized I needed her help designing my entire house. Karen was great at helping me what I wanted and more importantly what I didn't want in my new house. She's great at understanding my tastes and at the same time taking me out of my comfort zone to create
Sally Vitello
Jul 05, 2020
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Working with Karen was a dream come true. We contacted her to design our Eichler after seeing her work on numerous design websites. She gave us multiple options for each room and they were all so great it was hard to choose just one! Karen was available whenever we needed her, answering all our emails and texts. Another family member will be using her next for their house!
Claudia Sherman
May 09, 2020
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I can’t say enough about Karen’s design of our new kitchen, as well as how easy it was to work with her! We had an outdated mid entry kitchen that needed a complete remodel. Karen met with us to find out our goals and design preferences and helped us come up with a beautiful and efficient plan for our kitchen- maximizing the space we had. She paid attention to all the little details and worked seamlessly with our contractor. The result was beyond what we ever expected. We love our new kitchen (it’s the best part of the house), and we can’t wait to collaborate with Karen on a new project
