Photos: Cramped Valley home is renovated in a modern ranch style

Oliver Shurkin at the front door of family’s home, which was expanded by about 265 square feet in the first phase of the renovation.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Janet Shurkin and dog Mona walking through the dining room.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

View of the backyard from the kitchen.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Six-year-old Oliver Shurkin in the kitchen. The cabinets are overlaid with Mangaris wood product and have touch-latch hardware.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Oliver and Violet Shurkin lounge in the living room beneath one of the skylights.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Oliver and Violet Shurkin play in the living room.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Mona walks down the hallway leading to the bedrooms on the west wing. The hall delineates the private and public areas.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

The master bedroom addition.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

View of small courtyard from the master bedroom.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Two 17-foot-tall light wells protrude from the cubic space of the master bedroom. One is meant to catch soft northern light throughout the day, the other to capture light from the west at dusk.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Architect Casey Hughes, who renovated Peter and Janet Shurkin’s home, says the tile pattern in this bathroom is based on Sol LeWitt’s painting “Wall Drawing 462.”  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Doors open to the master bedroom, a 310-square-foot space added by architect Casey Hughes to the original 1950s home.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Detail of the side of Peter and Janet Shurkin’s home, where the added master suite, right, connects with the original house.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Janet Shurkin and dog Mona walk in the porch garage landscaped with bamboo.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Peter Shurkin enters the master suite to join his wife Janet.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)