Tali Hardonag Architect

Tali worked with us on an addition to our home -- adding a bathroom, a workspace, and a walk-in closet. We couldn't have been more happy with how the project went. Tali found the perfect balance between listening to our ideas and incorporating her opinions and suggestions. We've been living in the new space for a few months now and it's perfect in both livability and beauty. I particularly appreciate Tali's skills as a project manager, monitoring the project through construction and keeping us on task with the decision and purchases we needed to make. Professional, skilled, and creative all around.

Worked with Tali to expand and remodel our master bath. Our main purpose was to get a bigger shower than the phone booth prefab one we had. This required stealing space from a walk in closet. It was a pleasure working with Tali. Unlike other arhitects we'd used in the past, working with her was more of a collaboration with ideas going back and forth rather than a "here's the plan, please pay me" sort of experience. She was quite adept at ferreting out our style and desires and even though she presented ideas and options, she did not push any particular design style or look. For example she asked whether we'd considered a heated floor (we hadn't) and in the end decided not to include one. But she also suggested having a skylight over the shower as otherwise it would be kind of dark in there even in the day time (we took this suggestion). One of our concerns was that we are getting on in years and wanted to plan for a time when mobility might be more of an issue. So, with her guideance we opted for an open shower design with no threshold at all (I think they call this a "roll in" design) and no shower door or curtain. We had not been aware of how this could be retrofitted in without raising the entire bathroom floor in order to allow for drainage slope in the shower area. She sketched out for us how this could be constructed. She also showed us design ideas like drawer in the vanity rather than doors and including power outlets in the top two drawers. I think we may be stuck iin a different design era, but we really wanted a cool blue/green/aqua accent color pallete. When we remodeled a different bathroom several decades ago this was a popular choice, However now it seems to have gone out of vogue making finding tile in those colors quite difficult. Tali, called around to several suppliers and took us to see what she found in 3 different showrooms. She was very good and helping us pick tiles for various walls and nooks that would go well together, not be too intense, and could be installed with matching grout lines all with keeping an on the budget. Tali suggested a contractor which she had used before who also turned out to be quite good. The project took a bit longer than planned due to a backlog in the cabinet subcontractor who was building the vanity for us and some longer than normal lead times in getting city inspectors to the site (our city requires LOT'S of inspections). During construction, she came by every day or two to check on things and also made hereself available whenever that was a quesiton or decision from the builder or the "as designed" plan didn't quite work. All in all we were very happy with Tali's guided rather than directed approach, her sense of design and color and ease with working with her. If we have another project, she will be our first call.

Tali is highly professional. She designed a unique, practical, and attractive bathroom with adjustments to improve the flow of master bedroom and bathroom. She is responsive and attentive to every detail. She’s a pleasure to work with.

When we decided to renovate our 1950's mid-mod shack, we had a number of complicated criteria...we wanted to preserve the mid-mod look and feel (after all thats why we bought it in the first place); we didnt want to tear the whole thing down; and wanted to be able to live in it at least part of the time; add space of course; green; not too expensive; wanted to sleep at night when the remodel was underway...in many ways a pipe dream. The first architects we employed were highly credentialed firm who taught in Berkeley. Unfortunately their fancy design did not take into account the practicalities of Palo Alto. So after spending significant money on the design, we had to shelf it and the project lay dormant in our heads. Finally when we decided to attempt again, we spoke to a number of architects and settled on Tali. She came across as someone who knew how to navigate Palo Alto, paid great deal of attention to our needs and had a great design sense. Of course the proof is in the pudding and now that we have completed the project (through COVID and the challenges it brought about), we can whole heartedly recommend Tali! She works with a contractor with whom she has done multiple projects and hiring them both together was a great call. The project went smoother than what everyone told us remodels are like. She paid really amazing attention to detail and anticipated a number of challenges in a construction like this that uncovers new surprises with every turn. She was super resourceful dealing with the city as well as helping us deal with last minute surprises such as when we had to figure out how to deal with a kitchen granite that needed additional support. She really dug deep and visualized our needs and use cases to design. Her aesthetic sense matched ours well. On top of that her design turned out to be environmentally friendly and she paid out of her own pocket to test the airtightness of the design. All in all, if Tali is able to free up to do your project (she is in high demand), jump for it.

Tali designed our new master bathroom from the ground up and we are so happy with our new bathroom. She spoke with us extensively about our preferences for color, materials, textures, and personal needs. She incorporated her keen design sense to our specifications. The result is awesome. She is an artist extraordinaire. We love every detail of her design, and all the materials she helped us select to create a beautiful, light-filled, unique bathroom that meets our needs. Tali is warm and easy to work with. She can be trusted to design and create any room with the client's needs and preferences in mind. Thank you, Tali!

Tali has been great! We were building an entryway addition to our house and had to work with many existing details. Tali proposed a design that was both functional, looked modern, and worked well with the rest of the house.

Tali had the task of designing a new layout on a home that has been in my family since 1960. Her ideas, professionalism and attention to detail was amazing! She worked wonderfully with our General Contractor, together they turned the home into a modern masterpiece! Should I ever need an Architect again, she will be my first and only phone call, Thank you so much Talli!

Tali has been a joy to work with. Her professionalism, integrity and great ideas are commendable. She listened well to all of our thoughts on the remodel and came back to us with all the things we wanted included plus some things we hadn't thought about. Great ideas! We are so excited to move forward with Tali's architectural plans. We highly recommend her.

Tali is very collaborative, both with me and with the contractor. She has an excellent eye for color and design, as well as an ability to communicate with contractors, translating my wishes into their vocabulary. She followed through weekly on this project, from beginning to end, and when she said something wasn't quite right, the crew listened to her and corrected everything. Tali staged the kitchen beautifully for the photographer. You will see the results soon on Houzz.

Tali's design sense, practicality and attention to detail are beyond compare. She provided detailed design drawings and then worked with the artisans on each grout line in the tile and the direction of the grain in each piece of wood. She was invaluable in all the subjective decisions (colors, textures and layout) and provided great practical advice and resources on the different plumbing and electrical decisions. Good design takes a lot of different skills, Tali has them all.

Tali Hardonag brought us in to help with the interior design aspect of a large remodeling project in Mountain View. She is a very talented and thoughtful architect who was able to redesign the home completely in a tasteful and functional way. She is reliable and easy to communicate with. Throughout the process, we were impressed with her attention to detail, problem-solving skills and thorough review of all the construction aspects. We hope to work with her again soon.

I've truly enjoyed working with Tali. The combination of attention to detail combined with big picture perspective has helped us feel more comfortable through this remodel process. She brings an energy and point of view of someone who actually "lives in a house." We were able to make some very smart choices early in the process because of how she took time to understand how we function as a family. I would not hesitate to recommend Tali Hardonag.