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reviews

4.9   | 37 reviews

Work Quality

Communication

Value

5.0

4.8

5.0

Supriya Pai, Los Altos

Projet Date: July 2022

Work Quality

Communication

Value

5.0

5.0

5.0

"Anat made our dream home come true. She is a very talented designer and I would highly recommend her. We approved the very first design draft design she presented to us because it was perfect. She gave us everything we asked for and more. She was able to beautifully transition the architectural style that we loved in our house to the newly remodeled/ added areas to make the house look very cohesive and harmonious. Our house is full of sunshine and flows beautifully from one space to another. The latter is a very key element in remodels and additions and Anat nailed it."

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July 22, 2022

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

"Supriya and Shantanu, thanks so much for this wonderful review. I am glad you are appreciate the design and enjoying your new home."

Michael Lee, Los Altos

Projet Date: July 2021

Work Quality

Communication

Value

5.0

4.0

5.0

"Anat created plans for our whole house remodel, which included a kitchen re-do, conversion of half bath to a full bathroom, laundry area into a mudroom, renovation of master bathroom and guest bathroom, and addition of an office and guest bathroom. We found her on Houzz and loved the photos of her work. Although we liked her style, we felt we were taking a risk as we didn't have a personal recommendation. When we met via zoom during COVID to go over initial plans, we knew immediately that she was the right choice. We liked her first plan/draft immediately. She listened to what we wanted, how we used our space, and what we were trying to solve in doing a remodel and came up with a draft plan that took these concerns into account. Last but equally important, her plan fell in line with our preference for modern/clean lines. Anat dealt with the permits for the City of Los Altos which went a bit slow because of COVID. This is a process I would not have wanted to handle myself. Anat also shared with us a great list of contractors and vendors for windows, cabinets, etc. which was useful. Construction is booming and like most professionals, she's super busy with projects. Once we reach out to her, she's quite responsive, so make sure you ask for proactive updates with respect to the permit process to put yourself at ease that you're in good hands, particularly for first time renovators like us who haven't gone through this before. We are now in the construction phase of our remodel and will update this review with pictures once we have those available."

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July 8, 2021

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Bindu M, Cupertino

Projet Date: November 2021

Work Quality

Communication

Value

5.0

5.0

5.0

"We highly recommend Anat!. We had spent the better part of 2018-2019 trying to make progress on our home addition and remodeling project. We met with multiple design and build firms, multiple architects and yet we were very unsure about the direction our project should take: should we build a single level remodel, should we add another floor, should we even do it.

We found Anat through Houzz. We were drawn to her designs that reflect 2 very important architectural aspects for us: plenty of light and an airy feel.

Some of the aspects that make us recommend Anat are:
1. Anat truly listens to a client's needs and perspectives:
She, herself, has a very clear point of view. This helps to clarify the architectural direction your project should take very fast. It is really important to reach this convergence to bring your project to fruition.

I can see how she incorporated our ideas that we shared via a Houzz idea book while still bringing her own architectural aesthetic to the final floor plan. She created a very airy and expansive look by adding plenty of skylights and windows. She incorporated various details like bay windows with seating spaces for kids (and adults) to lounge, benches near the front door where people can sit and wear their shoes, very nicely designed bathrooms that will be functional and beautiful when completed.

2. She sticks to your budget.
She very cleverly designed our roof structure to have vaulted ceilings in all the main living spaces (living room, family room). This has definitely added to the airy aesthetic of the house but still worked within our budget.

3. She communicates clearly and is on top of your project
a. She handled all our interaction with the City and with the Structural engineering firm - all this during last year's COVID-19 lockdowns. The process was long drawn but Anat's proactiveness really helped push it along faster. From our perspective, it was really smooth thanks to Anat's efforts.
b. She is now helping us in the construction phase by being available to answer all the contractors and vendor questions. She worked directly with our Windows supplier to figure out the T-24 requirements and the skylights.

4. She helps in all phases of the project
She is deeply involved in all phases of the project: architectural design, permitting, contractor selection, project execution, design etc

We now are on our way to have a beautiful, spacious, bright modern house. With Anat, we feel we have someone knowledgeable, competent and trustworthy in our corner. Most importantly, we feel we have found a good and wise friend!"

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May 28, 2021

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Shanthi M, Sunnyvale

Projet Date: December 2020

Work Quality

Communication

Value

5.0

5.0

5.0

"We had pleasure of working with Anat on our home construction project. She was our architect for rebuilding our existing house with adding more square footage on the front and back of the house. Her attention to detail is commendable. She is very thorough with her work. Right from getting the requirements to getting the permits from the county everything went smooth because of her. She always came up with appropriate solutions to the problems we ran into, like protected trees coming in our way to extend the house. She is very prompt with her response and always provided clarity to any questions or concerns we had through the project. COVID did not slow us down much as she found ways to connect with us. We are happy to have found Anat and for having an opportunity to work with her. We highly recommend her for any construction projects."

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November 22, 2020

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Sherri Stein, Cupertino

Projet Date: May 2020

"Anat is whom you call when you have ideas you want to come to fruition. We handed Anat 20 pages of specs and had an ADA addition built on to our bedroom and bathroom, a new kitchen, and eliminated all the steps into our house. Anat listened to what we wanted and the first drawing became our new old home. Our contractor loved her drawings. We gave her a total, overall, project budget. She adhered to our budget and came up with suggestions how to meet it. As far as her cost, she gave us an estimated range. The architect and structural engineer ended up being about 15% of the contractor's cost. It took a year to plan and get permits and 5 months to get our home rebuilt. Overall Anat is responsive, qualified, and pleasant to work with."

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May 24, 2020

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

"It was great working with you. I'm glad we didn't let COVID-19 affect the progress on your project, and we were able to find our way to continue the work remotely during construction, material selection and ad-hock changes you requested. Eventually your remodeling completed on time as we planned and I was delighted to see the photos you've shared with me expressing how happy you are with the house. Wishing you to enjoy your house, stay safe and healthy!"

Priyanka Reddy, Mountain View

Projet Date: October 2019

"Anat is a great architect to work with and we highly recommend her based on our experience adding additional sqft along with 2 bathrooms. She is very creative, thorough, responsive, has a ton of experience to see around corners, anticipate complications in a project and knows how to work with the city to avoid all surprises. She was there with us throughout the whole project from the early design/ideation phase, permit approval with the city, picking and interviewing contractors and finding materials and finishes. There were a lot of creative touches throughout the project which we could not have thought of without Anat."

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October 14, 2019

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

"Thanks so much for your thoughtful review. It was a pleasure working with you and glad you enjoyed the whole process and felt supported. I hope you will enjoy living in the house."

Karen Seis, Sunnyvale

Projet Date: December 2018

"We have been working with Anat on our project for the past year and we are so glad to have found such a professional, creative, and detail-oriented designer. We looked at a few designers, but didn’t feel a connection. A friend referred us to her after she designed the front part of her home (which is stunning). From the initial consult we liked her ideas, her professionalism, and her concept of how our house could change to modernize the existing structure. For us, we wanted to balance warmth with our contemporary modern house. She has worked with us, gave incredible input, and ideas and asked us questions. Anat guided us through and drafted the plans for the city, and she worked with the structural engineer with the plans of our home. Anat really thinks about the details from the flow of the house, to making a structural beam into a decorative component of the house, to the types of materials to use in and around the house to both work within our budget while still making things look great. We have continued to use Anat during the construction phase as she has been very effective at communicating not only to us but to our contractor, helping to keep them on point and discussing changes or any issues that arise from the construction process. Anat also facilitates meetings with her, the contractor and us to make sure we are all on the same page with this project. I would highly recommend Anat. Her professionalism, her attention to detail, effective communication, her creativity and vision is something we have been able to fully benefit from."

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December 19, 2018

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

"Karin and Rick, Thank you for your kind words, it was and still is absolute pleasure and fun working with you."

Tom Chen, Cupertino

Projet Date: April 2018

"When I decided to expand my house and build the second floor, I was clueless. I went to different city departments to ask questions and asked friends who are in construction industry. They all told me that I should start with an architecture. After days of searching on internet and reference from friends, I found several architectures. I talked with each designers and decide to go with Anat. We worked together for several months and now I finally get the permit from the city to start to build my dream house. I would like to recommend Anat to anyone who is seeking an architecture to either build a new house or remodel his/her house. Here is why. 1. Anat is cooperative. Many architectures draw the house they like and try to convince you it is what you should love. But everyone has different taste. Anat will provide guide lines and step by step instructions to help you draw your house in your brain and then she will draw it out. It will be the house you want and you will stay. 2. Anat can help avoid mistake and optimize your plan. There are many details or aspects to think about. such as ventilation and lighting. You will avoid many trouble when actually build your house. 3. Anat works with great structure engineer, T-24 engineer and many other great professionals. You will need more than an architecture. Those engineers and professionals who work with Anat can timely provide good quality work. 4. Anat will help you follow the schedule. Remodeling could be a frustrating project. There are many back and forth changes to your project and need good communication with both you and the city. Anat can give you and city quick responses so you will not likely to lag behind. There are many other advantages to work with Anat I would like to share, but it would make it too long to read. Many times she enlightened me and gave me many good advice. I am really glad to work with her. Strongly recommend."

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March 17, 2018

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Courtney Craig, San Jose

Projet Date: August 2017

"We were looking to remodel our current house (50's ranch-ish) by making the layout more usable and updating the style a bit. We found Anat through Houzz and referral. We had seen the quality of her work up close and loved her modern and warm style. We had some idea of what we wanted out of the final product. After meeting with us, Anat took those ideas and came back with a beautiful design that exceeded our expectations. The new space will be more open, light, usable, and will fit our family's needs. It's been a pleasure working with Anat from the beginning. We are new to the process of a remodel and Anat has been a wealth of knowledge. She has always been professional and responsive. She handled all of the city permitting, and it went very smoothly. We have chosen to have her help us through the construction phase with choosing a contractor and some material selections. I will update this post when we get through construction, but would highly recommend her as an architect for your next project."

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September 24, 2017

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

"Thanks you so much for a great review! Working with clients like you makes my work a pure joy. I look forward to continuing working together till construction is done and watching you enjoying your new house."

Leor V, San Carlos

Projet Date: April 2017

"We hired Anat for a large renovation of our home, including an addition and are very happy with her services! We found Anat on houzz, and were very impressed with her style and beautiful samples of her past work. Talking to her references we learned that she is also budget-conscious and will adapt to your specific needs and preferences. When we ran into some unexpected challenges and limitation due to local city policies, Anat helped us find creative solutions which resulted in a fantastic redesign of our home, where we can easily picture ourselves living for the long term with our growing family. She is fast and responsive to our questions, and is great at guiding us along the process of our first large project. We appreciate that Anat makes practical and stylish suggestions and are looking forward to continue working with her."

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April 24, 2017

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

"Thanks you so much for the lovely compliments! It is delightful to hear that you are happy with the design process and I'm sure you will enjoy living in your renovated home.
Anat"

Revital Baruch, Cupertino

Projet Date: December 2016

"Anat planned and designed a living unit to my 16 years old daughter. Anat was very professional and dedicated. She was concerned that it will look good inside and out. Matching the new unit to the existing. We really like the result. We recommend Anat."

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December 13, 2016

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

"Thanks for the lovely compliments! Glad you noticed I care about your home as it was my own and hope you will enjoy living there.
Anat"

Nithya Swami, Saratoga

Projet Date: May 2016

"We hired Anat based on the other reviews on Houzz and have had a wonderful experience working with her. We met with her twice before signing the project (home extension) with her. She took time to explain how the whole process works. Very professional, punctual and she goes over and beyond to make sure that the project is successful to the very end. Working with her we found that she is very passionate about what she does and takes extra care to make sure her design details are followed carefully by the contractors. She was very patient and noted our design requirements, reviewed the design with us in person and was very welcoming of the changes. She analyzed the pros and cons of design changes with us and suggested viable options. Anat did a great job with the design and she got us the city permit very efficiently. We didn't have to worry about anything. We also got a great contractor recommendation from her and are very happy to have gone with that suggestion after accepting couple of bids from other contractors. She visited the site during construction to make sure things were going smooth and addressed contractor's concerns in a timely manner. We have gotten very rave reviews from our neighbors and friends after the project was done and we love our new extension. She was always reachable (over phone, via email) and kept us well informed throughout the project. She addressed all our concerns and answered all our questions patiently. Overall, we highly recommend working with Anat. If you want end to end quality service from a highly qualified and experienced professional, your search should end with Anat."

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December 4, 2016

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Farshid Hashmei, San Jose

Projet Date: September 2015

"We have completed the first phase of our remodel working with Anat to finalize our architectural designs. Compared to other architects we had interviewed, Anat was immediately able to connect with my wife and I understanding each of our desires and sensitivities. Her proposed designs were clearly and impeccably illustrated including renderings that made it easy for us to understand. She is up front, honest and great at explaining all the pros, cons and next steps. She is punctual, dedicated and obviously loves what she does. Currently we are in the process of getting city permits and finding contractors. Given our limited experience we are relying on her for networking with contractors and getting quotations. Through out this process I am feeling confident that she is looking out for our best interest and keeping us in control. Can't wait to see the final outcome. 12/24/2016 - Our remodel is now tantalizingly close to completion. In the time since I wrote my original review and now we received our permit, demolished what felt like nearly the entire house and rebuilt it to Anat's design. Through out this time Anat has remained engaged and helped us through all the ups and downs of a project of this scope. She regularly visits the construction site, keeps tabs on progress, helped us keep our engineer and our contractor on track. Her pride in her work, her work ethics and honesty have been key in the quality and amount of progress we have seen on our project. Without her continued commitment to the project we would be months behind and would have been forced to make compromises we didn't want to make. Looking forward to moving in and seeing pictures of our home on Anat's portfolio."

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November 28, 2015

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Elie Chou, Saratoga

Projet Date: November 2015

"We just finished a major remodeling/rebuild project based on Anat's design, and we are really happy with the result. Anat helped us design something that's both stylish and functional; bright, opened, and with enough separation between functional areas. We started by giving Anat a list of our pain points in the pre-remodeled home, and she was able to address each one of them and with some additional suggestions. Since moving back in, we've been enjoying living here tremendously. We used to go out a lot, and now we just want to stay in. :) Anat really cares about her project and treats every home she designs like her baby. She constantly checked in on the progress and provides her input. We are glad to have found her!"

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November 16, 2015

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Sabrina H, W. San Jose

Projet Date: November 2015

"This review is for the scope of design/architecting works Anat done for our remodeling project. We interviewed several architects before hiring Anat to design our house because of her contemporary/modern/simple/minimal design philosophy and seeing her past projects in the neighborhood (South Bay Area - Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos). It did not disappoint us. The initial design took several months to realize but it turned out to be exactly what we envisioned and even beating our expectation in term of aesthetics. It also received praises from city's design review commissioners unanimously including comment like "This is one of the best design in the past few months we've reviewed". There were a few occasions that we had different opinions on designing issues but we were able to work it out after communicating our thoughts with Anat. My wife and I are pleased for what she designed and created for our project. We'd recommend her to anyone who would like to remodel or rebuild their house. Now we can't wait to start building our new house in the coming spring."

October 6, 2015

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Sameera Guta, Menlo Park

Projet Date: July 2014

"Anat is one of the best professionals we have ever worked with. To summarize my review, she is just plain awesome ! Great modern design sense, strong listening skills, very practical and economical approach, resourcefulness, attention to detail and putting the customer first. We had a place in Menlo Park, and with a kid on the way wanted to expand it. Interviewed a number of architects but felt most comfortable with Anat (maybe due to her practical/down to earth nature). The challenge with our place was to add modern elements (which we like) to the existing cottage structure and also to make optimal use of the space added. Both tough challenges. On both of these counts, she did an excellent job. We really liked her designs that incorporated the modern elements seamlessly, all at the first go (saving time/$). She ensured great flow of the space + optimal usage of every square ft. Her attention to detail enhanced the design even further. In addition she helped us every step of the way, finding contractors, materials, landscape design, city permitting, structural and you name it. When we got stuck with either materials, permitting etc, she always found alternatives to expedite the process. Our project has been great fun just because of her and if we ever had to do one more it would be with her. With Anat you really have a sense of someone watching out for you during a complicated, big and expensive project like home construction. She took the stress out of it."

December 8, 2014

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Gila Omer, Cupertino

Projet Date: July 2011

"We recently moved to our new dream house in Cupertino and wanted to do some remodeling. First thing we did was finding an Architect. We interviewed several architects but quickly decided to work with Anat Shmariahu. This turned out to be a very smart choice. We are extremely happy from our renovated house and a lot has to do with Anat. Anat is a very smart and a professional architect, she knows how to listen and to translate your needs into achievable goals. Anat is fluent in city regulations, engineering and contractor capabilities, relevant stores, has creative yet practical ideas, and has a great taste. Anat charges fair fees and deserves every dime. She is fast, responsive, very effective, honest and will tell you what makes sense and why. Her help and advises extent way beyond the specified scope of the work. The bottom line the house is great and the whole family loves it."

November 26, 2011

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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bettagroup

Projet Date: April 2013

"i have worked with Anat for few years now. i do structural design. she is very polite, prompt, she has good design considering clients interest, always check for structural impact before final design. It is a joy working with her."

November 13, 2013

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Zurit Weiss, Sunnyvale

Projet Date: November 2010

"We would like to thank Anat for a great job done on our remodeling project. It was a complex project of basically new construction. Anat listened to our needs and came up with many great ideas on how we can accomplish our dream house at a reasonable budget. She had to combine our wish for a contemporary design at a non-contemporary neighborhood, making sure the house will have a good selling values if we wish to sell it in the future. We came with a concept and Anat made it into a reality that was better than what we imagined. She combined creativity and a deep understanding of design with a practical understanding of how people actually live in a house. After her work was done, Anat continues to visit our project to make sure it is all coming nicely per the plan. She helped us on this visits with many additional decisions which were out of her scope and guided us at the right direction. We really appreciated that."

November 13, 2013

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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Verd Zimmerman, Sunnyvale

Projet Date: March 2012

"Anat Shmariaho's architectural contribution was all we could have hoped for. Her ideas and design were functional and elegant and unusually attentive to our concerns as clients. She was keenly aware of what we could and couldn't afford and our family needs. She gave us the reassurance and confidence we needed, and that was characterized by an attention to detail that made sure that the project came in on time and on budget. She worked extremely sympathetically with the contractor and so ensured that very few of the headaches that inevitably arise in a building project were anything that we had to worry about. We now have an amazing home which we enjoy with our family and friends everyday. We love our home and she helped us make our dreams and hopes into reality."

March 15, 2012

Comment from ANAV-DESIGN:

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