This custom reverse-floor-plan house in Pacific Grove is architecturally handsome in a style of its own, different from most in town and in complement with them, too. It is designed with clean lines implying modernism without abstraction.

Colleen Goldsmith bought the 9-year-old house in 2004 because she loved the upstairs and wanted to improve the entry level.

“This house was already wonderful,” Goldsmith says. “I just needed to redesign the entire first floor completely, that’s all!” She studies interior design and knew immediately how the one huge room (470 square feet) could be ideal. “There was no privacy, sense of scale or any way to make that space work and I basically just couldn’t stand it.”

Originally, it was all just a gigantic master bedroom (walk-in closet, master bath) and nothing whatsoever to seclude it from the front door, garage door or sophisticated staircase to/from the upstairs life of the house (about 2,374 square feet, with high ceilings).

After Goldsmith’s work, the house remains a three-bedroom (two full, huge baths), the downstairs master still downstairs. She began by creating a defined foyer and, to its left, through a tall archway (bull-nosed/ thin plaster walls, throughout), she made the new library/study with views to the bay via big, cornered windows (Pella dual-pane casement, throughout). The master suite would become a sanctuary.

To begin, she used the existing convexly curving wall of the formal staircase and echoed it with another on what then became the opposite side of the new foyer quite a width away (warm, earth-tone slate floor) resulting in serene simplicity that’s gracious, modern and with far more than needed space for what all foyers are born to accommodate. The reverse side of the new convex wall became the nifty concave one inside the library/study. The foyer continues curving to the next archway, into the new master and its remodeled bathroom, both genuinely handsome. Following the continuing curve of the wall beyond the master, one comes upon the extra big double garage that’s significantly more than 470 square feet and tends to dwarf large things. The resident SUV and sedan parked inside look a bit lost or just wanting for Vehicle Growth Hormone, perhaps.

The upstairs is delightful, with windows and rooms of wonderful light and views of the bay; the living room with 1-1/2 walls of windows; the dining room with French doors to a large, partially enclosed terrace and the kitchen with a bowed window. With high ceilings and such an open floor plan, the house seems to live happily in the sky.

The living room measures 16 feet by 20 feet, the kitchen, 18 feet by 14 feet, with a span of space and light between to be envied. The black-granite-clad fireplace in the living room can be enjoyed all the way from the dining room and kitchen. The kitchen itself glows with the tastefully understated array of maple cabinetry, tan granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. The upstairs master and second bedroom are unseen behind the main rooms even with French doors between the master and living room. The master bath has an extra-large, ergonomic jetted tub, separate shower, long counter with two distant sinks, granite floor, walls and counters, and can be entered from both bedrooms.

There’s a long list of amenities but one of Goldsmith’s favorites is the dumbwaiter between the garage and upstairs.

“Groceries, luggage, pets, anything. It’s so useful I’ll always want one,” she says.

Price: $1,900,000. 315 7th St., Pacific Grove. The Jones Group Coast & Country Real Estate. Contact Colleen Goldsmith, 917-8290.