Brooklyn-based Studio Tack has transformed a rundown motel in northern California, creating a mellow atmosphere with vintage furniture, pastel colours and palm-patterned prints.

An hour drive north of San Francisco, the 135-room hotel called The Sandman has been renovated into boutique accommodation designed as "a modern throwback to roadside inns" – much like many ageing motels across the US.

Studio Tack has become somewhat of a specialist in overhauling these dilapidated inns and motor lodges, having completed similar projects in locations including Wyoming and Upstate New York.

The firm redesigned this motel in Santa Rosa "to offer peaceful simplicity while capturing the essence of spontaneous travels, and paying tribute to California's Spanish Mission Revival Style architecture", according to a statement on its behalf.

Guests arrive at a double-height lobby space, where warm-hued materials and finishes are intended to provide a relaxed ambience.

"A soft palette of ash wood and earth tones with bursts of peach, palm green and navy provide a welcoming, laid-back California sense of calm," said the hotel's statement.

Wooden benches are installed under large windows, topped with cushions for extra comfort. A variety of other furniture in the space range from vintage pieces to one-of-a-kind items, like a bench crafted from solid limestone and local ash wood by Tucca Design.

The walls are decorated with illustrations by artist Ty Williams, and a semi-circular, rose-tinted mirror with fringe hanging below by design duo Ben and Aja Blanc.

Guest-suite options include standard doubles all the way up to rooms that can accommodate the whole family, including some that are pet-friendly.

Each is decorated sparingly, but features custom quilts in pastel shades hung above the beds, and plenty of places to sit.

The breakfast room and meeting spaces are no-frills, with pale-coloured walls, simple wooden tables and aluminium chairs creating a utilitarian feel.

Other amenities come in the form of a Pool House and Bar, located next to the outdoor swimming pool and terrace. Glazed panels slide upward on tracks like a garage door to provide access to the bar, where blue palm-patterned wallpaper and matching upholstery help to continue the casual atmosphere.

Navy accents are carried across the bar counter, stool tops, sun loungers and parasols, matching the cushion covers in the bedrooms.

Although renovating America's mid-century motels has become a recent trend of late, some owners are deciding to tear down the buildings and replaced them with new. That was the case at Tourists hotel in The Berkshires, where the team started again from scratch but still aimed to keep "the aesthetic of a classic American motor lodge".