The front elevation of the home. The sliding white and wood boxes and the locations of the windows relate to how the house is used.

The entry space, a functional and generous area for a family to transition from city to home.

The daylight is well balanced even in the main floor hallway leading to the kitchen.

A functional kitchen with the cabinetry, appliances, lighting, and windows all working together to create a clean modern look and feel.

Lots of storage and workspace in the kitchen.

At the edge of the kitchen, looking back at the rest of the main floor of the home. The spaces each have their own identity, but flow together.

The family room looking out onto the back deck, with the kitchen behind the camera.

The living room and entry space, looking at the front yard.

A second floor bedroom-bathroom suite.

The master suite with a courtyard deck that feels private and offers views of Greenlake.

The master bath, with the same warm and simple color and material palette that carries through the whole house.

The master shower to the right and the toilet room beyond.

The back of the home creates functional access for the family and a private outdoor space on a standard residential lot in Seattle.

A view from above of this impressive three story modern home in the Hawthorne Hills neighborhood of Seattle. We pushed this house back as far as we could from the street to give the spaces in the home more privacy, create a western facing outdoor space, and mediate the sense that the house towers over the street. The sloping site allowed us to put in a full two car garage in the basement that opens to the side street, while preserving the yard. Floor to ceiling windows, an exterior custom cedar wood screen, modern "C" shaped design composition concept, third floor master suite, third floor cedar deck with commanding views of the city, and generous open floor plan on the main level are key features of this home.

We pushed this house back as far as we could from the street to create a western facing outdoor space and mediate the sense that the house towers over the street. The sloping site allowed us to put in a full two car garage in the basement that opens to the side street, while preserving the yard. Floor to ceiling windows, an exterior custom cedar wood screen, modern "C" shaped design composition concept, third floor master suite, third floor cedar deck with commanding views of the city, and generous open floor plan on the main level are key features of this home.

A light filled stair connects the entry to a second floor bridge overlook and the more private areas of the home.

The view after walking in the front door, greeted with an open concept floor plan. The dogleg open tread stair with solid oak wood treads makes its way up the center of the house with windows up the whole stair and skylights above. We like this design strategy because it brings daylight into the center of the house. You can see the second floor bridge in the top right of the photo, that connects to the bedrooms and overlooks the double height entry space. Custom cabinets, white trim, floor to ceiling windows, white oak hardwood floors are all features of this home.

The floor plan of the main floor allows the spaces to flow together and each have their own identity and practicality.

The entry and open lounge and dining area. The entry is a double height space, opening to the U-shaped stair that brings daylight into the center of the house. The entry is screened from the formal living room by a custom white oak screen and built in cabinet that has a coat closet and cubby hole storage.

Looking back toward the entry. A doorway to the left of the fire place leads to an office.

The living room with south and west light. The room is screened from the entry by a custom oak screen that contains a coat closet facing the entry. A modern fireplace with caesarstone surround provides a focal point for the room. A study is behind the fireplace, with a barn door in the passage off to the left. Custom cabinets, white trim, floor to ceiling windows, white oak hardwood floors are all features of this home.

The living room, open to daylight from the south and west.

The living room with south and west light. The room is screened from the entry by a custom oak screen that contains a coat closet facing the entry. A modern fireplace with caesarstone surround provides a focal point for the room. A study is behind the fireplace, with a barn door in the passage off to the left. Custom cabinets, white trim, floor to ceiling windows, white oak hardwood floors are all features of this home.

Oak slats and an entry closet cabinet screen the living room from the entry.

The living room with south and west light. The room is screened from the entry by a custom oak screen that contains a coat closet facing the entry. Custom cabinets, white trim, floor to ceiling windows, white oak hardwood floors are all features of this home.

We like designing kitchens because they are challenging exercises to organize generous aisles, ample storage and working surfaces into a functional plan and clean lines.

We love designing kitchens. We work hard achieve several design goals simultaneously: clean lines, coordinated color and material palette, functional work space and flow, natural light, connection to the other spaces in the house, and lots of storage. This kitchen utilizes a U shape layout to back up into the northeast corner of the house and opens up to the west, where the main living and dining spaces are.

A big, accessible pantry and wide island makes a kitchen so enjoyable to cook in.

Looking back, you can see the entry and all of the western light coming into the house. The kitchen has ample storage and lots of big work surfaces, like the caesarstone kitchen island. Custom cabinets, white trim, floor to ceiling windows, white oak hardwood floors are all features of this home.

The upstairs lounge, a secondary public space daylit from the south and west.

The top of the dogleg or U-shaped stairs that run up through the center of the house, with skylights above and windows lining the whole eastern side, bringing in tons of natural light into the center of the house. Hardwood floors, white trim, and full height windows are key features of this home.

The custom oak vanity cabinet floats above the floor, creating a modern looking cabinet with pleasing proportions and making for easy floor cleaning. A window brings in natural light, illuminating the clean white surfaces.

This master bathroom is a generous and efficient layout, offering a toilet room, a long white oak and caesarstone custom vanity, a walk in white ceramic tile shower with caesarstone bench and shampoo niche, and glass shower door. Its all designed for easy use and cleaning, and clean modern aesthetic.

Master bedroom suite occupies the whole third floor, with sliding glass doors leading out to the deck with commanding views of downtown Seattle. The third floor is pushed back from the main volume of the house, allowing the doors and windows to bring in tons of natural light but offering privacy for the master suite interior spaces. White trim, floor to ceiling windows, white oak hardwood floors are all features of this home.

The hallway on the third floor, with sliding glass doors leading out to the deck with commanding views of downtown Seattle. The third floor is pushed back from the main volume of the house, allowing the doors and windows to bring in tons of natural light but offering privacy for the master suite interior spaces. White trim, floor to ceiling windows, white oak hardwood floors are all features of this home.

The third floor deck with an awning that helps to shade the interior spaces in the summer and offers partial cover for the deck. A cedar screen adds warmth to the exterior space. The stained tight knot cedar deck is an inexpensive way to create a beautiful and functional outdoor space.

We love designing in neighborhoods that have lots of mature trees. We loved this site because it benefits from having lots of green trees surrounding it, but because it is situated on a corner, it can open up to lots of natural light to the west and south, a great feature in the pacific northwest.

The long face of the home opens up to the west, letting in warm daylight. From the street, the pushed back third floor makes the building read like a two story home, in scale with the existing neighborhood, while offering a roof deck with views of downtown.

We preserved the existing stair and brick retaining walls that lead up to the house.

We began designing this house for a family by taking advantage of the wider lot.  We let the house lounge along on the site, opening up the center to daylight and respecting the existing scale of the houses in the neighborhood.

This photo is taken from the street looking northeast at the outdoor patio and inside to the living room and kitchen.

The living room is housed in the wood box with the main volume of the home in navy blue.

The outdoor patio in the evening.

The outdoor patio looking at the custom steel stairs as they rise through the main volume of the home.

Looking up the custom steel stairs, with the kitchen and living room behind the camera and in the background, a door leading to the mudroom and garage.

Turning around, with the custom steel stair to the left behind this screen wall, looking back at the kitchen.

Looking into the kitchen and living room space.

The kitchen, with custom cabinets and balanced daylight.

Looking back at the living room and beyond to the stairs and the outdoor patio.

The living room, bordered by built in cabinetry and windows and doors that connect the room to the outdoor patio.

The second floor lounge with the roof deck behind the camera and the stairs up to the third floor in the background.

The roof deck above the living room.

The third floor master bedroom with a private roof deck.

The master bathroom with a vanity and sink on either side of an aisle that leads to a generous shower room.

The master walk-in closet

The north side of the house with a garage tucked under the main volume of the house.

The existing house was a one story brick house sitting atop a rockery on a hill in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. The clients needed more space for their family, so we kept the same footprint, remodeling the existing home and adding a second story and attic space. The steep pitch of the gable roof, the smaller roof over the front door, and the paneling are all nods to some of the Victorian homes in the neighborhood.

The front walkway up to the home, carefully landscaped to highlight the house and provide some layering to the experience of walking up to the front door. The expansive windows bring warm western light into the living room. The brick was from the original 1929 house.

We designed the entry to mirror the proportions of the overall house form. A steep gable shelters a welcoming wood door and sidelite. The brick was preserved from the original 1929 house, and we added a story and an inhabitable attic.

Western light pours into the entry, warming up the interior space. A winder stair rises up to the upstairs bedrooms. At the foot of the stairs is a built in bench with storage cubbies. The white oak floors were stained with a dark stain, a stain you often see in older homes. The details are a carefully curated mixture of traditional Crafstman and Victorian details remixed or reinterpreted in a modern way.

The entry space flows into an open circulation space and the living room. The clients wanted the living room to be this special formal place to receive guests and have a communal but more quiet space. The stained oak hardwood floors continue throughout the main floor, giving continuity to the spaces, while the area rug defines the formal living room space.

The stained oak hardwood stair rises up to the bedrooms upstairs next to a built in bench with shoe storage. A very generous 54” wide hall leads to the back portion of the house - a stair down to the basement and a powder room off to the left and the kitchen and family room straight back. The stained oak hardwood floors throughout the main floor create continuity, while a few carefully placed walls hold up the second floor and define the different communal spaces on the first floor.

The hall opens up to the main spaces - the kitchen and the family room. A caesarstone kitchen island with space for stool seating allows the kitchen to face toward the family room. White single panel custom cabinets line the north wall of the ktichen, with a stainless steel gas range and hood and refrigerator. Sliding glass doors open the space up to the outdoor patio and brick barbecue in the backyard.

The generous kitchen with stained oak hardwood flooring and white custom cabinets and trim. The work triangle is tight and functional, while making the aisles wide so that you can have multiple cooks in this kitchen! The deep island with stool seating makes it not just a place for the parents to cook, but a place for the whole family to be.

The north wall of the kitchen is loaded up with painted white recessed panel custom cabinetry and stainless steel appliances. Natural light comes in from the north, south, and east, washing the kitchen with balanced daylight. We like adding a soffit above our main cabinet wall to be able to add lighitng and systems and services to the kitchen and rest of the house while maintaining a clean visual look.

Looking back at the entry hall from the kitchen, we like to design generous hallways whenever possible, they give not just the hallway, but the whole house a more open feeling. This one is 54" wide.

The formal living room is a clearly defined space, but flows into the living room with views to the family room and out to the stone patio in the backyard. This open floor plan creates visual and physical connections between the spaces in the house and the people inhabiting them, while still offering privacy and spatial definition.

The formal living room, the front room of the house, the first space you see after you enter the home. This is traditionally a formal space used for hosting guests, and it is no different in this remodeled home. The stone fireplace provides a visual and physical anchor around which the furniture and space radiates. Natural light from the north, west, and south washes into the room.

The stained oak hardwood winder stair makes its way up to the upper level. North facing windows bring natural light into the stair and hallway. We like designing windows into the stairs because they provide light on both levels, opening up the house. The newel posts, rail, and balustrade were custom fabricated and installed by a talented and experienced finish carpenter.

The kids bedroom in this home is filled with light, a fun space for the kids to play and rest.

The kids bedroom has a built in custom cabinet closet and desk that lines one wall.

The upstairs hallway is filled with natural light from the windows in the stair. The stained oak hardwood floors also run throughout the upstairs, making the space warm and durable.

The existing house was narrow, so it was a challenge to lay out the house in a way that felt functional and generous. We were creative in solving these spatial problems, making the bathroom more of a linear layout. The double vanity spans the width of the bathroom while the shower and toilet are to the right of the camera. Behind the camera is the walk in closet.

The brick BBQ anchors the space, a wood and metal roof protects people while they cook in all seasons in this Seattle backyard.

We added a patio and brick barbecue onto the back of the house, connecting the inside and outside. The family spends much of their summers out here because the space has just about everything they need, couch, dining table, grill, bbq, and grassy play and lounge space.

The patio and brick BBQ offer special outdoor living spaces, essentially adding a living room, dining room, and kitchen to the yard.

A patio and brick barbecue extend the living space from the inside to the outside in this Seattle remodel.

A modern brick barbecue is part of a welcoming backyard in Seattle. We designed the space to house an outdoor living room, dining room, ktichen, and attractive play space for the kids. Its no surprise that the family spends much of their time in the yard when the weather is good!

Nestled into the mature landscape, this new home feels as if it always belonged. A house and its garden is a primary relationship we always consider in our design.

The flagstone path is an inviting entry into this modern home set into a mature landscape.

We kept this beautiful old Japanese maple to offer shade, privacy, and beauty to the front yard.

The Ground floor master bedroom opens to a deck and the yard with a beautiful old Japanese maple.

The entry to this modern home is protected and screened from the main living spaces so people have a moment to acclimate. This is a centuries old tradtional architectural design strategy found all over the world, from England, to North Africa, to East Asia.

The entry to this modern home is protected and screened from the main living spaces so people have a moment to acclimate. The flow of the spaces is natural, practical, and elegant. From the entry zone, you pass by the hidden stair and then open into the main living area. This creates a contrast of smaller and bigger spaces as one enters the home, a centuries old tradtional architectural design strategy found all over the world, from England, to North Africa, to East Asia.

Coming from the entry, you pass a space with the stair on the left and a built in console table on the right. This space acts as a “vestibule” transitioning from the protected entry zone to the main living space. We call this a “breath” or “pause” to allow people to acclimate to the interior spaces of the home. This is an example of a traditional design strategy used in modern architecture.

The main public space of the home is both well defined and flows together. A custom wood screen defines the kitchen and main circulation axis from the living room, but offers screened connection to the space.

We think kitchens are not just for making food, they are the center of the family universe, the place to create and connect, to eat and share. The family spends so much time here, we like to make them beautiful and functional spaces. So we take time to consider the visual lines as well as the lines of travel, the work zones, the bottlenecks, and the seating areas. Here we can see the built in pantry to the left as part of a generous aisle next to the kitchen island. The paneled refrigerator holds the corner next to the gas range.

A generous 42” wide aisle between the island and the main bank of cabinets and countertop allows people to work at the gas range or the stainless steel undermount sink or go to the paneled refrigerator and someone can easily pass behind them. The white oak and white paint palette with steel and black accents is a clean and warm palette we like to use a lot in kitchens.

The kitchen island looks out to the living room and beyond to the south facing garden. The kitchen island is often the command center of a modern home, so we think its important to offer views to the other main spaces in the house. Architectural features in this photo include, modern pendants over the kitchen island, caesarstone island, custom oak cabinets, a stainless steel bosch dishwasher, and a pullout trash drawer.

Many families do not formally dine and do not need a formal dining room. We find that formal dining rooms in older homes sit empty and waste valuable communal space. In modern homes, cooking and eating are a more fluid, communal process. In this home, we aligned the dining table with the kitchen island as an extension of the kitchen.

The main communal space in this modern home is the large living room with a large oak paneled fire place and array of south facing windows. A floor to ceiling oak screen offers some spatial definition between the kitchen and the living room, while still creating a fluid great room feel. Tucked to the right of the fireplace, the fireplace ledge continues into a special little nook for the kids.

Looking on axis toward the oak portal into the ground floor master suite. The portal is composed of oak paneling and a solid oak pocket door that keeps with the clean and warm palette of the main communal space while offering convenient passage to the private bedroom zone.

Looking through the oak pocket door portal leads right to the get ready vanity zone. The bedroom is to the left with a built in closet cabinet array and to the right is a bathroom with a walk in shower.

The ground floor master bedroom suite features these custom built in cabinets as the closet. It makes for a functional, convenient, and beautiful way to store your clothes in the room. On tight urban lots like this one where you want to maximize the garden and the communal interior spaces of the house, a walk in closet can take up too much space. We chose to create a nice built in closet moment instead, connected to the custom oak portal pocket door.

The beauty of the ground floor master suite is that you have visual and physical connection to the landscape. The sliding glass doors open onto a deck and out to the garden. A Japanese maple offers some visual interest and screening of the street.

We designed this master bathroom to have a open, simple layout with a minimal palette. The white custom floating vanity cabinet with built into the wall medicine cabinets are on one wall while a large walk in shower with a shower seat is on the other wall. Charcoal grey floor tile and white shower tile, natural light, and a few plants make this an elegant space to bathe and prepare in the mornings.

The ground floor master bathroom has a large walk in shower with a shower seat, a shower wand, sitting height shampoo niche, custom tile work, and north facing windows that bring in natural light.

The entry console is a landmark in the house. It marks the transition from the entry foyer to the rest of the house. A mirror reveals the hidden oak tread stair that leads to the second floor.

Although the main communal spaces are all on the ground floor, closely connected to the garden, families often love having a second large lounge space, especially as the kids start to get a little older and more independent. Games and movies can be going on upstairs while the parents are reading or entertaining guests downstairs. When its dinner time, they can all come together, but then its back to the lengthy game of Risk upstairs! This lounge space features white oak hardwood flooring, and a wall of south facing windows.

On the west side of the upstairs are two bedrooms connected by a jack and jill bathroom. The southern bedroom opens up onto a deck. The illuminated hallway in the center of the image leads to a naturally lit closet area and then on into the bathroom.

A view into the naturally lit closet. Natural light in a closet is the best lighting to pick out and try on what you are going to wear for the day. The bedroom also opens onto a private cedar deck.

All of the bathrooms in the garden house have a simple layout and clean palette for easy use and simple visuals. Custom floating white vanity cabinets on one wall and a small room with the shower and toilet on the other side.

Custom white painted floating vanity cabinet stretches from both walls. Clerestory windows above the light fixtures bring in natural light from above.

The closet of the final bedroom looking through the jack and jill bathroom to the other bedroom's closet. Hardwood floors on either side, and tile floor in the bath. Large windows bring in natural light to the closets, bedrooms, and bathroom.

Upstairs is a second nicely sized bedroom suite, with a walk in closet. The closet features a skylight, built in custom cabinetry, white oak hardwood and flooring. We like putting skylights in walk in closets whenever possible because even natural lighting from above is great fashion lighting.

The story of how we designed a house where others thought nothing could be built

There was an old building right on the corner of a really small lot in Seattle.

You can’t build on the corner in residential lots anymore in Seattle.

But you can keep or replace what’s already there

Our design started by replacing the old building with a wood box

The wood box became the starting point of the creative site design that created a useful and beautiful yard connected to the main living spaces in the house - the kitchen, dining room, and living room.

The roof of the old building that we replaced became a roofdeck for an upstairs lounge and the rest of the house - the garage, laundry room, and bedrooms occupied the main volume of the house that rose out of the allowable building zone.

We wrapped the yard in a cedar fence to match the wood box and evergreen hedge to create privacy and define the outdoor spaces. This helps connect the indoor and outdoor spaces.

Our creative site planning resulted in this useful, intimate, private, yet well connected outdoor space, screened by the fence and hedge and shaded by the tree.

The view from the inside at the kitchen island, looking back out at the patio space and the custom wood and steel stair that rises up to the bedrooms.