Beautiful lake house retreat on the Columbia River

The River House is a stunning weekend cottage retreat that is nestled at the base of the Cascade foothills, opening to the banks of the Columbia River in eastern Washington, designed by McClellan Architects. The house was designed for a young family of four with a separate guest bunkhouse perched over the detached garage and outdoor rooms that define the grounds, creating a seamless relationship between inside and out. The home takes full advantage of the views to the river and the sage brush covered mountains. As one descends through the site the building forms open, embracing the site.

The architects also designed a lower outdoor dining room just off of the pool so that the family can enjoy the long summers. “It was important to have the house mediate between the wet, green makeup of the river and the dry, seared terrain of the hills behind,” state the architects. The living and dining areas are situated on the second level of the main house to take advantage of the river views. “With the backdrop of the river and mountains, we wanted to have huge windows that would allow the river to become our art,” says the home owner.

Photos: Courtesy of McClellan Architects

Contemporary Portage Bay floating home

Clean and simple define this 1,200 square foot Portage Bay, Seattle, Washington floating home. After living on the water for 10 years, the owner was familiar with the area’s history and concerned with environmental issues. With that in mind, she worked with Architect Ryan Mankoski of Ninebark Studios and Dyna Contracting to create a functional dwelling that honored its surroundings. The original 19th century log float was maintained as the foundation for the new home and some of the historic logs were salvaged and custom milled to create the distinctive interior wood paneling. The atrium space celebrates light and water with open and connected kitchen, living and dining areas. The bedroom, office and bathroom have a more intimate feel, like a waterside retreat. The rooftop and water-level decks extend and maximize the main living space. The materials for the home’s exterior include a mixture of structural steel and glass, and salvaged cedar blended with Cor ten steel panels. Locally milled reclaimed untreated cedar creates an environmentally sound rain and privacy screen.

Photos: Benjamin Benschneider

The Lobster Boat Residence on Portage Bay

Lobster Boast Residence designed by Chadbourne + Doss Architects, is part of a large waterfront property that has been incorporated into a condominium development that includes four detached residences and two houseboats on Portage Bay, Seattle, Washington. Residents share waterfront access, parking, utilities, and a shared vegetable garden. While sharing costs, amenities, and responsibilities; a stronger sense of community is established. The Lobster Boat is a metaphor for a house that is economical, purposeful, and durable. Located on a dense urban shoreline site, this residence strives to celebrate its location while providing privacy to its family.

The home is a remodel built on an existing 24’x28’ floor and basement foundation infrastructure, the constraints of site and footprint result in an efficient vertical house of 2,378 square feet (221 square meters) that reaches the maximum allowable zoning envelope to provide a variety of interior and exterior spaces. Economy is embodied in every aspect of this project including the sharing of site resources; reuse of existing structure and utilities; efficient spatial organization; and the selection of materials and systems based on low monetary, environmental, and life-cycle costs.

Photos: Benjamin Benschneider

Dwelling with intriguing modern design in Seattle

Beet Residence is a modern single family home nestled in Seattle, Washington designed by Chadbourne + Doss Architects. Built on an existing foundation, the design uses Corten steel clad walls to bracket two floors with views through the house from front to back. The owners love art, cooking, gardening, and rusted steel and wanted the house to celebrate those things. The interior walls are meant to provide space for a growing art collection.

A TV is hung from an overhead track allowing it to be positioned and rotated for viewing from the kitchen, dining or living spaces.

Built on an existing foundation, the Beet Residence uses Corten steel clad walls to bracket two floors with views through the house from front to back.

The upper floor has a linear skylight over a double height space to illuminate the art wall.

Two bedrooms, a shared bath, and a laundry room occupy the upper floor. The guardrail provides library shelving.

Materials are left natural and meant to be the background to art and life, such as the hand rubbed graphite casework and doors.

The owners commissioned artist Chris Buening to create a custom wall mural that will evolve and change over time.

The rear elevation extends the interior into the landscaped backyard with a stained cedar terraced deck and concrete steps.

Photos: Benjamin Benschneider

Modern Hillside Home in Seattle: Crane Residence

Crane Residence is a modern single family home designed by Spore Architecture in a suburban area of Seattle, Washington. Due to zoning restrictions and the odd shape of this 5,500 square foot lot, the architects had to go up, not out. This ended up working well, since the clients had their mind set on just that, a ‘tower’ house with a small footprint. Built on a fairly steep slope, the 2,250 square foot house pushes the private areas to the back – into the hillside, opening up a double-height living space toward the view with an all glass face. Looking into the living room and down to the kitchen is a loft that is flanked by the 3-story glass slot. Perched 4 stories above the ground and accessed by an aluminum grate foot-bridge, the master bedroom has a very private and exclusive feel. Also, with an entire wall of windows that reach to the floor, the master bedroom has unobstructed views of the territory below.

Beautiful mid-century modern home in Lakewood

This mid-century modern home is situated in the community of Lakewood, just outside of Seattle, Washington. Designed by DeForest Architects, this family home has been completely remodeled into a beautiful property. The design objective was to create a ‘kid-friendly’ home with plenty of grown-up style. There is a large expanse of sliding glass doors that blurs the boundaries between the interior and exterior of the home as well as bringing in plenty of natural light.  The flooring is a decorative concrete topping material called Deco Pour. It is about 1/2″ thick and comes in many colors and aggregates. It is a lot like traditional terrazzo in appearance. The ceiling has been clad with wood throughout all the main living spaces to add warmth to the interiors.

Photos: Ben Benschneider

Modern eclectic Phinney Ridge House in Seattle

Phinney Ridge house is a renovation and addition by Portal Design Inc of an existing early 80’s craftsman style home in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The inspiration for the three bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home was the owner’s experience with the lifestyle of Palm Springs, California, where they have a vacation home. One of the things they love most about Palm Springs is the ability to live indoors and out, which is not something you can typically do in Seattle, but it was one of the main drivers in renovating this house.

The house is comprised of 2,100 square feet of living space spread out over two levels, plus a 180 square foot loft. The exterior and interior scheme was to use basic industrial, natural colors and materials set off with glam elements that provide a little whimsy and ‘pop’ during dark times. The overall building footprint and shape changed very little, however the house changed tremendously, updated from its early 80′s style and sectioned layout.

The look of the front elevation was influenced by the site’s sloping nature. A pop-out over the garage clad in metal balances the front facade. A number of new windows were also added to allow in as much light as possible.

The house has a reverse floor plan, with the bedrooms and bathrooms on the first floor and an open kitchen, living area and dining space, plus a half bath, on the second level. For the second floor, timeless finishes were used such as walnut floors, white kitchen cabinets and a marble kitchen island. A touch of whimsy was also introduced into the design with wallpaper applied above the credenza in the lounge.

The kitchen island is topped with marble and clad in gray lacquer over medium-density fiberboard (MDF). The wood toe kick is walnut, to match the floor

The design of the master bedroom again reflects the designer’s effort to keep things that were going to be more permanent as neutral as possible. “We chose that warm gray partially because it’s an easy color to decorate with as a background. You can throw anything against it, and it’s going to look fabulous.” Because the master bathroom is buried a bit in the middle of the house, a frosted glass panel was used in the shower to allow more daylight to traverse into the bathroom. The bed is from Design Within Reach, artwork above the bed is from Crate & Barrel and wall paint is: Chelsea Gray HC-168, Benjamin Moore

The stairs are in the same place as they were in the original house, but were completely walled in. The stair treads are parallel strand lumber, and the railing, with stainless steel cables, was custom designed by Portal Design and fabricated by its contractor.

Because of the steep lot, the design team had to make several transitions to get from the driveway up, from the sidewalk up, and still have that connection to be able to go around the side of the house to the backyard.

A deck opens off the main living area and cantilevers over a small addition that was added to expand the master bedroom. The awning is frosted acrylic and was custom designed.

This outdoor fireplace is by Modfire.

The walnut wrap on the left side of the refrigerator frames in the white cabinets. “The idea was to create a furniture type of look, where there’s an edge of walnut showing, and offsetting that with the white lacquer”. The stairs to the right lead up to the loft office.

Tudor home with a modern twist on Lake Washington

This whole-house remodel gives us a venerable brick Tudor home a modern twist in Seattle, Washington. The home was designed by Deforest Architects for two book (and dog!) lovers, who had been walking their dogs past a modest Tudor for many years before they purchased it. They asked the architects to give the house a new life built around their love of books, dogs, and simple modern spaces filled with natural light. The residence incorporates bookshelves and cozy seating area throughout the house. Modern details complement traditional elements while steel windows, doors and exposed structure open the interior to light and views. The exterior features a ‘secret garden’, sunroom and terrace that overlook Lake Washington.

Photos: © Benjamin Benschneider

Contemporary lake house filled with light and art

DeForest Architects transformed this existing lakeside residence in Seattle, Washington from a house full of heavy stone and beams into a light-filled place for enjoying art, food and family. The clients, Mark and Mattie, are an entrepreneur and artist, mom and dad, this creative couple asked the architects to transform their home on Lake Washington into an elegant, family-friendly house filled with light and art. The staircase design received a Grand Award from Residential Architect and a Citation from the Washington AIA Honor Awards.

Photos: John Granen, Ben Benschneider (stairs)

Charming tiny bungalow house overlooking Puget Sound

The Bayside Bungalow is a cozy micro-cabin located in Olympia, Washington overlooking the Puget Sound. This tiny house was built on an 18 foot flatbed trailer based on a slightly modified Tumbleweed Fencl plan. The interior has 100 square feet of space on the main floor with an additional 60 square foot loft. The sleeping loft, accessed by a ladder, is above the kitchen, closet and bathroom, which has a small shower. Two skylights and 11 windows allow plenty of natural light into the house. A window seat is built in for cozying up with a blanket and good book while watching birds play in the garden. A stainless steel fireplace warms the house. The cathedral ceiling makes the tiny home feel quite spacious. A tiny 2’ x 2’ porch faces the Puget Sound, covering the entrance to a beautiful, cedar door.

If you want to experience this tiny house for yourself, prices range from $65 – $95/night, or $395 – $495 weekly, from here.

Photos: The Bayside Bungalow