NEW HOUSE UNDER CONSTRUCTION ON DECATUR ISLAND

It is so exciting to see a project getting built! This was one of the most complicated rooflines that I have ever done, as it had to step down with the site to be under the height limit. It hugs the site very well, don’t you think?

My 3D model shows that they cut back on the exaggerated knee braces, but did open up the gables to not be framed in with trusses, so all in all, looks great!

This the front of the house, the one that you would see upon arriving in a golf cart.

Here is the real entry- I do like the beams stained black. Very handsome!

So glad that they went with a more grey palette- they were originally thinking more brown, as my 3D model was showing.

The decking is really pretty! And no maintenance! It’s Tanzite a manufactured stone out of Canada. They distribute here in the states.

Here was the site before construction- really pretty woods, with distant views out to the water.. This is an island with no ferry service, so you have to take private ferries to get here and the residents all drive golf carts from the dock to their houses.

"Just a Front Porch" in Bellingham, WA.

This is the “After” of the new front porch that I designed to go with the historic house. It aligns perfectly with the existing concrete sidewalk to the house. The new porch looks like it was always there- a true mark of a good addition:-)

This was the existing entry to this house. The front entry had to be torn off when they re-did the foundations and she could not get anyone to help her design a new front porch for over a year. This was a small job, but I felt the need to help her out. Not glamorous, but functionally needed to get to the front door.

ADDITION ON WHIDBEY Island in Washington State

Addition to an existing house on the right, incorporates a new entry, new interior stairway, new bedroom suite on 1st floor, new Master Suite on 2nd floor, new kitchen configuration.

View from the street- note the condenser for the ductless mini split was supposed to be hidden around the side of the house. The narrow slit windows are for the new Master Bath.

The structure before the addition.

The main access before was around the back of the building with an exterior exposed staircase.

Here are the drawings that explain what was done. They kept the old exterior stairs as secondary egress.

2nd Floor Extension and remodel- Bellingham!

This involved an extension of about 12 feet over the garage to gain more room on the 2nd floor. The whole 2nd floor was re-organized to gain a proper Master Bath and walk in closet. Contractor is LJS - https://ljshandyman.com. Talk to Lester Johnstone or Will Fairy or Jeremy Eckley.

There were some changes along the way, but I think that the contractor made some good calls on his own house. Much better street appeal now. I tried to dog up the before shot, but the one below is the only. one that I could find:

The new Master bath has some un-usual color combos, not selected by me…..But having a “Wet Room” like that is kinda a cool idea, for sure.

Love the Dark Turquoise tiles on the Guest bathroom walls in contrast to the white fixtures and tiles. Brass accents are still in and looking fabulous! I am not sure about storage, however. Must be cabinets flanking on each side for gear- I have not seen it in person, these are shots that the contractor took and sent to me:-)

Master Suite/ Garage Addition on San Juan Island-CONSTRUCTION SHOTS

View from the side of the new Garage and Side Entry.

In full sunset glory, the best feature will be the new Master Bedroom overlooking the water and Dinner Island.

The existing house has a large sloping shed room, so the addition has one also.

It is really hard to get a goos shot because it is right on the top of a slope, this was the farthest back that I could get:-)

The new back entry will be a nice feature. Connects to the existing house.

SAN JUAN ISLAND HOUSE ALMOST DONE!

There were a few Material changes along the way. This House was designed and permitted in 2019, but Covid came along. Supply chain disruptions and cost increases delayed the construction until 2024. It is just getting finished in 2025. The Hardie Board Panels are much less expensive then the Hardie planks. Glass railings are going to be cheaper then cable railings, but then you have the dead birds to contend with that fly into the glass railings….

Rear elevation faces West towards a water view.

The exterior side fireplace got raised to the ceiling, I think for an outdoor tv that is bigger then I thought.

The entry walls got squared off- they were suppose to be slanted. And the exterior light fixtures are more traditional/ Carriage House looking then we talked about. The front door is “Prairie Style”, which is out of sorts with the rest of the house. It was supposed to be “Modern”, or just all glass. None of the other windows have the Prairie style muntins….it is a mash up of ideas now. And the chunky lick & stick fake rocks were supposed to be smooth concrete tiles 2’x4’. with an exposed wood header a the top. Totally different looking.

The interior double height space is pretty impressive! The stairs go up to 2 bedrooms on the right. The kitchen is below on the right.

My model shot of the house from 2019. Note the slanted entry walls.

Left side of the house, showing slanted entry walls that did not get built.

Rear of the house with indoor pool on the lower left side. It is an impressive house with all of the changes and it will be interesting to see how the interior gets finished off now! There was special engineering to figure out the wind load on that 2 story wall of glass in the Great Room. The clients are very happy with how it is coming out. Kudos to the construction team! They have the winter now to finish the interior off for the summer hopefully….they say when you are sheet rocked, you are halfway done.

Another study with the slanted entry walls in wood- could have looked really cool….sometimes the architect gets over-ruled.

MODERN SHED MAIN HOUSE ARTIST TOUCH! San Juan Island, WA

The 2 story ADU got built before COVID, but then COVID happened and the main house took longer than they thought to build.

The siding is being artistically applied from various scrapes of different colored “Hardie Plank” cement siding. This is the Dining Room POP OUT. The covered porch roof has yet to be built. It will have to wait until later.

Main House street side elevation- but really far off the road. Siding is still being applied.

More of the view from the street side.

Front entry in progress. I really like the striped siding on the window bench pop-out and the variegated stripes to the right in a random pattern.

The window bench from the inside.

The Dining Room POP-OUT has got a great table-leg scene happening.

Kitchen opens out to the Dining Room pop out.

The owner is an artist and a painter, and is doing a great job on aging the look. Floor tiles in stone await installation. It is a true work in progress still, but it is so fun to see what my artist friend has done on a shoe string budget. It is fun seeing her old antiques appearing from their long storage from their LA life.

There is the artist herself, modeling the future cool light location. Christie Mellor is the artist. More cool antiques are emerging from their sleep!

And the artist again, in the future Master Bath that awaits completion. The view out the tub will be a green mossy forest.

The owners, Richard Goldman and Christie Mellor at their new front entry.. The roof slope was supposed to go “Butterfly” up in the opposite direction at the entry, but the contractor would not do it… see first rendering at the top. I even had a reverse cricket to shed the water off in opposite directions to prevent water build-up. He said the roofing contractor would not guarantee the roof if we did the butterfly. So that is why the roof seams do not match up, as it was added later. Gives it character.

Second floor Addition removes A-Frame after numerous studies- Anacortes, WA

“After” shot of a Lakefront House (Heart Lake) in Anacortes, that once had an A-frame top.

The A-Frame had been built by the clients uncle in the 1960’s. I tried every conceivable way to do an addition to increase the useable space.

The first idea was just to pop out one side of the A-frame to be able to get a full staircase in to access the upper loft, which just had a ladder up to access.

Staircases take up so much room!

So then, I extended the pop-out to add more useable room in the living room.

But that looked kinda weird and they decided no.

So finally after much pacing not he cost to do the pop-out, it was cheaper to tear off the whole A-Frame and build a place that has more useable room.

This was a better use of the 2nd floor that allowed for. more light to bath the space, instead of being under a huge roof that sloped down tot eh floor.

It is just finishing up construction, as you can see from al of the ladders and equip. still scattered around, but I wanted to see how it was turning out.

The exposed beams go from one side of the house to the other, in a nice shed simple roof.

I really like the rusted corrugated metal siding that they wound up using- kudos to a no maintenance siding that never needs paint! It is called “Corten Steel”, if you ever want to specify it for your house. It comes shiny metal and rusts very quickly over time, to a finish that stops rusting once the surface is coated. It does not keep rusting.

Second Floor Addition in Bellingham, WA

This is the “After”, the black trim and roof are quite handsome.

This was the “Before”. The front door remained in the same location.

Finally got up to Bellingham to see this Second Floor Addition that I designed awhile back...turned out very nicely. It was a pretty nondescript house before. The client is a contractor, so that helped. Added are 2 bedrooms for his kids, bath and a Family Room. Covered deck off the back.

The second floor covered back desk is a great place to hang out!

GUESTHOUSE/YOGA STUDIO ON CAMANO ISLAND

We started out with a bigger building, but had to shave down the sq. ft. due to the budget. So wound up with a smaller 1st floor then 2nd floor. But it actually works to have more of a covering for the garage (which will have frosted glass doors for the Yoga Studio).

I really like the way the lower roof wraps around to create the covered porch for the 2nd floor deck.

The 20 degree angle of half the guesthouse gives it some visual interest and the main house has some angles too. The owners did not want a rectangular box.

This will be the view from the street, so it has a lot of visual interest.