DEMO HAPPENING- BELLINGHAM

One end of the house has been removed- it will be re-built in the same footprint. The problem was that there was a huge masonry fireplace that took up up the whole middle of the house on 2 levels, that was supporting the roof….cheaper to re-build from scratch. Sometimes the things that you have to do….

Here was the old masonry fireplace in the middle of the room.

This was the exterior of the house before.

Here is how the new rebuilt end of the house will look. New entry and stairs, habitable space downstairs for a big den. New kitchen and great room upstairs. See previous Blog post on June 8th with model shots.

San Juan Island Addition survives Covid!

Oh my, what a journey this project has been! 1st of all, getting materials to an island is hard….then material prices went crazy with supply chain delays. Plywood went from $25/sheet to $125/sheet in a year. Much appreciation to my clients for sticking through it thick and thin, and figuring out a way to keep the project going. Kathleen is a designer in her own right, and has a fantastic eye for detail and color! The blackened columns on the front entry were executed by local wood working legend Joe Romano. Construction by Ivan Plaza.

The front of the house used to have an old rotted exterior stair, and the client wanted to have an enclosed interior stair that united with floors of the existing house;

Partially a 2 story space, partially a cantilevered space, the addition adds an elegant way to access the main living space which is on the 2nd floor.

The new steel railings and wood treads blend in with the Zen Esthetic throughout.

Th new Powder Room features a wall of mirror with a floating LED circle light suspended delicately in front to light the whole room.

The Master Bathroom sink features a cool sliding up Robern Medicine Cabinet, that has a hidden LED strip below to light the counter- a built in night light for the whole bathroom. LED lights also frame and highlight an antique stained glass window that the clients have saved from another house.

The Master Bedroom features a cool window Bench that will eventually look out onto a nicely landscaped garden- still in progress.

A cedar wood paneled feature stripe runs across the ceiling of the Master Bedroom from the Window bench across to the opposite wall, to create an accent feature that focuses the room down the walls on both sides.

Master Bath has a lot os hidden storage.

Kathleen loves the Japanese soaking tub and says that the jets are more powerful then her hot tub outside! It is only 48” long!!!

Pandemic House in Skyline Rises with changes into form!

View from the street of this “Modern” House in Skyline, Anacortes.

This model shot of the house as originally designed, shows the original cantilevered balcony, more beams and more windows that merge with eh roof plane, but some things had to get cut because of the budget.

They also would up flipping the garage and only having one garage. The “Retro Modern” look of the house still remains even with those changes. The inspiration for the House was to have it look like an “Eichler”, but modern roofing insulation requirements of R-49 insulation caused the roof thickness to expand to 12”. There are other more expensive SIP panels that could have gotten the thickness down to 6”, but the budget ruled on this one.

Waterfront Modern House steps down a rock bluff

This is a Master Plan for a waterfront property with a Main House, Guest House and garage.

The site slopes off, the view is opposite, so the solution was to step the house down the slope.

Base of rock bluff

Kitchen for new House on San Juan Island

This new kitchen will be open to the Dining Room.

This shot pans to the left more, so that you can see the relationship of the living room to kitchen.

This is the view if you were a bird hovering over the deck looking into the house. The Dining Room is in a Greenhouse of fetch deck, facing South, so in the winter months it will be a nice place to hang out.

Here is a view looking into the house with the roof and 2nd floor removed, so that you can se inside and the relationships of the rooms.

San Juan Island WATERFRONT CHANGED!

From the water, it will be still hard to see, because there are huge trees surrounding the house.

From a drone or airplane, it would like like this shot.

From the street, it will look like this. A wall of glass is creating the new entryway with a cascading staircase that drops you down to the main living level of the house.

Here is a shot from the side of the house. I am working with a Brazilian Architect, who is the brother of the owner, so it has been a collaboration of ideas and Pacific Northwest twists.

ANOTHER A FRAME ADDITION-GUEMES ISLAND. WA

A Guemes Island 1960’ A frame needs a regular staircase up to the 2nd floor. A ladder is hard to get up and down in the middle of the night. A new entry has slanted columns to support the deck extension above.

From the other side, a living room is added with a wood stove with wood storage just outside for easy access.

There are a couple a huge Fir trees that the owners want to keep, so the trick is working around them and the setbacks required for the site.

The tress actually have less limbs on the lower parts, so it will not be as tight as it looks from this model.

EXISTING A FRAME

I wanted to save the look of the existing building.

You can see the size of the existing Fir trees better in this photo. The location is fabulous, right on the West side of the island, right on the water!

SAN JUAN ISLAND CONTEMPORARY TAKES SHAPE with GreenWall & POOL

Waterside View is actually the rear of the house, but illustrates the window wall for the views.

Side view of the covered deck with outdoor fireplace and slanted walls of the entry.

Front entry has a view right out to the other side to see the view when you walk in.

Side view shows the large deck.

My favorite part of the project is the indoor pool with green wall!

I think that swimming with this Green Wall backrgound will make the whole pool experience-no?

EICHLER STYLE MODERN HOUSE

This is an Interior Shot of the Model with the view simulation- the house will be in the “SkyLine” neighborhood of Anacortes.

Trying to create what the view will look like, was important to the clients of this house.

One enters from the back of the house, to maintain the water view from the upper Main Floor

Streetside view of the front of the house model shows the beginning stages of figuring out the driveway cut intotthte uphill slope

How a "Massing Model" helps envision a New House

The first step in figuring out a new house, is to block out the rooms and their relationship to the site.

Then from there, the basic shapes can be created in 3D- the black dashed lines are the setbacks required.

The site has been surveyed and a model of the site is used in conjunction to further define the spaces.

The next step is to further define the roof planes, the windows, the decks- the model still has not been altered, so that it is clear to see how much of the slope will have to be removed. The upper part of the house sits on top of the ground, while the lower part will require excavation.

Together with the floor plans, the shape of the house begins to take place, considering the height restrictions through cross sections of the site and setbacks thru the site plan.