Project Update - Lake Sammamish House

Over the past two years I've had the pleasure of working on an amazing coastal inspired Lake Sammamish waterfront home. While we are still working on furnishing the interiors, a few of the rooms of the house were published this month in 425 Magazine so I thought I'd share it with you.

Entry. We are still looking for the perfect piece of furniture for this room. We used shiplap through out the entire house to give the house some character and make the spaces feel more comfortable as the ceilings are extremely high.

In the kitchen we did a custom metal hood, a combination of mirrored and glass front cabinets and a dark grey island to designate it as the focal point of the room. The bar stools in this room will be the statement piece when they are done as they are vintage french louis bar stools with cowhide seats. They take my breath away and I can't wait as they change the feel of the entire room.

Ceiling and crown moulding detail

View of the dining room and family room from the kitchen. We are looking for vintage french chairs for the dining table.

The family room. Since this picture was taken there is a larger seagrass rug, a larger custom zebra ottoman (this one is actually mine that they homeowner was using until theirs arrived), a metal and wood custom console and some fabulous white lamps. The room feels warm and cozy now as it is their main gathering spot.

There are so many fabulous rooms in this house that I'll post more pictures as they are finished.

Update: Builder to Custom

I hope you don't mind crappy iPhone photos, because on a jobsite, that's about as good as it gets! I managed to snap a few pictures of some of the recent progress that's been going on and I'm happy to say that a lot happened last week. Hooray!

Gosh I wish this photo was better -- hindsight is 20/20. You can see that the cabinets are in and that the statuary marble is up, but not grouted and the newly milled shiplap is installed on the back wall. We're breaking up the wainscotting that is everywhere so that the bathroom has a breather. Plus, wait until the mirrors are hung and the three sconces are up -- so excited to see it painted and installed.

The new wall that faces the keeping room off the kitchen. Remember what it looked like before? Such a huge transformation already. Shiplap has gone up above the custom fireplace and it also marries with shiplap that backs all of the built-ins.

And last, but certainly not least, a humble pic of what will be a not-so-humble kitchen. The new chandelier arrives any day that will go above the island and the cabinetry will be finishing up next week while the painters also get started (it's going to be a crazy week!). The second row of cabinets help fill the 15' ceilings and Thassos marble is waiting to be grouted. I'm so excited about this kitchen. The faucets went in on Thursday and seeing them sparkling against that Calcutta made me want to tear up! Is that sad? I can be totally unmoved by the saddest episode of Oprah, but give me a newly installed Perrin & Rowe faucet and I'll choke up! I guess it's something only a certain group of us would understand...?

Onwards to a busy week. Thanks for bearing with me on the lack of posts. I have been burning the midnight oil since the new year (a classic example, simultaneously ordering at the drive through while on the phone with marble yards -- it was confusing for all parties, trust me!) but it will mean lots more updates of various projects and some good stuff coming up.

Have a good weekend!

Project Update

Just a quick project update. The rooms still aren't finished, but here's a quick look at some before and afters.....

Staircase before:
This was the first thing you saw when you walked in the house. The stairs were clad in outside siding. The post is structural so it needed to stay.

Family room before:
Again, the outside siding was used for the fireplace. The room was being used as a playroom for the kids. There was no furniture for relaxing and watching t.v. This room is the main living space on the first level as it borders the kitchen. It really needed to be an inviting a usable space.


Staircase after:
We opened up the wall. Removed the carpet and put in hardwood floors. Added columns to the structural support beam. Now the staircase is a focal point in the room. We also added hardwood floors throughout the entry and bathroom.


Family room after:
T.V. still needs to be installed and accessories and pillows added to the room. We built a new fireplace surround that ties into the look and feel of the new staircase. Also, we added wainscoting to the entire main floor which again ties into the look and feel of the fireplace. We painted out the brick. We left the curved fireplace doors as they are unique and the homeowner loves to build real fires. All the furniture is new as well. We did white slip covered swivel chairs so you can see the t.v. or turn and talk to someone in the kitchen. I love swivel chairs. The sofa is also a white slip covered piece. The coffee table is an antique bamboo piece from the 60's. That table makes me swoon.

The homeowner has already gotten paint and markers out of these slipcovers. Another testimony to how wonderful white slipcovers are.



Another angle of the family room.

I wish I had a picture of the before bathroom. It was a typical 60's bathroom. A huge vanity that was too big for the space, old linoleum, bad light fixtures and plain walls. You had to turn sideways to go into the room! This was the powder room so it desperately needed an update.

We added the same wainscoting that we did throughout the main floor. We installed a 24" vanity with an open chrome base to add lightness to the room. The open base is also a bonus as the kids step stools slide underneath.

Blue is one of the homeowners favorite colors so we did a pale blue grass cloth wallpaper. It's so gorgeous you almost want to move into this room. Then we added clean, modern sconces and had a custom silver bamboo mirror made.

As the finishing touches are done, I'll post more pictures.

Project Update

Just a quick project update. We are starting to make progress in the construction phase. Bathroom fixtures should arrive the first week of December. Grass cloth has been ordered. Things are starting to take visual shape.

The task at hand is picking the overall paint color for the entire downstairs. Picking paint colors in the Northwest is never easy. Especially neutrals as the tend to go pink or yellow. Unfortunately, I don't like either color. You can see all the paint swatches on the wall. Hopefully a new hybrid color tomorrow will make the final cut.

Here's a quick peek at the progress from the last post.


New staircase minus the slats. They should go in tomorrow.

Fireplace in progress. Still a lot of work to be done but still tons better than it was to begin with. This will become the focus of the family room. Middle compartment houses the T.V. We are going to age the brick white so it has a wonderful patina. No more 80's in this room.

Wainscoting before being primed and painted. Traditional yet casual. You can see the paint swatches above. We are leaning towards the lightest one of the right. Winter Wheat - Benjamin Moore.

I'll continue to update as new progress is made.