Before & After: An Architect’s Home Reinterprets Suburbia in the Pacific Northwest

When architect Neal Barber met his future wife, Inga Keller, in 2019, she had just decided to buy a house in Kenmore, a suburb located northeast across Lake Washington from Seattle. "It was on a nice corner lot with a great backyard, and Inga had grown up in a similar ranch-style house in Santa Barbara, so it worked well for her," recalls Neal, who founded his practice Studio Nocturne in 2021, the same year the couple married. As they began thinking about starting a family, the couple knew the house needed to grow with them. "We were looking for a little more space and a layout that worked better for us," recalls Neal.