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.

The 1960s home appeared to be in good shape, but it had a segmented layout and only one full bath for all three of the bedrooms. Besides a larger primary suite and room to grow their family, Neal was also looking for a better home office setup, knowing he would be working from home as he built his architecture practice. “Originally, we thought we could do a renovation and expansion,” says Neal. But, as they discovered some leaks and a sagging roof, the project quickly turned into a full rebuild. “With a limited budget, we knew we needed to be smart and not overbuild,” says Neal, who designed a new family home to fit atop the existing foundation.

Before: Exterior

For the rebuild, the couple knew they would keep the original foundation while adding more square footage. “The original house was 1,600 square feet, so it felt a little tight knowing we wanted to have kids,” says Neal. To stay within the same footprint, they decided to add a second story. “We couldn’t build up on the south side of the house because it was encroaching on the property line, so we knew the upstairs was going to be a relatively small portion of the home,” says Neal.

After: Exterior

Although Neal’s design aesthetic leaned a bit more modern, Inga appreciated the suburban feel of the neighborhood and didn’t want the new home to stand out too much. “She didn’t want the big contrast that some of the more contemporary homes have,” Neal recalls. “We started thinking, ‘How can we reframe the suburban context to make something new?’”

Before: Living Area

The result is a profile that remixes forms typically found in suburban neighborhoods developed in the mid 20th century, including gabled roofs and flat, rectangular elevations. “We looked at the photography of Robert Adams and the New Topographics photographers for inspiration,” explains Neal. “They were able to compose the familiar and overlooked into something new.”

After: Living Area

Alaskan yellow cedar. Neal milled the boards from previously felled trees on their family property in northern Washington." layout="wide" credit="Photo by Kyle Johnson" photoUserId="6133433100789153792"/>

Inside, the new home sticks with the L-shaped layout of the original plan, but reorients the kitchen to the middle corner. “We wanted to open up the home to the south, because previously that side was blocked so you missed out on a lot of the southern light,” explains Neal. “By putting the kitchen and the dining room on the south side, we were able to consolidate them and create a better flow.”

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen & Dining Room

The lower-level bedrooms are in the same general position as before, but with two bedrooms instead of three, each has a bit more space. The ground floor is completed by a powder room, a full bath, and a laundry area. Tying everything together is a new stair, which leads to the second level. “The stair ended up being a big organizer of the plan,” says Neal. “The stairwell is the fulcrum, and it adds a bit of structure as opposed to having a fully open floor plan.”

Before: Bedrooms

As Neal and Inga welcomed their first child in 2023 while construction was underway, they were excited to have additional space in their new home. “The house is still relatively small, about 2,000 square feet,” says Neal. “But it’s worked quite well and we’ve been able to host a lot of people for holidays and birthday parties.”

After: Upstairs and Home Office

The new second story holds a dedicated primary suite, giving Neal and Inga privacy from the lower level. Upstairs, a lofted area adjacent to the stair houses a home office. “The quality of light inside has been one of the most surprising things to us,” says Neal. “The stairwell bounces southern light down into the lower level of the house.”

Before: Backyard

Outside, Neal knew he wanted to bring more character to the backyard to make it a place for his family to spend time together. “The backyard and the relationship between inside and out is such a big part of our experience of the house,” he says. The couple decided to keep the large, open green space, but they planted a wildflower and clover lawn to make it feel a little less manicured. “I was inspired by the High Line,” says Neal. “It’s this domestic-meets-overgrown-industrial feeling.”

After: Backyard

All told, the new house deftly combines a contemporary design language with the materiality of the neighborhood for a new take on the suburban home. “In my work, I always try to be responsive to the context, but in a process of discovery toward the end result,” says Neal. “Our house is very much driven by the context around it—and is unapologetically suburban—but it elevates what a home in this landscape can be.”

More Before & After stories:

The Most Shocking Before & After Home Renovations of 2024

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Project Credits:

Architect of Record and Interior Design: Studio Nocturne / @studio.nocturne.architecture

Homebuilder: Metis Construction / @metis_construction

Structural Engineer: C&G Engineering

Landscape Design: Lookout / @lookout_pdx