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The basement-level family room connects with a guest bedroom that features a painting by Marleigh Culver.

The couple added curved cabinetry and a window seat to form a breakfast nook, painted in Farrow & Ball Red Earth. The table is discontinued from Anthropologie, where Kara previously worked as a display coordinator, and the overhead light is the Lambert & Fils Waldorf Double.

The primary bedroom cabin sits in a natural clearing amongst the trees, allowing for a water view and copious sunlight. The boulder-studded coast offers gently sloping paths to the ocean for a quick dip.

The contrasting style of the original home and the 70s-era addition come together in this space, now with white oak wall paneling and a twenty-foot-long, seven-foot-wide custom sofa designed by Office of Tangible Space. The painting is by Kathan Zerzan.

Low-voltage lighting, Span electrical panels, battery storage, electric heat pumps, high R windows, maximum efficiency solar, and high velocity HVAC combine to help Aro homes operate as carbon negative.

Guest Bathroom

Exterior

The project’s name, Loom House, is a nod to “weaving people and place,” says Karen. The couple hope their project contributes to spreading more awareness of the kind of systemic changes the LBC strives for. “With the Living Building Challenge, we liked that you not only create a healthy home,” says Todd, “but you consider how that healthy home is creating a healthy environment and community.”

“We’re hoping this renovation provides some solutions for how to take our existing homes and make them sustainable into the future, because we’ll never build completely new homes for everyone in time to handle the climate crisis,” says resident Todd Vogel.

"It was our job to hold on to the spirit of these buildings. They worked so well with the site and the views, so the project was really about exercising restraint,” says architect Brian Court. In the guesthouse, Gulassa wired a wisteria branch preserved from the property into a chandelier. The armchair is by Jens Risom and the windows are by Unilux.

In the guesthouse, now used primarily as an office and art studio, a Womb chair covered in Myung Jin mohair is the perfect perch for enjoying views of the Seattle skyline and the local wildlife—from eagles flying overhead to seals swimming by. The accent table is by Martha Sturdy and the hemp rug is from Rug Art. Underneath is the existing concrete floor with exposed aggregate. The Hanko chairs are by Chadhaus and the Mortise table is by Sawkille.

In the dining area, Cassina chairs hug a Henrybuilt table. The kitchen features a concrete counter by Ryan McPhail and an Elio faucet by Dornbracht.