Seattle artist Mattie Iverson was ready for a change. Having just lived in a modern home, she was drawn to the old-world character of a 1915 Tudor-style house, with its half-timbered facade and stained glass windows, in the Queen Anne neighborhood overlooking Puget Sound. “My dream was to marry it with some of the modern things I love,” says Mattie of the home she shares with her two daughters.

Like many houses of this vintage, the inside was dark, which was particularly difficult for a visual person. Working with interiors firm NB Design Group, Mattie decided to paint all the mahogany woodwork on the main level white. “It was a big move, but for us it didn’t feel like it was changing the vocabulary of the architecture,” says NB’s James Fung. “Tudors don’t usually lend themselves to an open, bright interior, and the white really changed that.”

"Sometimes I imagine the original architects seeing what we’ve done and approving." —Mattie Iverson, resident

The exterior was left untouched, with one exception: the addition of a glass-enclosed mudroom forming a new back entrance. The walls are made of low-iron glass for maximum transparency. “It brings the inside out a bit, and puts the interior on display,” says architect John DeForest of DeForest Architects, who collaborated with project architect Melissa Nordquist.

The showstopper is a skylit attic that has become a favorite gathering space. It’s clad in plywood, a humble material that appealed to Mattie as a contrast to the home’s ornamental details. “Every other room has a ‘wow’ view moment,” she says. “I love that the attic gives you permission not to look out, but to be present instead.”

Project Credits:

Architect: DeForest Architects

Builder: Lockhart Suver Construction

Structural Engineer: Swenson Say Fagét

Interior Design: NB Design Group

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A Radiant Remodel Revitalizes a Dark Seattle Tudor House