Roanoke Park Residence

In the Roanoke Park neighborhood of Seattle, the Best Practice design team was asked to modernize and breathe life into a 100-year-old grand house for a sophisticated and stylish family with two young boys. Although the stately house had much to admire, at the time of purchase it was extremely outdated and in dire need of a refresh. We approached the complete interior remodel with a genuine sense of reverence for the original character and craftsman details, but with an aim for the unconventional. The design consisted of rigorous attention to clean and simple details for the new inserted design elements along with isolated and highly curated moments of color and material whimsy.

On the main floor, a warren of weird closets was removed to open up the kitchen to the dining room while keeping a vintage built in hutch that ties the two rooms together. The kitchen was completely updated, including all new cabinets and a new central island, but preserved an existing glass atrium to the west, creating a light filled and functional workspace with seating. The remainder of the main floor received a fresh coat of paint and the dining room was outfitted with a new toile wallpaper that works with both the original character of the house and the contemporary makeover.

Flowing up the beautiful, open stair with original stained glass windows to the upper level, an unused storage cabinet was transformed into a hidden reading nook with peek-a-boo view to the kitchen. The upstairs landing was reconfigured to suit our modern family, leading to the new master suite, new storage closet, and 2 new bedrooms with a Jack-and-Jill bathroom. The old sleeping porch, complete with original divided-light casement windows was transformed into a sunny home office that overlooks the backyard. While the layout is very contemporary in organization, great care was taken to highlight and sometimes contrast the existing and very traditional details of the house. Original doors, many of the windows, railings and hardware were carefully salvaged, cleaned and reused in conjunction with new elements.

Renovation in the basement included the removal of outdated heating system and cold storage in order to create a guest suite with ¾ bathroom, an enlarged laundry room and multi-use play area for the busy family.