Home of the Week: Stunning Capitol Hill Remodel

Each week, we’re featuring one Seattle-area home that we think is interesting, inspiring or just a downright feast for the eyes. Some of them are actually on the market, while other homes will offer enviable style tips–courtesy of their ingenious owners or designers–that you can steal for your own abode.

The design professional who makes a canvas out of their own home is like a writer crafting a memoir. Thus, when Hyde Evans Design’s Barbara Hyde Evans completed a $330,000 remodel on her 2,390-square-foot Capitol Hill residence, we could relate—both to her struggle and special satisfaction.

“I find it hardest to design my home,” says Evans. “When I walk into a client’s home for the first time, I can see exactly how it should look. What walls should be torn down, what furniture would look best, what style of light fixtures would be the most appropriate. But when it’s my own space that I live in everyday, it makes it much harder to see the home with fresh eyes.”

With the help of her team, however, Evans persevered, aiming for “a traditional style with strong contrast and a touch of glamour” for her 1910 abode, now worth $1.1 million. After hiring architect Hershel Parnes to provide her with “a shell to work with” inside, Evans planned the rest, starting with a complete overhaul of the third floor.

“What was an attic with two small bedrooms and low ceilings turned into a roomy master suite including bed, bath and study, a second bedroom and bathroom, and a much-needed upper-floor laundry room,” she says. (The bedroom has since been recognized among Architectural Digest’s  Top Ten Bedrooms.) In her design, Evans always went for what she considered appropriate for her century-old estate, including continuing the main floor’s hardwood into the remodeled upper level to maximize flow and avoid the impression that the top story was new.

Evans boldly uses a bounty of patterns on the walls throughout the residence. “Wallpapers have really made a comeback lately and we are seeing a lot of hip, new designs,” says Evans. “It offers a great way to add a print and texture into a room and can create a real focus. I think many people worry that wallpapering is permanent, it’s not. I’d tell those thinking about wallpapering, ‘select something you truly love and go for it.’”

Evans’s own favorite spot in her new home is her study. “It has my son’s art work on the wall, family photos and personal objects on the bookshelves and a view of Lake Washington, so it offers me a place of refuge,” she says.

Have a home or a room in your home that you’d like considered for Seattle mag’s Home of the Week? Email a few pictures and a little information about it to lauren.mang@tigeroak.com.