Laced with Seattle history—did you know that Ravenna Park was originally part of a private estate and that a streetcar line ran along it?—Ravenna nowadays mixes the best of the urbane (coffee shops and sushi) with suburban perks such as small leafy streets replete with backyard retreats and front-yard chitchat. But the spirit of community…

Neighbors stop to catch up outside of Empire Espresso, untangling leashes as dogs sniff and weave around ankles. Saturday mornings bring lines out the door at the stellar Columbia City Bakery, and over at Bob’s Quality Meats, a staple in the heart of Columbia City that’s been open more than 100 years, baby back ribs,…

With its breathtaking lakeside setting, spectacular sunsets, miles of trails, sweet micro ’hoods, terrific indie shops, fine dining, fabulous schools, plethora of parks and community passion for nature and the arts, Kirkland is easy to love. In summer, especially. When the sun is out, light dances on the water, the sky is bluer, the trees…

When I first lived on Capitol Hill in the ’90s, I loved living within a short stroll of great movie theaters, coffee and any number of dimly lit bars that tended to me and my vintage-clad peers. But I truly fell for the Hill on a dusky fall run. A couple of wrong turns and…

Georgetown is a small neighborhood surrounded by a sea of industry. We’re like that tiny dust ball in Horton Hears a Who, easy to miss, but we are here! We know our neighbors, who become friends and then open a shop in a trailer or a yoga studio above a bar (in this case, the…

Queen Anne is much more than a 2.8-square-mile oasis of stately homes and century-old trees, good food and culture (especially when you count in Lower Queen Anne’s wealth of theaters, opera, ballet and Seattle International Film Festival’s year-round events)—all within walking distance of downtown. It’s a community of highly educated and engaged inhabitants who band…

My husband and I were DINKs when we landed in Phinneywood. We collected gardening tips from neighbors and enjoyed the lively bar and restaurant scene. After we had kids, we discovered preschool co-ops, the old-school metal slides outside the Phinney Neighborhood Center and family-friendly coffee shops. I’ve transformed even further under the downward-dog tutelage of…

I was lured to Burien by the incredible bang for my real estate buck, but what I fell in love with was the community’s no-nonsense, hardy attitude; the beautiful, secret stretches of Puget Sound waterfront; and a charming downtown strip that makes you feel like Marty McFly stepping out of his DeLorean into a Rockwellian…

Just as interior designer Leah Steen was winding up her job of freshening up Amanda Carr’s downtown condo, she got a call. “I said, ‘What’s up?’” Steen recalls. “And Amanda said: ‘Well, I have a new project for you: a nursery.’ She told me she was pregnant. It was all very surprising.” The tricky part…

In this issue of Northwest Home, we turn our focus to storage-smart furnishings—including a hiding-something coffee table—that will help put houses of any size into stylish order. Plus, our Home of the Month (tour it, 3/17), an elegant update of a mid-century mod waterfront home in West Seattle, boasts some inspiration-worthy custom casework. Finally, columnist…

Spring is nearly here. And just before the bulbs begin to pop from their flowerbeds outside, why not jump-start the season by inviting some eye-catching, timeless garden décor inside? An ideal place for inspiration is the heavenly, historic setting of Volunteer Park Conservatory (Capitol Hill, 1400 E Galer St.; 206.684.4743; volunteerparkconservatory.org). Its magnificent Victorian glasshouse, completed in 1912,…