The Seattle underground is alive and well and living in Montlake, a close-knit community in more ways than one. Dense suburban charm is what lures many families to Montlake. Dense suburban charm is also what forces many families to leave Montlake. “The lots here are very small, with setback and height restrictions,” says architectural designer…

Texas residents John and Julie Connor had spent many summers visiting family near Seabeck, an unincorporated waterfront village and former mill town in Kitsap County. They loved the wildness of the southern Hood Canal and imagined a small retreat here of their own, so they purchased a large lot with lush second-growth trees on a…

With 8,000 lakes, fifth most in the country, Washington is a happy hunting ground for waterfront lots. Highly popular Lake Chelan, the third-deepest lake in the United States, is not on the top of the list of affordable freshwater options, at least not anywhere near Chelan, where scarce waterfront residential lots start at $2 million….

Place two architects, a hedgehog, and more than $100,000 under house arrest, and watch the magic unfold. Sandy Wolf founded Seattle’s Office of Ordinary Architecture in the belief that beauty is found in everyday objects. She and her husband — fellow architect Daniel Ash — were not disappointed in that regard in their long search…

By May 2022, Dilip Wagle and Darshana Shanbhag’s dream of retiring on the beach was dead in the water. The Bellevue couple had spent years searching the west-facing waterfront corridor from Bellingham to Oregon, but always found themselves a step behind the pandemic-induced buying frenzy. They were about to give up when they noticed a…

Their new home, built in the 1990s, stood meekly before them, hat in hand. “There wasn’t anything special, wasn’t anything appealing,” she notes. Remnants of a bygone era included pillars, carpeted bathrooms, a sunken living room and a Jacuzzi in the master suite. The home’s disagreeable floor plan backed the family of five into the…

LeeAnn Baker couldn’t wait for new home magazines to arrive. When they did, she immediately flipped to the back. She wanted to look at floor plans. That passion for interior design really blossomed more than 30 years ago while attending The New York School of Interior Design, where she worked alongside interior designers and architects…

Harriett “Hatty” Hatch began her career as a confident art teacher, but uncertain artist. In time, she would voluntarily check herself into the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. “I just wanted to be able to design a stable for a horse,” she recalls, “but I didn’t have a horse.” She eventually crossed trails with…

Kirsten Adams, Paul Midgen, and their young daughter, Lark, had no better luck than the three bears when they washed up on the shores of Seattle in early 2018…

Subscribers to the minimalist movement that has dominated American interior design over the past decade-plus may be roughly cleaved into two demographic groups…

“Canoe Trails Residence” is a home art gallery designed with velvet gloves and without velvet ropes. For decades, Ken and Jane Friedman have been serious curators and creators of art. Jane formerly co-owned Friedman Oens Gallery on Bainbridge Island, acquiring notable pieces from around the Northwest and world. Their collection includes…