Victorian Home, 1902, Full Remodel, Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA

This 1902 Edwardian Style house makes a statement. It one of three homes sitting in a row, built by the same builder. The rooms are small, originally heated by what was a state-of-the-art radiator system, now operable, and newly refurbished. In the day, this was the cutting edge, as there was no need to have a fireplace in the house. We had our work cut out for us here. Color design was strongly applied throughout the house, for walls, and wood work. With less adornment than the Victorian style, the wood work in this home is relatively simple, bordering on art deco. Yet there are finely carved columns in the living room, and mahogany inlay feature details. To ensure that we nourished and retained the original wood stain color, we created custom stain mixes to feed both old and new wood. The original Mahogany millwork called for us to develop a composite stain color, as the contractors laid their hands on every square inch of millwork

The Kitchen

The main floor kitchen was major – gutted, and the design was developed to contain both an historical flair and a modern touch. A modern farmhouse kitchen, it has plenty of storage and detail. The old kitchen faired well over the years, but a house is not a home without a modern, well-designed kitchen! We set to work laying out the floor plan to meet these clients needs; making sure that the peninsula is just the right size, and the pantry and cabinet spaces are ample. This design developed as if we were putting a puzzle together. Widening the passageway between dining room to kitchen and incorporating a transom window above, allows for more light in the room. Another transom is placed over the exterior kitchen door, this time for the light from the garden. Cabria counter tops, brushed nickel cabinet hardware, and stainless steel finished appliances give style and statement to this kitchen.

For the Powder Room, we used 1″ slabs of salvaged antique marble, mounted onto the walls as wainscoting, and using a brilliant brushed brass metal finish, Cole and Sons Flying Machines – a Steam Punk style wallpaper.

We decided that the shabby, old second floor bathroom should be a Victorian Style Wet Room. Our layout consists of dividing the room into two distinctive areas – a wet side and a dry side. The shower area is delineated with a clear, glass partition, slightly sloped floor towards the drain, and a refurbished vintage claw foot tub. A new exterior window brings in the natural light and blends with the exterior façade of the house. We love the Ivory, Equipe Subway Tile from Sonoma Tile Makers in stock at United Tile. We are also pleased that we can achieve a continuous floor pattern by using encaustic tiles, an historical and timeless tile making method. We emphasize the feeling of freshness by using C2 Skylight wall paint color, along with SW Roman Column white on the cabinetry and wood trim. The Additional Dwelling Unit (ADU), became a 700 sq ft rental unit located in the basement of the house. In it’s design, we used key design traits, from both the Historical and Contemporary, echoing the Main House in style, yet retaining its unique identity and charm. The layout of the ADU includes compact kitchen, a cement gray, quartz countertop peninsula, open living room/dining room, tiny – tasteful bathroom, sliding barn-bedroom door, and a utility/storage room with washer dryer. We are also very proud of the Eastlake door hardware touches we hunted down, and our selection of wall sconces to provide for lighting in layers!

Lighting Fixtures & Hardware:

We sourced antique lighting fixtures to suit both house and budget by scouring salvage lighting resources to find the right pieces for each fixture location of the house. Take a look at a few in the lighting fixture carousel at the end of this blog. Color design was strongly applied throughout the house, for walls, woodwork, cabinetry, and we sourced antique lighting fixtures to suit both house and budget! We scoured salvage lighting resources to find the right pieces for each fixture location.