As Seattle’s population burgeoned, a local developer hired the Olmsted Brothers firm, in 1905, to design a park-like neighborhood, with curving, tree-lined boulevards, on what had been the site of logging activity and sawmills, southeast of downtown. The area was named Mount Baker owing to its views north over Lake Washington to that towering volcano in the Cascade Mountains. An enclave of picturesque bungalows and handsome Arts & Crafts-era homes soon were built.

A Craftsman with Custom Charm

Leslie and Paul Santarelli came to the neighborhood in 2018. They’d been looking for a larger family home, something with period charm. This house, a Craftsman semi-bungalow built in 1912, had character intact—with handsome fir wainscoting and trim, box-beam ceilings, leaded-glass windows, a built-in bench in the entry hall, Art Nouveau-style art glass pendants, a fanciful cutout balustrade, and art tile at the fireplace. With four bedrooms and a large unfinished basement, there was plenty of room for three children and a dog in the 4,000-square-foot house.

The previous owners had conserved many details and even had refinished some woodwork. Still, the house had to be brought into the 21st century. Original knob-and-tube wiring needed updating; the foundation required lifting and leveling with piers. Many of the wood floors were not salvageable.

“The historic craftsman-era house retains its original architecture and many period fittings and fixtures, Now revitalized to underpin a seamless design update.”

Dark and cramped with muddy cabinets and, bisecting the room, a peninsula that turned at an angle, the kitchen would require a total makeover. The Santarellis were working with architects from Board & Vellum and with designer Hyrel Mathias. They all realized that more than the kitchen needed attention. Upstairs, for example, there was no primary bedroom and the house had only one full bath.

Impressive Upgrades

The Santarellis wisely decided to move out for ten months as structural work and upgrades progressed. The kitchen was reconfigured into user-friendly space centered on an island topped with Calacatta Statuario marble and beech-wood cabinets. Fir wainscoting and a box-beam ceiling add period character to tie the room into the rest of the house.

Off the kitchen, a tiny powder room retained its high-tank toilet: too charming to discard. Yellowed wallpaper was replaced with Cole & Sons whimsical ‘Melville’ pattern of whales and turtles. A period vanity was refurbished to hold the sink.

The second floor was reconfigured with a principal bedroom suite, with an adjoining sunporch/office. A principal bath was created from the former hall bath. A clawfoot tub now is centered between two original leaded-glass windows in the bay. A patterned hex-tile floor and a double console sink with a brass pedestal lend an early-20th-century feeling.

Space for a walk-in shower was created by removing an unused fireplace; a romantic reading nook came from extending the wall from the shower bumpout into the adjoining principal bedroom. The bedroom is painted in Farrow & Ball soft grey-green Mizzle (mist + drizzle, in England’s West Country): appropriate here in the Pacific Northwest. A second bath for the children was added by closing off the small fourth bedroom and making use of space under the eaves.

The living room is relaxed, as it doubles as a play area for the children. Modern, durable furnishings include a ‘Little Petra’ sheepskin armchair; a sturdy, linen blend-covered rattan and caned Four Hands ‘June’ armchair inspired by Japanese tatamis; a Mid-century Modern ‘Cromwell’ tripod floor lamp by Elk Home; and a tarnished-brass and mirrored ‘CHP’ pendant lamp from the Urban Electric Company. These modern counterpoints join the saturated teal fireplace tiles and fir trim.

The rich tones of the tiles were repeated in the dining room papered with Morris & Co. deep-green and terra-cotta ‘Blackthorn’ pattern, designed by J.H. Dearle for Morris in 1892. The dining room has a mid-century John Stuart walnut dining table, set beneath a ‘Trapeze: Mobile’ pendant lamp from Apparatus.

“Blackthorn wallpaper by morris & co. creates an Arts & crafts back-drop with such period details as art glass and the box-beam ceiling.”

Flawless Kitchen

The original kitchen in the house was long gone, replaced in the 1980s by an awkward configuration that had peninsula jutting into the space and bending at an angle. A loaded pot rack and hanging shelves over the peninsula further cut the room in half. Earthy brown tones were stale and uninviting. This space and the adjoining powder room were the original scope of work.

The kitchen was stripped to the studs and made into user-friendly space centered on an island topped with Calacatta Statuario marble. A French Lacanche range centers the far wall. Bar stools are from Industry West; pendants are from the Urban Electric Company. The patterned, encaustic cement-tile floor is both modern and reminiscent of historic floors. Wood wainscoting and a box-beam ceiling, painted white in this contemporary room, add period character and repeat original elements found in the rest of the house.

— Written by Brian D. Coleman. Photographs by Miranda Estes and William Wright. Produced by Patricia Poore.

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