Art first, ask questions later
Renovation of mid-century Bellevue home was influenced by owner’s artwork collection
Agiant neon bowling-alley sign is the shining North Star of Rod’s Enatai neighbourhood in Bellevue, Washington. (As in, “Hang a left after the giant neon bowling-alley sign.”) You can see how that might happen: The thing is 2.4 metres tall, 1.8 metres wide, nice and high in the living-room window and neon.
It’s also the whimsical kingpin of Rod’s strikingly renovated mid-century modern home, a veritable gallery of singular finds artfully united and sited by Hilary Young of Hilary Young Design Associates.
When Rod first found the house, it had forgotten how to have fun. “It was super sad,” Rod said. “I would say at least one-fourth or one-third of the light bulbs had burned out. It had wall-to-wall stained carpet and bluish-grey interior, and the roof needed replacing. Probably it had had no real love in quite a while.”
It was solid, though, and exponentially roomier than the bitsy little Kirkland Craftsman he shared with his thengirlfriend and his son, and even the Enatai home’s “kinda gross” ambience couldn’t smother its potential.
He saw it all and, to coax it out, called in his go-to professional exuberance-infuser.
Rod had teamed with Young on his Kirkland house, and by the time they reconnected for this project, “They already had a vision,” Young says.
“Artwork was a big driver with the style. They just started collecting. They’d email photos and say, ‘What do you think?’ ” Young thought: Bring it. Between travel, gallery and museum finds, and vintage furniture, “They had really unique pieces,” Young says.
“It’s our job to make it work. The artwork ended up influencing the finishes.”
Rod’s whimsical art collection includes: • That giant bowling-alley sign ties together the whole airy living/dining area. “Not many houses can handle it,” Young said, “but this house is perfect.” • Just a 7-10 split away, over the fireplace and its original surround, hangs a series of Warholized official White House photos of Richard Nixon bowling. • A life-size mannequin dress sculpture poses impressively in the breakfast nook. • A murder of sculpted crows dangles near the entryway, throwing winged shadows on a wall whose shade of orange took 20 drawdowns to hit. • A custom plum-hued mirror in the main-level powder room adjoining the “Bond Room,” (TV, movies, new carpet, huge sectional, blankets, father-son bonding) continues the Bond theme with bullet-hole and spiral details reminiscent of the movies’ opening sequences. (Themes are another theme, with the “Milk and Honey” kitchen, warmed by red, creamy tones, and the superminimal “Zen” master bedroom.)
Over the course of the multiyear project, the original floor plan and layout remained intact, as did the upstairs office and basement, Rod says. (Though now that his son’s a teenager, the brick-fire-placed den downstairs “has become a very important part of his social life.”)
Otherwise, though, every other room “got hit relatively hard,” Rod says. “We moved into the basement, and they just went berserk upstairs.”
Here’s how “berserk” works: New bamboo hardwood floors. New doors. New windows. New paint. New hardware, faucets, appliances. New lights, outlets and plugs. New countertops, new master bathroom, new furniture. New indoor-outdoor emphasis, from ceiling beams that know no borders to the continuity of an upstairs staircase railing that’s the same design as the metal one on the deck.
New colours. New warmth. Totally new, fun ambience.
“This house is a lot more organic and spontaneous in catching a vision and running with it,” Rod says. “It creates an environment. With good care and feeding, it loves you back.”