United spaces near Seattle
Holistic remodel of a rambler showcases family’s artwork and creates beautifully integrated cohesion
Best-case scenario: When the little things come together, everything comes together. Case in point: Kelsey and Ross Henry’s woodsy Seattle-area home, which seamlessly connects architecture and interior design, openness and intimacy — and, ultimately, supreme livability and a whole lot of loveliness.
The collective connective stars started to align over this rural rambler early on, when the Henrys initially figured they might just rework the downstairs bathroom shared by their teenagers, Isabel and Andy. Except they were having trouble finding a reworker.
“We were networking and asking friends. Ross was on the internet,” Kelsey said. “We’d reach out and get vibes that we were not important enough — we were kind of getting beat up and discouraged. I was on Houzz for some reason and landed on Board & Vellum’s profile. They looked interesting. That night, my husband comes home and says a friend knows a design firm, and he throws down a card. Oh my gosh; it’s the same firm. It was an energy/ universe connection.”
On first encounter with the Henrys’ 1970s-era home, B&V architect Jeff Pelletier and interior designer Katie Mallory noticed a few missing links beyond the basement bathroom.
“The rooms were boxes,” Pelletier said. “The square footage was here; what was missing was the soul: built-ins, furnishings, warmth. There was no dining space. From the kitchen, there was no connection to the living area, no room for a dining table.”
“Rework” morphed into “remodel,” as will happen, and the next natural thing to come together was a holistic, bigger-picture plan: a reconfigured entry; new cabinetry, a pantry and a “mail station” for the firstlevel kitchen; an opened-up, integrated staircase; a new, colourful mudroom; a revitalized master bedroom; lighting updates throughout — and a new, central dining area whose focus hangs on some actual, bigger pictures.
“We didn’t add any space. We just made the home live larger,” Pelletier said. “We did a lot of really small moves that created spaces.”
When he took in the closed-off office space off the vaulted living area, Pelletier said the first thing he whispered to Katie was: ‘We have to put the dining room there. It’d be intimate in a big space.’ ”
Kelsey is not a huge fan of the formal dining room, in name or in space. “I call it a nook,” she said: a bright, cosy, connected nook with a built-in buffet and storage/seating, a custom table and fabulous framed art. “Whether it’s homework or eating a bowl of cereal, it really reflects who we are.”
Kelsey and Ross “love contemporary art and colour,” Pelletier said, so Mallory used three original pieces by area artist Liz Tranhere “as inspiration for colour and texture. The first thing you see is the art.
“[Tranhere’s] original artwork is quite expensive, but my husband has been following her and found original pieces that weren’t framed or on canvas,” Kelsey said. “They were considerably less expensive, so he bought them, and — boom — we had them framed, on our budget, in our way.”
Elsewhere, Kelsey said, “We have meaningful pieces from real people.” The substantial Troy Pillow sculpture outdoors was a gift for Ross’s 40th birthday, and a stunning piece by Gerard Tsutakawa, atop the new, double-sided, Milestone-finished concrete fireplace, “is Ross’s pride and joy.” Work by Harold Hollingsworth, now displayed in the totally reconfigured lower level, “also is an inspiration,” she says. Actually, the entire reconfigured lower level is inspired. “We transformed the formerly dark and unprogrammed basement. There were big moves downstairs,” Pelletier said. “It’s funny how much that space changed. So much square footage was underutilized. There were two rooms with no purpose. You didn’t know how to use it.”
Now all beautifully usable and united, the kids’ rooms were “slightly reconfigured;” a “long, submarine hallway” resurfaced as a game room; and there’s a new TV room with a low, horizontal fireplace and tonnes of built-in oak cabinetry, and a new wine cellar and office that sport happy, orange sliding barn doors.
Also downstairs: the original instigator of total togetherness — the kids’ bathroom, now with built-in cabinets, one sink apiece (but just one trough), a pocket door to the toilet and shower, individual storage space behind individual mirrors. “It’s been fantastic,” Kelsey says. “This is where it all started. We knew we wanted to do the bathroom remodel and tweak, and I love that we did a 360 and just did it all. People say it’s so integrated and ties in to the concept. You either go all in, or you don’t. Jeff and his team came in and opened up a whole new world.”