brixton builders backyard cottage

Last summer, Neil finished building a backyard cottage in Bellevue that I had designed for a client of ours at Ross Chapin Architects.  One of the owners of the existing house wanted a cottage for her mother.  We ended up doing a major modification of one of our GoodFit plans, the Betty Cottage. For more photos check out the Brixton Builders website.

kitchen bar top

The kitchen bar top is a major feature of the design of the Karina kitchen and one of the trickiest to pull off cohesively because there are many different materials coming together as well as it being a part of 3 rooms. We chose Lyptus butcher block for the counter top because of it's warmth and similar richness as the floor.
We could have continued the drywall onto the 1/2 wall from the living room side, but I wanted to continue the front paneling of the peninsula around the side.

To keep costs down and to make it more simple to build, we did not wrap the Lyptus top into a L shape, but changed materials to a painted trim top. The 1" trim top dies into the 1-1/2" thick Lyptus, while allowing the skirt trim directly below to wrap and be continuous to become like a window sill detail as it goes into the living room.

That same skirt trim turns the corner and then dies into the backsplash. The backsplash is the Chroma countertop material. We changed the outlet color to black and used stainless steel covers to better go with the counter & appliances.


Getting the right height was important...one for perch-ability (see the last photo), but also mechanically so that outlets could be included in the backsplash. Neil built a 41" high wall + the 1-1/2" counter. This is the right height to lean against. Even though there is enough overhang to pull a bar stool up to it, we thought of it more as a lean-against counter and buffet. It also hides dishes and the counter when sitting in the dining area and living.

nytimes living rooms column

There is a new column in the New York Times that I have been enjoying reading each week and today's "What’s Cooking in Kitchen Design?" talks about the evolution of the kitchen. Another recent one "Home for Life" talks about the trend towards smaller homes. The author also talks about what's really important in looking for a new house since it will become your HOME not just an investment.

From NYT Living Rooms: "A house is more than just a shelter from the storm. How we shape our homes, and how we behave within them, speak volumes about our history, our values and our way of life. Living Rooms explores the past, present and future of domestic life, with contributions from artists, journalists, design experts and historians."

greenwood ave cottages - ross chapin architects

This project was completed in our office just before I started working there 7 years ago. I actually visited it under construction because I was interested in housing communities and this was a unique project. I often look back on these pictures which were taken a few years ago, because it captures the cottages and their gardens at such a perfect time. About 3 years after completion. Before that the gardens are too freshly planted and haven't filled in....going back today they are just as beautiful, but much fuller.

I just can't seem to get gardening off my brain. I have realized that it is a never ending project. Not just the maintaining, but the adding and tweaking. I've had so much fun working on ours at the new house...I'm realizing that I need to put some time in at our Genesee house as well. These photos are a constant inspiration. The owners have really put so much passion into their individual gardens. Typically in our projects, the developer puts in all the plantings outside the 2' private yard fence. You can barely see the cedar fence depicting what is commons and what is private, as the plantings have grown. It's all about the transition from the public realm to the private.

house update

I'm still here! Sorry about the absence. It's been a busy few weeks. We decided to list the house with Windermere after trying to sell it ourselves and have been overwhelmed all over again with the details.

the karina

it's all about the light

Good morning! What a beautiful day we had yesterday. The light was just streaming in the windows and filled the house. It was hard not to walk around with a huge smile on my face. The character of this house is traditional but the amount of light that comes in, makes it stand out from older homes. (well that and it's energy efficiency.)


Siting the long side of the house to face south was the first step in bringing the light in. I chose to modify this plan (originally the GoodFit Kaleah) because of how much it opened up this way with the tall windows facing south. In our gray Seattle weather one needs to bring in as much light as possible.




This counter was a remnant from our tiler. Supposedly it is a very expensive slab...I need to find out the name of it, because it's beautiful. Love all the texture in it.

We looked at the numbers here and out on the post. I liked them under the light and going horizontally versus vertically.