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.

settling in

We have been living in the apartment portion of the house for about a month now and it's hard to put into words how it feels.  All the decisions and details have come together and the apartment lives very comfortably.  The diagonal views out the windows look out to our garden as well as the neighboring garden.  The light is Vita Lighting Cuna Pendant Light.   After a couple intense days of adjustment,  Chessie finally settled in and found her go to spot...of course in the sun.

Eventually, we will have a way of covering the TV whether it's a blind or a pair of doors.

We were a little short on our layout for the backsplash, so we added glass tiles between the 4x12 white tiles.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  A simple way to dress up $2 / SF tile.  The countertops are Wilsonart laminate over Apple Ply.  Custom maple cabinets with a light white tint added to the finish.  Stove is Blomberg and the fridge is LG, both 24" wide and deep. 

 The lights are Astron from Rejuvenation.

The apartment is 530 SF with one bedroom.  The extra deep drawers below take advantage of the space under the stairs leading up to the rest of the house.  The sliding door hardware came from Home Depot.

apartment kitchen - almost done!

Even though it may not look like it in this photo, we are getting close to having the accessory dwelling unit (ADU aka apartment) part of the house done!  It's very exciting.  We have been making a flurry of final material decisions and the above photo (and photoshop) was used to help choose the pendant light fixtures we just ordered.

The custom maple cabinets have been installed and after getting a quote for about $3000 for quartz countertops, we decided to go with what is in our current home...laminate over apple ply.  It's worked well for us, looks fresh and is pretty durable and cost about $500.

We like seeing the built-up layers of the plywood.

Next up was to choose cabinet pulls.  Here again we decided to keep it simple and go with bar pulls on all the drawers and doors. 

For the backsplash we are using the same 4x12 white tile we are installing in the bathroom.  The layout was a couple inches short so we added the thin glass tile pieces between. These glass tiles were left over from another job.

main kitchen pendants

I am slowly going mad trying to find the right lighting for the house.  I think I've easily browsed 5,000 lights...probably more.  I have also gone to lighting stores to see options.  Out of all the finishes and design decisions, this is probably the one I like the least.  I have, though, enjoyed using Pinterest to keep track of possibilities. Gathering the top picks in one location that also keeps track of the webpage I found them on is really invaluable.  Another tool is Photoshop.  I needed a break from selecting the apartment fixtures, so I looked at our top 3 fixtures for our pendant lights in our main kitchen.  I used a screen grab of the model as the base, but one could also use a photo of the actual space.  Then I just added images of the different lights that I had grabbed from the internet.  The first image is top contender right now.

Click here to go directly to my Pinterest light fixture board.

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."

the karina

brixton builders - seattle kitchen remodels

I've been wanting to put some pictures up of some of Neil's past projects. It's always fun to see some before and after shots...but he's not always so good at taking the befores. Neil has 23 years of experience in residential building, most of which has been remodeling. He started his own company, Brixton Builders, 13 years ago. Below is the before of the above photo.

Below was an extensive remodel/restoration of a 1903 Capitol Hill house. The photo below it, is the before.


Much of Neil's work comes from referrals or repeat clients as was this kitchen below.


All of these are in the Seattle area. There is so much great housing stock in Seattle, that remodels are very common...especially those 30's and 40's size kitchens. Being able to update the appliances, cabinets, counters, paint and kitchen layout...maybe even increase the size and redesign, brings new vibrancy to home.