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Designed to capture the surrounding water views, this house bridges the land and extends towards the Hood Canal. The home’s entry bridge visually travels on through the house to the water-side deck and beyond. The main level includes a great room, media den, and a master bedroom suite shielded from the street noise by a series of solid massing walls organizing utilitarian spaces. Additional bedrooms and a gym area are located on the walk-out lower level protected by the long cantilever deck extension above. Working with the steep slope to settle the structure into the grade and incorporating a shallow hip roof assists in reducing the home’s visual impact on the site. Additionally, this siting allowed for privacy at street level, while opening up the view side of the house with a significant amount of glazing for the dramatic vistas.

Nestled on a plot of land that has been in the family for generations, this project seeks to honor the farming roots of Bainbridge Island while maintaining a sleek, contemporary aesthetic the client developed over a long career as an industrial designer. The masses are broken apart with a glass entry to divide the program and break down the scale; fitting into the landscape more organically just as agricultural structures would. The materials blend the ancient and the new with pop-outs clad in composite concrete panels set against the shou-sugi-ban siding of the main building mass. The maximization of the southern glazing will allow the homeowners to enjoy the misty meadow mornings and the dappled afternoon light through the giant relics of the Christmas tree farm. This project is as much about site and history as it is about design and program.

Perched on a precipice offering views of Seattle to the east, Sunday Cove to the west, and all of Eagle Harbor and Winslow, Eagle Harbor House basks in abundant natural light and feels connected to the vibrant harbor. The house has grown over time—from a 2,200 square foot conceptual plan to 6,000 square feet—to accommodate visiting family and new amenities. Recent additions include a pool, a theater room, and a guest bedroom wing centered around a courtyard.

The main level of the home includes a great room, indoor and outdoor fireplaces, a utility area and a master bedroom/bathroom. The generous cantilever-covered outdoor area (heated by the outdoor fireplace) makes for a perfect year-round living space, while folding doors along the view ends of the building accentuate the feeling of an open-air pavilion, especially during warmer months.  Graceful, identically sized window bays accommodate views, and readily-available thermal glass, while meeting standard door and window dimensions. The lower level of the dwelling is built into the grade, providing each bedroom with a view of Seattle and Eagle Harbor while visually grounding the structure to the site. The home’s massing helps create an aesthetically pleasing hierarchy of spaces within the main living level; and clerestory windows throughout add to the effect. Generous overhangs for building envelope protection and shading from the harsh summer sun are additional attributes of this modern structure.

A Perfect Little House Company offering

Like the Juniper, the Birch features a comfortable footprint and feels larger than it is—thanks to plentiful glazing and an extended roofline.

The modern cottage’s “daytime” and “evening” wings are separated by an elegant, light-filled entry, and both wings enjoy abundant natural light and generous, all-around views thanks to the home’s thoughtful longitudinal design.

The Birch’s evening wing contains three bedrooms, two baths, and the laundry area, while the daytime wing includes the living, dining, and kitchen areas. A gas fireplace in the living room helps keep the dwelling cozy on cool evenings. Similar to the Juniper, the Birch is ideally suited for flat, open vistas such as rolling meadows and clifftops.

Thanks to careful siting and thoughtful architectural expression, the Wing Point House boasts views of Seattle and Eagle Harbor while ingeniously delineating public and private spaces. With its commanding, 360-degree outlook and abundant natural light from the east, south, and west, the public (daytime) wing includes living, dining, kitchen and family room areas. The building has a treehouse feel from within, seeming to float above the landscape.

Bedroom and support spaces are situated in the home’s private wing, and the master suite (upper level) enjoys light and views from east and west.

Public and private wings intersect at the main entry, where a covered terrace links the different aspects of the dwelling. Terrace features include an outdoor fireplace, designed for year-round use, and a water element intended to reinforce the intersection of spaces.

Mechanically operated, louvered blades mounted to the exterior shell of the house provide privacy from the street without impeding natural light. In the closed position, the blades also provide a texture to the skin of the west elevation and augment the modern home’s character.

A Perfect Little House Company offering

The Hillside Cottage—the latest design entry available for purchase through the Perfect Little House Company—is a compact, one-bedroom building ideally suited for steep slope conditions. The house boasts ample garage and storage space, a generous main level complete with living room, dining area, kitchen, reading nook and bathroom, and an upper level bedroom/bathroom. The heated area of the home is 847 square feet, the unheated 387 square feet, for a total of 1,244 square feet. The footprint of the cottage falls below most ADU thresholds, making it an ideal guest house. Designed in the context of pre-war cottage vernacular architecture, the dwelling’s massing, cladding and arrangement of openings help define this warm and inviting addition to the Perfect Little House Company collection.