I enjoy text messages from past clients. I opened one recently to see and read this:
Sunset sky is on fire. We love it here so much. Continuing to be absurdly grateful for this home. We speak your name often, wishing you well through these unchartered times. Hope you can feel our thanks.
Those words warmed me up on a near-zero New York night.
The subject matter is 2600 square foot home, overlooking a wooded pond about a half-hour from Seattle, that contains every item on the client’s ambitious wish list:
A killer view of the pond from every room in the house
A lofty great room heated with a wood stove, including
A highly functional kitchen and intimate dining area
A master suite overlooking the great room with lots of closets
An oversized laundry room (outdoors people with lots of laundry)
A private one-person reading room (with a view) near the work centers for her
A secluded and commanding watchtower office for him (he worked from home long before the pandemic)
Two additional bedrooms for visiting grown children and guests with its own communal space with fireplace and direct access to the outside. Communal space also to double as large workroom for some of her work projects.
Creating a detailed program for a house is a critical first step. It takes time and requires that the client relax and each (if there is more than one adult) to have equal time and for me to sometimes work as a mediator (e.g. one wants the master bedroom on main level; the other one level above the main area). One person often tries to dominate the discussion, and I have become skillful at not allowing that to dominate the program.
No such problem here. My clients are middle-aged newlyweds, and I often refereed to their future home – their first home together – as their “wedding gift to each other.” It really felt that way to me, the hopeless romantic.
All along looming heavy overhead was the budget, tight for the wish list, and I only agreed to do the project if the clients both promised to listen if I said we were going overboard (which I did a few times) and back off on an idea that would break the budget (and they did).
I can prove that efficiency saves $$$
I can prove to you that efficiency can be increased and is a realistic goal if you understand what efficiency is. I’m keeping that to myself unless you contact us directly.
Efficiency became my mandate, A house with a simple foundation, minimal outside surface area, a simple roof, and plenty of interior space for interesting and varied spaces…and a view to the outdoor environment from them all.
That is the description of a very familiar archetype. Next to a sphere (who wants to live in that?) and a perfect cube (not appropriate in a semi-rural farming community). The American barn.
The first Lindal drawings, early in the process came with the Lindal material price, which gave us the opportunity to fine tune the space and the specs to work within the budget. And we used those drawings with a wonderfully skilled and patient CG to get his pricing right from the start and to collaborate with us to meet our goal.
One of our goals at Warmmodern Living is to make the Lindal planning process, a wonderful balance of flexibility and predictability, an enjoyable —actually joyful — experience for the client. That was easy here.
The result of our effort is a wonderful structure; the main barn form is — that houses a stunning and lofty great room and master bedroom above — clad with rough sawn cedar clapboards pre-stained in a chestnut brown hue. An 22’ long by 16’ high wall of glass faces southeast toward the pond and fills the house with light from sunrise on. The lower level of the hillside home contains the two secondary bedrooms and a huge family room/project room with heat recirculating fireplace. On the exterior the exploded non-concrete walls are finished with cement-board to complete the look of a concrete pedestal for our barn.
At 8:00 AM while Under construction: This shot, taken by our client was delivered with this caption: “It’s 8:20 AM, and the sun is reaching all the way through the house. This house is incredibly beautiful!”
On the west side, a simple shed roofed dormer contains the entry porch and cozy inside entry and service spaces to the adjacent living areas. The two-story dormer is clad in corrugated steel with a twenty- year finish in a special metallic champagne hue finish that literally glows each day at sunset.
The project was finished (with a little sweat equity) for about $250 per square foot three years ago. Today in the Seattle area I estimate that at $330 per square foot, a real value for a nicely appointed custom home in that market.
See more! The floor-plans, photographs of the house under construction and finished in a special slide show that we originally created as a wedding/move-in gift for our client. Then give us a call to learn more about this house, the services of Warmmodern Living and to discuss your upcoming project
(If you are unable to view slideshow below click here to open in new window)