Modern Mountain View

Modern Mountain View

When one of our realtor friends called us with a property in Puyallup that was off market and had a beautiful view of Mount Rainier, we were eager to see what we could do with it. We had been looking for a piece of property for two years, but I always told Chris that I loved our home and would not move unless it was very enticing. 

We quickly discovered the treasure of this lot. It had a third of an acre and a mountain view on every place we stood. That view became our dreamscape. We began imagining how we could get a picturesque view from our central living space as well as our master bedroom and bath suite. We envisioned wide open living space with large windows to see the mountain, valley below and the expansive sky. We even began to see how we could get my love of gardening and growing organic food for our family on the lot and the bright sunshine that would cover it daily. 

After several walks around Bellevue and Kirkland areas, we knew we wanted a modern style of architecture for our home, and wanted it to have a nearly black with white accents, natural cedar, and some stone work. We knew some specifics of internal design that were a must… I definitely wanted a large kitchen made for cooking and entertaining; Chris was really excited to have a wide open living concept downstairs. I wanted my own office, and Chris needed one that would be on the main floor where our office admin could work. We both wanted a his and hers walk in closet and a master with a large shower and freestanding tub. We knew we wanted a spacious cable rail stair well and a wide hallway between rooms. I had had a walk through laundry closet before and hoped to have a full laundry/mud room. And lastly, a full pantry or coffee bar and wanted to have a room designated to that to store all my kitchen tools and dry foods was a necessity. It was also important to us to design a home with another living room upstairs that could be used for our adult kids to have a hang out or for kids to play when we had gatherings.

Once we had the initial land development finished and architectural design settled, I spent several hours deciding every detail, each bathroom with it’s own unique look with tile, quartz counters, faucets, light fixtures and bath/shower designs. We took time considering whether hardwoods or vinyl plank would be the best flooring for our family needs. Ultimately, we loved the look and feel of hardwood in the downstairs while we chose a carpet for the upstairs to eliminate foot traffic noise and have more warmth in our bedrooms. 

There were a couple special design choices we made that we really love. First, in each bathroom we lined the base of the room with a tile surround rather than millwork. We really like the concept of keeping moisture from dampening the millwork and making it look sloppy or weathered over time. Next, in our master shower we had a decision about the top of the half wall and what to use to set our shower glass on. Typically, this would be tile, but we chose to use the same quartz countertop and make a slab to fit it perfectly. I will always offer this option to future clients as it looks so special and simplifies cleaning.

This home is a thousand little decisions and details that all came together in a way that reflects our unique family and design preferences. On this mountain view lot we designed and built a custom home for our family. We are so grateful. The views inspire us daily, the sunshine through our windows elevates our energy, our wide open kitchen and living space have already hosted family and small church gatherings, everything we hoped to have was fit within the space we had and we have “changed the way we live”.