We live in a 1906 Craftsman home in Seattle's Madrona neighborhood overlooking Lake Washington. We have a gorgeous view of the Cascade Range which lies about 40 miles east of us. We are also just across the lake from Bellevue, a Seattle suburb. The home was featured in the 2000 Madrona Home and Garden tour.
We moved in in 1998 after moving here from New York. We bought the house just before we were married. Although a previous owner had done a remarkable renovation (though unfortunately not a restoration), we have been able to make our mark on the house in other ways.
My friend, Michael Rose (co-owner of one of the Bay Area's finest boutique bakeries, Semifreddi's), inspired me in the early 1980s to love the Arts & Crafts architectural & design style (& wonderful food!). One of my dreams has been to create a home that is truly in that style. We did this with furniture we commissioned from Tom Stangeland, a renowned local furniture maker (for photos of Tom's work go to http://www.nwfinewoodworking.com/artisans/stangeland/stangeland.htm). He designed an extraordinary China hutch, a settle, coffee table, entertainment center, and dining room table. The dining table is a reproduction of the one in the Blacker House in Pasadena. The captain's chairs, with their curved arms & intricate cutouts and inlaid ebony pegs are an extraordinary exhibition of craftsmanship. Collaborating with him on the design phase of the hutch made us feel that we were helping Tom to create a truly wonderful piece of art. Now, we feel that we live in a Craftsman home with Craftsman furnishings!
I am a gardener too. I tried to make a garden that has a Northwest native plant influence. There are perennials and flowering plants in the front yard; fruits or vegetables on the side; and the same in the backyard with an herb garden. After four years of hard work this garden has come into its own. But it requires careful editing (as a gardener might say) to take out the disappointing, decomposing or just plain overgrown.
I've just posted a few garden pictures on this site and my other site which is linked on the home page of this site.
