Two quite detail-oriented clients dwelt in this midcentury modern house for decades, contemplating how they’d love to remodel, completing a comprehensive search for an architect and mentally preparing for the huge job.

They discovered Nils Finne, an architect who enjoys taking advantage of the technology available in Seattle to create complex details for his layouts. Finne is a believer in sustainable design, especially “rightsizing,” as well as in creating a design that will endure the test of time and utilizing natural light. The resulting collaboration is a home that respects the first structure, adopts its coastal setting, functions for its residents’ lifestyle and is at the same time warm and modern.

at a Glance
Location: Lake Forest, Washington (about 25 miles from Seattle)
Size: 2 bedrooms, two baths
Year redesign completed: 2010

FINNE Architects

One of the main aims was to make transparency between the inside and the 4-acre wooded parcel around it. “Natural light is critical to my projects,” states Finne. “Especially here in the Pacific Northwest, natural light is a valuable commodity.” New windows, a new front door and a row of clerestory windows allow in as much light as possible.

Before Photo

BEFORE: Here is the same view as from the previous photo, before the renovation. “We really had a larger extent when we began the job than we wound up completing,” states Finne. “Originally, we needed a distinct garage/guest room structure from the plans, but when forced to choose due to budget limitations, they chose high levels of craftsmanship and details over having more house.” The present carport was enhanced and included, and the initial footprint didn’t gain an inch.

FINNE Architects

Finne eliminated a powder room to start the entryway.

FINNE Architects

“I wanted the front door to serve as a visual stopping thing,” states Finne. He designed a woven-like pattern from Douglas fir and satin-edge glass. The doorway’s intricate details foreshadow what is inside.

“I couldn’t dream of crafting all these details without the complex, cutting edge fabricators and machine stores which are characteristic of Seattle,” he states. Finne dubs his strategy “crafted modernism — the enrichment of a modernist aesthetic with highly personal, crafted substances and items.”

FINNE Architects

“I frequently push my clients to provide up space by combining rooms,” states Finne. “For example, having a family room where everyone hangs out and a formal living room no one ever uses is a waste of space”

FINNE Architects

A well-concealed TV signifies the living area and the family room no longer have to be separate spaces. Finne designed this custom made cabinet with flat doors which slide back to show the plasma display and a very long vertical part on the left to maintain a speaker.

The timber dividers have a scoop-carved pattern Finne designed that has been implemented with a CNC (computer numerical control) router. The pattern is repeated creating persistence.

FINNE Architects

Architectural details throughout the house include cherry cabinets, stained Douglas fir window trim, first hemlock ceilings and fir beams. Weathered steel covers the wall on the left side. “It is kind of a homemade Cor-Ten,” states Finne, laughing. “We let it rust outside and saved some cash.”

Finne designed the chandelier over the dining table with 33-inch tubes of cut glass.

FINNE Architects

Built-in storage saves space in the dining area. The carved wood details continue along these drawers; Finne was cautious to use the pattern in the ideal dosage. “The pattern is 12 inches high. I love to integrate large, flat surfaces to give relief,” he states. From the dining area, he used resin panels.

Before Photo

BEFORE: The first kitchen was filled with hot timber, but it felt dark and cramped.

FINNE Architects

Is the terrazzo. As opposed to trying to match it exactly, Finne added a darker terrazzo for contrast. Further down the hallway he used a mottled concrete flooring stained to resemble the original terrazzo.

Finne also designed the stools, which unite hard-edged wrought iron steel with handwoven rush seats.

FINNE Architects

Finne enlisted a local glass studio to kiln-fire shards of Starphire glass into a 1-inch-thick breakfast bar. Starphire is a new low-iron glass the less iron, the less of a green hue glass has.

“The glass has a Milky Way–such as wispy pattern for it,” states Finne. “The glass becomes magical when you turn on the uplights.”

FINNE Architects

The master suite proceeds the feeling of transparency between the house and the forests.

FINNE Architects

“I wanted bathing to feel quite au naturel, full of light, almost primeval … as if you’re bathing outside in the forests,” he states.

FINNE Architects

Finne’s scooped wood pattern reappears on the cantilevered vanity. The floors and countertops are limestone, the shower door is Starphire glass along with the pendant lights are all by Bruck.

Go ahead and do a double take at this photo; will you tell where the mirrors over the vanity end and the glass begins?

FINNE Architects

Lake Forest Park Renovation

If looking at the master bath pictures made you be worried about peeping Toms, don’t worry. A 1/4-inch-thick custom made metal valence camouflages the toilet window’s extensive shades. “I am always interested in taking a cold, industrial material such as steel and employing cutting-edge technologies to transform it into something organic,” Finne states. “This pattern is lyrical and fragile; the steel is no longer industrial and cold”

FINNE Architects

A sliding patterned glass panel divides the master bedroom from the hallway. Finne drew the pattern freehand with a pen, then digitized it and had it transfered into a film for its glass. The pattern is thickest at the bottom and lightens up as it moves higher.

FINNE Architects

The glass panels allow the room to receive natural light from different areas of the house while still closing it off. Finne additionally added fir into the ceilings which were not covered in timber.

The completed renovations maintain the soul of their first structure living while strengthening a poetic connection between the home and its particular environment.

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