Posted: October 2008

You find yourself gazing across your room or out your windows imaging the way you’d like to live… as a gourmet cook, a woodcarver, or a budding author? You’re not looking to escape to an island or even to take a vacation. You want your home to work for you and your interests!

You are not alone. The motivation for today’s home design is centered on spaces that inspire as well as work functionally: tailor-made to your particular life-style. They aren’t cookie-cutter homes based on increasing square-footage - and very little else. Instead, they are as individual as the people who live in them and reflect an introspective analysis of what compliments the way you live.

The Process of Remodeling

Local, award-winning design/build company Estate Homes recently completed a main-floor remodel that theoretically began years ago – with the homeowner’s growing wish lists. The client, a young professional, strengthened her ideas into specifications with a unique “User Scenario” process. She advises homeowners to live in a space for a time if possible to truly understand its pluses and minus. “I find its important to use a place as it is and say to yourself – if I changed this then what will it look like, how will it function”?, suggests the homeowner.

“How do I want to use my space – how have I used others”? Think about the homes you have lived in previously, even that dorm room that was a nightmare or conversely, that memorable hotel room that was as conducive to relaxation as a spa. Something didn’t work and something did. Why? This remodel sleuthing led Estate Homes’ client to selections of products, styles and important details that began to add up to … a place of her own.

Estate Homes brought in one of the best teams in the industry; its in-house architectural designer, Craig Carney, interior specialist Shamneez Parini and cabinet designer Don Turner to pull it together …or, in this case … tear it apart then put it back together. The combination of talented craftspeople and the homeowner’s well-thought out scenarios for her home produced a home specifically built for her requirements using innovation in design and superior products.

“Design solutions suggest themselves from the user scenarios”, assures the homeowner. Mood, light and the “feel” of a space dominated initial planning talks and continued throughout the remodeling project. She recalls a user scenario she received while working in Stockholm; “As the months get darker be sure you live in a place that lets as much light in as possible”. Estate Homes’ team of designers took this into account in this Kirkland remodel. An existing wall blocked the flow of the rooms, not just for traffic but for light and views. Windows, sky-lights and their positioning became paramount to enhancing the space. Once wall-to-wall carpeted floors now are natural maple hardwoods. The reflecting light patterns throughout the day add a luminescent dimension when combined with a soothing continuous color palette.

The new design also allows for intelligent traffic patterns and multi-use spaces. The kitchen, practical to work in daily with ‘work-stations’ designed around food preparation, beverage centers and cookbook storage lends itself to the clean-lined Shaker cherry cabinets, Miele/Dacor appliances and futuristic Faber vent.

This space also functions as a personal media center complete with computer and entertainment components in its dropdown, built-in “iCEBOX FlipScreen” entertainment center. All the homeowner’s favorite entertainment options are together in one elegant easy-to-use device specifically designed for the kitchen.

When guests arrive the polished and honed granite island with indirect and accent lighting is transformed into a buffet and wet bar. It becomes the hub for the gathering.

The remodel extends from the inviting kitchen to the media room and into the master suite, bath and walk-in closet. Here the home owner’s comfort level becomes paramount. The baths showcase a wall-mounted fixture, glass countertop sink, metal inset tiles and a Zuma two-person soaker. Details bring the personalization, function and polished look.

Sometimes the scenario process isn’t glamorous but it is practical. For instance, the bath can be a comforting place but not if things aren’t handy or the latest in personal care products end up strewn across the newly installed counters. The solution is pre-planning: Electrical outlets inside bath cabinets to allow for recharging of electric toothbrushes, outlets above mantels for the holiday sparkle and incorporation of all those wonders from rooms you have visited that work for you lead to a successful remodel project.

The content of this article was provided courtesy of Carol Trusz of Estate Homes, www.estatehomesinc.net