Treehouse
Interior/Exterior Remodel
with Addition
Mercer Island WA
Contractor: Granite Mountain Builders
Photo Credit: Rafael Soldi
Award: AIA 2023 Home of Distinction
Featured In:
Seattle Magazine
Contemporist
Livingetc
American Lifestyle Magazine
Nestled among the trees of Mercer Island, this renovation modernizes a 1970s Black and Caldwell spec home, preserving the qualities the family valued most while creating more functional spaces and strengthening the connection between house and landscape.
The transformation begins at the entry, where new hardscaping, steel planters, and a sheltered porch create a clearer sense of arrival. Inside, the main floor was fully reconfigured to improve flow, expand the kitchen, add a home office, and open living spaces to the outdoors through new windows, sliding doors, and refreshed decks.
Upstairs, the primary suite was redesigned to enhance light, storage, and privacy, including a new walk-in closet, expanded bath, and west-facing deck overlooking the trees. Throughout, upgraded windows, doors, insulation, and finishes improve energy performance and bring renewed material clarity to the home.
Although the home’s basic form didn’t change, everything else in between did. See below for a BEFORE & AFTER comparison.
“Architects opened the living and dining rooms and the kitchen area and oriented each room to an exterior view, garden or deck. Dead areas were eliminated and room created for a new office and foyer. Improved light penetration and human traffic benefited indoor greenery, sparking a revival of the couple’s wedding gift coffee tree, which now produces 100 beans annually.”
Sean Meyers, Seattle Magazine
A refresh of a 1970 Black & Caldwell spec home. While we only made modest changes to the daylight basement of the 3 story home, we gutted and reworked the rest. We redesigned the main floor to create a new living, dining and kitchen space, office, powder and entry foyer. On the upper floor, we reconfigured the primary suite, enlarged the master bathroom and added a new ensuite guest bath. For the exterior, we refreshed the decks and created a new entry porch. We reconfigured the pathways, landscape walls and hardscaping leading to the home. A gut and remodel inside and out.
Before & After
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