Custom Residential, Interior Design

Stay Focused

In the digital design age, we are so inundated with beautiful images and “professional” opinions that it can be tremendously difficult to make confident decisions when you are designing your own home or remodel. So how do you approach your design project? Stay focused on what really matters to you and your family, just you.

Brian Baker

April 2, 2015

I guess it all began in the mid 90's with HGTV - were we actually putting home renovation on television? Dwell Magazine certainly fanned the flames through the 2000's.  Then came Houzz, Pinterest, Porch and more... At some point, the proliferation of design culture had become so dense that it was unavoidable.   At present we have scores of boutique design blogs, so many it’s hard to keep track, all peddling that “must have”, “on trend”, “see it here first” advice.  It seems like you just can’t escape and it can be overwhelming!

I’m being a bit hyperbolic here to make a point... but my point is this: now in the digital design age, we are so inundated with beautiful images and “professional” opinions that it can be tremendously difficult to make confident decisions when you are designing your own home or remodel. In an effort to make things a bit easier and ensure you get the most out of your own design project, I thought I would share how my wife and I approached our recently completed condominium remodel.

My advice is to stay focused. Stay focused on what really matters to you and your family. This requires some pretty radical honesty with yourself and your personal goals. When designing a residential space I have routinely watched people become overly aspirational about what to include in their design, often losing sight of who they truly are and how they will really live once they inhabit their future dwelling. As I mentioned, it is especially easy to head down this path when we are constantly deluged by television, magazines, websites, and even our own friends’ opinions. Try to cut through the white noise by staying vigilantly focused on your own personal priorities.

So figure out what matters. Make one big design move. Let everything else support that move. Never forget that less is more (thanks Mies) and be prepared when less is more, work (thanks Rick). This sounds like an obsessively Modern mantra but I truly believe that it transcends style and works throughout scales, large and small. Stick to this formula when making design decisions and you will end up with a better product, more tailored to your needs with a unique character all its own.

To me and my wife, it is all about the kitchen; we love to cook, eat, craft, entertain, fold laundry and generally just be in the kitchen. Everything flowed from our desire to perfect and celebrate the kitchen, down to purchasing this specific property in the first place. Our first step was eliminating the walls that segregated the kitchen from the other public spaces and connect directly to the large west facing windows. Unifying the kitchen, living, dining into one grand space was a foregone conclusion but it was especially important that the kitchen be located in the middle, between the dining and living spaces so that all three area’s activities would naturally overlap.  The over sized island becomes a domestic hub that hosts all sorts of action with generous circulation provided. Eliminating the existing walls and opening up to the views of downtown Seattle nurtures our sense of place, reinforcing our connection with this beautiful city.

Despite this desire for spatial overlap, it remained important that the kitchen possess its own unique identity and be visually distinct from the adjacent spaces. To achieve this effect we employed a blanket of patterned concrete tile lining the floor, turning up at the cooktop backsplash and extending from countertop to ceiling, cabinet to wall. The patterned tile defines the kitchen area while other finish and detail choices act in deference to this bold design move. The cabinetry is intentionally quiet. With painted white flush panel doors and white quartz countertops, its minimal presence allows the tile to read through with strength. Simple fixture choices and minimal trim details reinforce this narrative.

Keep in mind that sometimes an important design move is one you never even see once the project is complete. When we purchased the condominium it had fireplaces located in the north and south walls at each end of the large space. As we worked and reworked the design it became clear that these fireplaces were creating awkward spatial relationships, limiting our storage options and generating a furniture layout that was in direct conflict with the floor to ceiling windows and views beyond. The fireplaces had to go. We were uncertain about it at the time but we made the decision to stick with our kitchen first concept and filled in the fireplaces. Now that we are living in the space it is entirely clear that we made the right choice.

Finally, developing a strong design concept and following it to its logical conclusion can also provide a project value. When your budget is limited it really helps to have clear and simple guidelines that direct your allocation of resources. In our project, simple light fixtures and clean window details support the design concept but are also inexpensive and easy to install. This synergy of clearly defined personal priorities, corresponding design logic and common sense construction has produced a living space of superior quality, to us. And the emphasis is on us, as these are the decisions we made.  Follow my advice and your decisions will be different but they will be right, for you.