Pacific NW Magazine Article

We had the pleasure of being featured in Pacific NW Magazine in the Sunday August 17th Seattle Times. Rebecca Teagarden did a wonderful job of writing the article and Benjamin Benschneider took great photos of my space.

You can click on the link or just scroll and read!

Small downtown condo lives luxuriously large

“I brought the office home during the recession,” says interior designer Paula Devon Raso. “It’s in the bedroom. And the bedroom came out here. It took quite a bit of juggling around.” And judging by the surroundings, Raso is quite an accomplished juggler.

By Rebecca Teagarden

Pacific NW associate editor

Nico, the current house Pekingese, relaxes on the linen cushion of an Oly Studio occasional chair. The antique daybed serves as a sofa while preserving the view. It is also used as seating for dinners at the table, left. Walls appear golden, but Raso calls them khaki with a creamy yellow.

There are many reasons to downsize.

For interior designer Paula Devon Raso it was a bum knee and a Pekingese with a bad back.

So, in 2003 Raso sold her two-story, 1,000-square-foot town house in the 98 Union building in downtown Seattle and took a 750-square-foot one-bedroom, one-floor unit there.
She gutted it and set about doing what interior designers do, carving out space and storage where none seemed possible, disguising ductwork and throwing light into even the deepest passages.

She painted and primped and made it her own; walls the color of a child’s blush in the bathroom, the rest of it old gold. There are cherubs on those walls and hanging from the bathroom chandelier, candles glimmering from tall holders set on the floor, antique silver trays, cups and bowls out and about, antique mirrors, etchings, drapes that puddle. Whitewashed oak floors cede to the kitchen’s honed limestone, substantial marble counters there adding old-world splendor to that compact space.

Outside, Raso turned the narrow wrap deck into a formal hedge garden, bay trees as green exclamation points. Beyond, in front-row views, lie Puget Sound, Alki Point, the Olympic Mountains, Pike Place Market and much of the city. (She has no need of the Great Wheel. Her view is better.)

When Raso finished, she thought her place was just about perfect, European glamour wrapped in a small gift box.

And then it was 2007. Everything shifted.

“Once I got the bed in here, that was something,” Raso says. And by “in here” she means the living room.

“I brought the office home during the recession. It’s in the bedroom. And the bedroom came out here. It took quite a bit of juggling around.”

Doesn’t show. The double bed (she sold her antique French number and bought this one at Restoration Hardware) next to the antique Italian dresser seems like the most natural thing in the world. “The silk curtains had been on the bedroom windows,” she says of her technique for separating, but not hiding the sleeping space.

“It’s been really tricky,” she says, a little weariness in her voice and Nico, the current house Pekingese, in her lap.

She takes it all in and says, “I wouldn’t call it French. The reason I hesitate is I think my love of European antiques ruins people’s perception of what I do.”

There are a few well-placed modern touches here, too. The dining table. Raso designed it; metal legs, MDF top, all treated to an antiqued golden finish.

She moved a daybed before the windows to serve as the sofa, and it does, while also keeping the view to the water wide open. Shifted, it becomes seating for three at the table.
“The designer Thomas O’Brien has his bed in his studio,” she points out. “And he uses that for his dining chairs.”

You will not find even one coaster in Raso’s home. “Oh, no. Never in this house.” Things are meant to be used and worn in, then worn out.

“With me, it’s all an evolution. What we like to say is that our work shows a timeless quality, and this holds up pretty well. Having storage (along the hallway, in double-sided cabinets in the kitchen, living room) doesn’t hurt. And the view.”

“I never would have dreamed to do this,” she says of her compressed home. “But it does work. And I’m saving at least $1,500 a month.

“I like to think of it as efficient

“A friend of mine says it’s like sleeping in a little Parisian garret.”

Rebecca Teagarden writes about architecture and design for Pacific NW magazine. Benjamin Benschneider is a magazine staff photographer

Cosmetic Kitchen Facelift

This light-filled kitchen needed a fresh and more contemporary new look. Granite countertops had been added a year earlier, but drawer and door faces needed updating. This active family was looking for a surface both functional and able to withstand heavy use. A plastic laminate with a stainless steel skin was selected. This product is extremely durable and adds a soft, unobtrusive color to the space. Some minor tweaking gained a shallow counter to the right of the stove. Photo credit: Buck Usher

West Seattle Main Floor Renovation

This small main floor of just under 1400 square feet presented a number of challenges.

Project Objectives:

• Reduce the number of doorways in the kitchen, add counter space to the stove wall, more storage space overall and bring in more natural light.
• Add closets to in the bedrooms.
• Move the master bedroom from the street side to the opposite side of the home.
• Rework the confusing hodgepodge of doorways into a functional floor plan.

Solutions:

• The kitchen gained more useable counter space, storage and natural light by removing the wall at the basement stair.
• A new bathroom was moved to the street side which enabled a large master bedroom with a walk-in closet, guest bedroom with closet.
• The entry area was cleaned up and additional storage was configured.
• A new zero clearance fireplace was repositioned in the living room and centered opposite the windows to balance out the room.

The updated living room (shown below) shows off the lighter fireplace, darker wood floors and bright, sunny paint scheme used throughout the home. With the exceptions of a new mirror over the fireplace and an area rug, we were able to incorporate the clients’ existing living room and dining room furniture.

The updated kitchen (shown below) gives the owner more natural light, additional storage space, with an improved circular floor plan with the dining and living rooms. Dark stained floors, new appliances and a bright paint scheme finished it off.

Downtown Seattle Kitchen Makeover

Time for a change. The owners of a downtown condominium had waited long enough! Their 26-year-old kitchen was out of date visually, and the functionality was nil. The access was awkward, drawer and storage space minimal, and the counter space limited. For one passionate cook and another who dabbled, it was a tiresome and frustrating place to cook in.

The goal: Maximize counter space, double the storage with new cabinets, have better and more functional lighting, and create a handsome, elegant space to work in and view from the dining area.

In the planning process it was quickly evident to the designer that changing the access into the kitchen would accomplish these wish list items. By moving the opening from the front of the dining room to the adjacent hall, the first gain would be a  48” wide entrance. Investigation into the hall wallspace yielded no impediments, so planning could commence efficiently.

The new plan: a U-shaped kitchen with large counter expanses for prep and cooking. We were able to keep the existing plumbing for the sink in place and relocate a new dishwasher to the right of the new sink base cabinet.

With the exception of the sink base cabinet and a narrow pull out cabinet next to the stove, drawers were installed for all other storage below the counter. Upper cabinets with semi-transparent glass doors face the kitchen opening and give a lighter appearance than a solid wood door. A stainless backsplash complements the stainless edge on the glass doors. New low voltage under-cabinet lighting (on a dimmer) softly illuminates the backsplash and countertop. A practical, easy-to-clean taupe porcelain floor tile with a slight non-skid finish was selected for its elegance and durability. For the counters, the client selected Chroma, a composite stone in a soft taupe color, with a straight-eased, polished edge. The result is a pleasing contemporary look.

A  24” wide cabinet floor-to-ceiling cabinet, accessed from the dining room, provides abundant storage for large pantry items. Additional storage was gained by installing three, 12″ deep double upper cabinets with a custom toe kick below the counter facing the dining room. A new paint color sealed the less-than-two-month long renovation.

As you might have guessed, the owners are thrilled and delighted by their new kitchen.