Art Grice
Project Credits
Builder: Moss Bay Homes, Kirkland, Wash.
Architect: Thielsen Architects, Kirkland
Landscape architect: Phyllis Warman Landscape Design, Kirkland, and Stock & Hill Landscapes, Everett, Wash.
Living space: 5,200 square feet (main house) and 800 square feet (guest house)
Site size: .3 acre
Construction cost: $165 a square foot
Photographer: Art Grice (except where noted)
Resources: Bathroom plumbing fittings/fixtures: Hansgrohe and Jado; Cabinets: Downsview; Dishwasher: Bosch; Garbage disposal: Waste King; Hardware: Rocky Mountain; Kitchen plumbing fittings/fixtures: Franke and Grohe; Lighting fixtures: Resolute; Oven: Dacor and Viking; Patio doors/windows: Loewen; Refrigerators: GE and Sub-Zero.
Architect Dave Thielsen tries to design nooks and niches into most of his residential projects. “So many homes today are just large volumes,” he says. “Even when you’re entertaining, they’re not comfortable spaces to be in. I like to provide [some] spaces that have lower ceilings. It gives people a place to go.” At the Zeiler residence, he carved out a small living room sitting area with a lowered ceiling, built-in bench, and under-seat storage. Not only does the nook give the Zeilers and their guests a cozy place to read or chat, but it also provides a prime spot for viewing Lake Washington. In order to connect the nook with the fireplace next to it, the architects came up with a wall-covering screen of horizontal fir slats spaced about ½ inch apart. “We wanted to add texture because the tile has texture,” says Thielsen, referring to the 1920s Craftsman tiles forming the fireplace surround. Pin nails secure the screen’s corners, and carpenter Henrik Molholt also glued the mitered end of each slat together to avoid cracking. The nook took on an additional role as a display case when Gaerda Zeiler realized she could slide spare pieces of wood between the screen and the corner wall, creating a set of movable shelves.
The Builder: Personal Touch
Building your own house can be the most valuable architecture lesson you’ll ever receive. Just ask Gaerda Zeiler. “It gave me even more of an appreciation for how space affects your day, the natural light especially,” she says. This wasn’t her first time doing her own house, though; she and her husband, Randy, a lawyer, renovated a Seattle bungalow for themselves years ago. She liked that project so much, it started her thinking about a career change from corporate finance to contracting. After her second daughter was born in 1993, she started Moss Bay Homes. Now that the new house is complete, she works out of her home office, meeting with potential and current clients in the dining room and often taking them around the other rooms to show them different color palettes and materials. Her construction experience helped the building process move quickly, allowing her and architect Dave Thielsen to communicate almost in shorthand fashion. “Sometimes we would do a series of sketches rather than fully detailed construction drawings,” Thielsen says. “There was a lot less documentation than there would normally be—it was a more informal process.”
