The Dog’s Breakfast is a fascinating modern home remodel project by Paul Michael Davis Architects situated in Redmond, a city in King County, Washington. Homeowners James Lin and Owen Liu reached out to the architects to help with reimagining the home they had resided in for about a year. The house was odd. In 1933, when Redmond was farmland and cabins, someone built a modest rambler overlooking the Cascade Mountains.

Over time, developments filled the landscape. Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft about a mile away. In 1991 a developer bought the bungalow and constructed a large addition. They also designed a matching replacement for the original structure with another wing in a quasi-Craftsman McMansion style. That never came to pass.

DESIGN DETAILS: ARCHITECTURE Paul Michael Davis Architects STRUCTURAL ENGINEER Swenson Say Faget CONTRACTOR Inglewood Construction GREEN WALL Grow Up Greenwalls

When James and Owen bought the house, they knew it would be a project, but their budget required keeping the building. Lin looked at the gravel pit between the old and new buildings and thought, “This could become the elevated, multi-dimensional indoor-outdoor living hub at the heart of our house. Owen’s passion for piano and my love of gardening and ponds could all thrive here!”

“The Dog’s Breakfast is a funny Australian term to describe a complete and utter mess,” says PMDA Project Designer Ryan Salas, who studied there. It was a fair description of the site. “Creating something clean and modern from scratch is hard enough, turning someone else’s mess into something delightful was a challenge.”

The team embraced the chaos. An inverted roof echoes the rooflines of the two older wings, just upside down. James’ day job is related to AR/VR, which proved valuable early in the design development. Salas developed a rendering for a VR device, showing everyone PMDA’s vision. 

The new space is the vertical and horizontal circulation center of the house. James gets great joy maintaining the green wall every day while Owen plays piano below.

What We Love: This unique home has been completely transformed to provide the owners with amazing curb appeal. The central structure provides abundant light thanks to expansive walls of glazing. On the interior, we love the floating staircase, the green wall, and the koi pond. Overall, the project team did a fantastic job of reimaging this home that was once a “mess” into something delightful.

Tell Us: What are your thoughts on this home remodel project in Washington? Let us know in the Comments below!

Note: Be sure to check out a couple of other incredible home tours that we have featured here on One Kindesign in the state of Washington: A Nordic-inspired farmhouse nestled in a wooded sanctuary of Washington and An amazing waterfront house built for multigenerational living in Seattle.

BEFORE THE REMODEL

PHOTOGRAPHER Mark Woods

 

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