Seattle Box Remodel by Board and Vellum

The Seattle Box Remodel project is a full-house remodel of a 1902 traditional home, brought up to date by the architecture studio Board and Vellum, located in Seattle, Washington’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Crisp white trim and dark floors, along with built-in cabinetry and special details, really tie the whole home together.

The brightly colored 3,300-square-foot, five-bedroom, four-bathroom home helps contrast the dark Seattle days and works well with the adjacent homes, which are also bright. Landscaping is a future project.

Seattle “Box” homes are prized for their stately appearance and generous floor plans. What isn’t often provided, though, is an easy way to convert these older homes into homes with generous and open living spaces. This project keeps the formal nature of the ‘three in a row’ formal rooms and opens the back of the house and the final room to the kitchen.

An operable wall of glass helps connect the house to the yard and lets light pour into the home. A centrally placed fireplace is viewable from all the main rooms in the house and helps anchor the entire plan.

A wide galley kitchen opens towards the back of the house with an island facing the new family room. Careful design of the casework provides a clean, contemporary look that doesn’t look out of place in a 1902 home.

A cozy front porch allows for a spot to watch the birds at the feeder.

The cozy front porch features a built-in ceiling heater for socializing on cool evenings.

The house borders a commercial district, so the owners felt they had a little more leeway to do something exuberant. The exterior is now painted in Benjamin Moore’s Douglas Fir, with Benjamin Moore’s Blushing Red for trim. After seeing the exuberant colors of the house next door, the architect saw this as an opportunity to turn the row into Seattle’s own version of San Francisco’s Painted Ladies.

A Dutch entry door provides the option to have fresh air without dogs or children escaping!

The Family Room has very tall ceilings, so white wainscoting was used to visually lower the room’s height when seated around the new gas fireplace. Clean white display accents provide contrast without too much visual clutter.

The Family Room opens up to the Kitchen and a folding door out to the yard.

The Dining Room offsets the table into the bay windows to allow open circulation between the three main rooms.

Midcentury-inspired light and bright colors create a soothing color palette.

A custom dog crate lives behind this door, which slides up on one side and opens on the other.

A custom dog crate lives here below a pantry and open shelves to the right, allowing the dogs to look out in both directions.

The kitchen has a folding wall that opens to the small backyard.

The kitchen island serves as a buffer between the open Kitchen and Family Room.

Open shelves keep cookbooks and everyday tableware close at hand.

A custom library ladder works in the Kitchen and also the Living Room.

A recess in the island provides a handy spot for the dog’s water bowl. A tip-out cabinet above stores the dog food.

A simple and clean Laundry Room efficiently has everything you need in a small footprint.

A small Powder Room is brightened by wallpaper and a cleanly detailed walnut sink and mirror.

The Living, Dining, and Family Rooms open into each other and are trimmed in bright white for a fresh, dramatic appearance.

The upstairs hallway uses clean white trim to tie everything together.

The Home Office uses walnut furniture to contrast with the blue walls.

The entrance to the Owner’s Suite is painted all in white and detailed with crisp white trim.

Two smaller bedrooms were combined to create a generous Owner’s Suite with a dressing area and built-in closets.

A custom magazine rack allows for storage in the Toilet Room.

Custom walnut vanity sits next to a wall of white Thassos marble and a double shower.

In the children’s bedroom, two doors were tied together with a built-in dresser and mirror.

Dubbed the Lego Lounge, the basement includes a bar, a media room, laundry, storage, and a guest bedroom. The basement was completely renovated, with ceilings only 6½ feet high. What’s more, you originally had to walk through a coat closet to access the basement stairs. The architect excavated the basement another 2½ feet, ending up with 9-foot ceilings and an inviting lair where the couple can entertain friends without disturbing their son when he’s sleeping in his bedroom two stories up. Although it can be a hassle to lower a basement floor the way the architect did, he ended up with an extra floor of living space without expanding the home’s shell.

The basement bar uses space that would otherwise be empty square footage. A custom bar aligns with the stair treads and matches the upstairs floors in wood and finish.

The custom bar uses every square foot to maximize entertaining. In the LEGO room, a custom table sits below the work area and slides out to double the workspace.

This bathroom features large scale glass tile in a more traditional subway pattern.

This traditional-style bathroom uses White Thassos marble in a subway pattern, along with white wainscoting, to create a clean, fresh look.

The basement bedroom has color on only one wall to keep the focus on the bright white walls and trim, helping brighten the basement space. A large window well helps reduce the stigma of high up basement windows.

PHOTOGRAPHER John Wilbanks Photography