The Rugged Beauty Of Bainbridge Island Inspires This Abode

There’s a special kind of rugged beauty found on the islands off the coast of Washington. Their landscapes seem to possess a compelling, enduring magic. But even in a region filled with cinematic vistas, this small tree- and rock-studded Bainbridge Island peninsula jutting into the Puget Sound is exceptional. Surrounded on three sides by water (with a still, quiet bay on one side and the deep, wave-tossed sound on the other), it is almost an island unto itself. It’s no wonder that architect Steve Hoedemaker was enchanted by the land long before he set foot on it. “It’s an incredible piece of property,” he says. “I had seen it listed for sale, and I obsessively studied the aerial photos online.” His fascination with the site was fortuitous, because when he was asked to design a timeless, of-the-place residence for it, he was ready.

The home that was there previously was far less exciting than the surroundings, with low ceilings, awkward spaces and poorly placed windows that didn’t capture the striking scenes just beyond the glass. Building codes required the team (including architect Bryan Chilcote, designer Tim Pfeiffer and general contractor Mike Suver) to work mostly within the footprint of what was there, but they were charged with creating something completely different that tightly knit to the site. So, they looked to classic Pacific Northwest style and another iconic landscape more than 4,000 miles away. “The clients spent a lot of time in Great Britain, and they love the Cotswolds,” Pfeiffer notes. “We were asked to incorporate that region’s aesthetic into the new house.”

It’s possible that few have considered the similarities between Bainbridge Island and the quaint, archetypal English villages that make up the Cotswolds, a sprawling, five-county area northwest of London. But both places have rolling green hills, an emphasis on agriculture, and that hard-to-define enchantment that makes environs feel eternal—as if a place has always existed and always will. When considered that way, marrying the styles seemed not only possible but desirable. The exterior, clad in stone and wood, recalls the English countryside without mimicking it. “Like many homes in the Cotswolds, the form is traditional, and we bookended the wood-sided portion of the house with masonry,” Chilcote notes. But it’s a look filtered through a Pacific Northwest lens, so the structure is simplified and streamlined.

“To make the house transcendent and memorable, we had to have it truly resonate with the site,” Hoedemaker says. “We wanted it to look like it had sprung from the land itself.” That’s accomplished, in part, by nestling the gabled dwelling into the Douglas firs that have been growing on the property for nearly a century. The trees were carefully preserved with the help of landscape architect Anne James, who meticulously studied the green giants and other existing flora before creating a rustic, naturalistic landscape that’s so skillfully composed it seems effortless, as though Mother Nature alone were responsible. “I felt it should look like I’d never touched it,” James muses.

The melding of styles that starts on the exterior is carried inside. “The owners had very different thoughts about how they wanted it to look,” Pfeiffer says. “One of the clients had a desire for very modernist, clean, simple spaces; the other was all about a cozy, country, multimaterial experience.” To arbitrate the seemingly contradictory wishes, the designer chose tactile finishes and materials, such as hand-troweled plaster walls and rustic wood furniture, but opted for fewer pieces in bold, sculptural shapes. “We used a limited number of beautiful elements in a strong way,” he explains. “Antiques bring soul and warmth to a place and using a select few creates a new kind of minimalism.”

A muted color palette and a symphony of textures amplifies the style hybrid. “They wanted everything to be light, light, light—and that makes the pops of color we did include, as well as the shape and visual texture of things, really important,” the designer notes. Walls and many pieces of furniture are white, but the natural tones of leather and wood with the occasional note of deep, saturated green make the spaces feel rich and characterful. The texture of wood, stone and nubby textiles keep the atmosphere pleasingly tactile and visually interesting.

“Pleasing” is perhaps the best adjective to describe the new home, now in harmony with its location. When the windows are open, the smell of evergreens and salt air waft in. “Even when you are inside, you feel at one with nature,” Hoedemaker says. “There’s a sense of being comfortably held by this house.”