Little House with a Big View

Posted @ Aug. 01 2011 03:15PM by Lisa - in-print

This Dash Point Home-Remodel Shines

By South Sound staff | Photos by Dane Gregory Meyer 

Andrea Piccone lived with her husband in a beautiful Colonial-style home in the Browns Point area of Tacoma that was everything she wanted – comfortable, classy and inviting. But her husband really wanted to live closer to the water. It was his dream. So when a small Dash Point property became available, he pounced. And she cried.

“It was really depressing at first,” she said. “I gave up a sweet picture-perfect house. This (waterfront) house was having an identity crisis.”

Piccone grew up in Maine. At her core, she is still very much a New England gal. It’s why she was attracted to the Colonial-style home in the first place. So when they moved into the little outdated Dash Point home, she didn’t know where to start improving it. But after living in the home a while, she started to get to know the space. The couple started to create their remodeling wish list. And when they were ready to make their vision a reality, they enlisted the help of professional designer Vawn Greany of Collaborative Interiors. Greany is a Certified Kitchen Designer and Certified Bath Designer and member of the Puget Sound chapter of the National Kitchen and Bath Association.

“This is a very unique home. I like that we had many challenges to overcome visually and spatially, and that it was not just your everyday house,” said Greany. “Andrea’s personal tastes, simplistic yet thoughtful traditional style, meshed perfectly to allow us to visually fool the eye to notice the focal points that we created and helped the other details to fade away.”

They didn’t change the structure of the home to achieve the harmonious, balanced feel of the finished house. Instead they relied on a lot of smart and creative interior design solutions to make the space work.

“The angles of the ceilings and peculiar way that many of the structural elements came together was a mess,”Greany said. “We added trim details and large cabinetry as ‘furniture pieces’ so that the eye is drawn to them, rather than chaos.

“The existing windows and doors with a water view were a combination of happenstance. So we decided to create a complete wall of trim as wainscot to combine all (the) separate units to appear as if one,” she added. “The black accent on the doors also aids in demanding more attention than noticing that they might not line up with the windows.”

The end result of the entire remodel speaks for itself – the home is peaceful, full of East Coast-meets-Pacific Northwest character and it literally takes your breath away (in a good way) the moment you enter the front door. It is a little house literally on the water that feels more spacious than it is, yet cozy all at the same time. It’s a true testament to what happens when quality craftsmanship, smart design and good taste come together. And the view doesn’t hurt, either. Picture-perfect once again.

“The entry, kitchen, living and dining areas are now wide-open, yet maintain separation and intimacy thanks to the vaulted ceiling which now … blends into the structure.  After the remodel, the home appears to be in balance though structurally it’s not,” the designer said.

The lighting was a challenge. Mention “track lighting” and people scoff. But done right, it can look good and offers function. Accent with charming sconces and a stellar chandelier and you can achieve a light and bright home, too. Lighting by Crescent Lighting, mycrescentlighting.com.

Lakeland Builders, a father-and-sons team, did the custom woodwork throughout the home. From the board and batten wainscot to the paneling, sliding barn and the laundry room, the stair well, decorative hood in the kitchen, mantel, fireplace surrounds, bookshelves and more.