Montlake Maximalists

Couple strips 1915 Dutch colonial home

Written by Sean Meyers for Seattle Magazine. Photos by Emily Kennedy.

Subscribers to the minimalist movement that has dominated American interior design over the past decade-plus may be roughly cleaved into two demographic groups.

In Camp A are homeowners who enthusiastically embrace minimalism for its mind-freeing simplicity. In Camp B are persons terrified by the alternative.

Meet Lucy and Elliot Burkland, modern maximalists who welcome color, complexity, and character in home design.

In a shot across the bow of Scandinavian modernism, maximalism is cresting again in the U.S., perhaps in reaction to pandemic restrictions, perhaps in defiance of the long-threatened recession. The advent of maximalism in home interiors is traced to the 17th century baroque period, a raucous rebellion against the perceived coldness of the Renaissance. The Rococo movement and the Victorian era in the 18th and 19th centuries advanced the cause, as did the rise of the avant garde Memphis Group in the 1980s.

With a young family of four, the Burklands weren’t looking to revel or rebel. They were comfortably entrenched in a nice home on a lovely avenue in Montlake, a seraphic Seattle enclave studded with abundant green space and well tended single-family homes.

“We were really happy where we were,” Lucy says. But an intriguing opportunity came knocking, the type that doesn’t knock twice.

Directly across the street was a dormered 1915 Dutch Colonial whose previous owner had held court for a half-century. The longtime empty nester had remained remarkably faithful to an unremarkable ’70s-style renovation, with the exception of updating some appliances.

“It was kind of old and tired, but it looked like a fun project,” Lucy says.

Maximalism is the bold use of color, pattern, and layering. Among modern interior design styles, it allows for the greatest self-expression. Tools of the trade include eclectic furniture, texture, bold accessories, luxurious fabrics, statement art, mirrors, oversized vases, decorative pillows, dramatic lighting, whimsy, and much more.

The Burklands engaged a top-notch team, including architect Res Loci, contractor Toth Construction and interior design firm Casework. The 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-and-a-half- bath home’s antique infrastructure required that the interior be stripped to the studs, creating a clean slate for Casework (Portland) founder Casey Keasler, a Tennessee native with a soft spot for vintage homes.

“Lucy and Elliot love colors and patterns,” Keasler says. “Mixing colors and patterns is not for the faint of heart. The final design had six different wallpaper designs — or was it seven?”

Casework’s methodology is to collaborate with homeowners to arrive at three keywords or phrases to guide the design. “Layered,” “handcrafted” and “organic” were selected for the Burkland project.

Keasler’s “soft maximalism” design embraces the intimate scale of the original house and features a color, pattern and materials exploration in every room.

The finished product flows cohesively from one room to the next — each working in tandem while maintaining a unique personality.

Vintage furniture and traditional molding and trim are incorporated throughout the space out of respect for the home’s provenance. The smaller scale of the rooms is offset by furniture and decor with softer edges, which lubricates flow and elevates safety for the children. Employing lighting fixtures as sculptural elements further advances the uncluttered ambiance.

Roman Shade, an organic neutral paint color with a touch of brown, was selected for the sunroom walls. The room is just 8 feet wide, but a double-faced fi replace, floor-to-ceiling shelves and plush lounges seem to expand its boundaries.

Roman Shade is also used next door in the living room, but is applied differently, altering its appearance and simultaneously bringing the spaces together while setting them apart.

Custom upholstery and drapery are abundant, as are a wide assortment of plaids and geometric shapes. With so many competing elements, it was critically important to identify an anchoring foundation color for the walls to weave through each room. The designer proposed Monroe Bisque.

“At first, I was freaking out. I thought, ‘This is too yellow!’” Lucy says.

The Burklands cheerfully endured supply chain problems. Weather delays cost overruns, and a Teamsters strike shut down concrete trucks (they switched to bags). Lucy remembers the design process as “quite calming. It was super fun working with Casey to pick out fabrics and wallpapers.”

The kitchen-dining room complex is full-oak bespoke. The Burklands challenged their team to produce a design appropriate to both large gatherings and intimate family meals.

Here Casework blended painted cupboards with cerused oak cabinets, warm hues and elegant wallpaper. Paneled walls and the Alaskan cedar ceiling soften the dining room, which boasts a 19th century Jacobean hutch and is anchored by an 8-foot custom table by Nick Tretiak of Portland. A classically trained craftsman, Tretiak eschews Portland’s reputation for quirky furniture, producing pieces with complex joinery and other features that make them repairable for decades or even centuries.

Serenity and natural light blanket the primary bedroom, which features neutral textures, wood paneling, and a shearling bed, all connected to the outdoors through delicate floral drapery. Neutral grasscloth wallpaper and wood paneling on the vaulted ceiling lend richness and architectural interest.

Primary bedroom features a neutral color palette.

Throughout the primary and children’s bedrooms, carpets and rugs introduce a variety of textures and patterns, balancing geometric plaids with organic elements. The basement was dug out to accommodate a playroom, workout area, home office, and guest suite.

“This project is about layering, and this many layers take time — one color or pattern dramatically impacts the next, even from a different room,” Keasler says.

Elliot was unleashed with full pigment privileges in the basement, where he hatched a dark and dramatic scheme. “He was not shy about his use of color, which I love,” Keasler says.