SOME PEOPLE ARE new house people. They go forth in search of well-appointed TV rooms, rooftop decks and open floor plans. Then there are the old house people. The type who get all dreamy-eyed over vintage millwork and true divided light windows … stunning to look at, brutal for your energy bills.
Of course, old house people like big closets and custom kitchens, too. But updating a vintage home can be a bit of a diabolical riddle: Open up a bunch of walls to create a contemporary layout and suddenly the period charm is gone.
These two Seattle homes hail from different, yet memorable eras of architecture. Each one emerged from a thoughtful renovation much better suited to the way we live today, in a world full of kitchen hangouts and piles of shoes and coats that need a place to call home. But also with their distinct Craftsman or midcentury modern charms firmly intact. The homes’ respective owners and project teams accomplished all this without significant changes to the buildings’ exteriors (the exception: one game-changing mudroom). Both parties deserve some sort of award for creative achievements in the field of closet space.
Cozy comfort for multigenerations
WHEN SRILAKSHMI REMALA and her husband, Viren Kamdar, first laid eyes on the 1919 Craftsman in Seattle’s Lakewood neighborhood, the kitchen was a narrow corridor of a place. Once upon a time, a back staircase presumably allowed cooks, housekeepers or other service workers to move unobtrusively between the galley-style room and family spaces like the sitting room and bedrooms.
Flash forward more than a century and Remala and Kamdar — like most people today — have the inverse relationship with their kitchen. It’s no longer a utilitarian room to wall off from the rest of the house, but rather a crossroads of daily life for the couple, their two sons and exactly zero servants.
This stately home perched over Lake Washington appealed to Remala, a senior program officer at the Gates Foundation, and Kamdar, who works in wealth management, because it was roomy enough to host gatherings with their extended families. There was even room for Kamdar’s parents to eventually join them. But the Craftsman architecture kept things from feeling too ostentatious compared with, say, an ornate Victorian.
Very little had been done over the years to muck up the original bones and classic layout. Still, when the couple bought the place in 2021, they knew they wanted to open up that kitchen.
They also sought a few other modern amenities: a primary suite, a powder room on the main floor and an informal family room where people could gather and watch TV. But not at the expense of their home’s historical appeal.
The team at Dyna Builders removed that back staircase to make the kitchen wide enough to accommodate an island. They opened a wall between the kitchen and dining room that previously was connected only by a swinging door — the better to keep that kitchen out of sight.
Now, says Remala, the kitchen is “the part of the house where everyone hangs out.” She and Kamdar take turns cooking dinner throughout the week. A former breakfast nook at one end of the room is home to the range, which anchors the wider layout almost like a hearth.
Even as it opened the space, the design and construction team preserved a segmented feeling to the rooms. This helps bridge modern layouts with more classic design, says Ren Chandler, Dyna’s founder and president. “You don’t want to go in there and have all the walls open. It doesn’t look right.”
Remala wanted color, especially after their last home in Madrona, which had an abundance of white walls. But taking designer Lisa Staton’s suggestion to paint the cabinets plum was the renovation equivalent of a trust fall. This moody shade isn’t typical in a kitchen, but maybe it should be: In a home full of original wood, it harmonizes with the floors and trim without trying to match them outright.
Upstairs, two of the four bedrooms faced Lake Washington, a logical duo to combine into a primary suite. Situating the primary bathroom’s two vanities in front of the existing windows is a time-honored Seattle solution when inserting a primary bathroom into the bones of an old house. Studio TJP Architects also brainstormed ways to create closet space. The one that felt best to Remala and Kamdar: A bank of built-in wardrobes along one wall of their primary bathroom.
Yes, their closet is in the bathroom. “And I love it,” says Remala. Kamdar likes to get up early, Remala says, and it’s nice to get ready for the day without disturbing your spouse.
The unfinished basement was a relative blank slate — though Chandler points out it’s the kind that still needed lots of unglamorous structural work, like moving around gas and water lines. But the finished version provides the big family room Remala and her family were looking for.
The boys have a small TV and gaming room in the attic, she says. “But most of the time they end up downstairs.” The basement location also keeps the TV from becoming a constant background presence in the kitchen above.
A set of three double doors open to the backyard (a more period-correct approximation of modern bifold doors, the kind that fold up into almost nothing). Heated floors keep the room from feeling too basement-esque. So does the custom-built bar.
Its well-hewn cabinetry stocked with stemware and chilled bottles of white would look at home in a vintage wine bar. But the bar was less about flexing a love for wine or cocktails, and more of a home base for casual entertaining. The family might spread pizza boxes along the counter so everyone can grab a slice, says Remala. “A couple weeks ago, we ordered a bunch of barbecue and put it there.”
While older homes certainly have mudrooms, especially in the Northwest, modern ones have elevated this coat-filled way station into an art form, tricking them out with benches and custom shelving. Remala and Kamdar’s house already had a detached two-car garage, added in the 1950s. Now it connects to the main house via a mudroom and new entry way. “Oh god, such a game-changer,” says Remala. “That’s how the kids come in and out every day.”
That mudroom is also a point of connection for the other major addition. The couple always planned to have Kamdar’s parents join them eventually. After a few go-rounds on design, they decided on an attached one-bedroom cottage, offering proximity but also privacy. Remala refers to it as the guesthouse, a far lovelier term than “accessory dwelling unit.”
Earlier this year, Kamdar’s parents moved into the cottage. It’s clad in the same siding and trim to blend seamlessly with the main house. The small courtyard between the homes became a pleasant spot for grilling and hanging out in the summer.
