The House That Windows Built -- There's Nothing Pretentious About This Huge House. Just A Tasteful Design That Wraps New-Age Technology In A Veil Of Old-World Elegance

STEVE WOOD AND GAIL CRADDOCK NEVER set out to build the eighth wonder of the world. Unfortunately, that hasn't kept the curiosity seekers from their door. Every day, they cruise past the driveway, engines idling, necks craning, for a glimpse at the couple's 17,000-square-foot residence. The phenomenon reached a fever pitch last Easter, when more than 30 cars crawled past in just three hours.

Straddling two lots on the shore of a picturesque lake outside of Woodinville, the multimillion-dollar house is big by Street of Dreams standards, but more modest in some ways than homes half its size. There's no towering front door, hulking porte-cochere or colliding rooflines to call attention to its presence. Just a tasteful design that wraps new-age technology in a veil of Old-World elegance.

Wood, a computer programmer who was part of the team that developed Windows software for Microsoft, decided to build the home after he and Craddock outgrew their previous residence: a 2,000-square-foot house that offered little in the way of privacy or amenities. Recalls Craddock, "We sat down and said, `Hey, we have the money, we enjoy spending time at home, we love projects - what is everything that we could ever want in a house?' "

They took their wish list to Bellevue architect Jane McPherson and asked her to come up with a design that would please them both. The assignment turned out to be tougher than it sounds. "She's from the East Coast and he's from the West Coast, and so they had two different styles that they were thinking about," McPherson says.

To reconcile their opposing tastes, the architect suggested modeling the house after the shingle-style residences that proliferated along the Eastern seaboard a century ago. "I thought that if we worked with the shingle style it would have the elegance of the seaside mansions in the Hamptons, combined with a Northwest woodsy approach," she says.

That balance between formality and comfort was important to the clients, baby boomers who liked the idea of a stately, old-fashioned home, but didn't want to feel like they had to dress up for dinner.

The house, which was built by Wilkens Construction Inc. in Bellevue, stretches 152 feet from end to end, the bulk broken up by turrets, porches and recessed bays. Decorative brackets hug the eaves, while shingled walls flare out at the bottom - a trick achieved by boiling the shakes and applying them while they're still wet. The double-hung windows are crowned with multipane transoms that add the feeling of true divided-light windows without obscuring views.

McPherson feels large Eastside homes often lack such subtleties. "As you come toward this house you see more and more detail," she says. "You have that element of surprise."

The front door gives way to a grand entry hall paved in walnut parquet and dominated by a sweeping walnut staircase. To the right sits the living room, with its 16-foot vaulted ceiling and limestone fireplace. The dining room across the hall features paneled wainscoting, carved crown moldings and archways flanked by pilasters. Much of the trim was inspired by the owners' visits to the Empress Hotel in Victoria.

By contrast, the private living spaces are casual and intimate, with lower ceilings and humble pine floors. The kitchen, designed by Al Cohen of Albert H. Cohen Design Company in Edmonds, features white paneled cabinets topped with pale granite counters and hanging cabinets faced with both solid and glass doors. Some of the latter are backed with shirred white curtains to help hide clutter.

A boomerang-shaped peninsula divides the kitchen from the adjoining breakfast area and family room. An elevated ledge keeps dirty dishes out of sight, while tiny lights concealed underneath help illuminate the countertop below.

A corridor links the kitchen/family room to his-and-hers offices, and a greenhouse and potting room for Craddock, a dynamo who counts horticulture as just one of her many pursuits. Because she and Wood were tired of climbing stairs at their old house, McPherson placed the master bedroom on the other end of the main floor, just off the entry hall. The adjoining bathroom features green marble floors, a separate shower and steam room, and an elevated tub overlooking a landscaped courtyard complete with fountain. Here, as elsewhere, the toilet is filled with tepid water, to take the chill off the seat on a cold winter morning.

The guest rooms, mother-in-law apartment and bedroom for Craddock's 18-year-old son are confined to the second floor, where they can be closed off when not in use. The same goes for the basement level, which is decorated like an old English pub, with tartan carpeting, a bar surrounded by dark oak millwork, and a billiards table.

That last item was something of a family joke for Wood. Every December when he was growing up, his father would tell him a truck was bringing a pool table on Christmas morning. Needless to say, the truck and pool table never arrived. The first time Wood showed his father through the house, he pointed to the billiards table and announced, "The truck arrived this year, Dad."

The basement is also equipped with an eight-seat home theater, complete with a 10-foot-diagonal-measure screen, a THX sound system, and a projection system that can display TV images in three different formats. For late-night viewing, a projector concealed in the canopy over the couple's bed projects images onto a screen that descends from the ceiling at the push of a button.

Wood wanted to integrate the home's lighting, heating, air conditioning, security, stereo, irrigation and phone systems so they could be controlled from a single computer in his office. When the system is hooked up (the wiring is in place but the software hasn't been programmed yet), Wood will be able to make his housekeepers' phone ring in the kitchen during the day, and in their private quarters at night, or instruct a light switch to illuminate a path to the kitchen when he feels like having a midnight snack. He could even use a light switch to check his phone messages.

Wood and Craddock worked with Renton interior designer Susan Wakeley from the beginning of the project, choosing much of the furniture while the plans were being drawn, and sizing certain rooms to fit their selections. In keeping with the home's English ambiance, the clients chose reproductions from Baker, Knapp & Tubbs. The company agreed to store the pieces in their Grand Rapids warehouse until construction was completed.

Despite all their planning, Wakeley and the owners soon discovered just how much furniture it takes to fill 13,000 square feet of living space. Although they continue to augment the decor with loads of accessories, the pieces tend to disappear into the background the minute they're added, like figures on a page of "Where's Waldo?"

The public rooms are dominated by bisque walls, tone-on-tone damasks and plush draperies trimmed with fringe. The palette is more vibrant in the private areas, with splashes of green, yellow and red counterpointed by exuberant plaids. "We have a strong use of color in the home," acknowledges Wakeley. "That's definitely Steve and Gail."

Having spent some time in England, Wood wanted the grounds to have the feeling of a English estate, with a variety of specialty gardens and a regulation croquet course. Although he couldn't accommodate the latter (the septic mound got in the way), landscape architect Ken Large of Redmond was able to provide the rest. There's a rose garden with 60 varieties of roses, a rock garden, vegetable garden, cutting garden and a knot garden, in which plants are cultivated to grow in knot-like formations.

A house this size would have dwarfed ordinary saplings, so Large imported mature trees (some measuring as high as 40 feet and weighing as much as 13,000 pounds) to help balance the scale of the house. And since no ordinary sprinkler system would do, he installed a computerized irrigation system that calls up a local weather station daily and adjusts its output according to the current climactic conditions.

While some might consider such indulgences excessive, Craddock emphasizes that they are indeed indulgences, and nothing more. "We don't NEED any of this," she says. "But we were in a position that we could do it. Steven and I really love building projects, and it's been hugely enjoyable."

Seattle writer Fred Albert reports regularly on home design for Pacific and other regional magazines. Greg Gilbert is a Seattle Times photographer.