One Home, Two Parts -- In Between, A Rolling Door Blurs The Lines Between Inside And Out

FROM THE STREET, John and Lori Hansman's house glows with such intensity that passers-by often come to a halt.

Sunshine seems to smolder from within the gold and barn-red paint covering the home, and it glints off the zinc-aluminum barrel center roof that separates the home into two parts. The home's steeply pitched side roofs, with rake overhangs, hint of old-fashioned farmhouses.

But aside from a strong impression of home and hearth, there is little traditional about this Queen Anne remodel.

"This is a modern house through and through," said Bob Hull, whose firm, The Miller/Hull Partnership, worked with the Hansmans through a lengthy planning process to create a living space that is, magically, both sleek and uncluttered but also warm and inviting.

The reversed board-and-batten siding on the exterior of the home's two structures is devoid of fussy design details; even traditional window trim is absent, though it is hinted at via the design of the siding.

The clean lines of the wood stand in contrast to the decorative but practical steel flat-bar fence that turns the front yard into a play space for the couple's two young sons.

The Hansmans built on the foundation of a rather ordinary dark-sided ranch home, which they purchased for its west-facing, 60-feet-wide-by-120-feet-deep lot. As they planned their house's overhaul, remodeling turned into a project more akin to rebuilding. The home's basement and foundation stayed, but the rest of the structure, and the surrounding landscaping, disappeared.

"We had every intention of adding a second story, but as the design evolved we determined demolition and rebuilding was a better solution," said John Hansman. "The old house had too many walls and barriers."

In the new layout, the front-of-house area that had been the old kitchen became a study, and the roomy new kitchen, with granite countertops and a chef's island, moved to the rear of the house, opening onto the dining and living area and capturing a west-facing panorama. The bottom story of the home, which is daylighted by the slope of the property, was redesigned to house a children's playroom, a substantial portion of the home's storage area, and a guest room with pleasant views of the newly landscaped garden behind the house.

The home's new second-story construction was separated into two parts to keep the wide house from visually dominating a street of traditional box and Queen Anne homes. The master bed and bath reside on the upstairs section of the north side of the home. The southern section contains the boys' bedrooms and bath.

The two parts are joined, internally, by a steel-and-cable bridge with wood flooring, which stretches across the main floor's vaulted center space. The perfectly aligned bolts on the underside of the span, which visitors see as they enter the home, are testimony to the exacting craftsmanship of Lori's brother, Steve Taylor, whom they hired as general contractor for the remodel.

The house feels larger than its 3,000-square-foot floor plan, in part because of Hull's less-can-be-more home design philosophy.

"There's a lot to say for really planning it, then not building it any bigger than you need it. We've worked really hard on keeping the scale down. It's counter to what people's first impression in terms of good design is," Hull said.

The home's sense of spaciousness is aided by built-in bookshelves in the study, living area and on the staircase landings, eliminating the need for bulky furniture. In the boys' rooms, built-in desks and shelving help keep the rooms tidy. In the entryway, cubbyholes positioned under a built-in bench provide a whimsical yet practical means of organizing outdoor gear.

The home's airy center space, highlighted with wide wood boards and perfectly positioned interior windows (more of Taylor's craftsmanship), gives a wide-open feel to the main living area.

Morning and afternoon sun pools onto the home's Swedish-finish maple floors through multiple groupings of square custom windows. From the front porch, created by an extension of the curved center roof, visitors can see straight through the glass windows abutting the front door, through the dining space and out the rear of the house, to views beyond of Puget Sound and the Olympics.

A roll-up door with 20 panes of glass, reminiscent of a firehouse garage door, provides access to a large rear deck and blurs the line between outdoors and indoors. The Hansmans plan to build on the breezy feel of their entertainment space by purchasing a dining-room table with castors, so it can be rolled right onto the deck. Already, a table is built "though" the kitchen wall; a double-hung window separates the interior portion from the half that sits on the deck and is conveniently located near the barbecue.

Some of the novel touches in the house are actually old materials made new again. The home's original fireplace was kept intact, but re-covered with rolled steel. A large parson's bench painted aqua, one of the only splashes of bright color in the house, gives the entrance a festive touch.

"When we bought the house, the bench was in the garage downstairs, all full of dust, and I dragged it out. I loved it," Lori Hansman said.

Additional lighthearted design touches are scattered throughout the house -from a functional cardboard chair in the master bedroom to the massive chandelier designed by Northwest industrial artist Buster Simpson, which incorporates a sawblade, salmon cans and paper cones in its thoroughly modern, but fanciful design.

Lori Hansman said that combining the home's sophisticated design with a bit of fun to make it both welcoming and livable for her family was her primary decorating goal.

"I wanted my house to be warm," Hansman said. "We love it; we didn't want a museum."

Michelle C. Buetow is an online producer for The Seattle Times. Benjamin Benschneider is a Seattle Times photographer.