Inside and Outside Unite

Cougar Mountain House Embraces Nature

resources Concrete: Cadman Inc., Redmond, cadman.com Electrical: Custom Electrical Services, Tacoma, 206.353.3267 Finish Hardware: Chown Hardware, Bellevue, chown.com Interior Railing System Fabrication and Installation: T-Tech Welding & Fabrication, Woodinville, 425.531.0616 Landscaping: JDL Landscape Plus, Snohomish, 360.863.9110 Lumber and Siding: Oso Lumber & Hardware, Granite Falls, osolumber.com Millwork: Pro Millwork, Arlington, 360.659.7370 Tile Install: Artistic Construction Inc. Kent, 206.255.2757 Tile Supply: Pental Granite & Marble, Seattle, pentalonline.com/seattle.html Windows: Eagle Windows, Distributed by Washington Window & Door, Redmond, 425.702.9227 Wood Stairs and Structural Framing: JGC Production Wood Framing, Kent, 206.999.8341 Wood Materials:  The entire home is made of Western Red Cedar. Western Red Cedar Lumber Association, 866.778.9096, wrcla.org

Brian Hearst of Bellevue thought the lush, serene property on Cougar Mountain would be an idyllic place to preserve and enjoy the comforting ambience of ever-present Northwest greenery around his new home. Windows in every room — corner windows, picture windows, walls of windows and peek-a-boo windows — offer vistas of full-size trees, jumbo ferns, furry moss and misty mountains. Hearst, an avid skier, enjoys the constant reminder of the Northwest he loves and its changing seasons, from bright summer sunshine to blustery winter storms. Yet the house is just a six-minute drive to Issaquah and a 14-minute drive to Bellevue.

“It is almost a piece of art,” Hearst said. “I found myself tiptoeing around for a while until I got used to it. Now it feels like home.”

Finding the right place to “neatly, delicately chisel out a place for this home” on the thickly wooded, uneven site proved perplexing at first, said Todd Smith, an architect at Johnston Architects. The property’s backside is a steep hill with a seasonal water run-off and full-size trees, which Hearst wanted to keep. The solution proved to be urban: By building slim and tall, the house packs 4,600 square feet of living space onto a smaller footprint. The house is divided into a pair of three-story buildings known as the living block and the sleeping block connected by a glass bridge. The living block contains the active rooms: the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the media room and an outdoor patio. The sleeping block contains the quieter rooms: four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a downstairs bonus room, which is currently an exercise room.

Repeating clean lines, consistent materials and classic shapes throughout unifies all the interior rooms. The same hard maple floors, wool carpets and stainless steel sinks are repeated room after room. The vertical-grain clear fir cabinets are a particular favorite. The refreshing simplicity becomes a backdrop for the more complex, colorful, organic outdoor views. Hints of tree house whimsy, like the glass-encased bridge, and industrial ambience, like the stainless steel counter tops, give the space subtle character. Ultimately, Northwest modern is an “honest structure,” said Smith, while he pointed out the visible beams, posts and frames.

“It’s continuity. The house is ultimately telling a story,” said Smith. “It’s a philosophy. If your architecture doesn’t sing without decoration, it’s not architecture.”

This home’s overall personality, however, changes from sunup to sundown. By day, the soothing green forest is visible through the airy, abundant windows. Even on rainy days, sunlight brightens the wood interiors, underscoring the design’s Northwest lodge influences. At night, when it’s fully lit with indoor lights, the house looks like two giant lanterns floating in the trees. Ground floor windows flush to the frames produce the illusion of weightlessness when the house is viewed from a distance. Inside at night, the midnight-black sky and indoor lighting shift the attention to the industrial details, the steel staircase railings and the stainless steel kitchen countertops.

The mood within the 822-square-foot grand room — a kitchen, dining and lounge area facing a two-story-tall wall of windows — is more like a New York loft at night, which is a pleasant way to end the day, said Hearst.

Hearst enjoys the home’s details, too. In the kitchen, he can easily see down the entry stairs and watch for cars and guests arriving while preparing party munchies. In the master bathroom, he thinks “strength” when he admires the now-polished-wood support beam clearly visible over the master bathtub, the same beam that was used to haul the tub to the 482-square-foot master suite on the sleeping stack’s third floor. On the sleeping stack’s second floor, the two children’s bedrooms share a bathroom because Hearst wanted all three rooms to be bigger. Tucked behind the third-floor catwalk, the 330-square-foot media room features lower ceilings and just two corner windows, because he wanted that room to be warm and cozy. It’s these little choices that make this house his home.

Having completed a beloved vessel, Hearst is looking forward to filling his home with mementos and memories. He has a lifetime to find the right furniture, art and décor, he said. The greenery will embrace the home even more over time, he said. “It feels right. I have a certain respect for the house. I still wake up some days and go, ‘Wow.’ ”

the details
Owner: Brian Hearst
City: Bellevue
Architect: Ray Johnston and Todd Smith of Johnston Architects, Seattle, johnstonarchitects.com
Structural Engineer: BTL Engineering, Woodinville, btleng.net
Geotechnical Engineer: PanGeo Inc., Seattle, pangeoinc.com
Landscape Architect: Mark Garff, The Watershed Co., Kirkland, watershedco.com
Lot Size: Nearly an acre
Style: Northwest Modern
Started Construction: April 2006
Moved In: August 2007
Elevation: 1,150 feet
Total living space: 4,600 square feet
Grand room (kitchen, dining & living area): 822 square feet
Master bedroom suite: 482 square feet
Media room: 330 square feet
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 3

Jenny Lynn Zappala is a freelance writer who lives in Kirkland. Dane Meyer is a photographer who lives in Tacoma. Reach him at danegregorymeyer.com.

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