Inside

Medina Masterpiece

Inside a Home with Soul

by Lisa Patterson, photos by Dane Meyer and Michael Walmsley

Carol Berkowitz was in Northern California with the plans in hand - she was ready to build her dream home there. But when her husband, Steven, got a job at Microsoft, she sat down at a computer and began punching in a wish list of musts for a house in Washington instead.

Five bedrooms, a luxury spa bathroom with soaking tub, a media room, a large gourmet kitchen, wine cellar, beautiful yard and of course, a stunning view. She was excited to find her 7,200-foot dream home may already exist in Medina.

“We came up and Microsoft set us up with a real estate agent,” Carol said. “She had five or six properties lined up.” The homes were nice, but Carol was drawn to the one she saw online and requested to see it. “I kept coming back,” she said.

That’s when she met Lucia and Scott Fisher. The Fishers own Distinctive Properties NW, a “boutique” building company that designs one project at a time in order to focus on all of the details. In addition, Lucia is a realtor with Coldwell Banker Bain, and Scott is an engineer who sells automation equipment. It took about a year of planning and 18 months of building to create the West Landing estate that overlooks Lake Washington and has a peek-a-boo view of the 520 floating bridge to Seattle.