Interior Design: Making a house a home

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Saturday, March 6, 2004

Interior Design: Making a house a home
Space, light and order are the ingredients of good home design, an architect concludes

By SUSAN PHINNEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Some spaces never feel right no matter how often they're painted, rearranged or remodeled.

COMING UP

An evening with architect and author Sarah Susanka

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday.

WHERE: Kane Hall, University of Washington.

ADMISSION: $18 for adults, $10 for students with ID. Reservations are requested 48 hours in advance. If seating is available, tickets will be $22 at the door.

INFORMATION: 206-448-4938, www.aia@aiaseattle.org

What are those elusive qualities that make us comfortable, make some homes more welcoming than others?

"It's not about decorations, but about bones," explained architect/author Sarah Susanka. You need a good basic skeleton into which you can pour your personal things. "The skeleton can either enhance or deaden what you bring into it. Most people don't even know what to look for, but they know it when it's there."

Susanka who made a huge impact with her first book, "The Not So Big House," described finding and buying her first home. "The house wasn't much to look at -- a square, turn-of-the-century stucco box with a steep roof and nondescript green trim." But the minute the door opened, she knew this was "it."

She could see two arched openings, a light-filled living room. The spaces beckoned. She bought.

Susanka has spent years thinking about the basics that make us feel comfortable. She's determined "it" is all about space, light and order. And those three topics are the basis of her latest book, "Home By Design: Transforming Your House Into Home" (Taunton, 256 pages, $35).

She asked architects from all over the country to submit plans showing how they'd worked with those three topics. Their response was almost overwhelming. She finally selected 30 examples. The homes range from big-city loft and urban remodels to a cabinlike design in Minnesota and a Washington state beach house.

The Washington home, which appears to be on a Puget Sound island, is used to show how window configurations can transform a space. "What I write about grows right out of this Pacific Northwest mentality," Susanka said. "It may come out of the necessity of using light in an innovative way."

What is the Pacific Northwest mentality? We've long embraced small homes. We appreciate scale and simple beauty. "There's much more awareness of the importance of design in this part of the country. I think other parts of the world could learn from AIA Seattle (the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Architects)."

The Washington home, like several in the book, features a window seat -- a retreat that seems to be a favorite of Susanka. Are they for everyone? No. "They can actually be a dividing point between husbands and wives," Susanka said. Women want them, men don't. "A window seat is a psychological breathing space, a place to read, a retreat."

A native of England, Susanka lived in California, earned her architecture degree at the University of Oregon and a masters at the University of Minnesota. She then worked in Minneapolis for 21 years, leaving one of the largest residential design firms in the country there in 1999.

Susanka and her husband moved to North Carolina, and she's now writing and speaking about things architectural. She was taking a breather there earlier this week before continuing with her book tour and speaking engagements.

The home they bought and remodeled near Raleigh is featured in her book. "The master bedroom had an irregular roofline. Nothing lined up with anything else in the space," she said. They put the bed in an alcove and transformed the room.

The kitchen was easier. It simply lacked a focal point. She installed a favorite tile above the cooktop and surrounded it with dark green tile, changing the character of the room. "It was so simple. Alignment was critical. Now it can be seen when walking from the family room into the kitchen."

Susanka has two books in the works, one focusing on interiors for not-so-big-houses, to be published in 2005, another on exteriors, slated for 2006.

A garden is as much a part of the home as the inside, Susanka said. They have to work together.

It's not about plant placement. Views, paths, activity areas are needed.

SOME SIMPLE TIPS

As you make your house your own, architect/author Sarah Susanka says it's important to consider that "it's the underlying order that makes a home intelligible." Here are some of her tips:

Hang a lighted picture or painting at the bottom of a dark stairway. It gives you something nice to walk toward.

Varied floor and ceiling heights can make a space more interesting. But if you're building a space to live in for a lifetime, keep floors on one level.

Line a hallway with bookshelves. The walls will seem more substantial.

Give spaces personality with colors, textures or materials. Susanka calls this "differentiation of parts."

Sliding doors, screens and panels can make rooms more versatile.

A window seat can double as a guest bed.

P-I reporter Susan Phinney can be reached at 206-448-8397 or susanphinney@seattlepi.com

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