** Note, I had to fix the photos in the post, so I bumped it up**

Here are some photos we took in a house at 6th and Bainbridge. This place has lots of features that we both loved at first sight. Top of the list, and perhaps most striking in the place, is the staircase. It was custom made for the house and assembled in place by the craftsperson. Although it’s large, it provides an enormous light shaft that illuminates the entire house.

  

At the top of the staircase is a small nearly all-glass penthouse that leads out onto a roof that’s made of a material that can be walked on, yet is not a “roof deck.” The downside of a traditional wood roof deck is that, when the roof below needs to be replaced, the deck needs to be removed. This style of roof deck – more like a roof patio – eliminates this problem.

 

The following photos are one flight down from the penthouse looking across the hall (left picture) into the master bath (right picture). Again, great light in this place. Note, too, the Brazilian Cherry floors. Very nice, though I tend to like a diagonal layout. 

 

Here’s an example of somthing they could have done better. In the kitchen I liked the choice of cabinets and the appliances were certainly high end consumer, but a white countertop would need to be cleaned every three minutes. The layout was odd too. It’s tough to see, but the kitchen is blocked off from the rest of the space by a wall unit that includes a small pantry and the fridge. I would have created a galley style kitchen, using the opposite side of the kitchen to replace the wall unit. I’d also have added an L-shaped counter on one side to provide a peninsula effect – instead of the less useful small island shown in the center.

 

 

Finally, we reference the SparkFire ribbon fireplace elsewhere in the blog.  This is the house where we first saw it.  Here’s how it looks in real life.