JustRight

By Alli Schuchman

A Perfect Little Story About a Perfect Little Home

When Kevin and Amie Ryan came to Bainbridge from Texas in 2016, the island felt like a Goldilocks Zone.

“We were looking for a retirement place, and we came out to the Seattle area,” said Kevin. Close enough to the airport, minus the Seattle traffic, all the ambiance of the San Juan Islands, but closer in. “It all made sense,” he said. “People might actually come visit us.”

After deciding on Bainbridge, the Ryans bought their high-bank property off Hidden Cove on the west side of island. The waterfront homesite included a house that was built in 1967, “and then this was just an empty extra lot full of Douglas fir trees that came with it,” said Kevin, describing the halfacre where their new home now sits. »

“We originally thought we'd build a smaller guest house here for family and friends and we'd rent it out occasionally ... and then it just morphed into a much bigger thing.”

In the hopes of finding a blueprint that would satisfy their needs and tastes, but one that wouldn't be too expensive architecturally, Kevin stumbled upon Perfect Little House Company, brainchild of islanders Stella Carosso and her partner, Peter Brachvogel (pictured at right), principals of renowned architectural firm BC&J. PLHC offers a menu of modestly sized, value conscious homes that can be a good fit for people who are downsizing, young families and first-time buyers, among others.

Carosso and Brachvogel created PLHC in 2008 in the face of a recession, “because all the big custom homes kind of flatlined,” said

Carosso. “We didn't want to lose staff, so we put them to work to create the construction documents.” PLHC continued to gain steam, and as the housing market recovered, more and more clients who started with a PLHC design went on to work with BC&J to adapt it, which is what the Ryans did.

Carusso and Brachvogel said that now PLHC and BC&J often work hand-inhand, though it’s not something they saw coming. “We've opened up an entry level that allows a lot more people to be able to get the services of a designer,” said Carus- so. PLHC’s plans are between 40 to 50 percent modern designs, with the “cottage aesthetic,” as Brachvogel described them, making up the balance.

“I really liked this particular plan called the Tamarack,” said Kevin, who explained that the PLHC portion basically comprises one leg of their L-shaped home, and that BC&J added the wing that houses the entry and the bedroom onto the Tamarack’s blueprint. “The style of the house with all the glass and its modern nature was what drew me in when I first looked at it. I knew there were going to be a lot of trees, and light in the Northwest particularly is a hot commodity, so the windows certainly were a big draw.”

Kevin worked with Carosso and Brachvogel to enlarge the kitchen by bumping out the front wall, and modified what was originally an outdoor storage room to become the home’s living room and dining nook.

It was necessary to add the second wing of the home for livability, but Carusso said she didn’t want to affect the original design, so the connecting courtyard had to be just right. “I think that was essential and that it worked out really well,” she said. “While the original design transitioned out into what should be the gathering place, that additional wing made it that much more special.”

Kevin said he also worked with interior designer Michelle Burgess to figure out how to use nearly the entire living room/ dining nook’s back wall as storage, which freed up space in the kitchen for open shelving. Smart storage can be found behind deep pantry drawers under the stairs as well.

To build the home, the Ryans worked with lifelong islanders Brian Russell and John Viele, co-owners of Craftsman Building, who have been building on Bainbridge for more than three decades. Craftsman Building was already involved with the Ryans’ existing home remodel as well as a small boathouse down on the beach. “We weren’t sure which project we would do first,” said Kevin. “Believe it or not, it was easier to build a new house than to remodel an old one, so for many reasons, we ended up putting this one in front.” Construction got under way in October 2020 on the 1,400 square foot home.

Like the home’s smart design, its finishes were kept clean. “I really like Scandinavian style, so I wanted pale wood paneling and insisted that we have no drywall at all in this room,” said Kevin. As he had hoped, the main room’s walls instead have a maple veneer over a plywood underlay, which can be seen along some of the raw edges. Kevin originally leaned toward using Baltic birch for its white tone, but the cabinetmaker steered him toward maple as a product that looked similar but that was more readily available.

Radiant concrete floors were poured by Azteca Decorative Concrete and hand-finished by its owner, Clemente Ramilez, before being honed, ground and topped with a wax finish for easy maintenance. The kitchen’s Caesarstone countertop is offset by simple black hardware and black-metal aluminum windows as well as wide-flange steel beams, which encase the room. In preparation for the beams’ arrival, Russell and Viele created the framework and plates onto which they would be attached. “We coordinated a crane to get here first, and then the steel showed up right behind it,” said Russell. “Everything was labeled and numbered. And we just started setting all the pieces in place. They were out of here within an hour and a half or two hours.”

The wooden beams that run along the celling came from Douglas fir that was milled from logs from the homesite, as were the stairs. Russell said that one of the trees was almost too big to mill. “It was sitting here for a long time, and I finally figured out a way to get it to someone who could break it down,” he said. “We built a little onsite kiln and dehumidifier and dried the material for months and months. The same person who did the cabinetry, William Walker, milled it to give them their final shape. Then we just cut them and set them in place with our carpenters.”

The steel railings that surround the loft—where a tidy TV room and office are located—are from AGS Stainless and add a bright counterpoint to the black metal, wood ceilings and cabinetry.

The home’s exterior is wrapped in striking, charcoal-colored siding from Nakamoto Forestry Products, a Portland, Oregon, company. The product is made from a type of Japanese cypress, or yakisugi, that goes through a burning and oiling process. In the entryway’s parapet, the same material is used, but in a subsequent step was run under a wire brush, so that some of its original color shows through. The underside of the overhangs is painted corrugated metal—one of Russell’s ideas—which was less expensive and lighter in weight than the glass that was called for in PLHC’s original design.

Bliss Garden Design’s Tish Treherne was the creative force behind the landscape architecture. The courtyard, which is nestled between the home’s wings, is accented by a dry riverbed, Japanese maple and a cozy firepit. Some of the giant boulders were even found on site.

Both the builders and architects enjoyed Kevin’s involvement in the process “He was thoughtful, he was methodical and he knows every inch of the house,” said Carusso. Kevin liked it so much so that he’s starting a business of his own to help other people navigate the design and construction process. “I’m trying to be somebody to help coordinate, but bring it to the average person who’s not building a multimillion-dollar house.”

Although Kevin said he and Amie haven’t decided which house they’ll ultimately live in, no matter what they choose, from the looks of things, it will be just right.