Gallery
Bungalow
Main floor
Located on the main floor of the Orcas are the living room, dining room, kitchen, three-quarters bath, and one bedroom (better used, we think, as a home office or study).
The entire interior of the home is awash in wood, just as you'd expect in an Arts & Crafts-style bungalow. The soothing harmony of woodgrains and tones in the trim, doors, and hardwood floors is the result of a careful mixture of hemlock, fir, and oak, all in a hand-rubbed oil finish.
In the living room, a number of special touches delight the eye and warm the senses.
The propane fireplace, with its Art Deco-inspired custom oak mantel and ceramic-tile hearth, serves two purposes. While the size of the fireplace was selected for its ability to easily heat the entire home, its stylish flair adds plenty of ambience, too. The gleaming solid-oak hardwood flooring provides a warm backdrop that enhances the more subtle tones in the tile of the hearth.
Hanging stylishly overhead is a polished nickel and bronze Art Deco chandelier, flanked by its smaller cousin that graces the adjoining dining room (lighting from Rejuvenation). As throughout the rest of the Orcas, these lighting fixtures are period-authentic antique reproductions, truly objets d'art unto themselves.
Also in the living room are two sets of handsome Prairie-style fir French doors, one set serving as the double front entry and the second opening onto the downstairs bedroom.
The crowning feature of the living room, though, is easily the spectacular, one-of-a-kind staircase handcrafted from solid oak. This functional work of art was specifically designed for this particular home, to blend a hint of Art Deco with the Arts & Crafts style. Each component of the intricate balustrade was carefully hand-milled, hand-finished and painstakingly assembled. But what a jazz-age beauty it makes!
Immediately adjoining the living room is the cozy dining room, which itself flows easily into the crisply appointed kitchen. Here, a suite of stainless steel appliances provides the cook with all the requisite cutting-edge tools any gourmet chef would appreciate. The full-extension drawer slides, roll-out shelves, and solid-wood dovetail drawers are state-of-the-art cabinet construction. Even in this thoroughly modern and functional room, the charm of an old-fashioned kitchen is still present:
- Flat-panel inset cabinet doors and upper cabinets extending all the way to the nine-foot ceiling, both reminiscent of the 1920s and 1930s
- Ceramic-tile countertops with black-and-white backsplash
- Large vitreous-china farmhouse sink with period-authentic wall-mount faucet and integral soapdish
- Antique-reproduction glass handles and pulls on the cabinetry throughout
- Period-appropriate polished-nickel schoolhouse light overhead and pretty polished-nickel pendant for task lighting over the sink
- Extra wood detailing on both upper and lower cabinets—especially noteworhty are the "feet" on the front of the lower cabinets for a truly period touch
All in all, a lovely, functional, and cozy main floor.
