Main
Floor
The main floor of the Orcas consists of the living room, dining room, kitchen, main-floor bath, and home office (or, as you deem it, den or study or downstairs bedroom).
The entire home is awash in wood, just as you'd expect in an Arts & Crafts-style bungalow.
A soothing harmony of woodgrains and tones is provided by the careful mixture of hemlock, fir and oak used in the interior trim, doors, and hardwood floors.
All wood surfaces throughout the home have a hand-rubbed oil finish.
The living room contains a number of special touches to delight the eye and warm the senses.
A propane fireplace, with its Art Deco-inspired custom oak mantel and tiled hearth, serves two purposes.
While the size of the fireplace was specially selected for its ability to easily heat the entire home, its stylish flair adds plenty of ambience to the room, too.
And the gleaming hand-finished solid-oak hardwood floors make a bold statement while providing a warm background that enhances the more subtle tones in the ceramic tile.
Hanging stylishly overhead is a polished nickel and bronze Art Deco chandelier, mirrored by a smaller cousin gracing the adjoining dining room (lighting courtesy Rejuvenation, the premier provider of period-authentic lighting and hardware).
As throughout the rest of this remarkable home, these light fixtures are period-authentic antique reproductions, truly art objects unto themselves.
There are also two sets of beautiful Prairie-style fir French doors in the living room.
One set serves as the double front door, opening onto the large front porch and expanding the saltwater views, while the second set leads to the home office/den/downstairs bedroom.
But the crowning feature of the living room must be the spectacular handcrafted solid-oak staircase.
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 had to be carefully hand-milled, hand-finished and painstakingly assembled. But what a jazz-age beauty!
Immediately adjoining the living room is the cozy dining room, which itself flows easily into the crisply appointed kitchen.
And there is much to see and appreciate in this contemporary kitchen that still manages to exude the warmth and flavor of the past.
The suite of stainless steel appliances provides the cook with all the requisite cutting-edge tools any gourmet chef would appreciate. And the full-extension drawer slides, roll-out shelves, and solid-wood dovetail drawers are state-of-the-art cabinet construction.
Yet all the charm of an old-fashioned kitchen is still present in this thoroughly modern and functional room:
- 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-tiled countertops with black-and-white backsplash
- Large vitreous-china farmhouse sink with period-authentic wall-mounted faucet with soapdish
- Antique-reproduction glass handles and pulls on all the kitchen cabinetry
- Period-appropriate polished-nickel schoolhouse light overhead and a pretty polished-nickel pendant for task lighting over the sink
- Extra wood detailing on both upper and lower cabinets (note the "feet" on the front of the lower cabinets!)
