HilltopMidMod

Follow the renovation of a 1960 mid century modern home in the Pacific Northwest

The tour begins…

Looks almost like a state park.
The rear faces south for good sun exposure.
The front and back of the house. As you can see, the setting is quite park like. It’s a very natural environment with quite a bit of privacy.
Coming down the driveway towards the garage.
The southern view before the tree work that will come to open this up a bit more year round.
The breezeway between the garage + workshop and the kitchen entrance. The sloped walkway looks to be an afterthought but it’s utility is obvious.
The entry is understated to say the least. The front door on the right at the end of the walkway.
The front entry.
The roof drops quite low to prevent the southern sun from heating the inside of the house.
From the entry looking up and down the stairs.

The rear deck is accessed via two large sliders in the main living space. The deck is sloped quite a bit for drainage. With the low roof line pinching the views from the inside and heavy rail, there is quite a bit of opportunity to open up the spaces visually.

The fireplace was designed by Wendell Lovett, a local architect who also lived on Hilltop. It was pretty much cutting edge design at the time. You can see the “built in” speakers in the ceiling as well.
The main living space has high ceilings, with beautiful wood panels and beams that stretch the length of the space. The center CMU stack houses the mechanical stack as well as a small half bath that services the entire upstairs. If you like having a toilet steps from your kitchen then this is your dream layout.
The southern wall has a bit of CMU in that actually blocks quite a bit of the view when in the main part of the house. That may need to change to really open up the house.
The dining room is just off the kitchen and open to the main living space. Light and airy (except for that CMU block wall that just is screaming to be removed.)
Looking back into the dining with kitchen just behind the doorway.
The split level entry is just behind the wall. This space is listed as “den” on the plans but looks to have been used as a little tv area for the previous owners.
The kitchen is just behind the den and also open to the dining room. The .5 bath entry is just beyond the the corner of the CMU block in the foreground on the right.
The kitchen is light and airy. The basic layout is pretty usable. So, just a simple gut and update for the kitchen. We will take the doorway to the dining room and remove that wall so the southern view is more visible from anywhere in the kitchen.
The downstairs is pretty much what you’d expect. It sold as a three bedroom but was really built as a two bedroom. A space called “storage” in the plans is the third bedroom.

That’s pretty much it! You’ll see more as we post the new designs and updates. There is so much to do and the first thing is opening that rear view up to see what we are working with. So, it’s off to get tree estimates.

Laurie Dietz

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