Vashon Island, a picturesque island community in Washington, is witnessing a surge in sustainable living practices. This trend extends beyond new construction and embraces innovative approaches to interior renovations. Let's explore how homeowners are transforming their existing spaces to be more eco-friendly and harmonious with nature.

The term “biophilic design” may be somewhat new, but the idea of creating healthier spaces with nature’s influence is far from new. But, what is biophilic design? We’ve heard people describe it as “bringing any element of nature into a space”, which is pretty surprising that this would be seen as some new breakthrough idea. 

Vashon Island is a magical place to live, and many people dream of building a home here. What we don’t dream about when we dream of relocation, is the realization that our existing furnishings don’t work, or that there aren’t enough or the right furnishings for the new home. And, the furnishings that DO work need to be located, understood as to where they should live and how to best use existing items in a new space.

We’re sure that you’ve heard about greenwashing. It’s a cool thing to talk about sustainability, but what about walking the walk?

We found this as a common question in an internet search and immediately took pause to determine exactly what the question is asking. With two possible interpretations, we thought we would take a moment to answer both from our point of view.

As a female designer, I found that I had to suppress my experience and knowledge when communicating with contractors. It was much more productive to plead ignorance, bat my lashes, and go along with the playful teasing often found on construction sites. I grew accustomed to being called “honey” and “kiddo” and playing up my lack of knowledge of how things were actually built to utilize their expertise.

Style is a particular way of doing things, a distinct appearance determined by design principles. It is a way of arranging your appearance and the appearance of the spaces around you. It may be influenced by environmental factors, cultural influences, and economic factors among others.

We hear it all the time “green materials,” “sustainable practices,” but what does this mean? Sometimes it is a marketing ploy, something to convince people that they are making the right moral decision by purchasing that vinyl flooring that “meets sustainability standards.” Other times, it means that firm is doing the very best it can and are constantly working to do better.

We started design where most designs start, some inspiration photos. At the time, they had a contractor who also specialized in cabinetry that they were eager to use. The photos we had shared held much of the farmhouse aesthetic, but the cabinet design style was more midcentury modern in styling.

Our next challenge was size. We had a tight space, possibly one of the smallest kitchens I have yet to work on, with no ability for structural change. This meant that we had to somehow create an illusion of space, and provide the necessity of storage.

Display is important to this family, with young blooming artists, but not so much display that it becomes a cluster of tchotchkes.

The last challenge was to provide flexibility for a dining space where a built in dining nook was desired, as well as the flexibility to move the table and extend with leaves for larger family gatherings.