Edmonds Traditional | Seattle Interior Photographer

With Seattle real estate being so competitive and limited, home satisfaction is sometimes best achieved by a renovation approach. When it comes to designing for a kitchen renovation, function and form are key. Sometimes, to move forward with joy, we need to look to the past to take hints from traditional design elements, while tuning them to a modern flow. I loved the way that Reanna Channer of Design to Elevate approached this project.

While the kitchen maintains a mostly while palette, it’s anything but sterile. The layered textures come from the floor-to-ceiling tile, combined with the cabinetry, built-in banquette, and elevated hardware finishes. This layered neutral approach continues through the living space, where definition is create by detail and texture. A natural wood theme carries throughout these spaces, too, reminding us of the soaring pine trees surrounding this Edmonds home and the trademark of our beautiful Pacific Northwest region.

I photographed this project in natural light, allowing for the minute textures to shine through. Allowing natural light to dictate the highlights and shadows creates a natural, inviting, immersive experience while viewing. My greatest hope is to convey a feeling through my images, and my best partner in doing so is utilizing light. There are quite a few steps in the editing process to make this approach successful, but it’s so worth it! (Just remind me to sit up straighter as I’m curled over my monitor editing.).

The styling for this project really helped bring the photoshoot to life. Reanna’s team did a great job bringing enough materials to work with. Everything felt native to the kitchen, even if it was produced for the shoot. Between each and every shot, there’s a meticulous rearranging of prop elements. I have my image previews up on an iPad screen, so the styling is truly a team approach. This takes time as well, but creates the most beautiful stories within the photos.

Feeling grateful for a brand new year and all the beautiful spaces I have yet to see!

This project was a winner of the Seattle Design Center NW Design Awards. See more here!

Seattle Architectural Photographer | Colman Park Renovation

Seattle has no shortage of fabulous midcentury architecture. When attempting a full scale renovation, Office of Ordinary does an amazing job of preserving historical details (or emulating them if adding new elements). This home in Seattle’s Colman Park neighborhood sits high up in the trees on one of Seattle’s many steep hills. This gives the opportunity for a real tree-house vibe, which was achieved with great skill in this project.

My favorite part of this home is the new banquette dining area, which was a new addition to this home. With wraparound windows and seating, it feels like you’re really in a treehouse (with far better insulation). ;)

In capturing this home, we kept with a natural light approach, which highlighted the soft green glow from the outdoors. Allowing natural light to guide the way does pose some challenges (I have to do quite a bit of post-production work for these images to be successful), but it always feels like the right choice in telling the truth of the space, capturing light, and creating an inviting mood.

This beautiful project was recently featured on Amazing Architecture, where you can see more details about the renovation process, view the floorpans, and learn more about Office of Ordinary.

Check Your Vibe: Vintage Meets Modern with Revival Rugs

When we bought our house three years ago, we inherently agreed to a pretty hefty renovation process in order to bring it to a livable state.  We never set out for a fixer upper (though we were clocking many hours with renovation home shows).  We actually found the house by driving by it, and when we first stepped foot inside with our real estate agent, it was an exercise in emotional mulitiplicity.  The arches in the dining room, the crumbling floors, the craftsman fireplace, the beautiful windows, the non-functioning kitchen, the crumbling wallpaper, the insane window views.  All of it at once!

We had an offer in by the end of the day.

When we set to renovating, I wanted to preserve as much character as possible while bringing the house to the modern era with its comforts.  Though the original floors were not savable, we installed hardwood that I love.  We kept all of the cool windows and arches, and my absolute favorite spot is the living room with the fireplace that tons of time, effort, and money went into.  

My design aesthetic is very vintage meets modern.  In my mind, I’m always keeping a balance between clean, new pieces that hold up to my family’s use and one-of-a-kind vintage pieces that bring warmth and texture.  (And, always, lots of plants.)

To bring in a finishing touch to this living space, I knew we needed a special rug.  We had a placeholder there while I searched for the perfect vintage Moroccan rug.  Enter the specialists, Revival.  Revival has offices in Istanbul, Casablanca, Mumbai and Oakland, CA and sources vintage rugs that fit their high standards of quality and ethics, and at fair prices.  In addition to their vintage operation, they also produce beautiful new rugs. 

Browsing their collection of Moroccan rugs, I stumbled across this beauty.  It had the warm pinks and beiges accented with pops of blue that I had been looking for.  Truly, it stopped me in my scroll and I just knew it was the one.

Now that I have it in the space, our living room finally feels complete.  I absolutely love the way it feels so soft underfoot, and the texture elevates the room and adds such character.  I really couldn’t be any more thrilled with my whole experience with Revival!  

My first tip when buying vintage is to trust your gut.  I’m a believer that if we surround ourselves with things that make us feel good it will all come together.  I’d also highly recommend measuring your space first, ensuring that the rug is large enough for all of your furniture to have at least two feet touching.  Since you can browse by size you won’t fall in love with the wrong rug!  

Let me know, what do you think of the new look? If you’re in the market for a new rug, Revival is offering a discount code through March 6th: 10OFF-EMILYKEENEY.