West Seattle Contemporary Listing: Virtual Real Estate Tour

One-of-a-kind custom renovation luxury home in the coveted Alki Point/Genesee neighborhood of West Seattle. Expansive panoramic views of Puget Sound, Bainbridge Island, and the Olympic Mountains. Custom quality McKassor Ebony wood vanity with hand-laid silver leaf doors and drawers. Artisan, hand-made fused glass top and divider by world-renowned artist Steven Hirt. Bathtub and rain and steam shower are floor-to-ceiling polished Absolute Black Granite with hand-chiseled detailing. High-end appliances like Viking and Sub-Zero with two refrigerators and two sinks. Complete open floor plan on the main level, letting light into all corners of the home. The fireplace is made from a solid piece of Calacatta marble that sits like a luxurious centerpiece on the main floor.

Details: 3 Bedrooms | 2 Bathrooms | 2,400 sq. ft. | Single family home

Video Transcript:

Joe: My name is Joe Patterson with Realogics Sotheby's International Realty. I've got my colleague, Denise Seavitt, who is also a Seattle broker. And we do our open, virtual open houses together because we have lots of years of experience. We've both lived in Seattle for quite a bit of time and, we wanna show you this really great house.

Spectacular views of Elliott Bay

So, we are in the living room. This house faces West and this house, I would definitely describe as having a really incredible view. When you look out the first thing that you can see is you can see the Olympic Mountain ranges. You can see Bainbridge Island and then you've got basically the Sound in Elliott Bay. It's a beautiful day out so you've got lots of sailboats, and you can see the Bainbridge Island ferry and the Bremerton ferry as well from here.

So one thing that I think is really cool is when this house was built in the 1940s, the builder of this entire neighborhood this was the lot that he chose for himself. And I think the reason being is because this house is up on a mound. And the topography just lends itself to really be very protective of the view and making sure that there's no houses or obstacles that are going to get in the way 'cause you're right here at the top of the hill and then the road kind of leads down there. So that you can see kind of Alki Point and Alki Beach.

This home is three bedrooms, two baths. It was built in 1949, trying to think it's 2400 square feet and the lawn itself is 6,250 square feet. The other thing that I think is really incredible about this house is it was actually owned by a pretty well known interior designer and principal of architecture and interior design firm and that person decided to basically renovate this house and you can really see it with a lot of the details of this house.

A centerpiece fireplace

I think the first thing that I want to bring to everyone's attention is really this incredible fireplace that you see when you walk into the house. This is actually Calacatta marble and Calacatta marble is some of the most rare and expensive and beautiful marbles out there. And the difference between Calacatta marble and what you might be aware of already is Carrara marble is really the touches of white. Most Carrara marble is a little cloudier and rare. Calacatta marble is much more white and it's found in the actual Carrara region and mountains of Italy. So this is a solid piece that they basically put in and this delineates the living room from the actual kitchen. These are both, there's one upstairs and downstairs from fireplaces. They are both wood burning fireplaces.

The Perfect Kitchen for Entertaining

The kitchen. So this is again, one of my favorite places. So right as you walk in the door, you're gonna see the kitchen which is very kind of minimalist, it's very simple, but they use really kind of enduring quality. So you see this, this absolute black granite under the bar is hand-laid silver leaf. We've got multiple appliances, gas range, gas Wolf range or Viking range, excuse me. Viking oven, and then we've got some zero fridge and freezer. We've got a little fridge right here which is really nice if you wanna use it for beverages or just storing extra food. And then the other thing that I like is we have two separate sinks here. And then these open up as well for plentiful amount of storage. And if you can kind of see down here, there's lots of drawers here to be able to put all of your pots and pans in and make sure that you can really have that sort of kitchen that really people who entertain and people who like to cook, really dream up.

Open floor plan living at its finest

So when this house was renovated, you know, this is a very standard mid-century house that was built in the 40s. So what they did is they completely opened up this floor plan so the living room really flows into the kitchen into the seating area and into the dining room which is behind me. So this is the actual kind of little seating area informal seating area. What I like here is you also still have views out of the water you can actually see a ferry that's crossing right now. And this though is a little bit more informal, you don't always have to say in your formal living room to be able to enjoy the views and you've got nice big picture windows here.

The other thing that I like that the owners did is they really wanted to make sure that the house was very comfortable. So being a west facing house and sometimes you don't always want to have so much light on you. And so they installed these great Lutron lighting systems that are going to be able to go up and down for added privacy.

This actually is staging but I know first, I know for sure that the table that they had in here was actually wider and larger and had enough seating for 10 people. So you can kind of really see the scale of this area. So if you are someone who really likes to entertain a lot of people, and you wanna have kind of little cocktail parties or little tasting events in your kitchen, and then move to something a little bit more formal. I really like that this house affords you to be able to do that. Again, you have a picture windows that are kind of revealing the view.

Denise: So one of the things I really like about this house is the flow of the house, from the dining room to the kitchen, the seating area out to the formal living room. It's just such a great feel with all the light and all the space, so I bet this great, this place is really great when you're entertaining. And it's so quiet.

Joe: It's very quiet. Yeah, I think that the you know, the things that you can't really see in this video is really the neighborhood you know, what I like about West Seattle and especially this neighborhood is you have big, wide streets you don't have a lot of... Everyone has garages, mostly in this neighborhood. So you don't have a lot of cars that are lining the streets. There's plenty of street parking, if you've got people that are visiting you from different areas of Seattle.

And it just has a very, you feel like you can kind of breathe, you can kind of stretch out a little bit. As opposed to some areas that are a little bit closer to the city that might feel you know, the lot sizes are smaller, the houses are a little bit closer together. And that's what I really like about this specific neighborhood is it just has that really quintessential lovely neighborhood feel it's got really nice sidewalks. We see people running up and down this hill all the time. So and then yeah, you've got Schmitz Park, which is great again, if you wanna kind of escape and go run and walk some trail systems.

Relax and unwind in the bathroom spa

As realtors and designers we like to use the term jewel box pretty often when describing houses that really have a very kind of micro attention to detail and really elevated and elegant finishes, and this bathroom I think is a really really good example of what we would consider to be like a actual jewel box. But this bathroom took its inspiration from a very, very high end five star hotels spa. So basically, this is a Macassar Ebony wood vanity, it is a custom piece. It's got handmade silver leaf on the drawers that you can see. It's got a beautiful natural shine to the ebony wood. And then on top, which you can see both on the actual vanity itself as well as the divider is this is actually fused glass and it's a very, very difficult process to do. And this was actually done by Steven Hirt who is a, if you want to look him up, he's an incredible glass artist. And this is something that again, he did with the designer as because they've had a long history of working together and this is very indicative of what you see the designer do in their present designs. But this has also underlining to kind of give it this I don't know this on-beyonds to it. It just kind of this very high-end feel. And then you also have the hand-laid silver leaf detailing on top and the bottom of the mirror. You've got double vanities here. plenty of storage here and then your bath and shower experience. So, you have got absolute black granite that's floor to ceiling. This is all hands chiseled this detailing right here. And this is enough for two person tub and in this shower is a beautiful rain shower but it also doubles as an actual on steam room and steam shower and so they built an actual on bench in there and you can see that it really kind of provides that just wonderful spa experience in your own home.

Hardwood Floors that will last

These are Brazilian rosewood hard hardwood floors. So rosewood is grown mainly in Brazil, I believe, Peru or Paraguay and it's actually from a hardness standpoint, is actually one of the most durable and hardest of the exotic woods. You normally only see rosewood and you know basically high you know mid-end to high-end homes. And this specific wood was actually grown sustainably. So, what I like about this home is not only is the entire first floor, this Brazilian rosewood hardwood floors but also as you go downstairs which we're not gonna do today is also that beautiful Brazilian rosewood hardwood floors in the main areas. So again it's that extra level of attention to detail. It looks beautiful on its own and it also looks beautiful with rugs over it as well as just a really nice kind of anchoring foundation to your floor.

The first level here we have one bedroom, we've actually put it as an office so this would make a great office just because of the light that you get from it. And it also would make a great bedroom. You can fit a queen size bed in here with two nightstands and then it's got a clause in here. What I like again is this attention to detail as you look out and you see that the owner has planted this beautiful wall of bamboo. So again, it has that very kind of private feel to it. You look out you see beautiful green. And then when you look out to this other window, you see the first carport that comes in off up the alley, and then you see the pool area. And this area is covered that still gets really good light.

A Pool with a view

When you talk about having a pool in Seattle. It's kind of a nice to have. But it sometimes, people don't necessarily think of it as that much of an added bonus because we think of Seattle as a very rainy city. But we do get some beautiful days here and I think now because of the whole COVID situation having a pool is a really big advantage. And what I love about this is again, you have this swimming pool area You have the outdoor area. This is the original vintage pool. So it's actually quite deep. And then as you come out here, the fencing is completely private, you've got bamboo that kind of grows up on. And another detail that I like that the owners did is they put glass around. So you can actually be in your pool and you can look out and you can actually see your view. It's basically that just continuous line that goes right from the pool on out. Now this pool is actually heated as well and it's got some great filtration systems. But this is, you know, this feels like you're in Palm Springs or California or you know, somewhere that's not in Seattle. It's very contained. It's very private and again, everything just revolves around that absolutely gorgeous view.

Dining and living al fresco

Now, when you look more toward the house, you can see that it also has a really great dining area over here. And again, from an entertainment standpoint, that's this is really again, where this house comes in, is so great for entertaining. Because you have this completely open floor plan on the first level, with the way that the flow of the living room in the kitchen and the dining room, that flow also comes out into the out side dining area. So this, again, is where you can, I think when you entertain and you have a lot of people over or you have some groups of people, there's kind of like little clusters that happen. This, again, can be another cluster or we can see kids or maybe adults or whatnot. You have enough room for a grill. And again, it's quiet, it's private, and you have access to the views.

Classic West Seattle Living

Denise: Isn't this place absolutely amazing? I mean, today's the perfect day. I think one of the the key elements that I love about this house is that you can be swimming, have your evening martini or glass of wine, and then you can see out to the water as well. One of the things that I love about this covered patio is that it's year round. I mean here in Seattle, it doesn't really get that cold in the wintertime. So you can easily have a fire pit table out here as well. And so this is a year round space. You do have this carport and I love the use of metal. So the exterior of the house is brick, and it's got a great brick pattern on it and I always love brick houses but the carport itself. There's also a garage with the carport corrugated metal, and then the storage off to the side is just also usable. I mean if you wanted to do something like a DADU, detached accessory dwelling unit, you can easily convert this area into something like that, because you've got the right time slot. If you have any questions about how to do that just talk to Joe and I.

It's private, it's quiet and you're in just one of the best communities. The Alki district is just like five minutes from here. You've got great restaurants and you know, funky little theater that's there. Alki literally is just down the hill, it would take you another five minutes and you're on the beach. You can watch the Christmas ships down there. You've got, you know, all of the activities, the beach volleyball in the summertime, and then a whole series of restaurants there.

But I mean, just standing here and looking inside this, this is a spectacular house. It's very unique and as Joe was saying the materials that were used in this house are just of the finest quality and the attention to detail in this house from the type of recessed lighting to I mean, what you don't see is there's a trapdoor above Joe's head that goes up into storage. I mean there are all these details that make this house an amazing home.