Up from the Valley

A classic Northwest beauty rises

THE HAPPY ENDING to the story of Steve and Karen Packer's comfortable, contemporary home in Oregon's wine country has a terrible beginning: A fire.

"It's an experience I wouldn't wish on anybody," Steve Packer says of the 1998 blaze that destroyed their house high over the Tualatin River Valley with a straight-on view of Mount Hood, the Cascades and surrounding vineyards. They were left with nothing but the foundation, some Christmas ornaments and a few items from the basement.

"We thought that if we could build a house with no recollection of the previous one we could live here," Steve says. "We chose to think of it as a journey."

They studied modern architecture, with their architect, Bill Tripp of William C. Tripp Architects as their guide, traveling to see landmark homes by architects Pietro Bellusci, John Yeon and Frank Lloyd Wright. The Packers chose Tripp for his expertise with contemporary wood structures.

It took a year to design the Packers' 3,800-square-foot organic home of local materials. There are many shades of the classic Northwest style throughout. Douglas fir, hemlock, spruce and slate, and a nod to Frank Lloyd Wright with hallway paneled closets and raku fireplace wall. The natural Northwest materials complement and connect the home with the earth it sits upon. It was completed in 2001, but they moved into the guest wing in 2000.

"The Northwest style is a complex and rich topic," Tripp says. "The issue of what materials you use and how they're shaped and how you respond to local climate and how the light works here — you can spend a lifetime working on that and never get bored."

The Packers' home presides over 20 acres, including a Christmas tree farm. It is a graceful yet casual place providing the comfort and security they seek. Their new house literally wraps its muscular cedar arms around the Packers, a retired couple with a three-legged dog, three cats and three grown children who have children of their own. Every room, except the master bedroom, is L-shaped. A big room and a smaller, more intimate room everywhere you go. It is grand and it is cozy.

"It morphs with you," Steve says. Their place expands to hold 70 and contracts for the comfort of two. The secret is two wings and a connecting breezeway. On one side sits the great room, kitchen and master bedroom. On the other is the guest room, media room and Steve's office, placed on the old foundation.

The house is oriented exactly east-west. Mount Hood looms directly off the foot of the Packers' bed. The morning show is particularly spectacular as the sun rises over the mountain. Vineyards ripen in the valley below. Solar panels catch rays in the yard.

Tucked on the other side of the great-room fireplace is Karen's study, the short leg of the L. There she has her own fireplace and a computer with a view of the mountain.

The kitchen is the heart of this home and sits at the center of the house. Karen calls it her farm kitchen for its warmth and solidity. It is done in spruce, stone and concrete, with a no-nonsense square table right in the middle that says, "Come in, sit down, have something to eat."

There was talk of an island, but Karen vetoed it: "I had one in the old house. I hardly used it because I'm short."

And because she is short, she particularly loves the porthole windows (designed to be enjoyed while seated at the table) just above the counter. The Packers were quite insistent about including a pass-through window. They cook a lot of Indian and Thai foods. Tripp was afraid the smells would greet guests at the door. But that's just what the Packers wanted.

"Most of all it was selfish," Karen says. "I want to be able to watch the fire and see people."

The Rumford fireplace is important to Karen. "She burns a cord and a half a year," Steve says of his wife, who builds a fire just about every winter afternoon.

The dining room is completely flexible. The big cherry table, designed by the couple's interior designer, Craig Norman of Graham Eberle Norman and Associates, is actually two tables and a leaf. They can be set apart and seat four at each. The lights are on tracks and can go where needed.

The guest wing is stick frame with a cork floor.

Outside the guest bath is a small patch of garden for Karen. Standing in the center is a dogwood tree saved from the original house. From the garden, the Packers see the seasons change and life go on.

Rebecca Teagarden is assistant editor of Pacific Northwest magazine. Ken Lambert is a Seattle Times staff photographer.