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Spring Home Design By Valeri Easton

Elevated, Smartly

With serious attention to detail, a grown-up guy's playhouse rises

VISITORS TO Lile Gowen's remodeled Queen Anne home have plenty of reason to hang out upstairs, where a pool table holds center court. Cues are close at hand in a custom wall rack, a flat-screen TV hovers nearby, and the adjacent media room features a state-of-the-art sound system. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame a view of the Space Needle, and Elliott Bay and Mount Rainier are sufficiently dazzling to distract even the keenest pool player mid-shot. One flight below, the library/poker room is lined with Gowen's collection of 4,000 books. Architect Sheri Olson and interior designer Elizabeth Stretch have fashioned a well-equipped bachelor's pad cushioned in a sleek, modern home.

All these attractions may be passed up, however, for the astonishing master bathroom. It draws you in to gawk at the handmade glass mosaic tile called Zen Weave that patterns the floor and wraps the walls. This is bathroom tiling so intricate that a model of the room was constructed at the factory so each piece could be custom-cut. "No one has ever done this before," says Stretch. After the tile finally arrived, it took a month to install. Glossy walnut cabinetry, a phone next to the toilet and curvaceous Italian sinks complete this visual feast.

Gowen had lived in the 1960s house on the site for two years before it was mostly demolished to make way for new construction. He was stunned at first sight, not by his flashy bathroom, but by his new home's huge view. "Usually you don't get to surprise a client like this," explains Olson, "but the house was pretty far along when Lile took the elevator up to the top floor and saw the view for the first time. It was the big reveal."

The lines are clean and simple, and the stucco-and-cedar exterior finely finished by Fairbank Construction of Bainbridge Island. The 2,800-square-foot home goes up one more floor than the original house and is turned sideways to the street so that, despite its modernity, it slips seamlessly onto the lot and into the neighborhood. The small garden, designed by Scott Woodcock of Windrose Landscape Architecture, is a series of courtyards and outdoor rooms that encircle the house; a sunny area along the back fence is for Gowen's favorite roses.

Maple floors, pale wood ceilings and metal windows are cool and contemporary, while walnut cabinetry and deep-green basalt countertops add an air of masculinity. Every public room faces the view, and light pours into the house from corner-wrapped and clerestory windows. The colors of the neighborhood, city and water seem to seep through the windows to stain the rooms in subdued shades of blue, green and gray.

And this house is not only pretty but smart. "The place is so wired that it'll call Lile if there's a leak or any problem," says Olson. The see-through blinds that cover the window wall have temperature sensors that cue them to roll up or down as appropriate.

While Gowen seems pleased with all the technology, it's still all about the pool table. Why does it hold pride of place on the main floor? "In my other houses, no matter what the reason or occasion, people gathered around the pool table," Gowen explains. "Now there's no reason to go anywhere else."

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Benjamin Benschneider is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.