E-mail article     Print view

Vision With A View

With Asian inspiration and lots of local talent, an island of serenity is shaped

PREV |  of  | NEXT

Benjamin Benschneider | The Seattle Times Danielle Bodine sits on the terrace outside her studio, just across a covered courtyard from the main house. The studio was built first so the couple could live in it during frequent trips to Whidbey Island for the year-plus of construction. Benjamin Benschneider | The Seattle Times The front door was crafted from teak by Whidbey wood artist Bruce Schwager, and the hinges and rhododendron-leaf door handle forged by local blacksmith Jeff Holtby. The moon window frames a view of Danielle Bodine’s studio and a stone temple resting at the base of a fir tree. Benjamin Benschneider | The Seattle Times Japanese post-and-beam construction unifies the long, horizontal house. To the right of the dining room is the kitchen; just beyond is the living room. The red-walled study can be closed off from the rest of the main floor with pocket doors. Benjamin Benschneider | The Seattle Times The Bodine home, high on a Whidbey Island bluff, faces west to shipping lanes, sunsets and the Olympic Mountains. The water side of the house features expanses of glass and terraces to open the house to the light and view. Benjamin Benschneider | The Seattle Times The home’s calm, cool aesthetic continues down the hall into the master suite, where shoji screens can be slid shut for privacy.

A CONVERGENCE OF talent created the Asian-inspired house on Whidbey Island owned by Danielle and Norm Bodine. An artist and retired manufacturing executive, respectively, the Bodines moved to the West from an old French-country-style house in Michigan. They bought their Whidbey property on impulse after spying a "For Sale" sign on a camping trip at nearby Ebey's Landing. A majestic setting for making a Japanese garden enticed Norm; a separate studio for working on her fiber arts swayed Danielle. Both were beguiled by the west-facing view of salt water and mountains, and the chance to enjoy long twilights and sunsets. They recruited Whidbey architect Todd Soli, Bellevue interior designer Pamela Pearce, local artisans, artists, landscape designers and Whidbey contractors Dennis Kamera and Greg Gilles to help them design, build and furnish their light- and art-filled home.

The Bodines were hands-on clients, buying modern furniture and lighting from around the country and Italy, studying Japanese-design books and plotting the garden. "Norm and Danielle were adamant about simplicity," says architect Soli. "with them it was always less." The result is a simple aesthetic, defined by Japanese post-and-beam construction and expanses of glass. "It's definitely a very personal expression of their wide range of tastes," says Pearce of the European furniture mixed with Japanese antiques, sleek German kitchen, Chinese granite entry and hand-carved front door.

It takes a team

Norm and Danielle Bodine's home reflects their tastes while showcasing the variety of talents they assembled to help them get the job done. Here are some clues as to how such harmonious creativity was achieved:

Architect Todd Soli: "Norm was inspired by the book "The Japanese House: Architecture and Interiors" by Murata and Black, and we all referred back to it."

Interior Designer Pamela Pearce: "My main contribution is probably the calm feeling that the house has through subtle material relationships, stain and paint colors, and the integration of architectural materials."

Danielle Bodine: "Pam chose all the neutral wall colors for the art; we'd always had white before."

Local experts: Whidbey Island artisans who worked on the house include furniture builder Dennis Bohling, cabinet-maker Mike Flanagan, blacksmith Jeff Holtby and wood artist Bruce Schwager.

When the Bodines bought the property three years ago, it had a pond, remnants of a garden, and an old house, which they cleared away by donating it to the volunteer fire department for practice burns. The garden was overgrown with rhododendrons, but Norm, who took up gardening in Detroit as stress relief from work, was enthused about the wild setting and year-round outdoor climate. He took a pruning class from Portland Japanese-garden expert Masayuki Mizuno, and promptly hired Mizuno to come help with the new garden.

Before the house was built, they excavated a watercourse and huge pond, edging with boulders contributed from a neighboring property. Landscape designer Dianne Iverson planned the terraces with magnificent water views, rockeries and stone steps, and Norm started planting. Mondo grass, flowering cherries and apricots, pines and bamboo all set the serene tone for the house, which was designed to harmonize with the garden as well as the quintessential Northwest site.

"It's a wildly exposed site," says Soli, where the weather blows in from the southwest. His challenge lay in providing all the light the Bodines wanted while still making a sturdy house. At the same time, big, old evergreens dictated where the house could be. His task was made easier by the property's total privacy and a wide-open shot at world-class scenery. The shape of the finished structure, stretched along the high bluff like a relaxed cat, gives every main room a vast view of the water.

Soli credits the project's success to decisive clients who knew what they wanted and stayed true to it throughout construction. While exquisitely finished, the house never overpowers the magnificent site, nor its furnishings and art collection. "I had a vision of this thing," says Norm of his Japanese garden, a remark that applies equally to all that has been created.

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