F or the Yeadon family, living in Mukilteo is heavenly.
It helps that Brent and Gayle Yeadon are living in a setting that inspires divine thoughts, a 1907 church on Third Street with white clapboard siding and a belfry.
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Photo GalleryGive the rope that hangs in the foyer a strong tug and the church bell clangs merrily from above.
The family nicknamed their new church-house “the chouse.” Officially, they’ve dubbed it the Third Street Sanctuary and created a Web site, www.thirdstreetsanctuaryhouse.com.
The Yeadons purchased the church in 2004 from the Mukilteo Presbyterian Church, which had outgrown the aging sanctuary. The congregation has since built a church at 84th Street.
The Yeadons moved with their teenage daughter from a rambler into the basement of the building and embarked on a remodeling project that would transform the church into their home.
Gayle Yeadon, a 42-year-old hair stylist, has always harbored a desire to buy an old building and live in it. Something about open space, that New York loft feel, appealed to her.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of turning things other than homes into houses,” she said.
Despite having little construction experience, the Yeadons dived into the project and learned. They had professionals handle the electrical work and plumbing and they hired Emerald Design Inc. in Everett to design the living space, help select finishes and aid in the construction.
Brent Yeadon, a 43-year-old sheet metal fabricator, created custom features for the inside of the home including a powder-coated aluminum staircase to the loft and a striking copper kitchen bar top and sink.
Emerald Design’s April Raffensperger said keeping the rich color of the original woodwork around the windows, selecting warm, rich earth tones for the main paint colors and balancing cooler, stainless steel metal with warmer bronze-type metals maintains a warm feel.
Today, the pews and pulpit are gone but the soaring 18-foot ceilings and open floor plan remain. The couple turned the nave, the space where the congregation gathered, into a sumptuous living space with a gourmet kitchen and sitting area with hardwood floors.
“Initially, it seemed like a lot of space to work with, but when you’re trying to fit in all these specific needs it shrinks,” designer Raffensperger said. “The long narrow space presented a challenge, particularly creating appropriately sized bedrooms.”
Just behind where the communion table stood is a cozy family nook, their daughter’s bedroom, and a master bedroom and bathroom suite, all tucked under a loft. A third bedroom and another bathroom were added. They also created a roof deck where they can view the city’s waterfront.
The home radiates warmth and modernity, thanks to a palette of earthy paint colors and the use of metal, wood and stone. The original stained-glass windows are gone, but Covenant Art Glass in Everett created new stained-glass windows in an art deco style.
The remodel encompassed about a third of the building, and the Yeadons plan to fix up what used to be office space, a nursery and a kitchen downstairs. The exterior of the building still needs plenty of work, Gayle Yeadon said.
The Yeadons invited the congregation that sold the building to visit earlier this year.
The visit to the old church building was bittersweet, said Beth Smith, the Mukilteo Presbyterian Church secretary for the past 18 years. This is a place two of her four children were baptized and another was married.
Despite the extensive changes, she found the old church building as warm and special as she remembered it.
“This is still a worshipful place,” she said. “I think they did a wonderful job preserving the integrity of the old building but still making it their home and modern.
“I was just in awe.”
The church building had become cumbersome for the congregation as its membership swelled to more than 400.
“We didn’t have the space to move around,” Smith explained. “We had to go downstairs to the fellowship hall, the bathrooms were hard to find, the Sunday school rooms were too small and the nursery was in a basement.”
The church’s new building provides more space for an expanding ministry and a more central location, she said.
“The memories … It doesn’t take away from those,” Smith said. “It was a personal space that was our church home and it’s still a home.”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@ heraldnet.com.
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