Sometimes visitors to Mike and Linda Meade’s beach home get a little queasy – then they remember they’re not on a boat.
| Camano Island Home Tour
What: The 28th annual Camano Island Home Tour, sponsored by the Camano Island Women’s Republican Club. When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Where: The self-guided tour begins at the Camano Lutheran Church, 873 N. Heichel Road, Camano Island. Tickets: Tickets cost $10 and may be purchased at the Camano Lutheran Church the day of the event; or in advance at Snow Goose Bookstore, 8616 271st St. NW (360-629-3631) and Marcy’s Boutique, 10003 270th Street NW (360-629-0138), both in Stanwood; and the Spare Room, 1215 Highway 532 (360-939-0718) and Copy This, Mail That, 370 N. East Camano Drive, Suite 5 in Camando Plaza (360-387-1922), both on Camano Island. |
It’s easy to understand why.
The home perches on the edge of a Camano Island beach. Saltwater licks against the home’s bulkheads at high tide and sprays over the deck rails on stormy days.
Gripping a rail along one of the decks makes a visitor feel like a sea captain standing on the prow of a vessel, advancing across the Sound toward the northeastern clay cliffs of Whidbey Island.
“It’s incredible,” Mike Meade said. “There are times I get up in the middle of the night and stare.”
Take in the view and the home Saturday as part of the annual Camano Island Home Tour. The Meades’ beach house is one of five the public can visit.
Mike, 59, and Linda Meade, 60, wanted a showstopper of a house that captures the feel of a traditional Craftsman.
They got a house that architect Dave Pelletier calls “a Craftsman with a twist.”
Cedar shingles, a gabled roof, and the proportion and shape of the heavily trimmed windows are all reminiscent of a Craftsman.
But other touches evoke a contemporary feel, including the use of metal inside and out and an abundance of glass. A steel canopy that fans out above the front doorway will eventually hold five slabs of glass. The Meades are hoping the glass will be installed by the tour.
Inside, a great room with exposed wood beams in the ceiling, and wood flooring and a fireplace constructed with round beach rocks provide a warm atmosphere for the couple’s frequent social gatherings.
Natural materials are emphasized throughout the home: wood, metal, glass and, to a lesser extent, stone. Fabricator Rick Wesley of Wesweld Corp. in Stanwood created the metalwork around the home including the staircase and the canopy.
The living space blends seamlessly into a gourmet kitchen with honed black granite countertops and a granite island. Cherry wood cabinetry is set off by satin nickel hardware. Square ceramic tiles glazed with a metallic finish form a backsplash.
The Meades’ friend Linda Schoener of Schoener Interiors in Lynnwood helped choose the interior furnishings and finishes.
“They like the (Craftsman) style, but they didn’t want a replica,” said Pelletier, who designed the home along with architect Pearl Schaar. Their firm is based in Stanwood.
This is the fourth house to sit on the property. The first burned down. The second met a dramatic end, blown up by a group of disgruntled hippies or bikers (or so local lore has it).
The third, a 1970s house built from a kit, needed too many repairs and design changes for a remodel, Mike Meade said. The ceilings were low and the house felt dark, despite a long bank of windows facing the beach.
Even with a fresh start, the architects faced a host of challenges: a tiny, tiny lot (45 by 60 feet), complex shoreline regulations and virtually zero space for a drain field and septic tank.
The drain field is now under the garage, possible because of a special concrete bridge. The septic tank is under the deck, accessible by pulling open a hatch.
The home’s designers were just as creative when it came to fashioning space: not only the feeling of spaciousness but fulfilling a practical need for storage.
The Meades have been married nearly 40 years, and this house is where they plan to live out their retirement. At 2,000 square feet, it’s a squeeze after living in a 3,500-square-foot home in Edmonds.
“Every square inch was thought about” during the design process, Pelletier said. “They’ve got all kinds of little compartments we designed for storage.”
One of the cleverest was pouring a concrete floor in the crawl space under the house. The Meades can access the lighted space from a small door in the mudroom off the kitchen.
Mike Meade uses a crawler on wheels to get at stored boxes. Access at the front of the house allows them to slide kayaks and other water toys in. There is even room for a small wine rack.
The house doesn’t get in the way of the stop-and-stare view; it enhances it like a well-chosen frame around a watercolor. In part that’s because the house invites an interaction with its surroundings.
Decks and balconies on both levels of this home help connect the living areas to the outdoors, Pelletier said.
The couple find themselves retreating to one of the balconies to sip their morning coffee.
“The eagles fly by at eye level,” Mike Meade said. “We can hear their wings as they cruise by.”
Cathedral ceilings in the main living areas and banks of windows facing the water provide a sense of spaciousness.
More modest visitors will note that the windows facing the beach lack treatments. That includes the Meades’ bedroom and bath upstairs.
“They wanted to bathe and shower with a view in front of them,” Pelletier said.
An oval soaking tub surrounded by a solid limestone slab is positioned in front of the window. Next to it is a walk-in shower with tiny square tiles the pearly color of the inside a seashell. The bathroom windows are bumped out from the house to obstruct the line of site from the beach, Pelletier said.
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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