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Project: Madison Park Penthouse
Cozy GCW custom sectional and pillows reflecting colorways found in Caleb Raux and Shirley Werner artwork gather around Noble Grey hearth and handsome Venetian plaster fireplace. Holly Hunt Ms. Benny chairs from Jennifer West grounded by Driscoll Robbins rug. Raw Cedar ceiling adds warmth.
Garret Cord Werner Architects & Interior Designers created the consummate condo
Brimming with artful furnishings and finishes for a couple who love to entertain.
For a couple accustomed to entertaining large numbers of guests indoors and out in their former suburban home, downsizing to an unfinished urban retreat overlooking Lake Washington clearly presented a design challenge. “The unit we were buying,” recalls the homeowner, “was essentially a shell with floor plan and some appliance options.” Although Garret Cord Werner Architects & Interior Designers (GCW) was recommended by the builder, Barcelo Homes, the homeowner admits he wasn’t certain he wanted to work with Werner until he could see his portfolio and meet. Werner invited him to the Seattle Design Center, where he showed him various lines, fabric, and carpets and discussed what the homeowner liked and disliked. Pleased with Werner’s portfolio, and the plan to customize not only furnishings suitable for the space, but also uniquely stylish for entertaining with more than a touch of glam, they agreed to move forward.
“Garret also developed an online rendering so as we chose art or furnishings, we could place them in the rendering to have a realistic idea how it would work,” says the homeowner.
A party-sized prep area alongside an expansive kitchen island sink with easy-to-prep Noble Grey counter from Caesarstone. Dornbrachtfaucet from Tara Ultra plumbing. Appliances from Albert Lee Appliance.
Handmade Ochre “Seed Cloud” chandelier adds panache to GCW artfully crafted black walnut dining table attached toisland. Holly Hunt Shadow Dining Chairs.
Brushed oak entry staircase to rooftop pops against Benjamin Moore China Whitewalls throughout. Wood paneled walls of media room at right add character, homeowners’ art plays off Driscoll Robbins rugs.
Werner prides himself and his company for working holistically to combine architecture, design and landscaping into a consummate whole. Not surprising, since Werner grew up surrounded by a family dedicated to art, architecture, design, real estate and construction. It is precisely this training that gives Werner a keen sense of detail. That enabled him to determine the best use of space to make this penthouse feel more like a free-standing residence uniquely designed for entertaining.
With the kitchen often the gathering place of any home, Werner made the space highly functional by accentuating its longitudinal aspect. Here, a long rectangular sink set in what resembles concrete adds to a city industrial vibe, yet whose quartzite material is far more functional.
The pièce de résistance, however, is the GCW dining table artfully fashioned from a finely honed slab of black walnut and grounded by nickel-plated steel legs resembling the very tree from which it was taken. A handcrafted floating chandelier christened “The Seed Cloud” adjusts to any given evening’s mood.
“It’s a wonderful home,” says the homeowner. “Knowing it was important to me to have uncramped entertainment spaces, the GCW team was creative and proactive, and enabled me to do a sit-down dinner for 12 indoors and a cocktail party for 50 on the expansive deck.”
Werner’s custom Venetian plastered upper fireplace surround features artwork by artist Shirley Werner which cleverly hides not only the air conditioning unit, but other unsightly infrastructure items as well. The muted artwork’s colors pop against the creamy GCW custom sectional whose pillows echo the dual paintings’ colorways, one of which is reflected in the glass-topped Thomas Lavin Granada coffee table.
This seating area of the expansivedeck adjoins an unseen dining area.1966 Collection chairs from KnollInternational accompany the homeowners’ pig sculpture they wanted to watchover the entertainment proceedings.The Halo fire table from Solus accompanies the Tiburon Outdoor Sectionalfrom Restoration Hardware with aJacuzzi located behind it.
The powder room tucked alongside the entrance features caste glass handblown sconces from the GCW Design Collection, which glow against Savoy Tile backsplash from Ann Sacks. The oval I Fiumi, Claudio Silvestrin sink is by Boffi.
The penthouse features raw cedar custom milled ceilings that enable Werner to further underscore the sense of single-family home living. Other unique elements include back-painted glass upper kitchen cabinetry with a micro diamond pattern and metallic finish that bounces light into the work area.
“They’re very functional,” says Werner, “and don’t show handprints.” An exquisite GCW walnut console handily located near the dining table is also adorned with a custom inlaid metal finish.
Werner’s team works not only with the homeowners, but also with the builder to help them visualize the space, which avoids any confusion about the design. “It helps a builder understand the space better, too, when we do videos and walk throughs to see the space and scale of it using Virtual Reality headsets.”
“Often,” continues Werner, “condo design winds up being a series of white boxes without taking it to the next level of interior architecture. When a client like this one let our team lead them and respected our knowledge and appreciated our hard work, then everything really comes together. Those are our best projects.”
The homeowner echoes that sentiment: “Garret,” he says, “was great and ensured that the additional quality that I wanted would happen. He made it all come together and I couldn’t have obtained the results we got without him.”
Publication – Portrait Magazine
Published – 2024
