Stone Stands the Test of Time

Due to the spacious geography, Eastern Washington architecture requires a different approach than that of the forested western side. To help this home blend better with its surroundings, architect Curtis Gelotte drew inspiration from stone homes of Pennsylvania and the Midwest. The goal was to create a rustic farmhouse style home which was part of …

Beautiful Ruins

Standing in the middle of an ancient building, knowing that people who lived  hundreds of years ago once stood on that same spot is a powerful feeling. A connection with those long since gone through their architecture can make us feel more grounded in this sometimes ephemeral world. Plus, old architecture is beautiful.  However, there …

Design Steps

Designing a home can be a long process with many complicated steps. We first start with an idea, usually with some specification that the client has asked for. A certain style, number of rooms, orientation on the land or anything else that will give the client their dream home. Then a sketch is made. A …

Moving a house before moving in

The photo below is a computer rendering of a finished English style country home. Designing and planning for this lovely home was straight forward enough, except for one catch. A house already occupied the land. The current house had been a family home for over 30 years and was still in excellent condition. Simply demolishing …

Design with Constraints

It is always great when clients come to us knowing just what they want. Want an indoor home tennis court? Sure. Bowling lane and rec room? No problem. Fully equipped exercise room? Done. Our Issaquah architects can do all of that and more while adhering to zoning a building codes that restrict height and size. …

Unique Project in Bellevue

At Gelotte Hommas, we design homes that will stand the test of time and look beautiful doing it. However, on occasion the needs of the homeowner change and therefore the home needs to change as well. This is what happened at a residence in Bellevue, WA. A few years ago, Curtis Gelotte and Eric Drivdahl …

Add Some Intrigue and Security With a Secret Room

All too often, you walk into a home and discover exactly what you expect. A tidy living room, well-decorated dining room, and a tasteful bathroom greet you. Whether you’re overly impressed by the decor or not, you’re rarely surprised. That all changes when you integrate a secret passage or hidden room into your home. Suddenly, …

How to float a house through the Ballard Locks

Our project English Country Estate commenced on Monday by removing the existing house and floating it up to the San Juans via barge. That’s roughly a 100 nautical miles or so from where it started. The process went smoothly, and everyone had a really fun time watching the feat of engineering take place. To see …

Friday Fun – The Aqua Nook

Happy Friday everyone! Here is Seattle our Friday is bright and filled with – FISH! That’s right, fish. One of our underway projects has had a fun turn of design over the last few days and I wanted to share. In our project “The Redmond Residence” there is a grand entrance leading you into hallway …

New renderings of one of our underway projects Deliberate Demense

We received renderings on one of our projects Deliberate Demense today. Take a look! The property is still under construction and looks very different to these renderings (especially the landscaping), but this is the direction we are headed.