For a Modern ‘Brady Bunch,’ a Modernist Family Home in Seattle

When Brandon Ebel and Sarah Jio began setting up a existence with each other, they couldn’t pass up the parallels involving their personal families and a specific tv present.

“We have a ‘Brady Bunch’ situation heading on,” mentioned Mr. Ebel, 51, who has two daughters and a son from his previous marriage, even though Ms. Jio, 43, has three sons from her prior relationship.

“We had really satisfied every other in the ’90s, when she was dating the direct singer of one particular of my punk rock bands,” mentioned Mr. Ebel, the founder of Tooth & Nail Data and Stable Condition Documents, and an operator of the coffee company Caffe Vita. “Then we equally ended up finding divorced and achieved each and every other on line yet again, 20 years later.”

Mr. Ebel owned a residence in Seattle, as did Ms. Jio, a journalist and creator whose most recent novel, “With Like from London,” is out this 7 days. But soon after getting engaged in December 2017, they realized that neither dwelling was substantial adequate to maintain their put together entourage, together with six little ones who now array in age from 10 to 17.

Fortunately, Mr. Ebel had a plan. “I had experienced a eyesight to develop a modern-day dwelling for just about 20 several years,” he stated. “And when Sarah and I fell in love, I was in the system of locating the excellent ton.”

In 2015, he experienced noticed a potential tear-down property on a primary hilltop good deal in Seattle’s Magnolia community, and approached the homeowners about advertising. It turned out that they ended up nearing retirement and receptive to the idea, and soon after two many years of negotiations, Mr. Ebel purchased the house for $1.2 million.

Ms. Jio promptly comprehended why he favored it. “It has this stunning watch of the Seattle skyline, the Place Needle, the ferries coming in from Bainbridge Island and Mount Rainier,” she claimed. “It really just usually takes your breath away.”

She was a lot less sure about Mr. Ebel’s intention to produce a modernist compound. “I was form of a latecomer to modern day design, and I was a very little fearful the household he experienced envisioned would be cold, and not a warm place for a family members,” she said. “I generate a ton of historic fiction and frequently return to the 1940s, 1930s in my storytelling, so I enjoy a standard household.”

The couple’s architects, Jon Gentry and Aimée O’Carroll, of GO’C, place Ms. Jio’s concerns to relaxation when they presented their style for the 5,500-square-foot dwelling. “I liked it quickly, and I didn’t count on that — it truly stunned me,” Ms. Jio claimed. “It was a modern-day dwelling of these types of warmth.”

The couple had given Mr. Gentry and Ms. O’Carroll a thorough would like list for their new house, and the architects experienced seemingly ticked each box. “Brandon explained he didn’t want to give all the young children substantial bedrooms the place they would just go and hide out,” Ms. O’Carroll said. “So we created a communal house for the little ones to hang out in and scaled-down bedrooms that really encourage men and women to be together.”

The final result is a collection of 6 compact bedrooms of around 80 sq. feet apiece, clustered around a committed children’s dwelling space with communal desks, on the leading degree of the 3-tale home. “I get in touch with them ship’s cabins,” Ms. Jio stated. “They have their privateness and autonomy, but then they can appear out and be brothers and sisters.”

A bridge-like walkway qualified prospects from the children’s place to the key suite, which has a bedroom that cantilevers out from the relaxation of the house, to just take maximum advantage of the watch. “It just explodes open with glass and metal to frame that view,” Mr. Gentry explained.

One particular amount down, the major flooring has far more room for gathering. An expansive double-top residing space is open up to a huge kitchen area with walnut cabinets, an 8-burner Lacanche range and an island that seats 6.

“That kitchen is so very well employed and so properly loved,” Ms. Jio reported. “I’m a significant gardener and a large cook.”

In the summer time, she harvests vegetables, fruits and herbs from the rooftop garden, which is accessible by means of a perforated-metal staircase. “We have a kiwi vine, grapevines and, this calendar year, we had a large fig harvest,” she mentioned. “The kids appreciate it and go up to pick golden raspberries and blueberries, or I’ll question them to seize me some basil or rosemary for evening meal.”

The kitchen flows seamlessly into an indoor eating location terminating in sliding-glass doorways that open up to an out of doors kitchen area and a huge terrace with a firepit. There is also a library with a steel-clad fireplace and partitions lined with textbooks and records that reflect the couple’s passions. The lower degree has far more hangout areas, including a household theater and a game room, and gives access to the pool.

Soon after their contractor, Thomas Fragnoli Development, broke floor in April 2018, Mr. Ebel and Ms. Jio married in July 2019 while their aspiration home was underneath building. “We stored delaying our relationship, just mainly because this house was getting a prolonged time,” Mr. Ebel mentioned.

Even soon after their wedding ceremony, they continued splitting their time among their two personal houses, and did not absolutely go in jointly right until their new dwelling was finished in November 2020, at a value of about $1,000 a square foot.

They are now last but not least settled, and marvel at how the dwelling supports the entire household spending time together, when providing enough different locations for each and every person to come across some private area.

“It has turn out to be our family members household,” Ms. Jio explained, “and a position of pleasure.”

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