London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

A Seattle Couple Design a Home Around Indoor/Outdoor Gathering Spaces

A Seattle Couple Design a Home Around Indoor/Outdoor Gathering Spaces

A designer duo add 1,200 square feet to their petite bungalow and create a private courtyard where the whole family can converge near the garden.

When Sharon Khosla and Chris Armes, founders of furniture design studio 16th Workshop, were house hunting in Seattle in 2013, the couple were looking for a small residence. "As designers, we were looking for a home that we could add on to and make our own," says Sharon, who is also principal at Fivedot, a local architecture firm. The designer couple soon found an 825-square-foot bungalow on a corner lot in the Central Area neighborhood. Then, they hashed out plans for a brand-new addition that would help their family of four spread out.



A new, two-story wing now hosts all of the home’s bedrooms. On the main floor of the 1,200-square-foot addition, the couple incorporated an extra room to ensure that are enough accommodations if the grandparents come to live with them in the future. Consolidating the bedrooms to the new wing freed up the original home to become what the owners refer to as a "great room" that centers around the kitchen.

"We find that most of our activities, whether as an intimate family or with larger groups, always happen around food, or whatever comes in from the garden," Sharon says.



The centerpiece of the kitchen is a large island that sits under a skylight adorned with hanging orchids and tropical plants. The light-filled space features custom Oregon white oak cabinetry built by 16th Workshop, which is also integrated into the central kitchen island. This handcrafted feel threads throughout the rest of the home, where various spaces feature additional case goods by 16th Workshop, as well as bespoke light fixtures from the United Kingdom and Texas, and handmade Fireclay tiles.



The homeowners wanted the new wing to protect the lush backyard garden. "We pushed the addition as far to one side as possible to preserve as much space in the sun as we could," says Sharon. Now, the L-shaped home-which is clad with vertical cedar siding-encases a private rear courtyard.



Since the Central Area Home was completed in 2018, the serene outdoor courtyard has served as a site where the family gathers throughout the year. The married couple often drink their daily morning chai in the backyard and "watch the hummingbirds feed on the sage," Sharon says. Meanwhile, the children use the space to bounce on pogo sticks or have ping-pong competitions.



In the evening, the family sometimes hosts small gatherings around the fire pit. And the list goes on: "Dance parties. Dinner parties. Yoga and late afternoon naps. The courtyard also gets used for drying the garden harvest and making marigold garlands for Diwali," Sharon says. "How does it not get used!"



A peek at the Central Area Home before the 2018 renovation by Fivedot.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×