{"id":659042,"date":"2026-06-26T08:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/659042\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T08:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:56:12","slug":"a-20th-century-house-on-the-edge-of-seattle-with-a-surprisingly-sophisticated-old-world-feel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/659042\/","title":{"rendered":"A 20th-century house on the edge of Seattle with a surprisingly sophisticated, old-world feel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The owner\u2019s references provided a starting point, highlighting Japanese influences, old-world materials, and rich, saturated colour. It was a brief that suited Heidi\u2019s instincts well, and she began to conceive the answer to her question: a blend of antique and vintage pieces, a sophisticated colour palette, intriguingly textured materials, and a judicious use of bold pattern. Restraint was key: \u2018It couldn\u2019t be a maximalist house,\u2019 notes Heidi. \u2018It doesn\u2019t have the architecture to support that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Heidi\u2019s approach was to make use of plenty of pattern, but balance the richer spaces with quieter, calmer ones nearby. Large-scale, painterly patterns are one of the striking elements of the house \u2013 mostly used on the walls to maximise their impact, rather than on furniture and textiles \u2013 they stop short of dominating the interior. The entrance hall sets the tone with L\u00e5ngelid von Br\u00f6mssen\u2019s botanical \u2018Toromiro\u2019 wallpaper, and the dining room continues the idea with a classically elegant chinoiserie paper. The living room between them acts as punctuation, a calm pause amidst the rich pattern. \u2018It feels like a breath of fresh air,\u2019 says Heidi.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

In the dining room, a \u2018Yamadori\u2019 chinoiserie wallcovering by Watts 1874 forms the background for a custom dining table by Heidi Cailier Design and mid-century dining chairs.<\/p>\n

Haris Kenjar<\/p>\n

The kitchen is perhaps the most exciting demonstration of Heidi\u2019s ability to introduce drama in unexpected ways. Relatively small and boxy, the room seemed especially unpromising at first, but Heidi\u2019s decision to commit to exuberant pattern on the upper walls was transformative, and even more so was the decision to do it not with wallpaper but with hand-painted tiles. Commissioned for the kitchen from Wales-based artist Freyja Lee<\/a>, whose work Heidi had discovered on Instagram, these tiles now work as a centrepiece for the house. \u2018The client balked at it initially,\u2019 Heidi admits. \u2018It was literally the one thing she wasn\u2019t sure about. And now I think it\u2019s everybody\u2019s favourite.\u2019<\/p>\n

A loose motif can be a brilliant way to make a house feel cohesive, and Heidi has carried the botanical theme into other rooms, with another Chinoiserie-inspired wallpaper making a jewel box out of the downstairs loo, while softer landscape murals add atmosphere to the bedrooms, and delicate leaves trail around the bathroom walls. Varied in scale and intensity, these patterns form a subtle thread throughout the house, while allowing for the differing moods of each space. The more public rooms of the entrance hall, dining room and kitchen are dramatic and confident, but the main bedroom, by contrast, has a pleasingly restful feel, with a misty mural inspired by the trees and landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. It has an immersive effect, but its muted palette makes it suitable for the calm mood of the bedroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owner\u2019s references provided a starting point, highlighting Japanese influences, old-world materials, and rich, saturated colour. It was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[39941,6225,6485,6486,6642,7884,1120,96,7886,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-659042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-american-houses","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-city","tag-city-houses","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-traditional-city","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}