What began as a simple request to arrange this homeowner’s furnishings from the sale of a previous home, into one of Kirkland’s much-sought-after historically based Marsh Commons homes, landed interior designer Nicole Hopper the chance to start afresh by remodeling its entire interiors.
“I thought we were just doing the furniture,” recalls Hopper, voted 2022 Best Interior Designer by Kirkland Living Magazine, “but during the next walk through, the homeowner said, ‘Let’s start over with the kitchen.’” Even then, it wasn’t clear how deep the homeowners wanted to go until they suggested opening the home’s very dark interiors by removing the kitchen walls between the dining room and staircase. At that point, Hopper was grateful for having recommended Viktor Turchik of Remont Construction as her choice for a reliable contractor, who promptly estimated the costs and the feasibility of its structural impact. “While Nicole was working with the design,” says Turchik, “we went back and forth with the engineers in order to give the homeowners as much information as possible before creating renderings of Nicole’s design for her to present to the homeowners.”
“We looked at three other contractors before deciding to go with Remont,” says the homeowner. His biggest proviso was that he and his wife wanted to maintain the quality of the original architecture established by Louis S. Marsh, one of Boeing Aircraft’s three original engineers, who had commissioned Seattle architect Edwin Ivey to design the 1929 Marsh Mansion in the French Eclectic Revival style.
Consequently, Hopper designed the kitchen not only as a comfortable space for the couple’s children to do their homework seated at the Calacatta Gold island while their parents prepped for dinner, but more importantly as a type of chef’s dream for a future buyer. By nixing the gas cooktop formerly located atop an overly large island with no room for barstools, she was able to place the scene-stealing, state-of-the-art handcrafted Italian Ilve range where double ovens had once darkened the room. Turchik completed the airier look by fashioning Hopper’s rangehood design using his early skills as a plasterer.
At Meta Marble & Granite, Hopper snagged two pieces of gorgeous Calacatta Gold marble for behind the range, providing delicious contrast against the Ilve range’s matte black finish with brass. “I needed six pieces, so I had to find 4 more,” she says, recalling how beautiful all 6 of them were. “I wanted to work with the layout of the stone so its design would look like art as it flowed throughout the kitchen.”
In keeping with the homeowner’s modern style, Hopper added romantic details throughout the home to emulate his wife’s style. Nowhere was this more evident than in Hopper’s redesign of the very traditional, squared off, dark fireplace into a simple, whitewashed French inspired one with an elegant arch. It was Turchik who had to seamlessly hide its structural working elements, including adding a switch.
Turchik says he spends a great deal of time on preconstruction to avoid any problems when on site. Thus, when the existing marble tile entry floor didn’t match the height of the newly laid Paris Oak Uptown flooring from Riverwood Floors, his crew was able to raise them to match. “I’d seen this happen on my husband’s real estate clients’ homes,” says Hopper, “and they were never resolved. Viktor had it fixed within an hour. I couldn’t believe it!” Turchik explains it this way. “We were at the house multiple times with different sub-contractors, making sure we had everything correctly executed, which is why we can do these projects on time, on budget,” he says.
The homeowner, who has done several remodel projects, praises the way the threesome, Hopper, Turchik, and themselves worked together seamlessly. “In the end, it was the people who made the transformation successful. Remont gave us clear and concise quotes. Their project manager gave us bi-weekly updates. Nicole took control of the whole project, making sure there were no roadblocks with the contractor or supplier. In the end, everyone delivered what they promised, and we celebrated by taking them all out!”
PROJECT SOURCES
CONTRACTOR
Remont Construction
remontconstruction.com
INTERIOR DESIGN
Nicole Hopper Interiors
nicolehopperinteriors.com
