{"id":928,"date":"2020-03-28T17:37:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T16:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/flen-wp\/?p=928"},"modified":"2025-10-07T17:15:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T15:15:25","slug":"a-brand-new-floating-home-on-the-edge-of-lake-union-is-buoyed-by-amazing-views-protected-privacy-and-a-multihued-exterior-inspired-by-the-great-blue-heron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/2020\/03\/28\/a-brand-new-floating-home-on-the-edge-of-lake-union-is-buoyed-by-amazing-views-protected-privacy-and-a-multihued-exterior-inspired-by-the-great-blue-heron\/","title":{"rendered":"A brand-new floating home on the edge of Lake Union is buoyed by amazing views, protected privacy and a multihued exterior inspired by the Great Blue Heron\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"928\" class=\"elementor elementor-928\" 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data-ha_rcc_uid=\"\" class=\"hajs-slick ha-slick ha-slick--carousel\">\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-slide slick-slide\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ha-slick-img\" src=\"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/02242020_houseboat_153903.webp\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-slide slick-slide\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ha-slick-img\" src=\"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/02242020_houseboat_153904.webp\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-slide slick-slide\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ha-slick-img\" src=\"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/02242020_houseboat_153908.webp\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-slide slick-slide\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ha-slick-img\" src=\"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/02242020_houseboat_153912.webp\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-slide slick-slide\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ha-slick-img\" src=\"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/02242020_houseboat_153913.webp\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-slide slick-slide\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ha-slick-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ha-slick-img\" src=\"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/02242020_houseboat_153906.webp\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<button type=\"button\" class=\"slick-prev\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-left\" viewBox=\"0 0 320 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M34.52 239.03L228.87 44.69c9.37-9.37 24.57-9.37 33.94 0l22.67 22.67c9.36 9.36 9.37 24.52.04 33.9L131.49 256l154.02 154.75c9.34 9.38 9.32 24.54-.04 33.9l-22.67 22.67c-9.37 9.37-24.57 9.37-33.94 0L34.52 272.97c-9.37-9.37-9.37-24.57 0-33.94z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<button type=\"button\" class=\"slick-next\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-right\" viewBox=\"0 0 320 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M285.476 272.971L91.132 467.314c-9.373 9.373-24.569 9.373-33.941 0l-22.667-22.667c-9.357-9.357-9.375-24.522-.04-33.901L188.505 256 34.484 101.255c-9.335-9.379-9.317-24.544.04-33.901l22.667-22.667c9.373-9.373 24.569-9.373 33.941 0L285.475 239.03c9.373 9.372 9.373 24.568.001 33.941z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-66ac2711 elementor-widget elementor-widget-typography\" data-id=\"66ac2711\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"typography.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<p style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"text-anime\" >By Sandy Deneau Dunham<br>\nPacific NW magazine associate editor<br><br>\nGREAT BLUE HERONS alight \u2014 a lot \u2014 along this glistening stretch of Lake Union. Could be the impressive fishers simply have landed on the perfect, protected perch for that statue-standing thing they do \u2014 right up until they lightning-strike.\n<br>\nCould be they\u2019re doing that inquisitive-bird \u201cAre You My Mother?\u201d thing, imprinting on the mesmerizing new floating home just across the water.\n\nCouldn\u2019t really blame them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ef797c8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-typography\" data-id=\"ef797c8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"typography.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<p style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"text-anime\" >Tickets for the 2020 Seattle Floating Homes Tour go on sale in July. The tour takes place on Sunday, Sept. 13, from noon to 5 p.m., and will feature homes on Westlake and Eastlake, including Rob Widmeyer and Kathy Lynch\u2019s floating home, inspired by the Great Blue Heron. See seattlefloatinghomes.org for more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0248504 elementor-widget elementor-widget-typography\" data-id=\"0248504\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"typography.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<p style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"text-anime\" >Rob Widmeyer and Kathy Lynch\u2019s new floating home was inspired by these very neighbors of nature.\n<br>\n\u201cWildlife is a big thing here,\u201d says Widmeyer. \u201cWe get blue herons around all the time. They\u2019re just so big and gracious, and I like the coloration. So we were trying to figure out what color to make the outside of the house.\u201d<br>\n\nJust as with the inspirational big birds, one shade of blue simply would not do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-75d1686 elementor-widget elementor-widget-typography\" data-id=\"75d1686\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"typography.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<p style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"text-anime\" >\u201cThere are five colors,\u201d says architect Daren Doss, of Chadbourne + Doss Architects, who worked with Lisa Chadbourne, builder Dyna and designer\/colorist Eduardo Mendoza of The Enchanted Home. \u201cThis is where the metaphor of a Great Blue Heron kind of helped us \u2014 not only with the colors, but the way we detailed the siding. It\u2019s a lot like feathers overlapping each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ed6c1e7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-typography\" data-id=\"ed6c1e7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"typography.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<p style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"text-anime\" >Widmeyer and Lynch have overlapped with water and nature, from this same special slip, for decades. Their previous floating home here had just one level, a Quonset hut roof, a sunporch with old windows \u2014 and, like its dockmates, lots of history.\n<br>\n\u201cThe houseboats were started by loggers, and then, in the \u201920s, they became summer homes,\u201d says Lynch, who visited her aunt\u2019s houseboat as a little girl and remembers chopping wood for heat in her first houseboat, one dock over.\n<br>\nThings are a little different now. Though the float is not at all bigger (1,100 square feet), the couple\u2019s previous single-story house enclosed 750 to 800 square feet, says Widmeyer, while the new two-story one holds about 1,550.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3d7c4bc elementor-widget elementor-widget-typography\" data-id=\"3d7c4bc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"typography.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<p style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"text-anime\" >And now, this is an all-season, all-access, totally custom floating home, with room for everything. \u201cWith a [floating home], it only has a certain footprint, and they did such an excellent job of laying out this house perfectly for us,\u201d Lynch says. \u201cWe have plenty of storage, which is unheard of. We have an elevator. We have a laundry room instead of a closet. It\u2019s wonderful.\u201d\n<br>\nIn the winter, Widmeyer and Lynch turn off the heat and switch on the horizontal bioethanol fireplace on the upper level, which warms the whole home. \u201cIt puts out heat but doesn\u2019t cook the space. It\u2019s really easy to use,\u201d says Doss.\n<br>\nThis new custom floating home is designed for aging in place, and the elevator already has come in handy. Right after moving in, Lynch says, \u201cI fell up the stairs and broke two bones in my foot and was in a wheelchair all summer. I use it quite often.\u201d Just months later, Widmeyer broke his foot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6ebe6a5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-typography\" data-id=\"6ebe6a5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"typography.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<p style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"text-anime\" >\u201cWe didn\u2019t really make the house \u2018accessible,\u2019 specifically, but it is,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are no places you can\u2019t get if you\u2019re encumbered.\u201d\n<br>\nAnd, while the master suite, guest room and even laundry room are lake-level lovely, you\u2019ll definitely want to get upstairs.\n<br>\nTwo 6-by-6-foot corner nooks bracket the living and dining areas and kitchen, all joined by a covered porch, where Jax the Klein Poodle puppy has a handy potty patch. One nook is an office; the other a library, with \u201cthe best view in the house,\u201d Lynch says \u2014 over the lake, past a park and to the city, and everything (and everyone) in between.\n<br>\n\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting design challenge, because of course there\u2019s the view to capture, but there are also privacy concerns,\u201d Doss says. \u201cWe had to contend with those two constraints, which are opposing, and to make matters even more interesting, the house was built over at the Dyna docks, so not on-site, so not only during design, but during construction, we had to visualize what these spaces would feel like once the [home] was towed into place. And because the existing houseboat was only one floor, we couldn\u2019t get up to see exactly what it would be like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-becb363 elementor-widget elementor-widget-typography\" data-id=\"becb363\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"typography.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<p style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"text-anime\" >Widmeyer, a retired architect, says he\u2019d venture up to the roof of the previous houseboat to \u201ctake a picture of the view, north and south, then go over to the construction site and take pictures and get them to be the same scaling. Not only couldn\u2019t you see the view, but you couldn\u2019t get a sense of how the light was going to come into the house, because it was turned around over there; it was all backward.\u201d\n<br>\nThanks to \u201cmultiple levels of privacy screens,\u201d Doss says, along with creative solutions to multiple challenges, everything aligns now \u2014 privacy and views; water, heron and floating-home blues; nature and architecture.\n<br>\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t really know what we were going to see, or the light,\u201d Widmeyer says. \u201cBut I think it came out great. All the surprises have been good surprises.\u201d\n<br>\nSandy Deneau Dunham writes about architecture and design for Pacific NW and is associate editor of the magazine. Reach her at sdunham@seattletimes.com. Benjamin Benschneider is a Washington-based freelance photographer; benschneiderphoto.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sandy Deneau Dunham Pacific NW magazine associate editor GREAT BLUE HERONS alight \u2014 a lot \u2014 along this glistening stretch of Lake Union. Could be the impressive fishers simply&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2162,"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions\/2162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduardomendozadesign.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}