22/04/2026
Story time: Five years ago, on my birthday, we toured this house and saw so much potential. A house that needed updates, but was on acreage and felt like something we could put our mark on. We knew that any house we bought we would want to change things, so a fixer upper that we could live in while we made our plans was ideal. We began working on a design with a 1,000 sq ft addition, only to be derailed when the budget came back double (plus) what we could spend… oh and the city needed us to spend for more environmental surveys and might limit us to 500 sq ft, which would have necessitated expensive redesign. Frustrated and discouraged, we took some time off from the project and last year, I redesigned the scope on my own to fit within the current footprint of the house. It’s a smaller overall project than we had hoped for, but we have grown to love our neighborhood and location, and think the current plan will get us another 10-20 years in this house.
This footage was from a tour I did when we first got the keys, and you can watch that over at . Since we’re posting here on the Bower page most of the time, I’ll be sharing the project here.
If you’re new here: I’m Maggie Stephens, and I’ve been designing homes for clients since 2013ish and live on an island near Seattle. I source and sell vintage home decor through my store Bower, as well as offer design consultations.
