House Tour: Clean and Modern Inspires in Seattle

Alek of From the Right Bank's home is like a catalog or a well-staged magazine photo: basically, it looks like what I've always wanted my home to look like -- clean, modern, with every detail in its place. Her story, to me, is like a dream. She moved from Paris to Seattle only to find a new, green contemporary house in the middle of the city. They didn't have to do anything other than decorate! She calls her house "a hodgepodge of different styles." (In a good way!)

Alek is a big fan of Scandinavian design, and she moved from Europe with a sack full of European art and antiques. "Pulling all that together in a contemporary house has been both challenging and fun," she says.

Her home is quite modern inside, but her furnishings are eclectic, which (for me) is a match made in heaven. The modern backdrop allowed each of her pieces, whether store-bought or scavenged, to garner attention. The neutral palettes of the home strike just the right balance between graphic patterns, splashes of bold color and large focal walls.

In the living room (above, left), a collection of French and Flemish paintings are hung over a contemporary sofa from Alchemy, a local company, and a coffee table from Roche Bobois. A "Pop" chair from Ligne Roset sits across from the sofa and on the wall are two drawings she bought in a junk shop in Florence years ago (first photo). The striped rug is from IKEA.

In the dining room, the table (above right) is from Kartell and the seating is a mix of Arne Jacobsen Series 7 chairs and Louis XVI chairs that Alek found at the Marché aux Puces, a fleamarket in Paris. The antique chandelier is also from the Marché. She has been collecting black and white photography for a while now and luckily, she had a large wall to display all of her treasures.

Alek's bedroom (above left) is as simple as it can be: all white. She explains, "I tried introducing some color in there a couple of times, but I always keep going back to the white. To me, there's just nothing more serene than a white bedroom." Amen, sister. There is a white upholstered headboard and bedding and for some visual interest, she hung a white Baroque style mirror that she found at a sample sale at the Seattle Design Center.

One of her favorite parts of her house is the little reading corner on the upstairs landing (above right). The huge windows there bring in lots of natural light all day. The toile covered Bergère style chair is from an antique store in Paris and the ceramic garden stool is from Gump's.

Love house tours? So do we. Take a spin around Angela Adam's house.