When Brandon Ebel and Sarah Jio started planning a life together, they couldn’t miss the parallels between their own families and a particular television show.
“We have a ‘Brady Bunch’ situation,” said Mr. Ebel, 51, who has two daughters and a son from his previous marriage, while Ms. Jio, 43, has three sons from her previous marriage.
“We had met in the ’90s when she was dating the lead singer of one of my punk rock bands,” said Mr. Ebel, the founder of Tooth & Nail Records and Solid State Records, and owner of the coffee company Caffe Vita. “Then we both got divorced and we met again online 20 years later.”
Mr. Ebel owned a house in Seattle, as did Mrs. Jio, a journalist and author whose latest novel, “With Love from London,” is out this week. But after getting engaged in December 2017, they realized that neither house was big enough to accommodate their combined entourage, which included six children who are now between the ages of 10 and 17.
Fortunately, Mr. Ebel had a plan. “I had a vision of building a modern house for almost 20 years,” he said. “And when Sarah and I fell in love, I was trying to find the perfect lot.”
In 2015, he’d spotted a potentially demolished home on a prime hilltop lot in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood, and approached the owners about the sale. It turned out that they were nearing retirement and were receptive to the idea, and after two years of negotiations, Mr. Ebel bought the property for $1.2 million.
Mrs. Jio immediately understood why he liked it. “It has this beautiful view of the Seattle skyline, the Space Needle, the ferries arriving from Bainbridge Island and Mount Rainier,” she said. “It really takes your breath away.”
She was less certain about Mr. Ebel’s intention to create a modernist complex. “I was a bit of a latecomer to modern design, and I was a little worried that the house he envisioned would be cold, and not a warm place for a family,” she said. “I write a lot of historical fiction and often go back to the 1940s, 1930s in my stories, so I like a traditional house.”
The couple’s architects, Jon Gentry and Aimée O’Carroll, of GO’C, allayed Ms. Jio’s concerns when they presented their design for the 5,500-square-foot home. “I loved it right away, and I wasn’t expecting that — it actually shocked me,” said Ms. Jio. “It was a modern house with such warmth.”
The couple had given Mr. Gentry and Mrs. O’Carroll a detailed wish list for their new home, and the architects had seemingly ticked every box. “Brandon said he didn’t want to give all the kids big bedrooms where they could just hide,” Mrs. O’Carroll said. “So we created a common area where the kids can hang out and smaller bedrooms that encourage people to be together.”
The result is a series of six compact bedrooms of approximately 80 square meters each, clustered around a dedicated children’s living room with communal desks, on the top floor of the three-storey house. “I call them cabins,” Mrs. Jio said. “They have their privacy and autonomy, but then they can come out and be siblings.”
A bridge-like walkway leads from the children’s area to the primary suite, which has a bedroom that overlooks the rest of the house, to take maximum advantage of the view. “It just explodes open with glass and steel to frame that view,” said Mr Gentry.
One level down, the ground floor has more space to gather. A large double-height living room leads to a large kitchen with walnut cabinets, an eight-burner Lacanche stove and an island that seats six.
“That kitchen is so well used and so loved,” said Ms. Jio. “I am a great gardener and a great cook.”
In the summer she harvests vegetables, fruits and herbs from the roof garden, which is accessed by a perforated metal staircase. “We have a kiwi vine, vines and this year we had a big fig crop,” she said. “The kids love it and go upstairs to pick golden raspberries and blueberries, or I’ll ask them to get me some basil or rosemary for dinner.”
The kitchen flows seamlessly into an indoor dining area that ends in sliding glass doors that open out to an outdoor kitchen and large deck with a fire pit. There is also a library with a steel-clad fireplace and walls filled with books and records reflecting the couple’s passions. The lower level has more meeting areas, including a home theater and games room, and access to the pool.
After their contractor, Thomas Fragnoli Construction, got off the ground in April 2018, Mr. Ebel and Ms. Jio got married in July 2019 while their dream home was under construction. “We kept postponing our wedding just because this house was taking a long time,” Mr. Ebel said.
Even after their marriage, they continued to divide their time between their two individual homes and did not move in fully until their new home was completed in November 2020, at about $1,000 per square foot.
They are now finally settled and marveling at how the house supports the whole family to spend time together, while there are enough separate spaces for each person to find some private space.
“It has become our family home,” Ms. Jio said, “and a place of joy.”
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