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Mercer Island Dining Room Addition
Exquisite Views - A Dining Room Designed for Entertaining
Challenge
This substantial Mercer Island home enjoyed sweeping Lake Washington views but lacked a true formal dining room, making it difficult to host seated dinner parties or move guests easily between the main living areas and the outdoor entertaining deck. The homeowners wanted a new dining space large enough to seat 12 with room for caterers to circulate, direct access from the main floor down to the entertaining level, and a generous expanse of glass with a level threshold to the outside, all while preserving their highly customized interior finishes and architecturally detailed exterior. Steep, shared driveway access, stormy fall and winter weather during construction, discontinued European siding and waterproofing components, and a complex, several-hundred‑pound custom light fixture added layers of logistical and technical difficulty that had to be addressed without disrupting the existing home.
Solution
Nip Tuck Remodeling designed a formal dining room addition off the main floor that comfortably seats 12 and maintains clear circulation for serving, aligning it with the existing kitchen and living spaces to create a natural flow out toward the view. The team installed a three-panel LaCantina sliding door with a flush transition to new heated flooring that meets the existing hardwoods, then added a custom exterior catwalk and Batu hardwood stair with LED-lit treads to connect directly to the entertaining deck below. They tented the project to manage severe weather, carefully matched the discontinued siding, extended aluminum and stained wood soffits, and mirrored the interior soffit detail to conceal electric shades and support the statement light fixture, using material lifts and meticulous handling to place it without damaging the acrylic panels.
Result
The finished dining room feels as if it has always belonged to the home, seamlessly extending the main floor while framing expansive lake views and creating an effortless path to the outdoor entertaining spaces. The homeowners can now host formal dinners for 12 with comfortable circulation for guests and caterers, enjoy a strong indoor-outdoor connection through the large sliding door and custom stair, and take advantage of modern comfort and energy performance without sacrificing the home’s original character.
