Nautilus Studio: Creative Living in 600 Square Feet
Two Seattle artists turn a tiny storage space into their ultimate canvas
Louise Lakier is a contributing photographer for Houzz. She is a designer, a construction manager, a photographer, traveler and storyteller. She is currently in Central America.
Louise Lakier is a contributing photographer for Houzz. She is a designer,... More »
Seattle artists Jethaniel Peterka and Yvette Endrijautzki were looking for a rental where they could live and work when they came across an empty storage space above a pet store in the heart of the city's Georgetown arts district. The space had potential, but it was small. They peered through a few holes in the wall, realized the living space could double, and were sold.
The transformation of the storage space into their home took a year and a half. They gutted the space and reclaimed the attic, adding plumbing and heat. Everything was designed with the efficiency and style of a ship in mind.
Now, Nautilus Studio functions as a living space and studio with art built into the walls. Found objects and salvaged materials like pipes, valves and tools are functional and decorative. The result is a home that is eclectic yet efficient, and an intriguing work of evolving art.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Artists Yvette Endrijautzki, Jethaniel Peterka and their cat Gobi
Location: Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington
Size: Approximately 600 square feet
The transformation of the storage space into their home took a year and a half. They gutted the space and reclaimed the attic, adding plumbing and heat. Everything was designed with the efficiency and style of a ship in mind.
Now, Nautilus Studio functions as a living space and studio with art built into the walls. Found objects and salvaged materials like pipes, valves and tools are functional and decorative. The result is a home that is eclectic yet efficient, and an intriguing work of evolving art.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Artists Yvette Endrijautzki, Jethaniel Peterka and their cat Gobi
Location: Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington
Size: Approximately 600 square feet
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by Louise Lakier
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| The bedroom was reclaimed from attic crawlspace. The addition of skylights created a cozy sleeping space. Carpet was salvaged from a carpet business in the Seattle SoDo — or south of downtown — neighborhood. Louise Lakier: What is your decorating philosophy? Yvette Endrijautzki: I guess I have a problem with the modern world and its forgotten treasures and values. I find it important to bring the good matter from the past back into the now and break away from the faux and artificial like plastic, laminate, rubber, styrofoam, etc. Recycling and salvaging materials is an important factor that runs throughout the whole house. The old times rule here at the Nautilus with a nautical spirit, combining industrial remnants with traces of Victorian times, old world curiosities with an oriental flai, and a mad scientist's laboratory with a puff of gypsy dust. Jethaniel Peterka: A puff of mummy dust, rather ... I 'd like to live in a world immersed in old world natural science: botany, zoology, books, specimen, instruments and charts. My collection of botanical and animal specimen are important parts of my decor. They make me feel at home in a sort of past life nostalgia. Create the world you want to live in! Yvette Endrijautzki: Or the world will create you! Paint, windows, and building materials: Habitat for Humanity |
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by Louise Lakier
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| Swinging doors provide some privacy to the bedroom, enabling the light from the skylight to filter in. The wood counter was found at Second Use. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The decorative metal screen and porthole window in the door allude to the intriguing experience beyond. The porthole was found at The Seattle Antique Market. LL: What is your proudest homeowner moment? JP: Installing a skylight that didn't leak. YE: The day we opened the doors to friends, family and public. (Georgetown Artwalk). |
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by Louise Lakier
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| Creative and innovative transformations of space and storage are abundant throughout their home, starting with the exterior. On the front porch, a small table folds out for outdoor eating with seating. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The pair found the stove on Craigslist. The faucets, sinks, windows, cabinets, light fixtures and wood trim are from Second Use in Seattle. LL: Where are your favorite places to shop for your home? JP: Small town antique shops and of course Second Use, but my eyes are always open for the free signs! YE: Thrift stores, antique shops, Habitat for Humanity, Second Use and Earthwise but a lot of good stuff is to be found on Craigslist and eBay as well. But better than shopping: Do it yourself! A ship's ladder leads up to Endrijautzki's second-floor studio, which did not exist before the remodel. Peterka and Endrijautzki opened up the dividing wall to let the light stream in from the dining window. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The 1890s bar chairs in a breakfast nook come from Jules Maes Saloon. The table surface is an original resin creation, constructed and installed by Endrijautzki. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| Another tile mosaic enlivens the kitchen wall behind the sink. The trim is a metal conveyer belt salvaged from a metal yard in Germany. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The living room is filled with art and antique furnishings. An opening in a wall encourages one to look through to discover something new. A ladder encourages one to explore. Furniture from Goodwill, The Seattle Antique Market and Craigslist. LL: If you could have four famous people over for dinner, you would invite: JP: Although not quite famous per se: my painting teachers from Loire Valley, France, Timothy Stotz, Michelle Tully, Anthony J. Ryder and Ted Seth Jacobs. YE: Madame Blavatsky, Albert Einstein, Friedrich Nietzsche and Harry Houdini. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| A shared studio inhabits the attic space. Skylights and a new window bring in light, plants thrive amid the art supplies. LL: Where is your favorite spot or room in your home? JP: In the studio in the attic in the late afternoon, when the old brewery is glowing with beautiful light from the sunset and my skylights are glowing gold without a leak! YE: It really depends on the weather in my head and the weather outside. As Jethaniel says, "Light plays an important role!" |
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by Louise Lakier
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| Gobi has his own porthole to the outdoors. The mini porthole window and nautical equipment are finds from Second Wave. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The entry hall features a gallery display. The Nautilus Studio hosts an open studio for the Georgetown Artwalk once a month. LL: Do you have a favorite designer or artist? JP: Lloyd Kahn for his introduction to primitive and alternative architecture around the world. My Dad for showing me amazing transformations from shacks to temples. Leonardo DaVinci for the inspiration to be a true Renaissance man. The Vitruvian man is forever burned in my brain. YE: Gaudi for the stunning beauty and grace, the organic shapes and the intricacies. Keith Lo Bue for his wonderful, dreamlike imagination and the multi-use of unthinkable materials. Al Farrow for his architectural mind and the sociopolitical significance. Gropius for being a pioneer of combining arts and crafts in design and architecture, and all the unknown primitive architects of the past that have given us a cornerstone for our modern world ar(t)chitecture. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The bathroom features a lace-like mosaic that creates the feel of a personal bathing grotto. Peterka and Endrijautzki designed and created the installation with tiles salvaged from a Dumpster. Tile work can be found accenting walls and backsplashes throughout the house. LL: What was your biggest design dilemma? JP: The fact that we had to revamp the bathroom plan, because the bathtub and toilet needed to be raised a foot to allow for proper drainage. Also, as inexperienced home designers, we forgot to consider ventilation in the back of the house. It can get quite stuffy in the summertime! Another difficult issue was our low budget, which slowed the process down, working from paycheck to paycheck. YE: I can't think of what was worse: the delay with the plumbing and not having any water for so long, or the part where we had to climb in through a window before we had a door, to get into the house. Not to mention, I had to carry in my old shepherd dog. Ahh... fun memories! Another thing: This house is from the early 1900s, so try and figure to build something that's level? |
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by Louise Lakier
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| A tiny ship in a bottle sits inside a porthole in a bathroom cabinet. The installation changes from time to time. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| A workspace inhabits a sunroom on the first floor along a bank of windows. Here, one has the sense of inhabiting a scene for a still-life painting. LL: What is your ultimate dream home item? JP: A 19th-century cast-iron drafting table. YE: A Swiss-style kitchen island with a real fireplace. Light fixtures, accessories: Earthwise |
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by Louise Lakier
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| A fish tank entangled in a fishing net sits on a low wall between the studio and the breakfast nook. LL: What's your next home project? JP: To build our dream house and art studio in Hawaii from the ground up, with chickens, goats and a tropical garden. YE: Doing the same thing again but on a bigger scale and more thought ... My biggest dream is a studio/gallery space with an industrial floor aquarium, a fountain and an open peristyle court garden. And not to forget the outdoor fire oven! Horses? Goats? Donkey? |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The pair built storage space into the stairs. Shoe cupboards lie underneath the wooden treads and fabric risers. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| Brandon Bowman created the fire pit. Peterka and Endrijautzki did the plaster and tile work at the fountain. Relics and ornaments came from Earthwise. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The metal fence and gate in the entry garden, complete with foldaway bar counter, were built by Ben Hornburg. LL: Who or what inspires your personal style? What about your artwork? JP: Personally I am inspired by 19th-century laboratories, libraries and curiosity shops, and the artwork of the era, particularly French and Russian academic painting. Also, tall ships and the Pacific Islands have been always a fascination to me. People and places, sketches and studies — there is no shortage of inspiration if you look around. A bow to Caravaggio and all the Italian masters of the Renaissance! YE: My work is often the result of findings and gathered relics of a throwaway society with the purpose of reuse, recycling or upcycling. Inspirations can come to me in mundane moments, like walking the train tracks, a conversation, riding the bus or observing interactions. Steampunk is often a definition of what is used by people describing my work (and same for Peterka's) but personally we don't subscribe to the steampunk aesthetic. We strive to create and discover our own reality. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| The gate handles and latch are secondhand tools and gears. |
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by Louise Lakier
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| A portrait of the artists and curators for Nautilus Studio: Peterka and Endrijautzki, in Georgetown. LL: What do you love most about your city or neighborhood? JP: The old architecture, the gritty industrial cityscape and the arts community. Also Seattle is surrounded by gorgeous nature. Even though we live in some sort of industrial wasteland, it is easy to escape into gorgeous landscapes and oceanside coves. YE: What I like about Georgetown is that it has not been gentrified yet and still is raw and distinct. It also has a lot of interesting history! Seattle itself though is a modern city with major corporations defining the city where it is not easy to keep an artistic/alternative culture alive. More: Houzz Tour: A Guesthouse and Grotto in 68 Square Feet Houzz Tour: Between Sea and Sky on Raft Island My Houzz: Creative Denver Studio |
Ideabook updated on Jan. 19, 2012.
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Thanks for making HOUZZ more interesting.
However, the insane amount of clutter makes my OCD flare up into a full-blown attack. I can't imagine the time it would take to clean all of that and I don't even want to think about how filthy everything is if it isn't cleaned every day!
Having lived in a home with cats on the counter, it's appalling that you would take pictures of something as filthy as that and host them on a website like Houzz. My respect for Houzz for posting that picture alone has dropped several notches.
Hopefully, Houzz will see fit to retract that cat photo and also to feature an artistic residence that doesn't involve clutter in every open space available to balance out this space.
For those of you saying "if you can't say something nice...", you need to get a grip. Just like you have the right to post and say that you like something, others have the right to post and say they dislike it. It's called Freedom of Speech and, for now, we still have it. If the owners can't handle the criticism along with the good, they shouldn't have had their house posted/featured on a website.
As mentioned I would like to see more homes that are done with creative ideas and at a less expense. We don't all have exactly what we want and sometimes you have to live with what you DO HAVE and make it personal. I have found that when you don't have the money for something you learn to explore your options and can comeup with something special.
Really love the reused tools for the gate handles.
I did have to keep reining my feelings in over the chaotic clutter and strangeness. But I have to say that the front walkway area does not look creative, it just looks like a junkyard.
However orange tabbies truly are the best!
It's not at all for me ; but I so appreciate you featuring it ! It's lovely to see and experience something so out-of-the ordinary.
Excellent!
Certain "art" isn't for everyone. Just like certain design styles aren't for everyone. Thank goodness we are all individuals and not clones. :)
to mark, to sign, to signalize,…basically it means something with character, your own touch, your personal tune, something CREATIVE as much as ART is the creation of SIGNificant things: your signature!!!
It seems though that the view has shifted and art is only accepted when it’s pleasant and design is assumed to be pristine, conventional and conform thus “design” is often presented as a standard or a model or pattern regarded as typical . As soon as something “out of the box” is being presented , the reaction is offense as a result of fear of the unusual or UN-LIKE!……I am from Germany, a country that has existed under a Nazi regime where the “not in the box” thinkers or creators have been assaulted or simply wiped out. Sadly, some of the comments in this posting reminds me of this disrespectful mentality!
I tire of the above mentioned house being constantly depicted. Some people want that type of house, I thought I did, tear out a magazine page, give it to your Architect, Contractor, Interior Designer, etc. and get a carbon copy while sitting back and writing checks. In hindsight I think my remodel would have been far more rewarding if I had put more effort into it and surrounded myself with things I love rather than high price tags. So, thank you Houzz for showing a different very artistic home with character on a budget, which demonstrates a labor of love, recycling and actual ingenuity on the part of the owner above and beyond their ability to write checks.
Stuff does not generate filth, owners do and a Swifter is worth its weight in gold! It may not be for everyone, but there is no hard steadfast rule to decorating rather it is subjective to the owner, do what you love and one persons Hovel is another's Heaven!
I love the cat on the counter because that's what cats do and there is no reasoning with them not to mention our mouths have far more bacteria, maybe we should ban photos of kissing? This really is a, "Home" and real people and pets live there, good job!
If we had followed your advice, SOPA/PIPA would have passed and internet censorship would be the de facto law. Thank goodness our "rude" selves spoke up, huh?
If we had followed your way of thinking, the south would still have legal slavery. Thank goodness our "rude" forefathers didn't "zip it", huh?
@clairegrube: Your inference that anyone that spoke against this property is equated to a Nazi far exceeds the "rude" comments you refer to. To equate a person with a Nazi simply for stating they don't like something is incredibly racist and I seriously hope that you seek professional help for the hatred you harbor inside.
It takes all kinds of different vision to make the world a diverse place. My comments (and I'm sure those of others) against this space just show that not everyone can handle the "bohemian" lifestyle. I even put myself out there by admitting that I have OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: look it up).
Not everyone that this couple invites to their home are going to like it. If I invite someone to my home and they are miserable being there, I hope to heck that they SAY SOMETHING so that I can take strides to make them more comfortable or change the venue to somewhere more mutually pleasing. This couple accepted their home being put as a feature on a popular website. If they weren't prepared for both positive AND negative comments, then they shouldn't have allowed this. Granted, some of the comments may have stepped over the line, but that's to be expected on the internet as well - many people think being online makes them invincible. I didn't say anything in my original post (or this one) that I wouldn't say face-to-face and I hope that people would be as blunt with me about my home as well.
But I will stand up against censorship and the deterioration of our rights that thousands of people have died protecting and those rights INCLUDE the right to post negative comments and criticism regardless of whether any one person agrees with it or not. Remember the popular saying that still rings true today: "I may not agree with what you say, sir, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!" Just as you have the right to call others "rude" or tell them to "zip it," I have the right to post my dislike of something as long as it doesn't resort to threats against the couple's well-being or entirely out-of-line remarks such as racism/hate speech. Hopefully, not everyone sees things you way and keeps their mouths shut any time they disagree or we'll quickly end up with no rights at all.
I'll bet the artists are loving the debate they have created here, something tells me they want to spark emotion and they did.
my friends, is what keeps this world interesting. We should all reach out for what it is that completes us and let others do the same...vive la difference!
Now to the point of discussion.
I had the pleasure of living next to this ebullient home during it's many phases. This home by no stretch the imagination should've been documented during reconstruction process. Yes I said reconstruction, because what it use to be and left along time ago.
In regards to recycling and comments on the overuse of functional recycled material. Recycled materials are much harder to come by these days, especially metals, woods and masonry/stone etc. There's a ton of value for recyclable materials in an immense market.
In regards to the dust, well then you you'll just have to spend a few hours in Georgetown and you'll look at things a little different. And I mean literally a few hours.
Cluttered.....well this home is hardly cluttered. 'For everything a space and space for everything', the home is malleable. It reflects the traits of the persons dwelling within, observant and flexible. This home is much more functional than what can be seen in the photographs. And in my own personal design taste function in many cases trumps design.
Bravo!!! to Nautilus Studio.
P.S. There is a huge element of the study of not only art, and design. But what I consider the much more rigorous study of the 'mechanics of materials' that went into creating this home.
Good Monday!
The layout really does remind me of a houseboat. Some cute ideas, but the overall effect is "self-conscious art school student." And no, there's nothing wrong with having a cat on the counter.
IMO whether or not we choose to decorate our homes in the same manner is irrelevant. The point of showcasing this home is to celebrate the diversity and creativity that still exists in interior decor. They have kindly given us the opportunity to view their living space. Whether we like it or we don't, the fact remains that it is creative, original and darn interesting.
Sadly, originality is such a rarity in today's world full of cookie cutter everything; most people are so terrified of expressing who they truly are, in their decor or otherwise. Kudos to them for being true to themselves, proudly letting the world in to see their creation with no apologies. We should all be lucky enough to overcome the obsessive need to conform to self imposed ridiculous interior design rules.
Many of the negative commenters may benefit from opening their minds, learning to appreciate other people's visions and decor styles, even if they don't resonate with their own personal tastes.
A number of Houzz readers were somehow threatened by this sweet, artistic expression, judging by the aggressive, defensive tone of the ridiculous, snobby comments posted. How strange...
i hang out and create stuff in yer neck of the woods, i hope to run into you guys sometime. perhaps at my fav store, second use :)
It's great to see Houzz show this. It's a nice change from what often appears to be the coffee table pictures of massive houses; show homes; realestate brochures, whatever. We don't all live in 45 squares of perfection. And "perfection" is very subjective anyway.
Oh, and for the haters....There are many beige and dull places on the HOUZZ site...I could make rude comments, but...I have manners and try to remember Mark Twain: "'It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"....
Thanks for the diversity, HOUZZ--you are the best!