June 11, 2001

MEDIA CONTACT:
Laura Vanderpool
Parsons Public Relations
(206) 789-5668
laura@teamparsons.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sunset Magazine Opens Tudor Revival Idea House to Public

(Menlo Park, Calif.) This summer, Western Washington-area residents can do more than read Sunset Magazine to discover new home and garden ideas, they can visit the Sunset Tudor Revival Idea House. A wealth of ideas and products, as well as the magazine's home and garden projects, are available to experience first hand.

Sunset, in partnership with Sherman Homes of Bellevue, Washington, has built the Idea House at the new community of Claremont on the Park in Redmond, Washington. Designed as a "Tudor Revival with a Twist," the outside of home recalls the comfortable and cozy Arts and Crafts-influenced architecture of Seattle neighborhoods from the early 1900s. On the inside, visitors will find both traditional and modern treatments of space, light and color. Each room is packed with great suggestions for building and decorating from Sunset and the Idea House's expert design team. Visitors will leave with easy and achievable plans they can adapt to their own homes. In addition, visitors get to see the latest in home products and technology up close. The Idea House is open from September 8 - November 18, 2001.

The Sunset Idea House team includes:

Builder — Sherman Homes
Home Designer — William Gottlieb, Plan One
Interior Designer — Markie Nelson
Interior Design Landscape Architect — The Berger Partnership

The house is for everyone interested in building, design, and gardening no matter what budget. Projects and products range from the small and affordable to the larger and more luxurious. Visitors are invited to spend as much time as they like in the house. Cameras, video cameras, and note taking are not only allowed, but encouraged. Visitors receive a free visitor's guide that features detailed ideas and instructions for projects seen throughout the house, many of which were taken from the pages of Sunset Magazine.

Idea House Details

Inspiration
The Sunset Idea House combines the traditional elements of a Tudor Revival with non-traditional uses of color and textures throughout the home's interior. Using a Pacific Northwest theme, the designers have created a color palette from a blend of the Scandinavian and Asian cultures represented in the Northwest. An eclectic mix of dark wood tones in the furniture, blonde parquet hardwood floors, scrubbed woods, pastels and bold punches of persimmon and cobalt hues create interiors that offer a fresh and unique twist. The two-story, 4,100 sq. ft. home is designed to access multiple private gardens off the main rooms. The Idea House is nestled within a unique neighborhood, Claremont on the Park, which consists of 15 custom homes, each reflecting examples of historic Seattle architecture.

Features — Indoors
Entering the Foyer, guests are greeted with the richness of the strong Tudor architecture. The 20-foot-high ceiling floods the space with natural light from the recessed transom above. The Dining Room offers a perfect entertaining area with bold accents of color. The Living Room makes a cozy retreat with its brightly tiled fireplace and the privacy of French doors. The sunken Family Room features a box beam ceiling, a fireplace and doors that open to the garden. The Kitchen offers one of the key 'twists' in design — a sophisticated, yet Old World feel. Old-world charm spills over into the light-filled Morning Room and into the heart of the first floor, which is the octagon-shaped Conservatory. A colorful, mosaic-like tile floor and beautiful plumbing fixtures add interest and elegance to the Main Floor Powder Room/Bath. Once upstairs, attic-like stairs lead into the fun and playful Recreation Room. The Master Suite, with its separate Sitting Room and Home Office offers a true retreat after a busy day. The Home Office features the newest home office furnishings and adds some exercise equipment to demonstrate one of the room's many potential uses. The Master Bath is the crowning jewel of the suite. The freestanding vintage bathtub adds to the retreat feel of the suite.

Features — Outdoors
The landscaping exemplifies a classic Northwest garden, with special emphasis on evergreens as well as the colors of fall. Like the Idea House, this is an Idea Garden, where a broad array of ideas for outdoor spaces, plantings, materials for walkways and other outdoor surfaces, water features, and composting and conservation measures are showcased. The Tudor style is evidenced in the strong sense of ordered space — a formal entry and symmetrical plantings throughout. One of the many outdoor-area ideas featured is a 'Natural Play Area'. This area uses natural timber that is meant to be climbed on and encourages children's creative play. Other ideas include an otherwise functional wall used to store the barbecue that becomes a work of art by incorporating a water feature; an herb and cut-flower garden; and an outdoor work area featuring a garden workbench with retractable awning, compost bins, and recycling and yard-waste containers.

Themes

Built Green Standards
The Idea House incorporates environmentally friendly features that add value and reduce the life-cycle cost of the home. The Built Green™ Program has been designed for builders and developers by builders and developers to set standards of excellence in King and Snohomish Counties. It focuses on actions that can make a significant impact and are readily "doable." When effectively applied, the program is expected to make a positive difference for the environment. Action items include meeting the Washington State Energy Code, the Washington State Ventilation & Indoor Air Quality Code, and the State's Water Use Efficiency Standards; preparing and posting a job-site recycling plan; meeting applicable stormwater/site development standards; and employing "better than typical" practices to meet code. A conscious use of "green" materials and building standards are featured both indoors and out, including eco-friendly bamboo and cork flooring in the family and laundry rooms respectively; engineered quartz countertops (a highly durable alternative to granite) in the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room; wood alternatives for such applications as siding, roofing, decking, and fences; and non-toxic paints for both the interior and exterior of the home.

Indoor-Outdoor Living
The Idea House exemplifies the concept of creating a harmonious transition between the indoors and outdoors. By the prodigious use of windows and French doors, which offer both views and easy access, and by taking materials employed in the home's interior and employing them in a new context outdoors, a sense of unity between the two environments is created. The Conservatory features an indoor container garden, bringing into the home the lush textures and colors of the outdoors.

Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is a key focus of the Sunset Idea House. Many energy efficient features and products have been incorporated into the design. Some of the energy efficient features and products used in the Idea House include an Energy-Star-rated front-loading washer and dryer, which saves both water and energy; an Energy-Star-rated heating system that uses the same fuel that heats the home's water to also heat indoor air; dual-weatherstripped windows; and direct vent gas insert fireplaces.

Modern Conveniences and High Technology Features
This 21st century home includes top-of-the-line appliances and plumbing fixtures, three home offices, an online shopping center in the kitchen office alcove, structured wiring, and home automation capability. An expandable technology panel in the home that serves as the hub for audio, security, lighting, and home automation is designed such that when new technologies, such as fiber optics, become available the Idea House will be all set to integrate them. The home offices are all wired for, and equipped with, computer stations. Also featured are two plasma televisions, one of which is a 52" model used in the Recreation Room as part of a home theater system.

Color Coordination

The palette of the Idea House is inspired by Nordic and Asian Pacific influences, and features an eclectic array of colors and vibrant accents. The Sunset Idea House is a lesson in color decorating. Using color and changing a color palette is one of the easiest ways to give a home a makeover. The color palette chosen for the Idea House is inspired by Nordic and Asian Pacific influences, and includes an array of colors and vibrant accents, such as Red Bluff, Flemish Gold, and Georgian Earth, that create a twist to an otherwise traditional style of architecture.

Do-It-Yourself Projects and Quick and Easy Decorating Tips
Numerous ideas and projects are displayed throughout the house and in the garden. Notable examples include a Natural Materials Play Area, a Barbecue Storage Space, Bamboo and Cork Flooring, Saffron- and Wine-stained Bowls, a Slab-top Planter, and a Between-the-Studs Display Box.

Idea House History

In 1998, marking Sunset Magazine's 100th birthday, Sunset built the first Sunset Idea House in its home town of Menlo Park, California. The Idea House concept is to build a home with exciting new ideas and smart products, open it to the public, and let people not just look, but experience, these ideas and products first hand.

On the heels of a second successful Idea House in 1999, the "Ranch House of the New Millennium," also built near Sunset's headquarters, the program was taken out of state with its 2000 Idea Houses in Denver and Portland, named the "Rocky Mountain Shingle Style " and the "21st Century Lodge" respectively.

This year, Sunset presented two Idea Houses: the Tudor Revival Idea House in Redmond and one in Sacramento, which is open from July 7 - August 5, called the "New Gold Country Idea House."

Charity Sponsor

Proceeds from tickets sales will benefit Habitat for Humanity of East King County, an affiliate organization of Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, nondenominational Christian housing organization whose mission is to build simple, decent, affordable houses in partnership with those in need of adequate shelter.

Press Tours

A special preview tour of the Sunset Idea House will be held prior to the opening of the Show to give press a chance to enjoy the homes without crowds. It is scheduled for September 5 from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Please contact Laura Vanderpool at (206) 789-5668 to RSVP or for more information.

In addition, an online virtual tour of the Sunset Tudor Revival Idea House will be available on the Sunset website, www.sunset.com, after the open house period.

About Sunset

Sunset Magazine is the premier guide to Western living, covering the newest and best ideas in Western home design and landscaping, food and entertaining, and regional travel in 13 Western states. The magazine has five zoned editions and is read by nearly five million people each month.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Laura Vanderpool
Parsons Public Relations
(206) 789-5668
laura@teamparsons.com