Tour a Colorful Seattle Home With Playful Style

Jessica Cantlin’s house isn’t for everyone — and she’s OK with that. “People are definitely surprised when they walk inside,” says the landscape photographer of her whimsical, colorful aesthetic. “I like to have as much going on as possible.” When she and her husband, Alan, bought this 3,500-square-foot Craftsman a decade ago, it was “100 shades of beige,” Jessica says. The couple chipped away at projects but recently embarked on a major revamp with help from interior designer Leah Steen. They worked together to infuse the house with vivid colors and cheeky patterns, and to create a daring mix of modern pieces and thrifted treasures. The result is a look that makes everyone in the family happy. “We get such a kick out of living here,” Jessica says.

“This is pretty much the only white you’ll see at our house,” says Jessica of the wood plank siding, painted Simply White by Benjamin Moore. She and Alan kept the original windows to preserve the history of the home; it’s in Seattle’s oldest neighborhood.

When the family moved in, Jessica painted the walls Great Falls by Sherwin-Williams, then recently decided to paint the trim and ceiling, too. “It completes the moody vibe,” she says. She scored the sofa and chairs on Craigslist and had them reupholstered in wool. The vintage coffee table is from Chairish, and the cockatoo photograph is by Leila Jeffreys.

Tiger wallpaper from Krane Home is a nod to the mascot for Princeton, Alan’s alma mater. Because the print is busy, Jessica kept the furniture simple: She added a wood farm table and rattan chairs from Chairish that she spray-painted white. The rug is from Revival.

Jessica chose white Ann Sacks tiles for the walls so her vintage plastic pendant lights from 1stDibs would really pop. She considered putting wallpaper under the bar but fell in love with these pink-and-red tiles by Clé instead.

Schumacher butterfly wallpaper and bright red vintage chairs make this dining room extra cheerful. "I like giving people something to talk about," says Jessica. "Every design decision we made has a story."

When she saw this Cole & Son monkey wallpaper in Leah’s studio, Jessica had to have it. She planned the bedroom around the pattern, reupholstering her headboard in Pierre Frey fabric and adding fabric window treatments that look like wood blinds.

Alan wasn’t on board with Jessica’s original plan for a pink backsplash, so she tried something more subdued but still fun: concrete tiles from Popham Design laid in a herringbone pattern. A coat of Vardo by Farrow & Ball on the vanity picks up the teal tones in the tile floor.

Jessica has worked on her garden for years, and she loves sharing it with guests. “We’ll do homemade pizza on the grill and a big pitcher of margaritas,” she says. The table is RH, the tablecloth is from Marigold Living and the chairs are from Blu Dot.