The Independence House — Bellevue, WA
Overview
A home sized for one generation, asked to hold three. We rethought the entire property from the ground up — reworking the main house for daily multigenerational life and adding a fully independent accessory dwelling unit, so an aging parent could have a private, self-contained home just steps from family.
The challenge
The existing home didn't have the bedroom or bathroom count to support three generations living together, and there was no way to give anyone real separation — everyone was on top of each other, with no boundary between family life and personal space.
Our solution
We rebuilt the home's core functions around shared-but-separate living: double kitchen sinks and dishwashers so the main household could operate without friction, and a completely separate AADU giving the older generation their own private residence — independent, but a few steps from family.
For the first time since my parents moved in, everyone in this house has a place that feels like their own. Tillit understood that before we could even put it into words.