DeForest Architects

We've worked with John and the team at DeForest on two major projects- a comprehensive remodel in Seattle and a new home in Sun Valley Idaho. My wife and I have done several other major projects over the years and thus we have a good basis for comparison. Working with the DeForest team is just... different. From inception, everything about their approach was thoughtful, purposeful, disciplined and actually fun. They systematically learned about our wants and needs for the projects and developed designs that were entirely responsive to our desires, yet the resulting spaces are fresh, dynamic and interesting. If you check their web site you'll see an array of project types and styles but the structures and spaces are all noteworthy, and I think this is a result of their design approach. Of course, when you select an architect you're also picking your overall team leader, and they excel in this area as well. They helped us pick excellent contractors and managed the projects and teams effectively with little drama. Overall, we'd be delighted to have the opportunity to work with them again.

Working with DeForest Architects (DA) to design our home was a fantastic creative collaboration. We always felt that John and his team were working shoulder to shoulder with us — by turns acting as a teachers, serving as guides to our imagination, and working as remarkably creative architects — to help us imagine and design the home that we envisioned. This is crucial. When you work with DeForest Architects, you don’t end up with the next house in their body of work, similar to the prior houses they’ve designed - you end up with a house that fully embodies your creative vision of home. We wanted a home that was modern, warm and reflected our personality and loves. With quiet confidence and persistence, and a willingness to “stay with the problem” until the best solution was found, John and his team helped us fully realize that vision. On a practical level, DA was meticulous - both in planning and executing to meet our timeline and budget, and in preparing the architectural drawings, which our builders told us were extraordinarily high quality and enabled construction to occur without any delays or hitches. We are deeply grateful we chose John and DeForest Architects to help us build our dream house.

DeForest Architects was highly recommended to us by a top architect in New York. We recently moved to Seattle and bought our first home on Queen Anne. We initially decided to work with John DeForest and Melissa Nordquist because they were incredibly thoughtful and knowledgeable. Over the next few months, we also found John and Melissa to be creative, nimble, organized and thorough. In our first meetings, John and Melissa took the time to do a full walk-through of our craftsman home to help us understand how we can maximize our remodel in both square-footage and design. Our plan was to add a bedroom, two bathrooms and closets to the upstairs, and John and Melissa led us through a number of scenarios and brainstorms to create a design that optimized our needs while considering our budget. They are great collaborators - we always felt fully invested in both planning and design and were confident that they wouldn't let any detail fall through the cracks. Every meeting was fun, engaging and faultlessly organized and efficient. Melissa always came with a detailed agenda that we methodically went through, but I also appreciated her willingness to go off-script to consider a new idea or answer some random questions. I left each meeting feeling accomplished and excited about the next step. We were very excited to begin construction, but ultimately decided it wasn't the right time for such a big project. We have every intention of picking up where we left off in the near future and look forward to working with John and Melissa to build our dream home!

When my husband and I decided to build our new home the first place I looked for ideas was on Houzz.com. The home I fell in love with was designed by Deforest Architects. Needless to say we hired them and what an amazing experience! They not only urged us to think out of the box but to also zero down on our thoughts, feelings, wants and needs. It was actually and fun, exciting, and rewarding endeavor. Our home is located in western Michigan and Deforest Architects are located in Seattle Washington. Distance was not a material issue in terms of cost and no issues with respect to the superb quality architecture and design.

Deforest Architects took on our project that was an extensive remodel of an existing Mid-Century modern house designed by a well known Seattle architect. The project was a balance of blending existing structural and design elements with new. John and Meredith were easy to work with - generating innovative and beautiful design ideas, while being very aware of our "wish" list and cost goals. They were knowledgeable and professional in all our interactions. They were also approachable, friendly and are very current in what is going on in the design industry. The result is a practical and beautiful house that honors both the past and the present.

DeForest Architects delivered extraordinarily high-quality work and they made the design process enjoyable from start to finish. The architects were thoughtful and intuitive. They took the time to learn about our family and how we live and they got to know our home and what we liked about it and what we wanted to change. Their ability to be creative and to bring insightful ideas to be considered was impressive. They were well-organized and attentive and their involvement throughout construction ensured accountability to deadlines and to quality work.

We had an extremely positive experience working with John Deforest and lead architect Michael Knowles on a remodel of our Northwest Contemporary home. On the initial walk-through, rather than focusing on what was wrong with the house, they primarily spent time on the strengths of the home and the thoughtfulness of the initial design. Through the entire project John and Michael focused a great deal on further enhancing those strengths, rather than trying to push a different direction. This staying true to the home ultimately resulted in very elegant and natural re-design. John and Michael are very strong listeners and took the time to really "get in our heads". They wanted to know how we use each part of the home and what our goals of the redesign were. They have a handful of helpful exercises that get that conversation going but ultimately it seemed like most of the magic was made during long Q&A sessions at our dining room table. They seemed to really internalize where we wanted to go and they delivered that in the design. They are both very creative. Once we had the initial design in place, it was amazing to watch them improvise during conversations and on the fly draft really interesting alternatives. This approach made us feel like we efficiently analyzed a broad range of possibilities around every major decision, giving us comfort that we were making informed choices. They incorporated technology to enhance the project. The use of virtual reality to fully explore the space was very helpful. We were able to video conference into meetings we couldn't make in person. And the sharing of information using online tools was all very efficient and easy. But ultimately, even if we were in the old days of back and forth with plans on paper, I think it would have been a great experience because it all comes down to the people and John and Michael are terrific.

Last August we hired John DeForest to help us design a custom home in Kirkland. We wanted a house which would suit our upcoming kids-in-college lifestyle, yet still allow flexibility for whatever the next 10-15 years might bring. We owned an existing property in Norkirk, but were otherwise unsure how best to determine our needs and even our tastes in a more modern, transitional style. DeForest specializes in helping their clients arrive at just those answers! John and architect Melissa Nordquist led us through a series of exercises, questions, and explorations. Together, we arrived at a design that maximized the light, took advantage of the views, and brought a sense of flexibility, open space, areas of coziness, and aspects of delight. We treasured the practicality under which this design was arrived – detailed spreadsheets of costs and budgets, tradeoffs in luxury and practicality, and how best to optimize the environmental sustainability within our budget. And DeForest helped us choose an excellent builder amongst the ones we interviewed. The time was not right for us to build our custom home this year. But if the project is resurrected, we can assure you we will be right back with DeForest Architects and our chosen builder, Dyna Contracting. Alison & Barry Shaw Woodinville, WA

DeForest Architects is great. We've been working with them on a very large project involving multiple houses and a ten year master plan. Not only are is the principal excellent, but the staff is all amazing to work with, and they have impeccable taste in partners. The time and attention they spend to really get to know what we need is incredible - they're not designing a house for them, but for us, and they spend the time truly knowing what is best for us. We've been so happy with the big project that we're going to start working with them on a renovation to our main home in Seattle.

We chose DeForest Architects for our second story addition and home renovation. And we’re so glad we did! At our first design meeting, we came armed with a slew of images pulled from design magazines, and a loose vision for what we were hoping to achieve. John and Rosie managed to take our swirl of ideas and translate it into “our” perfect home. They must have some kind of magical mind-meld powers -- because our new home is truly a reflection of our wishes, yet somehow more peaceful and gracefully proportioned than we could have imagined. From the start, John was able to work with our budget, and was thoughtful about presenting cost comparisons. We repeatedly heard from others how stressful this process was going to be, yet our experience has been nothing short of joyful! John and team are steadfast collaborators, guides, and problem-solvers from predesign through the end of construction. They are impeccably trustworthy and attentive. In the end, we have a beautiful home that feels like us. We give DeForest Architects the sky-highest recommendation!

As an owner of DL Rees Contracting and a project manager for Odyssey Builders, I've managed 3 large projects with DeForest Architects. The projects included a master suite addition, a second story addition with cutting edge electronic and mechanical systems, and a complete whole house renovation. It is always a pleasure to work with DeForest Architects. The designs are unique and fun to build. The plans are detailed and the architects are available if questions arise. This makes for a smooth building process, and creates lasting trust with the clients we work for. - Doug Rees

thank you so much to your professionalism. We are supper happy with the service that you provided. We look forward to working with you in the future