6:40 am
First light on the oak counter
Kitchens face the morning. Tea before anyone else is up, and a window placed for exactly that.
Japandi homes · Bellevue & the Eastside
Warm oak, soft light, rain on the eaves and a garden framed in every window. Japandi homes designed around how a day feels — Japanese restraint, Scandinavian warmth.
A day at Shiba Snow
We design around how a day feels, not how a floor plan reads. Here is what that looks like, hour by hour.
6:40 am
Kitchens face the morning. Tea before anyone else is up, and a window placed for exactly that.
11:00 am
Airtight walls and good glass shut out the street. Fresh, filtered air means the window stays shut when it's pouring.
4:15 pm · November
A deep, covered edge to sit out the weather — and a shoes-off genkan entry that keeps the wet outside.
9:30 pm
A Japanese-style soaking tub in place of a jetted one. Low, warm light. A house that winds down with you.
The Shiba Snow way of living
A shoes-off threshold with a bench and hidden storage. The rain, mud and day stay at the door.
A covered wooden ledge between inside and garden — the best seat in the house, eleven months a year.
A deep soaking tub, usually with a view of something green. The end of the day as a ritual.
A single alcove for one beautiful thing, changed with the seasons. The rest of the walls stay calm.
Your Bellevue
The Eastside already lives the Japandi way: water, cedar, moss and quiet. A Shiba Snow house simply opens the windows onto it.
Summer evenings on the water, minutes from downtown.
At the Bellevue Botanical Garden — maples, stone and still water.
Boardwalks and blueberry fields in the middle of the city.
Old-growth trails in the Issaquah Alps, on the edge of town.
三 Living
Inside, Japandi restraint: oak and plaster, low lines, fewer and better things. Outside, framed views and materials left to weather. We draw both with the house, because a window is only as good as what it looks at.
Gravel, stone, and the confidence to leave space empty.
A sheltered edge to sit on in the rain — months more of the garden.
Materials that improve as they weather instead of fighting the climate.
One tree, placed early, with windows set for the two weeks it earns its keep.
一 Design
Concept studies, 2026. Each tests the same principles — deep eaves, honest materials, a house that answers its site — against a different Eastside condition and season.
01 · The level lot · Autumn
A calm single-level plan, with living spaces opening onto a sheltered garden.
02 · The steep lot · Mist
Rooms arranged on the slope, so every level opens to the trees and the view.
03 · The same house · February
Envelope, gutters and covered edges, doing their work in a Northwest winter.
We plan for ma — the empty space that lets a room, a view or a single object be noticed. Fewer walls, longer sightlines, calmer rooms.
Windows are placed for the light you will actually live with — morning in the kitchen, soft afternoon in the living room, a framed tree from the bath.
Oak, lime plaster, stone and linen — honest surfaces that grow more beautiful with years of use, in a climate that tests everything.
A house that is warm, quiet and built to last should not be a luxury item. It should be the floor.
We design from a northern Japanese tradition, shaped where winter rewards care — and finish with the warmth of Scandinavian craft. Homes for slow mornings, long rainy seasons, and the people you love.
Journal
Design · 7 min
Bellevue · 9 min
Design · 6 min
Living · 6 min
Contact
Questions, ideas, or simply a shared love of quiet, well-made homes — we would be glad to hear from you.
info@shibasnow.comBased in Bellevue, Washington