Philip Newton

In Seattle, where others saw only a severe slope and lack of municipal hookups, one couple spotted their ticket to their dream home.

Fifteen minutes from downtown Seattle, architects Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo transformed the neighborhood dump—a lot that had been vacant for 30 years—into their dream home.

Blessed with an enviable site on the sylvan shores of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington state, architect Anthony Pellecchia and his wife, graphic designer Kathy Wesselman, wanted to create a…