The first thing you need to know about Bridget and Bruce Rigg is they are a very energetic couple with a lot in common. And a lot of individual interests as well. Together they enjoy travel and collecting art; her hobbies include baking lots (and lots) of bread and crafting caramels, while he often wins the bidding for vintage rugs at online auctions, resulting in a stockpile of rolled up treasures.
Luckily, there's plenty of room for all of it within the walls of their light-filled Peaceful Valley contemporary home.
If you can be creative with your clients it's so much fun.
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In 2016, the couple found themselves living in a spacious traditional house on the South Hill. It was a great home, but they were ready for something fresh and new, with a smaller, lower-maintenance yard. When a lot became available in Peaceful Valley, the couple jumped on it, and teamed up with custom builder Contempo Homes, owned by Ally and Scott Tedrow, who completed the entire project in 14 months.
The home's exterior was based on Contempo Home's "Willapa House," while the interior layout is unique. Finding the finishes was kickstarted by comparing ideas via Pinterest. Tedrow then invited the Riggs to view a curated selection of flooring, counter and tile options at Spokane's Floor & Home store.
"I have them all laid out so they're not just aimlessly shopping the racks, we have it more honed in... As you can tell, Bridget and Bruce are into doing fun things, and if you can be creative with your clients it's so much fun." The couple were working within a budget, and wanted to combine the 1970s and '80s design that Bruce remembered from his childhood and also incorporate Scandinavian elements for Bridget. They were united in requiring lower maintenance indoors and out, and they were open to reducing square footage to make room in the budget for higher-end items, like Thermador appliances for Bridget and unique finishes and tilework that appealed to Bruce's aesthetics.
A mostly neutral palette including light wood floors and ample windows with black framing provide the perfect backdrop for the couple's eclectic and colorful stylings, a collection that's always evolving.
In the living room, the contemporary fireplace design was adapted from one of Ally's inspo boards but needed a pendant light to complete it. Bridget found the vintage Danish Turbo light at Spokane's Metro Eclectic, and it was the couple's favorite color: orange. The chrome frame chairs upholstered in a rich orange are from the 1960s. Bridget happened upon the 1970s arc lamp at Spokane's Tossed & Found and snapped it up. But finding the main element of the room, the sofa, required patience.
"We decided from the beginning that we weren't going to put any furniture in here until we found the right piece," Bruce says. "Two years later, we finally got the couch." The Crate & Barrel piece manages to be comfortable yet still in scale with the rest of the furniture and the space, though its "newness" was at first off-putting to Bridget who preferred the lived-in patina of the store's floor model.
We weren't going to put any furniture in here until we found the right piece.
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For the kitchen, Tedrow went with a combination of white and wood cabinetry, with an expansive second tier of upper storage for baking supplies that Bridget can access with a step stool (she estimates she's used 1,500 pounds of flour in the past five years). Vintage stools for the island were revived with powder coating, once again in orange.
A narrow dining table is surrounded with chairs Bridget found at a bargain, 10 for $300. "I got rid of the worst ones and kept these," she says. She paired two vintage glass-door cabinets with a new top fabricated to cover both units, creating the sideboard that also offers handy storage.
Meanwhile Bruce spends time combing the internet for handmade wool rugs with bold geometric patterns, "I don't do flowers. That makes them look old-fashioned," he says. His collection mostly dates from the 1940s to the 1970s, and he frequently swaps out the rugs on display at their home, keeping the look fresh and inviting.
I like being in a funky area because I just don't fit into a subdivision.
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And then there's the art. Striking works by well-known regional artists and more humble pieces, sometimes sourced from yard sales, all share space on the walls. A colorful "abstract" by Bridget's daughter when she was 3 years old is neatly framed and hanging in the kitchen. Harold Balazs' work hangs next to the fireplace. A new favorite is the resin work of Bend, Oregon artist Nicholas Vicknair, with several of his pieces finding their way into the couple's collection.
Upstairs, a TV lounge area is a work in progress, featuring just a small portion of the planned display of Bruce's extensive colorful collection of music posters and other concert memorabilia gathered during his career in the music industry. Tedrow designed the area to easily be converted into a third bedroom if new owners take over some day.
But for now, the Riggs are happy with their home and in particular, their Peaceful Valley neighborhood, where Bridget can quickly ride her electric bike up the hill to downtown or across the river to her office in Kendall Yards.
"I like being in a funky area because I just don't fit into a subdivision," she says. "The vibe down here is awesome, and you know everybody. If someone moves in you take them around and introduce them to everybody. This is really a community."
