This is how our house looks from the outside in mid-summer. The foliage is so thick and green this year because of all the rain. We have a banana tree in our partly enclosed garden, which is off the deck.
You can't tell from here, but the house gets a lot of natural light. The sliding door opening to the deck is gigantic, and there is a window on top of it that extends to the ceiling. So all the southern and eastern exposures have a lot of windows. The front side faces west, but is opposite a thick forest of tall trees and so does not get much direct sunlight. The only northern exposed window is upstairs in the master bathroom. You can see downtown Seattle from there in the winter, when all the trees are bare. It looks and feels like a tree house. I always wanted to live in a tree house.
