In the summer and autumn of 2007, The Storefront Studio worked in The City of Carnation, providing design assistance to business and property owners in the Downtown Business District. Collaborating with individual owners and the City of Carnation, UW architecture students developed designs for improvements to the exteriors of seven buildings on the city's main street, ranging from a hardware store to the city hall itself. 

The students consulted closely with the city planer and administrator, and worked within the constraints of building and signage codes, design guidelines, and realistic budgets. Two public meetings and a newspaper article were used to encourage and solicit community involvement and feedback.

Existing street façade conditions were documented, and archives were researched for images of local historic streetscapes. Restoration proposals brought back lost architectural features. City of Carnation design guidelines were applied to renovations of existing buildings. A reiterative process of client consultations and design revisions resulted in final projects that included new paint and siding, cornices, awnings, signs, new windows, entrances, and restored window patterns.

Additional design proposals included public amenities for the farmer's market, strategies for street lighting, and gateway signage.  Streetscape improvements focused on Tolt and Bird, reinforcing the Downtown Business District's identity. A combined storage, stage, and picnic shelter proposed for the market area was designed as an open sided barn. The revised welcome sign used local river rock as its base, giving it the same expression as the existing historic Tolt monument.

As a visible contrast to the green landscape of the highway approaches on either side of Carnation's main street, the studio proposed bright and colorful pedestrian-scale streetlights, with event banners and planters, lining both sides of Tolt, while proposed trees line the streets crossing the main street, connecting back into the community and to the green valley beyond.