TRIP PLANNER: GHOST TOWNS + OPEN SPACES PG. 92
Romantic Getaways on the Water
Bathroom Makeovers Packed With Style
Oregon-Made Cheese
Farm Fresh
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RT RESO ATS E R E TR U N D ARO NW T HE P
FARM STANDS, MARKETS, FARM DINNERS + ORCHARDS TO EXPERIENCE THIS FALL
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September | October
volume 88
“It’s hard to tell where the real flora and fauna ends and the wallpaper begins. There was a lot of creative freedom, and the clients were really on board for that.” — Stephanie Dyer, Dyer Studio founder and interior designer
home + design
Home + Design
Make a Splash Interior designer Stephanie Dyer packs personality into three Portland bathrooms written by Melissa Dalton photography by Meagan Larsen
STEPHANIE DYER, interior designer and founder of the Portland-based Dyer Studio, is not interested in the bland or beige. “We’re always looking for design opportunities to showcase the client’s personality,” said Dyer. “A question that we ask ourselves a lot is, is it boring? If the answer is yes, we keep pushing.” Dyer walks us through three new bathrooms that are anything but ordinary. SUNSET WEST
A Walk on the Wild Side Dyer describes this home as a “Mid-century farm ranch with a mystic spirit.” The owners approached her for a hall bathroom redesign that would be as unique as the rest of their abode, stating they wanted this particular room to feel like a “nostalgic island vacation” that they could visit every day. At the beginning of the process, no concept went unconsidered. “They started talking about literal AstroTurf for the flooring,” said Dyer. “They just had wild ideas, and I thought, ‘We are going to have a good time with this.’” After reworking the layout to include a bathtub and ensure the room is aging-in-place friendly, Dyer assembled a material palette of textural, tropical-infused finishes. Now, grassy green pebble epoxy flooring feels good underfoot in the walk-in shower, slabs of stone evoking volcanic rock cover the sink counter and ensconce the soaking tub, and the custom vanity has bamboo door fronts that recall thatch. Terra-cotta breeze block privacy walls are a hit of pattern, while the wall tile acts as a supporting player, with an understated neutral color and subtly textured finish. Additional details are playful and require a closer look, like the wallpaper print showcasing a mélange of fantastical creatures, and hardware picked by the client, including towel hooks in the shape of an octopus and a skull knob on the hidden medicine chest. The homeowners’ cockatoo, Sammy, even joined in the fun for the photo shoot. “It’s hard to tell where the real flora and fauna ends and the wallpaper begins,” said Dyer. “There was a lot of creative freedom, and the clients were really on board for that.” AT LEFT This bathroom redesign features bamboo-front cabinets, botanical-themed wallpaper and terra-cotta breeze block privacy walls.
SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2024
1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE 37
Aubrie LeGault
Fall Bounty 60
1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2024
For Oregon’s freshest eats & experiences, check out these farm stands, markets, farm dinners & orchards around the state written by Jean Chen Smith
At Central Oregon’s Rainshadow Organics, longtable dinners showcase the farm’s seasonal produce. (photo: 29NRTH/Rainshadow Organics)
When I think of fall, cooler temperatures, vibrant leaves and shorter days come to mind. Delicious slivers of pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes topped with butter, savory Brussels sprouts and winter squash are not far behind. It is a time when farmers share their harvest with the community. In Oregon, we have no shortage of small, local farms to provide all the produce we need to head into our kitchens and create. Here are some of our favorite orchards, farm stands, markets and farm dinners around the state to hit this season. I know I will be visiting some of these bountiful gems—hope to see you there!
SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2024
1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE
61
trip planner
Ghost Town Hunting
In the ghost towns and wide-open spaces of Oregon’s high prairie, history comes alive written by James Sinks GHOSTS? SELINA KEPHART pondered for a moment, standing on the uneven wooden sidewalk outside her Raven’s Nest antique and gift shop in dusty, windswept Shaniko, which was minted Oregon’s first official ghost town in 1959. “There are ghosts everyplace,” Kephart nodded. “People lived and died here every day, and they still do.” Oregon is scattered with some 250 ghost townsites, according to author Steve Arndt, who penned three volumes of Oregon Ghost Towns, A to Z. In most of them, there’s not much left.
Yet in Oregon’s high prairie, amid the plateaus, wheat fields and craggy canyons between the Deschutes and John Day rivers, clusters of weathered buildings still stubbornly stand. For the curious and dust-loving adventure seekers, the post-summer-heat spooky season is the perfect time to explore the abandoned places, cemeteries and vast spaces of Wasco, Wheeler, Sherman and Gilliam counties. Long the domain of Tenino, Wasco and Wy’am tribes, north Central Oregon in the pioneer era attracted homesteaders, prospectors, railroad builders and prostitutes, and even dueling cattle and sheepherders—who shot rivals’ livestock in the so-called Oregon Range Wars in the 1890s. Shaniko, dubbed the World Capital of Wool in 1903, is now home to thirty residents—down from 600 a century ago—along with old shops, a chapel, a jailhouse, a museum and a tiny pirate radio station that broadcasts about a mile. Its name? 99.9 FM The Ghost. Will you find actual ghosts? That’s up to you. Upstairs at the historic Shaniko Hotel, lights flicker and a child’s ball on the hallway carpet always seems to be in a different spot. Local historian and onetime town recorder Debra Holbrook said she’s never seen any apparitions. “Maybe ghosts don’t like me.” But, she said, step outside when night falls, and feel how a once-bustling city is now so empty, so quiet. “What echoes in your mind is what the place was like. It truly is the ghostlike existence of everything.”
The ghost town of Shaniko has reincarnated itself as an ice cream stopover with a bustling past.
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1859 8 OREGON’S MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2024
Joni Kabana
Amid the plateaus, wheat fields and craggy canyons between the Deschutes and John Day rivers, clusters of weathered buildings still stubbornly stand. For the curious and dust-loving adventure seekers, the post-summer-heat spooky season is the perfect time to explore the abandoned places, cemeteries and vast spaces of Wasco, Wheeler, Sherman and Gilliam counties.
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