TRIP PLANNER: METHOW VALLEY PG. 72
Beautiful Backyard Workspaces
Kayaking for Beginners
Raspberry Guajillo Chili Hot Sauce
O P E N S P A C E S WASHINGTON’S BEST PLACES TO AVOID THE CROWDS
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volume 21
Berry Nice photography by Reva Keller Sidhu Farms, in Puyallup, is truly a family affair— nine family members work in the business. The family purchased the property in 1997 with an eye toward building on it—but the raspberries already there were so tasty, the Sidhus decided to change course. Lucky us—today, Sidhu Farms sells all kinds of berries at farmers markets around the state. (pg. 20)
Chet Sidhu at Sidhu Farms in Puyallup. Sidhu holds a carton of fresh raspberries from the farm.
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home + design
Backyard Industry Step inside the personal home studios of two Washington architects to see how they built hubs of creativity in as little as 80 square feet written by Melissa Dalton
Bainbridge Island: A home office that doubles as a bunkhouse IN 1976, ARCHITECT Jim Cutler bought waterside acreage on Bainbridge Island. Some forty years later, he was struck by an idea while in his home office, then located in his daughters’ playroom: Why stare at an uninspiring view of salal and English ivy when he could be looking at the water instead?
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Photos: Art Grice
home + design
AT LEFT A tiny studio in the woods doubles as a bunkhouse. ABOVE, FROM LEFT The family worked together on building the studio, which has a desk facing the water. The bed adds a treehouse feel.
Around the same time, Cutler’s 10-year-old daughter, Hannah, suggested he enclose her treehouse to become a base for sleepovers. The two notions entwined into an idea for a single building that both father and daughter could use. “I drew it up and then went back and forth with Hannah about ideas,” Cutler said. The result is a backyard studio in the footprint of an old garden shed, complete with a desk, single bed, wood-burning stove and glass-wrapped wall with a view of the sound. “I’ve got to always be doing something with my hands,” Cutler said. When he first purchased the property, it had a small cabin and outhouse, complete with one running tap that drained to a cesspool. Cutler proceeded to hoist the cabin 10 feet in the air, using rented cribbing and two beams in order to build a first floor beneath it on a tight budget and expand the home to a comfortable 1,600 square feet. That project garnered an eightpage-spread in The Seattle Times and effectively kickstarted his Seattle-based practice, Cutler Anderson Architects. For the backyard studio, Cutler’s wife, Beth, and Hannah joined him for the nine-month build. Beth and Hannah dug holes for the footings, while Cutler mixed concrete. He cut the walls and pre-drilled them in the garage so Hannah could screw them together. Cutler commissioned shingles cut from Corten steel for the walls and roof. “Hannah did all the sheathing until
it got up too high for her,” Cutler said, so he finished up the roof. They installed all the windows except for the 5x10-foot piece of glass. That needed to be hired out, as it weighed 400 pounds. Inside, Cutler detailed an exposed interior wood structure and hired his favorite cabinetmaker for the built-in elements. “It’s kind of a lifeboat,” Cutler said, meaning that from the wood stove to the battery storage, the bunkhouse packs all of the essentials in case of island brown-outs. “We really wanted a place where we could still live on the property and have heat,” Cutler said. These days, the tiny studio is a communal spot. “The thing we didn’t expect is it became our family room,” Cutler said. When the wood stove gets going, the family’s cats come running, ready for a toasty snooze on the bed. After Cutler finishes work for the day, he sits at the desk and draws, while Hannah and Beth curl up and stream TV shows. The 30-foot walk back to the main house is an opportunity to appreciate nature’s offerings. “I’m now trying to convince clients to do this. It’s no big deal to go outside from one area of a house to another,” Cutler said, describing a typical night: “The trees are howling from the wind. And there’s this moon with clouds rushing by. You have to stop and look. It just connects you back to the world.” AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2020
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// North Cascades National Park is the perfect place to avoid crowds—it’s one of the country’s least-visited national parks. (photo: Tyler Roemer)
STAND OUT FROM THE
C R OW D IF YOU ARE HOPING TO EXTEND YOUR SOCIAL DISTANCE FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE, CHECK OUT THESE WASHINGTON SPOTS written by Mike G. Christian
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So you say you need a change of scenery. We get it. But if going to a place like Disneyland conjures images of germs (All those people! All those door handles!), you can stay closer to home in Washington and avoid getting hives at the thought of being shoulder to shoulder with others. We scoured the state for the best places to get away from it all (and all the people), without losing that Washington charm.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2020
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