Home Sweet Home Edition 2020

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A treehouse at her grandparents’ house

Maddie DeLange, 11, gets her own hangout inspired by a TV show

By Elisa Claassen for the Lynden Tribune

A tree house, to me, is the most royal palace in the world.” — writer Munia Khan

LYNDEN — Eleven-year-old Maddie DeLange had been a faithful follower of the recently ended “Treehouse Masters” TV show, telling the building adventures of Pete Nelson and his crew based near Issaquah, Washington.

e show, airing on the Animal Planet cable channel, brought 11 seasons’ worth of fantasy accomplished for adults with wallets worthy of bringing childhood dreams to life. (While traveling in California, the family happened to encounter Nelson at the Fresno airport early one morning and he took time to greet his young fan, the DeLanges said.)

Of the many unusual treehouses on the show, which were her favorites? “I like them all!”

Meanwhile, Maddie had been “bugging” her dad, Nick DeLange, that she too wanted a treehouse. Her version, in uenced by the show, would have a number of features that, in the end, weren’t all incorporated into what Nick built, but dad did have a bit of fun with the recent project.

e treehouse is located on the property of grandparents Don and Julie Nyland, near Berthusen Park outside of town. It is in trees at the edge of a nearly 2-acre property — their standard lot in Lynden has no trees.

See Treehouse on C6

Home Sweet Home revamp

Yes, this section has a slightly di erent look, and name, this time around. Instead of being large-scale features of new homes, we invited people (in this weird year of 2020) to tell us about smaller homeupgrade projects on the theme of Home Sweet Home. Amid the restrictions of CO-

VID-19, people stayed closer to home and ambitiously took on projects they may have been envisioning for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to — until now. We were delighted with the response, and we feature six of those projects here. — e Editor

The family calls these the "sladder," combination of stairs and ladder, up to the newly created treehouse near Berthusen Park. (Courtesy photos/Tara DeLange)

Treehouse

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Maddie is joined at times by cousins Kylie and Colby and other friends. While Nick continued to work at DeLaval throughout e ects of COVID-19, he still managed to make time on evenings and weekends to devote to the treehouse project.

e Nylands’ backyard contains an incredibly spacious outbuilding for grandpa’s workshop and vehicles. It is also indoor play space for grandchildren, and among its attractions is a sizeable red playhouse won at a Bellingham Fire Department fundraiser with a $25 ticket.

On this particular day, Maddie’s younger brother Kasen, 8, rides his quad around all of it and under the tree house. Maddie is joined by her buddy Hannah Terpstra, 12, and her family, showing them this new special space. Across the backyard, it’s worth a pause to look up at an o ciallooking mailbox, then it’s up a staircase/ ladder — which they call a “sladder” — with a railing to a porch.

A locking front door is opened, and in-

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"Private property, no trespassing" is the warning, and a mailbox also indicates that this place should be treated as someone's personal abode — or at least it can be imagined so. (Courtesy photos/Tara DeLange)

side it’s possible to t more visitors inside this space than you might expect. e ceiling tapers from 10 feet to 8 feet. So far, the interior has been out tted with a built-in table, chairs and lots of windows, and there are plans for more to come such as shelving for snacks and a fold-up table.

Quite a bit happened early in the summer, starting May 2, they say. e 80-square-foot space and four-foot deck came together fairly quickly, and then more time was spent on addons.

e budget of approximately $1,500 was kept low by nding supplies frugally. Siding came from an old barn. Beams were from an old deck. A few things were given to them or found alongside the road for free such as a door, windows, art and a rug. Some supplies were obtained from Westside Building Supply of Lynden. Under the treehouse are special mounting brackets to protect the Douglas r tree as well as support the treehouse.

“ e tree sways, but not the house,” Nick DeLange said.

What was left out of the plan? “A trap door, loft, a bed to sleep on, running water and electricity, and multiple rooms,” Maddie said. Oh, and a bridge to another tree house ... and a hot tub! What else was “left in”? Solar lights and lots of room for dreaming.

Mom Tara DeLange may have her eye on a She Shed in the future, but in the meantime Maddie lets them all visit and enjoy her space.

Maddie DeLange, right, enjoys the new treehouse with her neighbor and friend, Hannah Terpstra. (Lynden Tribune/Elisa Claassen)

Seven kids, four sports, one court

Lynden family’s sports court takes up whole Eastwood Way backyard

By Brent Lindquist brent@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN — Keeping seven kids busy

can be a handful, especially when they’re all under one roof.

e Stewart family knows this truth, so earlier this year decided to turn their Eastwood Way property into the ultimate destination for playing outside.

Cameron and Sarah Stewart moved their family to Lynden a little over a decade ago from Seattle. While they had talked about a backyard project for some

time, the onset of COVID-19 last spring made it even more imperative for them to create something outside that their kids would use.

“We wanted something to keep them busy, and they didn’t have to go somewhere else to do stu ,” Cameron said. “ eir friends could come here.”

Cameron researched sports courts, which are exactly what they sound like:

home courts for a variety of di erent sports. e family opted to use Sport Court Washington, which o ers fully customizable court sizes and layouts, outdoor and indoor ooring choices, basketball hoop options, lighting set-ups, containment fences and a variety of accessories.

See Sport Court on C10

With the help of Sport Court Washington, the Stewart family has installed the backyard court of their dreams, with features that make it possible to play four di erent sports on the same surface. (Courtesy photo/Cameron Stewart)

Sport Court

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“So, we decided to take the plunge,” Cameron said. “I think the idea’s been there for a couple of years.”

e Stewarts worked with Sport Court Washington, which is based out of Kirkland, to choose their design. is included picking the colors of the court and the activities they wanted to do on the court.

“We wanted to pretty much use our whole backyard if we could,” Cameron said.

e family chose a design that fea-

The final step in installing the Stewart family's Sports Court was to place the ground tiles like a puzzle and to place the basketball hoop. (Courtesy photo/Cameron Stewart)

tures a half-size basketball court, going all the way past the threepoint line. e court can also be used for pickleball and badminton, plus a volleyball court that isn’t quite full-size.

It was an involved project for the Stewarts, as they needed excavation, drainage, grading and concrete work done to make the court a reality. ey used local companies DeKoster Excavating and Greg Blankers’ Precision Concrete working with Sport Court Washington.

“We utilized excellent companies along the way, and added some of our sweat equity to the mix,” Cameron said.

e last step was placing the basketball hoop and puzzlepiecing the court surface together.

e project was ready for use on July 4, and the kids have played on the court a great deal since then. e family's oldest son, Jesse, age 15, plays basketball, and the younger kids often try their hands at pickleball.

“It’s been a lifesaver,” Cameron said.

Left: Four of the Stewart family's seven kids, from left, are: Gracie, age 8, Charlie, also 8, Hope, 10, and Nina, 11. Right: Jesse Stewart stands with his mom, Sarah, on the deck above the family's new Sport Court. Family members not pictured are: dad Cameron, Ellie, 17, and Brady, 12. (Courtesy photos/Cameron Stewart)

LYNDEN — e Johnson family built a covered back deck and a stamped concrete patio at their home on Stremler Drive.

Bob Johnson said this had been a dream for a few years. It got a boost when 30-foot-long 6-by-12-inch beams to form the top of the deck became available from a closed business.

Johnson worked with builder Kevin Spoelstra on drawings and the heavier aspects of construction. en he and church friends put down

Lighting for evening use of the deck is part of the finishing touch. The roof material is CrystaLite polycarbonite sheeting in a smoke color from Westside Building Supply. (Courtesy photos/Bob Johnson)

the TimberTech decking from Vander Griend Lumber Co. (In a random oddity, it happens that the Vander Griend family once lived in this house.)

It all went smoothly. “It just took time. We puttered away at it,” he said of the whole project.

e improvement is “an extension of our outdoor living space,” Bob said, or, as wife Debbie has labeled it, “my happy place.”

As they both continue to work full-time while raising three daughters, this is “a place to go and just enjoy the quiet and the sun, a place to unwind,” he said.

An outdoor patio heater may still be added to make it usable year-round.

(Courtesy photo/Bob Johnson)

Well-used old trailer restored to fresh duties

Whole family worked on it; main purpose will be to carry fishing kayaks

By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com

LYNDEN — Way back, about 35 years ago, as Sheryl Martello recalls it, her parents bought a new utility trailer to help relocate to their home on Camano Island. After the move, the trailer sat uncovered in Marysville for several years.

When Sheryl moved to Lynden 15 years ago, she became the owner of the aging trailer.

“It has been used for everything,” she said. Over the years, that would hauling gravel and doing landscape projects, helping out at a lavender farm and even helping some New Way Ministries residents move into new housing. en a tree limb went through the front end of the trailer during a winter storm.

“As a four-generation family project, we decided to restore it and turn it into primarily a kayak carrier that would still be useful for other utility,” Sheryl Martello said.

Everyone used their expertise to make it work. ose involved were Sheryl’s parents, Gerald and Shirley Oliver, and her daughter and son-in-law and kids, the Whitehead family.

is is Sheryl’s account: “My parents and I spent an entire afternoon stripping it bare. We had a minor repair to weld, then o to sandblast and powder coat. All electrical was replaced. en my mother

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The metal frame of the old trailer had enough structural integrity to it to be brought back to good looks and fine function after being stripped, repaired, sanded and then painted a deep blue and varnished. (Courtesy photos/Sheryl Martello)

taught me how to use a hand-sander and varnish. My granddaughters and daughter helped nish the panels.

“After putting her back together, my

We’ve

dad devised an easy way to load, secure and unload the shing kayaks. No more loading on top of a car!

It will be much easier to enjoy our

beautiful Northwest waters! We plan many adventures with this new family heirloom.”

e restored trailer was christened Gabby, short for the “patriarch” of the proj-

ect, Gerald Gabriel Oliver, Sheryl’s father. “But o cially she is Santa Gabriella, due to the fact that we ended up working with her on many a Sunday!” Sheryl said.

upgraded our o ce and added new sta to include more to our portfolio!

Restored and with sideboards, the trailer can now be used, among other things, for carrying a pair of fishing kayaks. (Courtesy photos/Sheryl Martello)

COVID meant it was time to reorganize the office

LYNDEN — Porchlight Property

Management was founded in owner/ broker Mitzi Baldwin’s home 10 years ago, grew into an o ce behind Muddy Waters co ee stand, and then to its current location at 519A Front St. about a year and a half ago.

Still, it wasn’t until COVID-19 hit

last March that Baldwin and her crew really made the o ce space their “home,” so to speak. While being an o ce, it has elements of home.

Employee Marlae Stanovich, also related to Baldwin, calls it “cozy” now, with a leather couch, co ee table and

fun decor.

e downtown business space, dating back to 1912, has housed most recently a hair salon and other assorted o ces. Since a number of the Porchlight

Porchlight Property Management wanted a little feel of ‘home’

From left are the Porchlight Property Management crew of Camryn Starkenburg, Marlae Stanovich and and Mitzi Baldwin. (Lynden Tribune/Elisa Claassen)

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tenants like to drop o rent payments inperson, being at ground level is an advantage.

Yet, the space needed more than cosmetic touches. While determining to update the electrical service, they also put in a kitchen, rejuvenated a storage space to be a conference/”key” room, brightened a restroom, and reorganized the overall

space for better work ow.

Porchlight added Camryn Starkenburg to the sta just weeks ago and now there is room for her desk as well.

First they added a mixture of screens, got rid of a slanted wall and replaced the small fridge with a real fridge in a real kitchen. en they got really creative:

• a damaged fridge at home had been

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The new look includes a co ee table that can become a computer work station, comfy chairs and plenty of creative and fun design. (Lynden Tribune/Elisa Claassen)

replaced with a new one, but the old door was repurposed as a magnetic surface for storing keys here.

• a co ee table top lifts to become a computer work station, including for the

employees’ children if they need another place to learn o -site — there are eight employees' children in all, several in school.

• a beautiful table previously owned by Baldwin’s late mother lines a wall by the

front door.

Contractor Mitered Right Construction provided the necessary professional services. Di erent purchased items came from Wayfair and Interior Doors and More,

and some were repurposed. ey are adding a few more touches, they said, and the whole e ort is close to completion. ey are happy with what they started in June.

A family heirloom table and a patterned chair will be the welcome to anyone coming in to the business o Front Street downtown. (Lynden Tribune/Elisa Claassen)

By Elisa Claassen for the

The remodeling venture was an

to refresh all decor in the large Shipley house. (Lynden Tribune/Elisa Claassen)

that their COVID-19 remodel started innocently enough in the dated kitchen.

It snowballed and went from one project to another and then to more. While they still have plans for a few more things, they truly have made a noticeable di erence in their family home of 15 years on South Park Court.

Mom Casey Shipley, an employee of Guide Insurance, came home to work months ago and now only goes in to the o ce to meet with clients as needed.

While sitting at her desk in a living room o the kitchen, she started to notice the changes she really wanted to see in their home. Several of their children — who all have been studying for college, high school or middle school throughout their spacious 4,000-squarefoot home during COVID — are fans of Pinterest and so brought ideas to the table.

Husband Je Shipley, who rises early (such as 1:30 or 2 a.m.) for his food sales route, obviously doesn’t work from home. But he appreciated the sense of needed changes and so all in the family joined forces to bring them about, especially during a family staycation. Je said he saw ideas on social media See

Whether

The kitchen is where the updating urge started, and the room ended up receiving new cabinets, wall covering, backsplash, countertop and trim. Then the renovating continued elsewhere in the house. (Courtesy photo/Casey Shipley)

Redo

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Tik Tok while Casey took advantage of the how-to helps of YouTube videos for things such as grouting.

It started in the kitchen with cabinets, then to the backsplash, walls, counter, trim and the rest of the room. It proceeded into an adjacent sitting room with ooring, new seating space and decor.

As each space was changing, Casey has found — or painted — furnishings to match. e Shipleys went to vendors Home Depot, Lowe’s, Lynden Interiors (for ooring) and North Star for rock for the replace. Not to be forgotten, Ace, True Value, Westside Building Supply and Sherwin-Williams were also visited for paints and wood and other supplies. Both Je and Casey said they were pleased with the help received.

While things were progressing room to room in the house, Je was also active outside on his ongoing yard DIY project, in which he essentially has replaced all plants since they moved in and updated the lighting this summer.

Also quite noticeable is the nice new exterior paint job done by a buddy of Je with a

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It was fun to continue with the refreshing of floors, furnishings, wood finishes, decor and more in the 30-year-old house. (Lynden Tribune/Elisa Claassen)

painting business in Snohomish. He arrived with a trailer and a few employees and went to work for several days.

It was back into living rooms, yes plural, and the entry for shiplap and paint. e walls were previously red through much of that space from a prior owner, and refreshed to a dark mocha color upon the Shipleys' occupancy. Now that has gone to a lighter gray to have more light.

Upon discussing how busy home improvement stores were this summer, Je laughed and said that some things he was eying were running out of stock.

While COVID brought so many changes, this family stayed busy — Casey made well over 1,000 comfortable face masks at her sewing machine — and they have enjoyed more time together, she said.

It re ects in their choice of decor: “Blessed” is a central focus on what they have chosen to talk of and to have on their walls.

Home Sweet Home

The Shipleys used their own creativity, drew upon ideas found online and shopped various Whatcom County stores to do their remodel. (Lynden Tribune/Elisa Claassen)