2019 SPRING Contractor's Guide

SPRING 2019 | A DAILY RECORD PUBLICATION

CONTRACTORS GUIDE

SERVING ALL OF KITTITAS COUNTY

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2019 SPRING CONTRACTOR’S GUIDE

CONTENTS 5

FOREVER HOME

8

FAMILY TECH

10

CALIFORNIA WARMS TO SOLAR

14

ROBOT LAWN MOWER

16

SLEEPER SOFAS

18

TINY-HOME ZONING

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tas As voted by the readers of the Daily Record.

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forever home The most challenging aspect of this journey has been re-imagining a well-designed, quintessential Pacific Northwest home with great bones, and a lot of blue carpet, orange wood and fluorescent lighting

By Sandy Deneau Dunham The Seattle Times MARROWSTONE ISLAND — A lifechanging transition helped establish a home-renovating mission statement: ‘How does one honor the custodianship of a much-loved-yet-dated inherited home?’

This profound, intensely personal place, tucked between enormous evergreens on the remote edge of a rustic island _ was not part of the plan.

Lisa and Dave McCammon, married parents of five, were living in Salt Lake City, sometimes in their converted warehouse loft downtown, sometimes in their high-altitude mountain cabin. Lisa, a self-taught designer and self-professed design fanatic, had collaborated on several restaurant and home projects there; their loft, in particular, attracted its own mountain of media attention.

Dave’s parents were here, two of the 850 or so residents of tiny Marrowstone

Island, in the home they’d designed and built in 1987. Dave and Lisa came up frequently to help out, and initially, Lisa designed a 220-square-foot backyard guest space, “old-school, on graph paper,” she says, as “our little happy, private place.”

In January 2015, Dave’s father passed away, and by June, Dave’s mother had decided to move out of state.

“She said, ‘Here you go. The house is yours,’ “ Lisa says. “Those words changed our life forever. We sold our loft and cabin, and slowly eased into the transition full-time.”

This unplanned, life-changing transition — and all the deep emotions involved — helped establish Lisa’s homerenovating mission statement: “How does one honor the custodianship of a muchloved-yet-dated inherited home?”

The home itself was solid, she says, as were her instincts.

“The most challenging aspect of this journey has been re-imagining a well-

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designed, quintessential Pacific Northwest home with great bones, and a lot of blue carpet (even in the bathrooms), orange wood and fluorescent lighting,” she says. “The tough part was I couldn’t bear the thought of tearing out the basaltrock fireplace from Mats Mats Bay, hand-picked by Dad. He sat on that hearth in his plaid flannel shirt and grandpa jeans every night, until he couldn’t. I couldn’t bear the thought of replacing the custom oak cabinets that he and Mom splurged for that were excellent quality, except they were ... well, orange and dated. There were so many more things I couldn’t bear to part with.”

Some things were a little easier: “I knew I wanted to get rid of the orange fir; it had aged,” she says. “Lots of fluorescent lighting. Blue carpets, toilets, sinks _ it just bonked you over the head with blue.” Also out: “the linoleum; the ceramic entry tile; and the ‘artwork,’ which was a scheme of Mickey Mouse, Jesus, and teddy bears.”

Even then, she says, “I took a lot of time to look at what was working aesthetically and structurally. I took everything out. I took all the soft furnishings and tables. I needed to just look at the space and combine two households of things. It was a major editing process.”

MAJOR PROJECT It was a major home-renovation project.

Structurally, they replaced the original roof and added a

custom, copper cupola. (“That’s kind of my signature,” Lisa says. “I applied a several-step acid wash to advance verde patina.”) They reconfigured entry closets to add a firstfloor office for Dave, and installed French doors and deskheight windows to improve his water view. Other doors were repurposed; the entry one was replaced. The master bathroom was gutted and modernized. Before Dave had his new office space, they built a stand-alone building in the front yard (it’s now a fitness shed).

Aesthetically, the custom cabinets in the kitchen and upstairs en suite bathroom were customized anew, with updated hardware, drawer boxes, pulls and “a finish that took me several attempts to get right,” Lisa says. The Peachtree windows cleared the bar, after “every single piece of trim and wood” was stained and painted. The kitchen island expanded, with a new PentalQuartz countertop. Lisa rented scaffolding and faux-stained the orangey-wood greatroom ceiling, and “dragged a driftwood-look finish on the beams, window trim and columns.

“There was a lot of taking things out, painting, fixing, staining and putting them back,” she says.

And then, “In came only the very carefully edited, sentimental items from two very different homes, collected over 44 years of marriage,” Lisa says. “Our treasured memories of life throughout the U.S., as well as living,

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working and traveling through Europe for several years.”

There’s a Soumak rug from Cappadocia, Turkey. PapierMache plates from Florence. Sculptures from Bellagio, Italy.

Bertoia chairs from the Salt Lake City loft. Two trunks from a beloved tree at the Utah cabin, now repurposed as end tables. Chairs and farmhouse light fixtures from Dave’s company headquarters.

Their spectacular setting on Admiralty Inlet inspired a fleet of industrial marine fixtures, including an aged anchor chain as the stair handrail, and a bronze mermaid figurehead in honor of Dave’s father and his sense of humor.

“We call this Casa McCammon,” says Lisa. “Everything has a story. It’s like our life as a house.”

Over their life together, Dave says, he and Lisa have moved more than 25 times for his career. This last move, to a remote northwestern island several states removed from Dave’s business, might have been unexpected, but it also fits a broader plan: of legacies, of family and of the future.

“One of the reasons we needed to hold on to this house is that we lead a pretty nomadic life,” says Lisa. “This is the closest thing to a family homestead. Our kids would come here in the summers. Now they’re bringing their kids. I told Dave: ‘I think we need to have this be our forever home.’ So here we are.”

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family tech gadgets appeal to parental anxiety

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) — Every year, the CES gadget show brings more devices promising to make life a little bit easier for harried parents.

Sure, the kids might love them too: who wouldn’t want a computerized Harry Potter wand that also teaches coding? The Las Vegas show’s growing “family tech” sector encompasses products that range from artificially intelligent toys and baby monitors to internet-connected breast pumps.

Their common thread is an appeal to parental anxiety about raising smart kids, occupying their time, tracking their whereabouts and making sure they’re healthy and safe.

Some also come with subtle tradeoffs. “Technology makes us forget what we know about life,” said psychologist Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies people’s relationships with machines. She’s particularly concerned about robots that seek to befriend or babysit young children.

NOT-SO-IMAGINARY FRIENDS Take the cute, furry Woobo, meant to be a real-life version of a child’s imaginary friend that can help set toothbrushing routines, answer complex questions and play educational games.

It’s part of a new cottage industry of sociable toys, which includes robots like Cozmo and Sony’s dog-like Aibo.

A gentle pull at the ears switches 8

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the screen-faced Woobo into listening mode. The $149 toy talks in a child-like voice and makes a game out of boring chores that might otherwise require a parent’s nagging. Its makers say Woobo doesn’t glue kids to its screen because it invites them to go find things in the home, help parents cook dinner or play family games like charades.

“Our focus on the content side is not to replace parents,” said Shen Guo, who co-founded Cambridge, Massachusettsbased Woobo after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design. “It’s to enhance family time.”

But its appeal for a child’s emotional attachment and nurturing sets off alarm bells for Turkle, who has been warning against what she calls “artificial intimacy” since the Tamagotchi digital pet craze of the 1990s.

Research has shown the benefits of children playing out their inner feelings and worries by projecting them onto inert dolls. But Turkle says that doesn’t work when the toys seem real enough to have their own feelings.

“Pretend empathy is not a good thing,” Turkle said. “Everything we know about children’s development is that if you read to a child, what’s going on is the relationship, the talking, the connection, the mentoring, the safety, the sense that people love learning.

Why do we think this is a good idea to give this to some robot?”

IS YOUR BABY BREATHING? Talk to makers of the next generation of baby monitors unveiled at CES and

2019 SPRING CONTRACTOR’S GUIDE

you’d be surprised that generations of children survived infancy without artificial intelligence systems analyzing their every breath.

“Babies want to breathe. Babies want to live,” says Colt Seman, cofounder of Los Angeles-based startup Miku, which promises to monitor breathing and heart rate without letting parents get overly worked up about it.

Regulators haven’t approved any baby monitors for medical use and instead recommend parents focus on providing a safe sleeping environment.

Some doctors worry that such devices create additional stress for parents.

Unlike most past offerings, the latest crop of baby monitors that measure vital signs are “contactless” — meaning they don’t work by attaching some electronics to a baby’s sock or chest. Raybaby’s device resembles a one-eyed robot that detects breathing patterns using radar technology.

The non-ionizing radiation it emits is at low levels, but might still turn off some parents already concerned about keeping their babies too close to smartphones.

Most of the other devices rely on computer vision. A camera by Nanit watches a baby from above and measures sleeping patterns by tracking the slight movements of a speciallydesigned swaddle. It also uses the data it collects to recommend more consistent sleep times. Nanit’s Aaron Pollack acknowledges that some parents might still check Nanit’s phone app to check breathing data five times a night “out of sheer anxiety.”

“We’re not trying to prevent that,” he said. “We’re just trying to give you some piece of mind.”

Two others, Miku and Utah-based Smartbeat, each boast of a level of precision and analytical rigor that could eventually help predict when the baby is going to get sick. Both have phone alert systems to report worrisome breathing irregularities. Smartbeat’s analysis is purely image-based, while Miku also uses radar. Miku’s sleeker hardware comes at a cost: It’s $399, well above the $250 Smartbeat.

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california warms to solar homes; other states may give a cold shoulder

By Rebecca Beitsch Stateline.org California’s first-in-the-nation requirement that all new homes have solar panels is a giant leap toward its goal of a fossil-free future, but the challenge of managing a surge of electricity to the grid could keep other states — even sun-soaked ones _ from following suit.

Opposition from utilities and homebuilders, and a slower return on investment, also could stall similar efforts in other states.

With 80,000 houses built in California each year, the mandate that takes effect in 2020 will more than double the amount of solar energy produced in the state by 2025, the state said. California hopes to have 100 percent of its electricity come from carbon emission-free sources by 2045.

But energy experts, even those supportive of renewable energy, say the move could create difficulties for the state’s electric grid as more residents contribute energy to the grid by selling their excess solar power. Utilities will have to manage that increase in energy production to keep it from overwhelming the system.

“Yes, all that solar going on the grid in the middle of the day is undeniably a challenge,” said K Kaufmann, who recently left her job as a communications manager for the Smart Electric Power Alliance to work for Fluence, an energy storage company. “However, there are a range of potential solutions and more will be developed.

This is going to spark a lot of innovation.”

Cloudy states may not be tempted to follow California’s lead, but other sunny states, particularly those with ambitious clean energy goals, will be watching to see how its utilities adapt. A few cities in California have within the past few years implemented requirements that all new homes have solar panels, as has the town of South Miami in Florida, but this is the first time a mandate will be rolled out on such a large scale.

“We should recognize this as a pretty historical decision,” said Sean Gallagher, vice president of state affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association. “This is a further step in solar going from what was a niche product a few years ago to becoming as common as the front door on a home.”

The California Energy Commission, which voted unanimously to add the solar panel requirement to the state building code, said the cost-benefit analysis made it a straightforward decision. Though the measure on average will add about $8,400 to the cost of building a home, that is less than what owners will save on their electric bills.

But the same may not hold true in many other states. Though California’s home builders ultimately supported the measure, their national advocacy group opposes such mandates elsewhere.

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“Based on our estimates, we don’t believe it would be costeffective or in the best interest of consumers to mandate solar panels in other states,” Liz Thompson, director of media relations for the National Association of Home Builders, said in an email.

Utility and housing prices in other states may prevent a return on the investment for homeowners, she said.

Other factors could change the financial calculations. Utilities in some states have pushed hard against rooftop solar, since keeping solar production in the hands of utilities ensures they retain their customer base.

And how much utilities in other states would be required to pay homeowners for the electricity they contribute would make a big difference in how quickly homeowners could recoup their costs.

The Path to Net Zero California regulators discussed a potential solar mandate for the better part of a decade, part of the California Public Utilities Commission’s effort to make new homes “zero net energy,” essentially producing as much energy as they consume over the course of a year.

As technological advances drove down the price of solar panels, California enacted stricter efficiency standards for homes, such as insulation and lighting requirements, California Energy Commission spokeswoman Amber Beck explained, reducing the wattage of solar needed to supply a home. That meant a solar power system would be cheap enough to meet the commission’s strict standard that new rules be cost-effective.

Adding solar panels to a home is expected to boost average monthly mortgage payments by $40, while homeowners would save an average of about $80 a month on their electricity bills, according to the California Energy Commission.

Despite initial concerns over costs, California builders supported the mandate because of flexibility in how they can comply, said Bob Raymer, technical director with the California Building Industry

Association.

Solar panels can be placed directly on the roofs of individual homes, or builders can install community solar units that support several homes. Homeowners also have the option of leasing solar panels from a company rather than owning them outright.

Getting it to the Grid California utilities likewise supported the measure, but trade groups and energy experts have raised concerns about the stability of the grid and how utilities will keep up and pay for electric infrastructure as more customers produce and sell their own energy.

Many utilities operate on “a traditional grid where the generation is in one place and electrons are going to the home and nothing is coming back, where you have a one-way, centralized system,” Kaufmann said.

A two-way system creates complications. Beyond the fear of frying infrastructure with excess electricity, utilities are concerned that the cost of maintaining infrastructure might shift too heavily toward ratepayers who do not have solar panels.

California hopes to resolve grid stability issues by pushing homebuilders to include battery storage along with the solar panels.

Though battery storage technology is still being developed for larger scale projects, said Gallagher of the solar association, battery storage for the home market is becoming more efficient and costeffective each year.

California will switch to “time-of-use” pricing in March. That means consumers will be charged less for electricity during the day, as solar contributes to the grid, and charged more in the evening when solar production decreases, but people returning home from work put more demand on the grid.

Regulators hope batteries could be used to store excess energy created during the sunniest times and later power the home on a cloudy day or when prices for electricity are higher.

But the issue of who pays for infrastructure remains a concern.

If homeowners with solar panels become less reliant on utilities, customers without solar panels may be stuck with a greater share of the cost of maintaining the grid. In some cases, solar panel users are charged a fee for remaining connected to the grid, but utilities worry as their customer base changes, that fee may not be enough.

“It’s not that we don’t want customers generating solar,” said Paul Zummo, director of policy research and analysis with the

American Public Power Association, which represents nonprofit utilities. “It’s just that we want that cost to be recovered in an equitable manner. We don’t want one class of customer subsidizing another.”

Other States, Other Issues It’s not yet clear that the math would work in other states, where electricity rates might be lower than California’s average of 16 to 19 cents per kilowatt hour, and labor and other solar installation costs could be higher.

“I think it’s replicable,” Zummo said. “But it might be that in a state where the electric rate is five or six cents a kilowatt hour it takes longer to recoup that value.”

Such issues might stop other states from considering a mandate like California’s — especially those that pay customers less for the energy they contribute. Under net metering policies, customers are compensated for the excess solar electricity they contribute to the grid. Selling electricity back to the utility, especially at favorable rates, is part of what makes the solar panels a financial win for homeowners.

Net metering can be the key to the cost-effectiveness of solar panels, Zummo said. Some states pay market rates for electricity sold back to the grid, while others pay the cheaper wholesale rate.

“This kind of (solar panel) mandate works best with full-scale net metering,” Gallagher said, where consumers are credited for the solar they contribute at the same price they pay when drawing electricity from the grid. “If a state has different regulatory structures then the economics might look different for... whether customers start saving money right up front.”

Other states, under pressure from utilities, have rules that make it less desirable for homeowners to install their own panels.

Utilities generally prefer large-scale solar projects that guarantee them a customer base and limit the complexities of dealing with excess energy on the grid and compensating those who produce it.

Bryan Jacob, solar program director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said even though many states in the Southeast have solar potential, he doesn’t think a mandate would gain much traction there.

“We’re still a very conservative ilk. I think we like more capitalist solutions, more market-based mechanisms, than a top-down heavyhanded mandate. That’s just my read of the politics,” he said.

Many utilities in the Sunbelt have resisted roof top solar.

Alabama Power is being sued over a fee it charges customers with solar panels, which “effectively makes it cost you money to put solar on your roof,” Jacob said.

“Utilities dig in to protect the revenue streams they currently have,” he said.

But in some places the tide is beginning to turn. Florida has long grappled with whether to allow homeowners to lease solar panels from private companies. The solar industry association ranks Florida as eighth in the nation for solar, despite being ranked second for solar industry potential.

States with more generous compensation rates for solar panel owners, such as Hawaii, will be keeping an eye on California.

“You’ll see other states start to recognize that solar is costeffective for their citizens and their grids. The lesson is it takes time. It didn’t happen overnight in California,” said Gallagher with the solar industry association.

“I’m excited about other states recognizing that this kind of requirement is feasible and assisting them in taking steps in that direction.”

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roBot lawn mower BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — Robot vacuums have now been around long enough that you might watch one bump around a living room and think, why isn’t there a robot that could mow my lawn? Turns out, it’s not for lack of trying.

For more than a decade, iRobot, the company behind the Roomba vacuumbot, has been working — and working — on robotic lawn mowers. Now it finally has something to show for the effort, though it’s come at a cost.

“Honestly, this robot drove me insane,” said iRobot CEO Colin Angle after showing off Terra, the company’s long-awaited first lawn mower. “It has been an obsession.”

The flat square autonomous grass-cutter that Angle’s company unveiled Wednesday resulted from a protracted engineering struggle that included dead-end experiments and a conflict with radio astronomers.

Angle and his colleagues have been fielding the question, “So, when are you going to mow my lawn?” since the company starting selling Roombas in 2002.

But teaching a robot to navigate a typical American yard without destroying its flowerbeds was harder than it first seemed. “There was a lot of despair and frustration on the journey,” Angle said.

Engineers threw every technology and mechanical design they could at the secret project, which they hid behind tall, opaque fences abutting a freeway just outside iRobot’s Massachusetts headquarters. The test lawn 14

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included a picnic table and other obstacles.

The first problem was helping the robot identify its location so it wouldn’t get lost and miss spots. Satellitebased GPS technology didn’t do the trick; it was too “finicky” because interference from tree branches or nearby houses could render it useless, Angle said.

Also ineffective was the sophisticated computer vision that powers the latest Roombas. The technology didn’t work well outside because camera lenses can get blocked by leaves or dirt, and its machine-learning algorithms get confused as the mower bumps up and down. Laser rangefinders and ground-based beacons presented different challenges.

The company made so many attempts that several early lawnbot prototypes can be spotted in the 2008 heist film “21.” They make their appearance in a scene where Angle plays a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announcing the winner of a robotics competition. The current Terra looks nothing like those prototypes.

“We had given up,” Angle said of the project. “We probably gave up twice.”

Ultimately, though, financial pressure on the robot maker to diversify its product lineup raised the stakes.

(After spinning off its defense robotics division in 2016, iRobot is almost exclusively a seller of vacuums. The main exception is the Braava robotic mop, which accounts for a

fraction of total revenue.)

Robotic lawn mowers also started to proliferate in Europe, where they’re now a roughly $300 million industry.

Those robo-mowers, however, require homeowners to set up a perimeter of boundary wires to keep the machines in a confined area.

Angle said that works well in Germany, where backyards are typically small, flat and rectangular, but not in the meandering lawns of the United States. American lawn culture also sets a higher bar for what a cut should look like: straight, back-and-forth lines are prized, he said.

The company finally found its answer in a radio technology based on “ultra-wide” bandwidths that would guide the mowers with the help of beacons situated around the lawn, combined with the map-making memory that iRobot already uses for its vacuums. But that idea ran afoul of astronomers who said the radio signals could interfere with their studies of interstellar chemistry.

IRobot eventually won permission from the Federal Communication Commission to use ultra-wide bandwidth for wireless robotic lawn mowers — though not before Harvey Liszt, spectrum manager for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, argued to the FCC that “there is already a competitive market for robotic lawn mowers using wire loops, which has somehow failed to stanch the stream of ghastly accidents and spilt gasoline that iRobot

associates with the mundane practice of lawn-mowing.”

The quiet, electric-power mower sports a pair of tri-blade mulchers that are meant to work slowly on a lawn — instead of the typical once-a-week cut with a push mower, it can maneuver around a lawn daily or a few times a week — and returns to its station when complete. Users can schedule the machine with a phone app; if it runs down on juice while moving, it will return to its dock to recharge, then resume where it left off. Along with the radio technology, it has a variety of other sensors to avoid tin cans and other unexpected debris.

The robot will first launch in Germany, where iRobot hopes to capitalize on an existing market where perimeterbased models made by Husqvarna, Bosch and other firms are already popular. The mowers will go on sale in the U.S. in 2020 after an invite-only beta launch later this year.

Forrester consumer technology analyst Frank Gillett said iRobot seems to have solved some of the technical difficulties of autonomously mowing to U.S. lawn culture standards, but he remains skeptical that there’s enough demand among American homeowners, many of whom are either proud of their push-mowing work or willing to pay someone else to do it.

“The bigger issue is still the cost,” Gillett said. The company hasn’t yet disclosed Terra’s likely price, but existing high-end robotic mowers can run well over $1,000.

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the latest sleeper sofas offer solutions for tight spaces

By Lisa Boone Los Angeles Times

quick flip. With easy-pull fabric handles and a removable, machine-washable cotton top sheet for overnight guests. $1,999. gusmodern.com

As many homeowners move to living smaller in tiny houses, accessory dwelling units and mobile homes, the sleeper sofa has taken on new importance regarding spacesaving needs. From modular sofas that come equipped with pop-up storage to sleek click-into-place daybeds, today’s designs can be pushed, pulled and opened like a book. And they look good, too. We have compiled a list of 11 of the latest designs to hit the market. Prices were checked prior to publication but may fluctuate depending on individual retailers.

2. Thataway Sleeper Sofa from Blu Dot The minimal but curvaceous 102-inch Thataway sofa features an easy-flip cushion that creates a bed with a touch of the hand. Available in Tait Charcoal upholstery (90 percent polyester and 10 percent linen blend). $1,999. bludot.com

1. The Flipside Sofabed from Gus Modern The Flipside Sofabed in the new Chelsea Pacific fabric converts the clean-lined sofa into a queen-size bed with one 16

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2019 SPRING CONTRACTOR’S GUIDE

3. Stay Daybed from Jayson Home The handy trundle on the tufted Stay Daybed can be pulled out from under the daybed to create a twin bed or up to create a queen-size bed. Available in canvas-granite cotton fabric (85 percent cotton, 15 percent polyester) and black walnut wood finish. $3,595. jaysonhome

4. Wink Sleeper from Crate & Barrel The no-nonsense Wink Sleeper can accommodate three positions: sitting upright, lounge position and sleeper _ and is ideal for apartments and other small spaces. Highdensity foam seat and back cushions are wrapped around innerspring coil core and then upholstered in a durable weave. $1,299. crateandbarrel.com 5. The Nordic Sofa Bed from the Sofa Bed Store The Scandinavian-style Nordic Sofa Bed is another good option for small spaces as it comes apart for easy transport.

The tufted sofa comes with arms, or without, and opens up to a double bed. Accessories include a head rest ($165) and mattress topper ($175). Available in dark gray and winter sky (shown). $2,260 to $3,105. thesofabedstore.com

8. The Komodo Sleeper Sofa from Pezzan The Komodo sleeper sofa features a stainless steel mechanism that allows for an easy transition from threeseater sofa to queen-size bed. Made in Italy, the sofa has adjustable head rests and antibacterial and anti-mite highperformance fabric in red, dark gray and gray. $3,000. pezzanusa.com

6. Ian Leather Guest Select Sleeper Sofa from Room and Board The Ian sleeper sofa comes with an air chamber that overnight guests can inflate to their preference with an electric pump (included). Available in queen and full versions and in custom leather colors. $3,499. roomandboard.com

10. Movie Salt and Pepper twin sleeper sofa Fun fabric enlivens the Movie Salt and Pepper sofa, which comes with a twin-size sleeper. The pint-size sleeper is available in a wide variety of fabric, ranging in price from $1,399 to $1,799. cb2.com 11. Charly Sleeper Sofa from Interior Define Designed by Chris and Julia Marcum of the popular home design blog Chris Loves Julia, the Charly sleeper sofa is billed as a family-friendly couch as it offers kid- and petfriendly fabric options. Available in a bench seat, or with two cushions for $100 more. Lumbar pillows included. Also available with a chaise. $2,400. interiordefine.com

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7. Axel Full Leather Futon from West Elm When upright, the 82.5-inch leather Axel sofa seats three.

Unfold it by means of a click clack mechanism (meaning it clicks into place) and the industrial-style sofa sleeps two as a full-size bed. Available in seven colors $1,999.99 _ $2,999. westelm.com

9. Soma Sleeper Sofa from Article The Midcentury Modern-style Soma consists of a love seat and chaise. The chaise lifts up for easy access storage and the love seat hides a memory foam mattress that can sleep two. Blue, dark gray and gray upholstery. $1,599. article.com

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proposed legislation would make tiny-home zoning easier

By Emma Epperly WNPA Olympia News Bureau Tiny houses are a trendy new housing option that are often considered affordable; however zoning requirements and other laws make them difficult to legally place.

A tiny house is usually between 100 and 400 square feet but can range up to 1,000 square feet. District 25 Senator Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup, is the prime sponsor of three bills to overcome obstacles to tiny house developments.

The Senate Housing Stability and Affordability Committee heard public testimony on two of Zeiger’s bills, Wednesday. SB 5382 deals with tiny houses as detached accessory units. SB 5383 outlines building requirements for a tiny home, in effect creating a legal framework for tiny homes, which can be specified at the local level.

The Senate Local Government Committee heard public testimony Tuesday on SB 5384 that would create a process to authorize the creation of tiny house communities outside of urban growth areas or areas of intense rural development when there is a shortage of affordable housing.

“We have an affordable housing crisis, and let’s find some creative ways to address that,” said Zeiger.

Todd McKellips Executive Director at the Washington Tiny House Association, testified in support of the bill, saying it would give counties permission to develop their own plans for tiny house developments.

“The builders believe that this is a huge solution that has not been looked at,” said McKellips.

Tiny home zoning requirements can be difficult to navigate, said Soap Lake Mayo, Raymond Gravelle, who experienced that first hand in changing zoning 18

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requirements to allow for cottage homes. Cottage homes are slightly larger than the average tiny home, ranging from 400 to 1,000 square feet, but still have to deal with rural density zoning requirements.

“It took about a year to get all of the zoning correct,” said Gravelle. “Since passing it, we haven’t had anyone take advantage of the higher density construction opportunity but we have several developers that are looking hard at developing some parcels in Soap Lake.”

Gravelle, a realtor, hopes to pursue a tiny home development himself. The median home value in Grant County is $ 250,000 and a tiny home costs around $130,000 to $160,000 which is a new price point, he said.

“Getting community buy-in is important because it does allow for higher density housing. Some people object to that in rural communities,” said Gravelle.

Things like access to broadband and amenities like grocery stores and restaurants are also factors that developers have to consider, said Gravelle.

The target market for homes like this varies based on location. In Soap Lake it is people looking to buy a second home, downsize or retire, millennials who work remotely and want a low cost of living, or investment properties to be used as rentals or airbnbs, said Gravelle.

Ethan Goodman, executive director at Tech for Housing testified, Wednesday in support of the bills.

“Tiny houses are, I have to recognize, a fairly niche housing type, but I think they still deserve our support,” said Goodman. “Just because a housing type doesn’t appeal to everybody doesn’t make it an illegitimate choice for those that want that option.”

2019 SPRING CONTRACTOR’S GUIDE 2018 SPRING CONTRACTOR’S GUIDE

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IF THE HIGH COST OF HOUSING IS BEYOND YOUR AFFORDIBILITY & BUDGET, COME IN AND LOOK AT OUR HOMES OFFERED AT PRICES YOU CAN AFFORD! You will be thrilled with the Quality structural standards in our Valley Home, total energy efficiency, total structural integrity, along with beauty of modern design. We do customizing and offer homes from 960 S. Ft. to 2,720 Sq. Ft in double to triple section homes.

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SPOKANE

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2019 SPRING CONTRACTOR’S GUIDE

MOSES LAKE

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2019 SPRING CONTRACTOR’S GUIDE

BEFORE

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From everyday collection to environmental protection, Think Green®. Think Waste Management.

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Don’t wait until it is too late!

Seeds travel through the wind, water and even on birds and other animals.

Although it is impossible to keep all weeds contained, we can certainly do our part to keep them under control

Alsup Property Maintenance, LLC offers spraying services throughout the Kittitas Valley.

SPRAYING SERVICES INCLUDE

Weed & Feed Fence Line Small Acreage Noxious Weed Control

Alsup Property Maintenance, LLC Contact: Sasha Alsup (509) 929-2361 APMLLC2017@gmail.com Proudly serving all of Kittitas County!

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2019 SPRING CONTRACTOR’S GUIDE

Injured workers?

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KVH Workplace Health 702 E. Mountain View Suite 2, Ellensburg 509.933.8830 | 844.217.8029 Mon-Fri drop-in services 7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

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