Stunning home comes together well despite pandemic
Smart choices avoided delays; saving time and money and getting what they wanted
By Elisa Claassen for the TribuneLYNDEN — Timing is everything – especially when building a home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A cul-de-sac in a newer neighborhood in
Lynden has three beautiful new homes. Nancy and Nate Leavitt nished their two-story black-and-white 2,850-square foot home in this trio on Rye Court during the pandemic. A large driveway leads to the front door which is surrounded by CVG (clear vertical grain) ooring used along the walls in this case.
e Leavitts were living a few blocks away on Pine Street when they decided on the location of their new home on Rye Court. ey have been together 15 years, about the same length of time Nate worked in construction. ankfully, they had great timing – as good as it could be during COVID — and sched-
uled in February 2020. e lot was purchased a month later.
Lender locally-based Peoples Bank was one of their “power partners,” Nancy said. She and Nate also spoke favorably of their dealings with City of Lynden personnel during their building process of following the checklist and procedures. COVID was far from easy in terms of going through a building project, yet they got in done within ve months, Nate said. How did they do it?
“It was challenging,” he said. “We opted for less ‘special orders’” ey also knew they would use a ready-
to-build stock plan from long-time locallybased JWR Design. It still could be modi ed to t their lot and to their speci c needs.
e Leavitts looked for what was in stock rst for their selections since the supply chain was showing signi cant delays. ey also worked with Vander Griend Lumber in Lynden, Nancy said, to lock in April 2020 prices for their lumber package as one of the rst choices.
e stove, a 48-inch NXR Pro with a hood and double ovens, was also ordered early from Costco and then stored so they would
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The Leavitts, Nancy Leavitt pictured, were living a few blocks away on Pine Street when they decided on the location of their new home on Rye Court. They have been together 15 years, about the same length of time Nate worked in construction.
be sure to have it.
While the rst oor of the home is ready for guests and uses not only an open oor plan to bring together the kitchen, dining and living area, it has oor-to-ceiling windows by Andersen Windows 100 series made with revolutionary Fibrex TM composite to also share the outside with the inside.
Behind the couch is the dining area table and the kitchen. A large 5-foot by 9-foot quartz island from Ralph’s Floors is a gathering food prep area.
Likewise, they knew what they wanted at a young age in regard to their marital partnership and their careers.
“We were young kids,” she said. “We said, ‘let’s give this a go,’ and we’ve had no regrets.”
Nate graduated from Mount Baker High School in 2001. Nancy graduated from Lynden High School in 2002. e two met through a friend at Birch Bay.
e Leavitts have three daughters, ages 11, 7, and 5. Nate has
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been involved in construction and is now with Intertek, a contractor at the re neries.
Nancy started in an insurance o ce working for others before deciding she could run her own ofce at age 24. She’s had her agency for 13 years and has remodeled the former Dave Burns Insurance of-
ce on Grover Street for herself. Nancy’s mother, Mary Lindeman, a long-time US Postal worker and former Lynden Tribune delivery person, has also joined the multi-generational household.
Nate and Nancy changed the house plans to allow her to have her own room and three-quarter bathroom on the rst oor with easy proximity to the garage, pantry and laun-
dry areas. e girls have the upstairs realm of several bedrooms, playroom and bathroom. It has a macramé swinging chair, toys and princess fort, spacious closets and a window view of the elds.
e house exterior paint is Benjamin Moore Cloud White + Benjamin Moore Nightfall.
“We got all our paint from Terry’s Paint in Lynden,” Nancy said.
Both the upstairs children’s bathroom and the master bath have bold oral wallpaper designs while the rest of the home has more neutral tones. Fall themed décor has been placed around the room discreetly. e primary art are larger photos of their children. A custom-created railing was made in Acme for the stairs to match what they envisioned in a photo.
A pendant light xture in the interior entry is visually related to the two pendant lights in the kitchen area. ey were found at Fishtrap Creek Interiors.
An eye-catching choice was made for the light xture above the dining area, a Sanibel four-light 24-inch Blazed Rattan and Nor-
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dic grey pendant ceiling light by Capital Lighting brand.
While they certainly saved money on some choices such as doing the house painting themselves, they still did opt for quality things they really wanted. One is pot ller faucets both in the kitchen sink and above the stove to prevent carrying heavy pots of water. e stove is also a splurge item and was allowed within their loan package, Nancy said.
Another special option was the oversized windows between the living room and the patio.
e oversized patio, which is approximately 16-feet by 25-feet with roof protection has another 600 or so square feet beyond that lled with couches, barbeque grill, a series of hanging swinging seats is comfortable for family time or entertaining guests. Behind that are neighbors’ patios and a row of blooming dahlias in front of a eld. It has increased the living space.
e master bath has both a large freestanding tub and a shower. Due to the shape of the lot, and the resulting changes, the garage is now deeper. e doors to the garage were one item that did experience a delay during COVID, they said. It took about four months for them to come – by Christmas.
Yet, even with the painting, the planning and the delays, they were pleased with working relationships with the contractors and vendors – and the end result.
“We were left with a beautiful home,” Nancy said.
with less
By David Vos for the TribuneFrom the time I was a kid, I’ve loved to garden — and you might say it came naturally to me.
With parents who enjoy working around their yard as well as grandparents on both sides who had particularly green thumbs, it makes sense that I would develop a love for gardening, too.
Today, juggling the tasks that come with managing my family’s garden center lls my daily schedule, but when I get home I enjoy working in my own garden as well. at said, with a young family at home, I don’t exactly have endless hours to commit to my hobby, so I’ve learned some ways to keep my garden beautiful without an enormous time commitment. Whether you’re busy with work, raising a family, or like a beautiful yard without having to spend every waking hour tending to it, here are a few tips I’ve learned along the way to maximize your garden Design the shape of your lawn to make watering and mowing easy. If you don’t have an inground irrigation system, you’ll be responsible for dragging hoses and sprinklers if you want to keep your grass green, so plan accordingly for how you will lay out sprinklers.
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beauty while minimizing the work required.
Great planning
First, great gardens start with great planning. You don’t have to be a landscape designer to make the most of your garden space. Start with making a list of the goals you have for your yard: entertaining space for parties, an open area for the kids or grandkids to play, a vegetable or cutower garden, or a graveled area for seating around a repit. Nothing is a bigger waste outdoors than a yard that doesn’t serve your needs, so plan your space to t your desires. Additionally, design the shape of your lawn to make watering and mowing easy. If you don’t have an in-ground irrigation system, you’ll be responsible for dragging hoses and sprinklers if you want to keep your grass green, so plan accordingly for how you will lay out sprinklers. Likewise, shape your lawn to mow e ciently: sweeping curves See
Gardening
of owerbeds are both aestheticallypleasing and make lawn-mowing easier than dealing with dead-end corners, with no need to stop and turn a mower.
And as for the grass strips down both sides of your house, consider changing at least one of those out for a garden with a winding path to the backyard.
In both houses I’ve lived in over the last decade, I’ve converted side yard grass strips into garden paths, giving me space for hosta- lled shade gardens and room to grow more of another of my favorite plants — hydrangeas.
At my last house, eliminating the grass on my side yard solved a problem of trying to keep a healthy lawn in shade, and at my current house, it made an otherwise-neglected and forgotten area of my yard one its most interesting features.
Four seasons of color
Second, plan your garden for four seasons of color. One of the biggest mistakes many gardeners make is visiting a garden center only in the spring and failing to return the other three seasons of the year.
It’s like going to the grocery store on an empty stomach — you’ll grab anything and everything that looks good at the moment, but you may fail to shop properly for the rest of the week. Garden centers are lled with tons of fresh color in the spring, but there’s so much more to be enjoyed in the garden if you plan properly for color in summer, fall, and even winter.
As I’ve laid out my gardens, I’ve tried to be deliberate about incorporating plants into each bed that add color and interest to my yard during all four seasons.
In spring, I can enjoy the early color of bleeding hearts, brunnera, azaleas, pieris, and lithodora; summer is lled with the colors of hydrangeas, cone owers, lavender and astilbe (as well as a variety of annual owers); autumn brings the changing leaves of dogwood, maples, barberries, and blueberries as well as the seed heads of ornamental grasses; and in winter I get to enjoy hellebores, winter heather, pansies, and the evergreen foliage of dwarf conifers scattered through-
out my garden beds.
It’s easy to ll a garden with spring and summer perennials or plant lots of leafy deciduous plants but be sure to use conifers and broadleaf evergreens like rhododendrons, azaleas, and pieris as well — they may not always be the most exciting plants, but they provide much-needed structure to a garden and make an excellent backdrop to other more colorful plants throughout the year.
Right plant, right place ird, plan for the right plant in the right place. Whether it’s a shadeloving hosta planted in full sun, a winter-tender plant put out in an area exposed to the brunt of a winter northeaster, or a young tree planted much too close to a house, only to grow up and get “stuck” under the eaves — I’ve seen plenty of examples of the wrong plant in the wrong place.
Carefully read the tags of whatever it is you want to plant to ensure you have the space and proper sun exposure for what you want to grow.
While you can cheat on some plants as far as sun exposure goes, mature sizes will almost always be as big or bigger than what the tags say on plants, so give the plants in your garden room to grow to save the need for constant pruning or premature removal when a plant outgrows its conned space.
‘No rules’
Finally, remember that there are no rules — despite what I’ve written above. If you like squared-o owerbeds lled with deciduous perennials packed together like sardines, go for it.
It’s your garden space, so do whatever brings you the most joy and keeps you excited to get out there and care for it. One of the great joys of gardening is that at least at some level, you get to start fresh each year, so if something doesn’t work out for you one year, change it up and try something di erent the next.
Your adventures in gardening are limited only by your desire to try, so don’t be afraid to try new things. Who knows — you may just nd out your green thumb stretches in new directions you never knew it could.
Living high on the hills
Two couples love their residential perches on Sumas and Vedder mountains; Kamphouses and Vreugdenhils feel lifelong ties to this land
By Calvin Bratt for the TribuneWHATCOM — eir view is out onto the atland where the rest of us live.
When the late afternoon sun is angled right, someone driving east of Everson or
Sumas may see a bright glint up there in the rising foothills. Consider it the hint of someone's house window.
Don and eresa "Tres" Kamphouse know about nding these high spots. ey joke that they climbed a tree to make sure they would be locating their new house at the absolute highest point on their North Pass Road property. at was 20 years ago.
ey cleared much of the rolling 15 acres, especially to make pasture for their riding horses, and faced the house northwest on this far edge of Sumas Mountain. ey can look down toward Telegraph and Carl roads. In fact, in the Kamphouses' 57 years of marriage, this is the last of three adjoining house lots they have created and lived on along North Pass, enabling others to enjoy the high
view too.
" e foothills are pretty addicting, I guess," Don said.
"It's secluded," Tres added. "At night it is totally quiet up here."
Don was the oldest in a family of seven children who grew up nearby, just where steep hillside becomes farmable. His dad ran youngstock up here. So Don had an appreciation for the rari ed air even while he and eresa were serving long careers in north county public education.
Friends of theirs are Cornie and Eileen Vreugdenhil, who have their own perch several miles away by round-about driving. In two years of ownership here, they have put the breathtaking nishing touches on a house and grounds on Anderson Lake Drive
o Reese Hill Road. is is all on Vedder Mountain, the angling ridge into Canada east of Sumas.
e Vreugdenhils have cleared out trees, added grass and big rocks, extended driveway, built retaining wall and just this past summer installed a bell tower of some nostalgic value. A pond stocked with sh and a dominant agpole were already there – although Cornie added Gilligan the goat with a hutch on an island in the pond as a special touch.
e Vreugdenhils view down onto a stunning panoramic display of farmland, as if from a low- ying airplane, about half of the expanse lying in Canada. eir one son, Martin, and his family have taken over direct opSee Hills on C16
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eration of the Vreugdenhil dairy farm that is visible out on Jones Road – where the international boundary line can hardly be detected. Cornie still puts in long days helping out on the farm.
e elevation of both of these eagle'snest places is from 475 to about 550 feet. As foothills, they feature a signi cant mix of deciduous trees among the evergreens, making for blazing autumn color at this time of year.
Eileen Vreugdenhil says that Cornie mentioned one day, while still on the farm ve years ago, that he would like to have some of the rocky real estate that everyone otherwise just looks up to from Hillview Road. He quickly made work of it, buying rst another of the Anderson Lake 20-acre lots before acquiring this one already basically developed by former owners Steve and Carol Vanderpol in 2007.
"He cleared all 20 acres of that rst one," Eileen said of Cornie, with help. " en we bought this one, he cleared that, and then he went right next door and he's clearing that. He took out the junk trees."
It's clear both Cornie Vreugdenhil and Don Kamphouse, with their tractors and excavators, enjoy the challenge of turning rough hillside into human habitation. ey share another thing too: being in a so-called Moron's Club of friends that meets for co ee at 5 a.m. every day at the Super Duper truck stop in Sumas.
Along with the quiet mountain environment come its four-footed natural inhabitants. "I've had a bear and a bobcat right in the corner (of the house) here," Eileen said. " ere are deer every morning."
Wrap-up of corn silage harvest was taking place – the mu ed sound of farm machinery on country elds and roads – below the Vreugdenhil place last week. From both of the high homes, a surprise to the visitor is the red leafage of vast blueberry elds in fall.
An oddity, they have also been able to watch a ood as it happens in the plains below, the creeping spread of Nooksack River water from Everson to Sumas, she said.
In the Kamphouse home, Tres adds her craftsmanship in woodworking and painting, while Don pursues his interests in history and writing, the latter including his own tales about training and using hound dogs in tracking wild animals. is adventurous couple climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa in 2009.
New life for nearly 100-year-old home
Remodel for Castle family’s ‘castle’ with help from friends, contractors
By Elisa Claassen for the TribuneLYNDEN — e 1920s home has un-
dergone some freshening and updating in the middle of Lynden for Dawn and Chuck Castle.
Purchased in 1997, after Chuck left military life to be closer to his children living in the area, from former Lynden Tribune Editor Cal and Melinda Bratt, the Whatcom County Assessor’s records show the house being built in 1925. It originally had one bedroom and the small attic was utilized for sleeping space when the Bratts had their then-young children.
Now it has essentially been rebuilt after a quarter century being there.
Chuck now has been at Lynden Door for 25 years. Dawn has been an employee of the City of Lynden in several departments for a total of 20 years.
e rst step was an addition to the small home in 2006 with Ray Huizenga contracting and involved removal of an old garage/covered carport, formerly used by a cobbler for his business in many days gone by. A new garage was constructed. A
delay by the economic downturn of 200708, Dawn said, caused them to put their full plans on hold.
Other changes then and now have included a new master suite and laundry upstairs, an enlarged kitchen with more useful counter space with a beautiful backsplash, discreet lighting in the stairs to move about at night without turning on the lights, a new porch, a new bathroom
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Continued from C19 and changing the entrance to the rst oor bedroom from the living room to the hall.
Dawn and Chuck did demoing themselves during COVID and worked with Hudson Remodeling of Lynden this time around.
Susan Silva of Hudson gave them design ideas. It took time. For example, as wallpaper came down, they found di erent materials underneath and continued on.
ey also had their day jobs. As the season changed to fall, the couple focused on interior projects. Tucson Red paint was purchased by Terry’s Paints. Engineered wood was put in the now larger space. eir old furnishings were donated to Love Inc. to be repurposed.
e two of them essentially closed o the upstairs and lived in that space between December 2020 and May 2021. While pointing around the room, Dawn explained the older home needing to be opened up by removing walls, relocating staircases and resulting in spaces not only more comfortable but more logically con-
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gured.
e original stairwell was very narrow and located by a bedroom. It is gone. e downstairs bedroom now has a window seat surrounded by two closets. e now visible stairwell behind the dining table is wider, and the wall by it is used to display family photos. Radiant heat has been utilized in the addition.
A volunteer for the city, and friend of Dawn’s, Stephanie Stewart, “has good taste” and was happy to source furnishings through Facebook Marketplace and by word of mouth to save money for them.
Stewart also came up with the idea to turn their family photos into black and white images to make a bold statement by the stairs and dining room table.
Altogether they selected 19 images from four generations and used Lynden’s Print Stop to create them for under $10 before framing them in matching frames.
“Stephanie knows the deals,” Dawn said. She was a bit hesitant with using Facebook Marketplace originally but changed her mind. “I love it all ... I dealt with nice, fair people.”
Once done they had an informal open house during the summer to show the Bratts and other friends and family what they had done.
Baker Septic aids environmental stewardship
By Lisa Hanley for theTribune
Baker Septic Tank
Pumping, Inc. is a thirdgeneration family owned and operated, Ferndale based, full service company that has been serving Northwest Washington since 1985.
Baker Septic is licensed to perform O & M inspections, pumpings, troubleshoots and repairs in Whatcom, Skagit, Island, and Snohomish counties.
Additionally, in Whatcom County, Baker Septic is licensed to install new systems. eir customers are residential, commercial, governmental, and tribal, and they are always
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open to tackling new challenges.
If your bathroom is out of commission for a while due to a construction project, or perhaps you’re having a special event and need extra facilities to make sure that everyone stays outside, Baker Septic has great portable options for you including wheelchair accessible units and hand washing stations.
ey’ll work with you to determine just what you need based on the circumstances.
ey are inclined to say they’ve seen it all, but that’s probably wishful thinking. Because of that, they are available 24 hours a day for emergency situations.
No one ever expected to answer the phone only to hear crying when they started working at Baker Septic, but it happens more often than you might think. It’s their goal to keep you from ever having to make that kind of call.
Typically, most systems ought to be pumped every 3-5 years, but many variables can impact the timing, such as how many people are using the system, is
refresh
anyone taking medications that might necessitate more frequent pumpings, or is it a vacation home that’s occupied only part of the year? Everything will be factored in when determining the best maintenance plan for your property.
While it might not seem so because individual sewer bills are lower and get spread out over a longer period, it is more economical to have a consistently maintained septic system than it is to be connected to a city sewer system.
e sta at Baker Septic believes that what they do plays a signi cant part in aid-
ing environmental stewardship, and they are fully committed to helping every customer maintain their system in such a way as to promote optimal performance, safety and good health.
Helpful tips:
Minimize garbage disposal use.
Have only grass covering your drain eld or mound; no shed, no chickens, no parking, nothing that can compact the soil in any way.
Don’t pave over any component of the system.
Avoid ushing disposable wipes and other hygiene products. If it’s not toilet paper and it hasn’t passed through you, it really shouldn’t be in the tank.
Have your system inspected regularly; every three years for a gravity system, annually for any kind of pressure system. If you don’t know what type of septic system you have, anyone at the o ce can look that up for you if the information is available.
Pump when needed as indicated by the inspection ndings.
If you don’t have them already, consider having risers installed that will bring your tank lids to the surface. ey save signicant time when it matters and make routine maintenance tasks much easier.
Secrets nobody tells you about house plants
Fed by Instagram trends, millennials, and the recent lockdown, indoor gardening has been enjoying a major boost in popularity. Whilst we know how much character they can add to a room, many don’t realize that houseplants provide various other bene ts, including a boost to our mental health.
Here are ve great reasons why houseplants should be a permanent part of every home:
An improved mood
e color green is thought to promote healing, so simply having more greenery around you to look at is a natural mood booster and sure to soothe an anxious mind. Plants including aloe vera and lavender are proven to reduce stress levels and help both your physical and mental well-being.
A study also found that people who spend time around nature for at least two hours a week have the highest levels of health and well-being. With the colder See House Plants on C26
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months slowly approaching, we’ll likely be spending more time in our homes.
Boost productivity levels
Research consistently nds that adding plants to the workplace increases productivity by up to 15%, as proven by a recent study posted on psycnet.apa.org. ey’re a great addition to any o ce and help replenish focus.
Invest in a snake plant or peace lily to create a working oasis. Just looking at nature can shift the brain into a di erent processing mode, making employees feel more relaxed and better able to concentrate.
Cleanse the air
During the day, whilst they are performing photosynthesis, good indoor plants reliably reduce VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and increase oxygen to carbon dioxide ratios. Although they aren’t fully proven to rid all contaminants around us, there are a range of potted plants that contribute to improving air quality.
A Barberton daisy or English ivy will cleanse the home of toxins found in a range of household materials, including paint and furniture. To fully take advantage of this, place the plant in a room with plenty of natural light and keep the soil moist and well-drained.
Interior must-have
For those looking for low-maintenance plants – such as tiny succulents and small trees – you can place these in any room for a pop of color thanks to the in uence of social media platforms Instagram and Pinterest.
ere is a wide array of species that are perfectly suited for surviving indoors without direct sunlight and are easy to care for, such as a jade or a wax plant. Alternatively, one of the fastest ways to instantly beautify your living space is by incorporating a set of arti cial plants. Although they’ve had a shaky reputation in the past in terms of looking obviously fake, today’s faux plants are crafted with the express purpose of looking realistic. One particular trendy piece of greenery is pampas grass.
A better night’s sleep
Getting enough sleep has a number of bene ts – for example, you’re more alert
and focused during the day. You can deploy plants to help achieve this too. A bamboo palm or gardenia gives a warm and clean feel to your entire bedroom. ese plants emit a fresh smell that reduces stress and induces sleep.
According to a study posted online at sciencedirect.com, interacting with plants before going to sleep can help improve sleep quality for people living in small, isolated environments such as a at or apartment. Astronauts have also bene ted from this whilst up in space.
So whether it’s watering a little desk plant, creating an outdoor garden of your own, or simply taking more walks through nature, you can bene t from the plants around you.
Don’t forget, after a year or two, plants may need repotting with compost to maintain healthy growth. A multipurpose compost, houseplant compost, or loam-based compost is suitable for most indoor plants so that you can continue to enjoy these great bene ts for much longer.