Category: NW Home Articles   The new sleek, space-savvy kitchen.   A law professor with a passion for cooking and entertaining was frustrated by a cramped kitchen measuring just 110 square feet. Not only was the Capitol Hill condo’s outdated ’90s kitchen design dim and cramped, it was visually cut off from the dining room….

Category: NW Home Articles   The Chippendale bar ($95, Antika Antiques, 206.789.6393; antikaantiques.com) before its recreation. Consider adding other space-smart elements around your cabinet. Here, an old chair is made newly hip with fresh paint and mod fabric, a rubber tray layered in frost-white tumbled recycled glass from Bedrock Industries   (206.283.7625; bedrockindustries.com) serves as a…

Category: NW Home Articles   One part of Diana and Tim Hammer’s larger cottage remodel involved turning an old 10-by-12-foot shed (120 square feet is the maximum structure size that can be built without a permit in Seattle) in their Ballard backyard into an attractive free-standing guest room/office, using mostly reclaimed and donated materials, including…

Category: NW Home Articles   CAST architecture’s Matt Hutchins next to his funky but functional shoe wall (the bench visible behind him hides a handy laundry chute).   Many a footwear fancier has fantasized of having a closet dedicated to just shoes. Wallingford residents Noelle Noble and Scott Randall dreamed one better, they have an…

Category: Green Living   Donald Smith believes that urban trees make the best furnishings, as they usually grow larger than most trees reared for lumber. For the past two years, the craftsman behind Ballard’s City Trees Furniture (1152 NW 46th St., Seattle; 206.783.1405; citytreesfurniture.com; open Wed., 9 a.m.–5 p.m., or by appointment) has been salvaging…

Category: Tasting Notes   For Washington’s hottest Syrahs and Rieslings, look for estate winery Milbrandt Vineyards on the label Back in 1997, Butch and Jerry Milbrandt of Mattawa weren’t the first wheat farmers to start growing grapes for local wineries, but they quickly became two of the best. The 50-some wineries for which they have…

Category: Tasting Notes   Tucked away in the hills northwest of Yakima, a tiny new winegrowing region is slowly emerging. Naches Heights, eight miles south of Highway 12 in Cowiche Canyon, has long been known for apple orchards and the largest organic raspberry farm in the world. But two wineries—Naches Heights Vineyards, and, more recently,…

Category: Tasting Notes   Eccentric winemaker and original Rhône Ranger (he almost single-handedly popularized Rhône-style wines in the United States over the past decade or so), Randall Grahm made a name for himself with quirky, philosophical labels for his easy-drinking but still top-notch wines. His Santa Cruz, California–based company, Bonny Doon Vineyard, is known for…

Category: Tasting Notes   Norm McKibben gets more done before 6 a.m. than most of us do all day. Whether it’s checking his computer satellite vineyard probes for soil moisture levels or making predawn drives in his truck to check on the ripeness of a block of Merlot grapes, he is one of the most…

Category: Tasting Notes   Touring Washington wineries doesn’t conjure up images of unadorned warehouses in industrial South Seattle—unless you’re Seattleite Tom Wolken. Wolken, a casual wine connoisseur, was tired of either taking the long drive to Walla Walla or battling traffic to Woodinville every time he wanted to taste wine where it was made, or…

Category: Shopping + Fashion Articles   Thread is a showcase of emerging fashion designers and the music and art that rock their world. For demanding fashionistas seeking ‘what’s next’ and the most cutting-edge looks, THREAD is a chance to pick up one-of a kind pieces ranging from hand-stitched frocks to eye-catching jewelry, often at reduced…