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Architectural opportunity knocks more than once for a Washington Park couple


An architect and builder reteam to create a contemporary new home on the lot next door, filled with the couple's favorite things.



  • Home & Decor
  • Life
  • Pacific NW Magazine

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A Country Christmas Q&A with Julie Thomas of ‘Little Farmstead Living’


The Snohomish blogger and Instagram influencer shares warm and cozy holiday decorating tips from her new book.




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A first-time homeowner’s custom houseboat makes waves on HGTV, and in its Seattle marina


Armed with a $450,000 budget and a dream that wouldn’t sink, Sarah J. Haggard joined the HGTV show “Home Afloat” and shared her water-life wishlist.



  • Home & Decor
  • Life
  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Why Harry and Meghan moved to Frogmore Cottage and now will repay the cost of renovations


Prince Harry and wife Meghan have agreed to give up their royal titles and repay several million in housing expenses, stirring up another sensation in Britain. It wasn’t so long ago that some in the United Kingdom were upset about the renovations of the residence in question: Frogmore Cottage. On Saturday, Buckingham Palace announced the […]




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How ‘What if we turned the playroom into a media room?’ stretched into a high-end, whole-house interior remodel on Snoqualmie Ridge  


THE ORIGINAL THREAD was a single strand — a simple string of vision and possibility. Kenny really wanted to hold a Super Bowl party downstairs. That’s the thing with threads, though. They’re so rarely self-contained. “We decided to take over the playroom, and then we just kind of kept going,” says architect Andrew Patterson, of […]




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How a modern home in West Seattle evolved, and improved, over time and through redesign


“OUR STORY WITH this house is kind of a long one,” says Megan, standing in the warm, wide-open kitchen of the modern new home she shares with her husband, Will; their two young daughters; and their 80-pound Labrador doggy, Steve. The fact that Megan is standing, smiling, in this warm, wide-open kitchen pretty clearly telegraphs […]




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Bonnie Berk, an artist and a gardener, honors the architect’s original plan for her 1916 Mount Baker home, but has other ideas with her landscape


THE FIRST THING you notice about Bonnie Berk and Larry Kessler’s property in the Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle is the formidable retaining wall. Accentuated with terra-cotta tiles and red brick, the wall provides double-sided access to the property via stairs, and was part of the original home design by Arthur Loveless. It’s a grand […]




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Seattle Art Source owner Sarah Hurt brings an artistic touch — 6 of them, actually (so far) — to the remodel of a Madrona home


Sarah Hurt started her International District business two or so years ago, “with two goals in mind,” she says: “to advocate for local artists, and to provide a curated collection of art that was ready for any interior design project.”



  • Home & Decor
  • Life
  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Your Place: With more heartwarming sentimentality than DIY experience, a Kenmore man updates his childhood home for his own family


SO MUCH IS so sweet here — with virtually zero DIY experience, but decades of memories and dreams (and only two trips to the ER), Ty Warren successfully pulled off the lovely-on-many-levels remodel of his childhood home in Kenmore — but the sweetest might be how we learned of this sentimental act of derring-do-it-himself in […]



  • Home & Decor
  • Life
  • Pacific NW Magazine

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7 skills Seattle Times features staffers learned from YouTube videos while home due to coronavirus


From baking a Japanese-style souffle cheesecake to making trivets out of wine corks, here's what our features staffers recently learned from YouTube videos.




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A brand-new floating home on the edge of Lake Union is buoyed by amazing views, protected privacy and a multihued exterior inspired by the Great Blue Heron 


GREAT BLUE HERONS alight — a lot — along this glistening stretch of Lake Union. Could be the impressive fishers simply have landed on the perfect, protected perch for that statue-standing thing they do — right up until they lightning-strike. Could be they’re doing that inquisitive-bird “Are You My Mother?” thing, imprinting on the mesmerizing […]




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Connections come together in the whole-house remodel of a 1958 Tacoma home that retains and respects its midcentury roots 


THERE ARE FAMILY HOMES … and then there is Mark and Gayle’s beautifully remodeled home in Tacoma’s Proctor District — which could have turned out much, much differently, if not for the way several unrelated family connections came into play: — Right up until the couple bought it, this was Gloria’s house — designed and […]




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A new home in Madison Park creates 3 levels of elevated living without towering over its neighbors


KEVIN AND KAREN had lots to look at when they were moving to Seattle from Bellevue. They looked in Madrona. They looked on Queen Anne. But Madison Park looked different. “We were drawn first and foremost to the neighborhood,” Kevin says. “Specifically, the Canterbury neighborhood. It’s really close to the lake, and has longtime residents. […]




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Robert Caro writes, and waits, during the COVID-19 outbreak


NEW YORK (AP) — On most days since the coronavirus spread through Manhattan, Robert Caro has held to a familiar routine. He rises early, walks to his office down the street, spends hours on the fifth and final volume of his Lyndon Johnson biography and enjoys a late-day stroll in Central Park with his wife, […]




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Grit and red wine: Famous war photographer beats virus at 97


NEW YORK (AP) — Tony Vaccaro’s mother died in childbirth, and at a tender age he also lost his father to tuberculosis. By age 5, he was an orphan in Italy, enduring beatings from an uncle. As an American GI during World War II, he survived the Battle of Normandy. Now, a celebrated wartime and […]




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What’s that behind you? On virus-era TV, home backdrops star


Those who saw conservative commentator Bill Kristol on television one recent night may not remember what he said. But they’ll never forget the magnificent mess of a bookcase behind him. And there’s a growing army of viewers with just one question after tuning into any number of interviews that political commentator John Heilemann has given […]




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Brandi Carlile reschedules Echoes Through the Canyon show at the Gorge due to coronavirus pandemic


Brandi Carlile has rescheduled her June 6 Echoes Through the Canyon show at the Gorge Amphitheatre to Aug. 14, 2021.




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Twitch is developing talk shows and dating programs for gamers


Twitch, the online video site popular among gamers, is looking for its version of “The Bachelor.” The company plans to fund a slate of original, unscripted series that would be live and interactive, airing two to three times a week, according to an internal document seen by Bloomberg. Its preferred genres are game shows, dating […]




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SeaWorld develops plans for reopening; no official date set


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — SeaWorld guests could be sitting in every other row of the stadium to watch orca shows when the parks eventually reopen, the company’s CEO said Friday. Interim CEO Marc Swanson gave an update Friday on a coronavirus safety plan under development, but no official reopening dates have been announced, the Orlando […]




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Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows


WASHINGTON (AP) — Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows: ABC’s “This Week” — White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow; Dr. Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer at Johnson & Johnson; Dr. George Yancopoulos, president of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. ___ NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Dr. Jeffrey Shaman, chief science officer at Coriell […]




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Tekashi 6ix9ine releases new video from home confinement


NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine lit up social media on Friday, releasing a new song and video created during his home confinement just weeks after being freed from a Manhattan federal lockup over coronavirus fears. In “Gooba,” the multi-tattooed rapper whose real name is Daniel Hernandez puts on a rainbow-colored performance accompanied by […]




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Alan Lund, who taught and directed music throughout the Seattle area, dies at 81 from coronavirus complications


Alan Lund taught music in the Bellevue and Highline School Districts, and directed music for the Seattle Opera Chorus, the Eastside’s Cascadian Chorale, the Boeing Chorale and, most notably, the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society.




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What’s bringing you joy amid the coronavirus crisis? Washingtonians share what’s getting them through the pandemic.


From an unexpected friendship across species, to a cluster of clay llamas, to finding a way to remotely produce a song featuring multiple collaborators, people across Washington state have found ways to stay connected to their artistic communities, their jobs and their routines — or to find beauty in the changes themselves. 




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The ‘woman in the red dress’ started a Mount St. Helens climbing tradition on Mother’s Day that endures today. Meet trailblazer Kathy Phibbs


Every Mother's Day, climbers flock to Mount St. Helens in festive dresses in the continuation of a tradition started by 'the woman in the red dress.' This Mother's Day, a new mini-documentary from OPB tells the story of Kathy Phibbs, a gifted alpinist who paved the way for a more inclusive outdoors community — and pink flamingos on mountain summits.




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Andre Harrell, music exec who discovered Diddy, dies at 59


NEW YORK (AP) — Andre Harrell, the Uptown Records founder who shaped the sound of hip-hop and R&B in the late ’80s and ’90s with acts such as Mary J. Blige and Heavy D and also launched the career of mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, has died. He was 59. Diddy’s REVOLT company confirmed the death […]




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Bill Gates leaves Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway boards to prioritize his philanthropic work


Bill Gates is stepping down from the board of Microsoft Corp., the company he co-founded in 1975.




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Ahead of the pack, how Microsoft told workers to stay home amid coronavirus outbreak


Microsoft's executives, with headquarters just a few miles from one of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, were among the first to confront the impact.




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Apple’s value drops below $1 trillion, while Microsoft holds on


Apple’s market value fell below $1 trillion as trading opened Monday, leaving Microsoft as the only U.S. stock above the 13-digit threshold. Apple shares fell as much as 4.9% at 9:40 a.m. in New York, bringing the iPhone maker’s market value to about $960 billion. In the wake of coronavirus, the company has been hampered […]




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Microsoft deal values Affirmed Networks at $1.35 billion


Affirmed Networks helps build virtual networks for telecom customers using 5G technology.




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Dow Average, bracketed by Boeing and Microsoft, suffers worst quarter since 1987 as coronavirus pummels economy


As March ends, the first quarter's results include the biggest plunge ever in West Texas oil prices and the Dow's worst performance since 1987.




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Microsoft hires ex-Apple exec in charge of wireless for hardware


Microsoft hired Ruben Caballero, Apple's former executive in charge of wireless technologies, to work on mixed reality hardware and artificial intelligence technology.




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Bill Gates, in rebuke of Trump, calls WHO funding cut during pandemic ‘as dangerous as it sounds’


Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend funding to the World Health Organization as “dangerous,” saying the payments should continue particularly during the global coronavirus pandemic. “Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds,” Gates tweeted early Wednesday. “Their work is […]




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Pentagon watchdog, in probe limited by White House, clears Microsoft’s $10 billion cloud-computing win over Amazon


The 317-page report by the inspector general also found that giving the contract to a single company — Microsoft — rather than dividing it among competitors was "consistent with applicable acquisition standards."




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Pentagon: $10B cloud contract that snubbed Amazon was legal


WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s process for awarding a highly lucrative cloud computing contract to Microsoft instead of Amazon was in line with legal and government purchasing standards, a government watchdog agency said Wednesday. The Defense Department inspector general found no evidence of White House interference in the contract award process. But the report said investigators […]




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Tech giants are profiting — and getting more powerful — even as the global economy tanks


As the pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy, tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are benefiting enormously from a potentially permanent shift in consumer habits, leveraging their political clout by arguing that they are essential services, and gutting their competition.




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Microsoft weathers the coronavirus storm as earnings rise on cloud business


Analysts expected as much, and that's one reason Microsoft's stock is closing in on the all-time high it hit in early February.




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Microsoft to pitch new Xbox game console with monthly showcases


Microsoft, gearing up for its biggest-ever year of launches for Xbox products and services in the middle of a global pandemic and economic recession, will replace its plan for a splashy public game-conference event with a monthly series of online showcases.




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The Backstory: It’s all hands on deck at ‘Cape D’ — and we’re in very good hands


When the lifeboats aren’t rolling, destructive otters and an unusual hard hat are ‘things you’ve just got to roll with,’ says commanding officer Lt. Jessica Shafer.




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The Backstory: Tag along to Port Townsend — if you haven’t already moved there


As in many smaller Northwest towns, things are changing rapidly here.




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Port Townsend wrestles with its increasingly complex identity and dizzying change


As a historically seafaring town that’s also way ahead of its time, picturesque Port Townsend hopes to grow respectfully, responsibly and authentically offbeat.




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Yay! You’re hosting Thanksgiving! What could go wrong? Other than EVERYTHING.


You’ll (probably) (possibly?) be full of thanks and safely roasted turkey after digesting Ron Judd’s Quick Start Guide to a Thanksgiving gathering




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The Backstory: Why don’t people know all these great products came from Seattle?


NO CITY OR region gets to choose what it’s best known for. That, alas, typically is an artifice assembled over time, often by scribes, compilers of baseless listicles, guidebook authors, societal observers and other self-appointed pundits, usually from far-afield havens of misinformation (such as the East Coast). Those depictions of place — for current purposes, […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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What’s new on Nextdoor? About what you’d expect.


Responses to Ron Judd's September cover story on social-media site Nextdoor mostly confirmed his satire wasn't too far from reality.



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Sasquatch is still a myth (despite the claims of 1 wildly unreliable source)


Whaddya know? No one has yet proved to Ron Judd that Bigfoot exists.



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Jessica Shafer’s Coast Guard crew continues to thrive, even in challenging conditions


The first female commanding officer of Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment updates us on the challenges of keeping local vessels afloat and off the rocks.



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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The Backstory: Let’s hope we learn from the lessons of the last ’20s decade


HISTORICAL RESEARCH at times truly feels like a time warp. For me, that’s been the case for almost five years, since I launched a thesis-level study of what at first seemed a small, never-fully-explained outbreak of arch-conservative political radicalism in a Northwest town (the Charles H. Fisher affair in Bellingham, at what’s now Western Washington […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Ron Judd’s advice for Northwesterners Going to Hawaii (GTH)


It seems appropriate to acronym-ize the affliction striking Northwesterners during the dark, dank, depressing days of winter when it seems there is only one thing, really, left to be done: jetting off to Maui, or thereabouts.



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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ER doctor who criticized Bellingham hospital’s coronavirus protections has been fired


An emergency room physician has been fired after he publicly decried what he called a lack of protective measures against the novel coronavirus at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center. The hospital is the only emergency facility for some 250,000 people in the state’s northwest corner.




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Naturally, Earth Day and the country’s 1st environmental college have strong Northwestern roots


TODAY WE PAUSE briefly to tip the cap to Mother Earth — or, more specifically, to the people plugging away at the day-to-day jobs of saving her life. People in the Northwest have a particular stake in Earth Day, a now-global event celebrating its 50th anniversary this month. The very first one was organized by […]



  • Pacific NW Magazine

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Whole Foods to provide face masks for shoppers to prevent spread of coronavirus in stores


Amazon-owned Whole Foods will provide grocery shoppers with free single-use masks at all its stores beginning this week, in keeping with the chain's "request" that all shoppers wear masks.