2022, first time writing down this New Years number. Another year for planet Earth going around the Sun. Another year for all of us to make something great, to do something that has never been done before, to learn something you didn't know you could and maybe try to go places you have never been. Meanwhile, don’t forget the important things, like long walks in the forest, to have some quality conversations with your people and how about a jump in a cold water therapy? That’s something on my list to try, but not sure if even my Nordic blood can talk myself in to it.

First year living on this magical island. We truly love it. It took us some moving around, five different houses, to be exact. Lots of “living out of suitcases”. But hey, not so bad after all. And once you get all your things back and unpacked, you realize, how little you actually need to still be comfortable.

We are very grateful for this amazing community here on Orcas, we have met so many great people, a lot of “think-alike” people. And times, when we miss our friends from “mainland” they come visit or we go back to the big city. Overall, the need of big city is very little.

And finally, as of December 2021, we moved into our new home. There is still much work to do, the punch list is long. However, it is refreshing to be in a new cozy place and unpack our belongings that have been in storage for a year. The natural light is amazing in this home. We have been balancing the radiant floor system as some floors are too hot and some are a little cool, the plumber and some valve tuning we seem to have found a happy balance, this took about two weeks.

Our cabinets were manufactured by our friends in Latvia, amazing design and quality, we are happy to connect you with the manufacturer, if interested. We opted for all our cabinets to be sans hardware. Our refrigeration wall, pictured above, is completely smooth with no handles or hardware. To open a cabinet or the refrigerator, you simply push on the door and it pops open. It does take a little getting used to but we love the clean look.

The ceiling panels carry through from the interior to the exterior, we love this look as if we built a clean glass box and set the roof down on top. The ceiling panels are acoustic in the interior living space, meaning, they absorb sounds and eliminate any kind of echos, this is important when you are inside a glass, wood and concrete box!

Our double island kitchen layout is one of our favorite design features, there is so much working and countertop space, even with the whole family at work in the kitchen, we have plenty room for all. The skylights above the islands make working until sunset feel almost as if you are outside.

While we are waiting for the fireplace finish, kids decided to make some art instead.

The entry hallway, pictured below left, is the central storage of the home. The cabinets replace a closet and have ample shelving for all things from coats and shoes to random household items. The up lights were cast into the concrete and give flares of light up the walls, these are especially interesting at night.

The stairs to the kids level are lightened by a large picture window to the living room, we love this visual connection as well as the added light into both spaces.

The concrete floors throughout the home on the ground floor level are a sanded finish and heated, the sanded finish continues on all the exterior patios but not the heat! This finish is quite difficult to achieve but we nailed it on this project. The feeling of the warm sanded finish feels something like a sandy beach.

Pool time! The pool is 40 feet long, 8 feet wide and 6 feet deep, and it takes the better part of the day to heat up (50 degrees up to 85 degrees). It seems to be surprisingly efficient for a pool of this volume (approximately 15,000 gallons). The concrete hole that it sits in helps insulate from the winter low temps, and of course the cover helps as well. I am 6’3” tall and I can tread water in the pool without touching the bottom.

Getting organized, much work to be done trying to settle into the new kitchen. The double dishwashers are grate help.

Avocatus Quartzite is the material we selected for our countertops. We were told the white spots are extremely hard to cut. The leathered or textured finish is different on all the colors of the stone.

The color and texture of the stone reminds us of planet Earth, if you would look from way up above.

Heating system radiant concrete floors, the Google Nest thermostats control the pumps that move hot water through the concrete slabs and heat the home.

The backsplash pictured above is a pegboard style system. We can move the shelves around as desired to change this up from time to time.

Snow days are here. Right on Christmas Eve it started snowing. What a timing!

Meanwhile, at the farm in Eastsound.

And before the snow days, we had flood days… the picture above is from our farm where the water breached the top of the dyke and created a river that ran through the orchard. Fortunately, when the flooding subsided there was not much damage, just the driveway got a little washed out. According to the local neighbors who have lived on Orcas for generations, this was the most rain they have ever seen is a 48 hour period, we have heard it is double the previous record!