Crow's Nest on Whidbey Island

I am a subscriber submitting this for the home of my friend Lynn Perkins, an architect who designed and built this house. Lynn is very talented and was the project manager for the two multi-million-dollar buildings of the Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle. She felt like there was a lack of and need for vacation-rental homes for people in wheelchairs and with mobility issues, and so she designed this house with that in mind, and also as a demonstration of how easily that can be done.

She considered all the things that were needed for a mobility-challenged person to enjoy a vacation with able-bodied friends and family. Adaptations include full use of the kitchen with specially-adapted countertop heights, below-counter storage on moveable racks, food preparation facilities, along with an open shower and bed configurations. From the parking area, the surface into the house is totally flat for smooth wheelchair movement. The accessible front patio is like sitting in the woods--the patio backs up to a forest of cedars, firs, maples and alders where the Dorothy Cleveland Trail wends through. Mobility-challenged people can sit outdoors and see deer and birds and at night hear owls and coyotes.

Lynn describes the style of the house as "a countryside barn with influences of Japanese architecture." The great room features a 14-foot-high window with views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. The house also features a non-accessible second floor open loft and a wide window seat at the stairs landing.

Before Lynn became an architect she was an expert tile-setter, which has resulted in one of my own favorite features of the house. A unique wall of the open shower is a array of exquisite stone pieces that she had collected and saved over the years and here arranged in a stunning three-dimensional mosaic.

You can see a full set of photos at the rental website, www.whidbeyvacation.com/whi... submitted by Donna Matrazzo, matrazzo@msn.com