A Desert Oasis in Vantage | Seattle Interior Photographer

Sometimes a little change of scenery is the key to refreshing your whole outlook. It’s easy to feel far away when you head east over the pass to Vantage, WA. Home to The Gorge, many wineries (including Cave B), and stunning desert scenery, you can take in desert sun and colors without traveling southwest.

This new vacation rental, The Wild Horse, is perched on the shore of the Columbia River with sweeping views in all directions from the rooftop deck. The sky is so open. It’s easy to forget you’re so close to Seattle with these vast landscapes.

The desert color palette is brought indoors throughout this bright short term rental home. With tall ceilings and abundant natural light, each room brings its own vibe of desert oasis (and its own attached bathroom!). The black accent walls in two of the rooms make for striking backdrops to the bright accent pillows and cow skull decor. Most unexpected is the family rec room with wall-to-wall window views of the surroundings. From this room, head upstairs to the rooftop sunset deck to take in the changing sky as the sun sinks over the mountain behind the house.

Traveling kids and adults alike will enjoy the party garage with ping pong and other games and a projector for movie nights next to the custom mural. There are musical posters all over the house with special nods to Tom Petty, Neil Young, and other musical pillars of rock.

Perhaps the coolest feature of the entire house is the custom crochet hat wall in the dining area. Made to be interacted with, you can pop out a chic hat for all your desert vibing, or just enjoy for a quick group selfie.

You can book this spot on Airbnb now!

A Perfect Coastal Retreat 2 Hours from Seattle

Other than being famous for the Olympic Rainshadow, making it unusually sunny for a place in Western Washington, Sequim also might be the most idyllic landing spot for a soul looking for a quaint town and a little peace and quiet near the water.

Haus of Hygge has launched another magical property in the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, a veritable dream of a beach house situated on five acres of estuary that heads out into into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A distant lighthouse glimmers over the peaceful water while an occasional ship sails by, amongst a constant flurry of birds dipping and soaring. While the house is a fully-stocked modern retreat, the true magic is in the view and the surroundings.

My friend Sydney and I headed out on a beautiful July weekend to photograph the property and take it in for ourselves, documenting our stay all the while. We traipsed through lavender fields, scored the jackpot of antiques and thrifts, dined al fresco, and cozied up to You’ve Got Mail to the distant tune of lapping waves. To say it was the restorative bliss a busy mother needs isn’t saying enough. You just have to experience it for yourself.

In the mornings we enjoyed fresh brewed coffee as the birds performed their dance. Mid-day we took in the quaint towns of Sequim and nearby Port Townsend. As the evening breeze took hold, we lit up the gas fireplace and enjoyed the combination of fresh sea air and warmth from the fire, fresh from the oversize shower after a hot tub dip.

Two hours from Seattle (either by driving or by ferry), Sequim is situated on the northern tip of the Olympic Peninsula. It’s a great stopping point if you’re road tripping around to the coast, but is worth a stay all of its own. Surrounded by literal dozens of lavender fields, a stroll through the mesmerizing rows is necessary during full bloom. (We visited B&B Family Lavender Farm.) Port Townsend is a 45-minute drive along winding country roads, and offers a historical dip into a quaint seaside town. (If you’re looking for an excellent burger high up on a waterfront patio, hit Sirens pub!)

As an interiors and travel photographer, I’ve slowly built a lifestyle of traveling and capturing the unique beauty of spaces all over. For me, the best way to capture a travel destination is by immersing myself in the environment. I love observing how the light changes and brings rooms to life. As we cooked dinner the first night, the most perfect ray of sunlight fell across the countertop as my friend was cutting a red bell pepper. You just can’t plan that stuff! And it truly tells the story of the space beyond your typical interior photographs. It’s the combination of those clean editorial images plus the handheld lifestyle snaps that bring the whole story together, creating an immersive peek into such beautifully curated spaces.

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage is available now to book! More information and booking details here.

Chelan Lake House | Seattle Interior Photogaphy

Just a few hours from Seattle lies a majestic lake surrounded by golden rolling mountains, featuring a quaint downtown and a thriving outdoor scene. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s not. Lake Chelan is a huge draw for Seattle residents as it offers a completely different topography and weather experience than its sometimes gloomy seaside neighbor. It makes an excellent location for a vacation home, and it was a joy to photograph this house designed by Mandy Callaway, a full service interior designer with an impressive range of projects in the Seattle area. Her work is highly specialized to the client, with thoughtful detail in consideration to the space’s use, surroundings and inhabitants.

As a vacation home for a Seattle family, this house hits the checkpoints of a fun destination with a light and airy feel. The emphasis on indoor-outdoor living is celebrated with an open floor plan featuring a great room surrounded in windows with a beautiful pass-through to accommodate guests inside and outside. A veritable light box with the most fun and playful decor, this one was a pleasure to photograph.

Seattle Airbnb Photographer + Video | Cave B

After a long Seattle winter (with still a good amount to go) I was more than enthusiastic about a daytrip over the pass to Eastern Washington. It’s really magical to emerge from the densely mountainous and green Snoqualmie Pass into the brown rolling hills of our desert land. To be greeted with pristine blue skies is such a gift in these darker shorter days.

Just inside the Cave B property is a unique and hyper-modern building project designed by the Seattle architectural firm Olson Kundig. Several groupings of neo brutalist dwellings are strewn about the desert property. Floor to ceiling windows and interiors that seamlessly transition to exteriors create an almost glamping-like effect (except with indoor plumbing and insulation). The view stretches over the Columbia River Gorge where you can walk to summer concerts.

Plato’s Cave is a new vacation rental on Airbnb that offers guests an experience of this stunning landscape. A perfect place to escape the Seattle grind and be surrounded by beautiful architecture, this new space has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and boasts a beautiful firepit lounge and hot tub.

As an interior photographer in Seattle, I’m used to lots of craftsman details, so to photograph an uber modern structure was such a fun change of pace. The interior design is muted and cool in tone, a refreshing shadow in a sun-drenched desert otherwise. The technical challenge in this project was bringing the view of the outdoors into every shot. I stray from real estate photography in which an almost otherworldly clear view out the windows is the norm, and everything is over-bright. I want it to feel like you’re really in the space, with the photos portraying an editorial and lifestyle approach. Reading the light and shadow of each individual space, I tailor my natural-light approach to finding the best balance of nuance and detail.

Enjoy beautiful Plato’s Cave!