Elite Builders Northwest

Kat and Donn Carroll’s castle “Eye doctor open spa retreat”
By Paula Collucci
The East County Journal

When they married 16 years ago, Kat and Donn Carroll had a dream.
“To have a retreat where people could come away for a time to refresh their spirit, mind and heal their body and reconnect with all that really matters in life,” Kat explained. When the couple finally found their ideal property in the hills overlooking Lake Mayfield, and both the Cowlitz and Tilton rivers, their dream of building a retreat and spa began to take shape.
Kat and Donn each brought three children to their marriage and everybody in the family helped.
“Their fingerprints are all over it,” Kat said.
In fact Kat’s son own Elite Builders Northwest of Olympia and oversaw the construction.
Four years later, their castle stands. They named it “Adytum,” which is Greek for “sanctuary.” Their motto is “soli de Gloria,” Latin for “to the glory of God.”
“This is His work,” Kat explained. She and Donn said that God has helped them realize this dream every step of the way.
Guests are greeted with waterfalls and water music features-even a koi pond. Classical music pays through speakers located inside and outside of the retreat.
“I have always loved creating vignettes and fantasy scenarios that would transport people into another world,” Kat said.
Behind the castle, 16 acres of forest and trails awaits. To the front are the spectacular views of Mossyrock. Each guest room has a theme and each boasts a unique feature, whether it is access infrared detoxifying sauna, a steam sauna or a private garden entrance. The castle is full of surprises: a library here (and there are several), a luxury bathroom there.
But most guests gravitate to the kitchen, Kat said.
“This is a teaching kitchen,” Kat said.
Kate loves her kitchen not only because her son, who is a chef in New York designed it, but because she uses it as an outlet for her nutritional therapy training to provide food that is both healing and cleansing for her guests.
“The branch of Adytum is an extension of my ongoing work as nutritional therapy practitioner at Medical Vision Center (in Morton) where I work part of the week,” Kat said. Since opening over Memorial Day weekend, the Carrolls have received several guests, like writers and artists. They even hosted a creative learning and leadership team that presented for Mossyrock School District.
Fulcrum Adventures representatives stayed at Adytum and even brought over Miss Washington Jacquie Brown, National Guardsmen Timothy Allen Brown and Le’Juan O’Bryan and Erin Riffe, director of afterschool and summer programs for Educational Service District #113 for a tour. The Fulcrum reps liked their stay so much, they cancelled their flight to stay an extra night.
Kat said she and Donn have a commitment to education and said they hope to hold tours of Adytum for schoolchildren.
“We have been invited to share the art in particular with the community youth mentoring through artist workshops and art education,” Kat said. “Since we help support the Roxy, it flows along with that intention.”
The Carrolls have spent years investing in several museum-quality artworks including a print by Rembrandt and a sculpture by Frederick Hart, among many renowned artist originals. Hart is the lead sculptor for the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. and is famous for his work at Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
In the future, Donn and Kat look forward to their vineyard and cider orchard to mature, but mostly just taking time to enjoy sharing the beauty around them.
“It’s much more that I had ever dreamed,” Donn said of his latest business venture.
Donn is also an optometrist and owns Medical Vision Center in Morton. He actually did most of the design work for the house.
“It is a house of miracle built with God as a very real working partner,” the couple emphasized. Kat and Donn credited God with helping them turn a dream into reality and feel it [is] their mission to help others with the spiritual retreat.
For more information visit http://adytumretreatandspa.blogspot.com or Adytum’s Facebook page.

Published October 24, 2007
The Olympian

Wiens packages log houses
Rolf Boone
Just off Interstate 5 in south Thurston County is a family-run business that has been preparing wood for log houses for about 15 years. In all, Wiens Log Homes Inc., has been making log houses for more than 20 years, and it has spent the bulk of its time on the 6-acre site next to the freeway. While word-of-mouth referrals have generated business for Wiens Log Homes, so has the exposure to Interstate 5, co-owner Diana Wiens said. Besides herself, she is joined at work by her husband, Perry, son, Jeremiah, and daughter, Tosha Rodriguez. Wiens Log Homes strictly makes the log packages that are later converted into houses, said Rodriguez, who drafts floor plans of the log houses. "If it's a log, we do it; if not, we don't do it," Rodriguez said. After getting a shipment of debarked Douglas fir, the company prepares and cuts the logs, and then builds the house on site to make sure all of the logs fit. The house is then disassembled and shipped to the customer, Diana Wiens said. The company does most of its business in Washington and Oregon, but it has shipped houses as far as Asia and Europe, she said. Cliff Melby of Auburn bought a 4,000-square-foot Wiens log house that he had shipped to the top of Blewett Ridge, a part of the mountainous pass that separates Cle Elum from Wenatchee in north-central Washington. The house is used mainly as a winter recreation destination for the Melby family and friends, he said. "Personally, I like the warmth and feel of (log homes) on a cold winter night when you've got a ripping fire in the fireplace," he said. "There's a certain ambience that gets cast in those rooms that is unbeatable." Melby added: "It's just a different feeling in a log home than in a stick-frame house." Wiens has built as many as 15 houses in a year, but typically makes eight to 10 a year, Diana Wiens said. From start to finish, it takes about six to eight weeks to complete a log house, she said. If the house is shipped to a customer in Washington and Oregon, the Wiens family travels to help set up the log package. If it's out of the area, assembly arrangements are made locally, she said. Wiens also works closely with Elite Builders Northwest, a Tumwater builder that puts many of the finishing touches on the log houses, co-owner Adam Laneer said. Laneer said he started working with Wiens about a year ago and has so far been involved in six log house projects. Once the log package is shipped to the site, Elite builds the foundation, fits all of the windows and adds cabinets and floor coverings, he said. "It's a really fun process," Laneer said. "You get such a beautiful product in the end."

Phone: 360.870.2232 | Email: info@elitebuildersnw.com
1615 4th Ave E, Olympia Wa 98503