New Construction: Building a Dream Home in Oregon
Building a dream home is a thrilling experience. It can be daunting without someone walking you through the thousands (and we mean thousands) of decisions you will make to build your own custom home. We cater to our custom home clients by helping them with an experienced step-by-step process, including offering visual tools and drawings to make the process enjoyable. We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver top quality interior design, with the documentation and implementation expertise to ensure the final project reaches your vision. We work in tandem with your architect and/or builder ensuring timelines and goals are honored. We have a vast knowledge and library of finish materials for your home – and it would be our pleasure to show you ideas you may not have considered or perhaps never even knew existed.
Here is one story.
We recently worked with a family in Sherwood, Oregon building their dream home nestled in 30 acres of beautiful evergreens. A fresh stream meandered through the property. Plans were drawn and we broke earth in late Autumn. The homeowners decided to incorporate geothermal heating and cooling in the home to realize savings (up to 70%) for heating, cooling, and hot water.
The homeowners wanted the home to have a slight rustic lodge feel. We got to work selecting natural surfaces including veneered stone for the exterior and interior great room fireplace, stone flooring on the main level common areas, decorative trusses and box beamed ceilings, and wood windows. We used a touch of iron and oil rubbed bronze in the hardware, lighting and staircase to accentuate the style of the home. We chose a warm palette for the home to complement the palette including grayed greens, warm blues, umbers and and warm neutrals.
The homeowners moved back to Oregon from living abroad in Shanghai. The Mrs. of the family had remodeled homes in the past and loved custom tile designs with a little bit of traditional elements, but wanted (like her husband) a hint of Northwest rustic.
Once our initial design concept for the home was approved by our clients, we moved forward with every surface decision for the home. We started with the exterior and interior stone for the fireplace and main stone flooring – then moved into the kitchen design. The Mrs. of the household envisioned an open kitchen that encouraged her family both her children and extended family gathering and creating memories – and we designed the kitchen for multiple activities and functions, and for gathering around the island.
Many times architectural plans layout a basic kitchen design, and as the interior design team we thoughtfully may redesign the layout of the kitchen to be more flow friendly. In this project’s case, we also designed custom niches on each side of the wood range to highlight prized vases from our client’s family. We opted for spice racks on either side of the range top and open shelving next to the window to display plates and glassware . Our final kitchen design placed a small sink at the island, to make sure a visit to the kitchen didn’t interrupt the cooks activities. We selected knotty alder for the cabinetry in a medium body stain, and designed a custom tile mosiac from both raku tile and copper pieces for the backsplash design.
Our client grew up in a timber frame home in Oregon, and wanted to mimic this design element in his home. We designed trusses for the great room, staining these custom designed rustic beams a dark stain, and installing tongue and groove pine on the ceiling.
The grand staircase came together with the same dark wood stain on the newel posts as the great room trusses and we incorporated iron elements for the balusters. We opted to install wood flooring on the treads, and painted the risers a creamy paint color to offer a light and bright finished look.
The master bedroom came together with a little more refined appeal. To marry the downstairs feel we selected again raku tile for the backsplash, and a similar color story to the rest of the house. To keep a bit of the rustic feel we used a pebble mosiac for the shower floor, bench and art detail around the shower fittings.
We selected knotty alder doors for the home’s interior, skip trowel wall finishes to add to the rustic nature of the home’s design, and most of all we had a wonderful collaborative project designing together.
We stay in touch with the family and hear that their home has become ‘the place’ for extended family gatherings on special occasions and holidays. We couldn’t be more thrilled with being a part of designing a home that builds memories.
Angela Todd
Owner & Principal Designer
Angela is the principal designer at her boutique interior design firm in Portland, Oregon. She is known for creating memorable backdrops that tell the story of fascinating and intricate lives.
