Home & Garden Articles
Follow the LEEDer
Hood River’s renovated million-dollar middle school is a lean, green teaching machine
By Lauren Fox
The Simpler Life
A Buckman couple proves that life in less square footage is both sustainable and stylish.
By Anna Sachse
Pretty Shady Character
Handmade lampshades put the spotlight on long-lost slides and digital pictures
House of Harmony
Reenergize your home (and your life) with the ancient art of feng shui
By Xylia Buros
Glitter and Glass
High budget or low, consider the bowl, the lip and the moment when choosing stemware
By Eric Gold
Summer Blaze
Make your evening gatherings brighter and cozier with an outdoor fire pit.
By Emily Cable
Into the Woods
Skip shipped flowers and gather local finds to fashion your own sustainable centerpiece
By Xylia Buros
Architecture of a Season
How to design the structure, color and smell of a winter garden
By Sean Hogan
Planting Privacy
Create a colorful living wall with a mixture of trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses
Tree Hugging
Select and plant a tree that will bring joy to future generations of Portlanders
By Kate Bryant
O, Tannenbaum
Explore the festive possibilities—freshly cut or living, towering or dwarfed—of Oregon-grown trees
By Kate Bryant
Down to Earth
How to grow better vegetables by making richer soil and choosing the best area for your plot
By Kate Bryant
Leafy Aspirations
Eat healthier by scrapping the iceberg and growing your own baby and microgreens
By Kate Bryant
Reaching Higher Ground
Add height to your garden or outdoor entertaining space by building a freestanding trellis
Very Berry Blue
Shorten the path from the vine to the bowl by growing your very own blueberry bounty.
By Kate Bryant
Herbal Infusion
Low-maintenance evergreen herbs add color, fragrance, and culinary possibility to any balcony
By Diana Hauer
Dynamic Downspouts
How to turn the downpour into a delight by trading downspouts for stylish rain chains
By Jon Hart
Down Home Dirty Work
Laying an earthen floor is smart for the environment, plus it's soft, warm, and colorful underfoot
Belles of the Backyard
Create a fashionable fresh-egg factory with your own brood of exotic chickens
By Jon Hart
Green: It’s the New Black
Green up your final act by embracing your own biodegradability
By Zach Dundas
Tooling Around
Don your own belt (or bag) and enjoy the endless thrill of DIY home improvement
By Ryan Baldoz
Yards Apart
Six Portland households find renewed purpose for that familiar American space between sidewalk and front door.
Houses That Make History
A historical timeline documenting the evolution of Portland's single-family home
Moving Through the Landscape
Path Architecture designs a modern sanctuary for two avid cyclists in Southeast Portland
Winged Wonders
Brighten your winter months by transforming your backyard into an avian paradise.
By Kate Bryant
A Missing Park Block Returned
Three different viewpoints on the final chapter of downtown's longest-running saga
By Randy Gragg
Holst Architecture
A bold new generation of buildings is changing Portland's landscape, the Holst is the architecture is the vision firm behind many of them.
By Randy Gragg
Portland's Rising Stars
A tour of buildings designed by Portland's up-and-coming architects.
By Randy Gragg
Building Blocks
A new generation of young architects is reaching beyond the expected to blend high density, sustainability, and thrift into a bolder breed of Portland building. At last.
Revisionist History
Inspired by the decorator even Martha Stewart seems to worship, a Portland couple reinvents a Southwest carriage house.
Life as Story
A careful eye and meaningful keepsakes make a masterpiece of a Dolphin Park bungalow.
By Anna Sachse
Town and Country
A former carriage house in the Southwest Hills gets an elegant new life for a family of four.
By Anna Sachse
Ready Made
To achieve superior interior design with minimal elbow grease, it pays to be a household of artists (or at least to know a few).
By Anna Hirsh
Bring in the Noise
A family finds peace and quirky comfort in their Alberta farmhouse by surrounding themselves with art made by their neighbors.
By Anna Hirsh
Green Acres
Think communes went out with the 1960s? Welcome to Cedar Moon, where the quinoa grows tall, Nubian goats mow the lawn, and life (almost) off the grid is sweet.
Not in my Backyard
Invasive plants are out, native plants are in, and Portland gardeners are embracing their wild side.
Lake Escape
"Remodel" would be an understatement for the overhaul that Bob and Stevie Burke gave to their spectacularly sited Lake Oswego home.
Perfect Pitch
On a Mountain Park slope, Litmus Design's modern twist on a Japanese lodge finds harmony with a plant enthusiast's 50-year-old garden.
Best of the City 2008
Dig into our surefire, gotta-get-cracking, must-do list of the city's most fabulous people, places, and things.
Edited by Brian Barker
A Garden in the Forest
On a wooded slope near the city's most famous park, a private two-acre oasis blooms.
Club Med
Palm trees, a saltwater pool, and a gourmet garden make this Alameda house a private resort.
Contemporary Craft
High-end modern furnishings and chic handmade decorative pieces put a new spin on Arts & Crafts.
Daylight Dapper
A Cedar Hills ranch loses its “’60s fright” look but keeps its sleek lines in the hands of two professional decorators.
Inside Connection
Conceptual artist MK Guth and her husband bring the outdoors in with a savvy addition to their Mount Tabor cottage.
Portland Polemic
For Oregon natives who fled to larger cities and then came back, homecoming isn’t always so easy.
By Anna Hirsh
Upstairs Eden
Forget the farm. All you need to grow delicious heirloom tomatoes is a little patch of rooftop.
Perennial Favorites
When lovers of salvias and slime molds crave a good book, they turn to horticultural publisher Timber Press.
By Jill Davis
Against the Grain
A builder and furniture maker proves you don’t need an architect’s license to create a beautifully designed house.
High-Water Haven
Winter floods and financial red tape couldn’t stop an architect couple from building their dream cabin in Hood River.
By Brian Libby
Milwaukie’s Best
A fussy vacation home becomes a stylish family hangout in Portland's most undersung riverside 'burb.