Jessica Hansen and the team behind Tandem Design make a home for an art-loving couple.
Designer: Tandem Design
Photographer: Jason Larkin
Construction: LUX Construction (main room & kitchen); Modern Angle (bathrooms)
Tile: Lotus Tile
Countertops: Elegant Granite and Marble
Every design project ends up being a collaboration, but working with a household of art-loving creative directors presents a special opportunity for designing intentional spaces. For Jessica Hansen and the team behind Portland-based Tandem Design, this free flow of ideas between creatives was what made their work on a 1980s contemporary in Northwest Portland’s Forest Park so satisfying.
“There is really a soul in every house,” Hansen says. “Our philosophy is really to keep what works and what is worth keeping instead of tearing everything out.”
A former wardrobe stylist, Hansen knew that working with two creative directors would involve a deep partnership with clients who already know their tastes and would be able to contribute ideas about style, color and form. The couple even made a visual style guide called a deck for the project before discussing with Hansen, who sees herself as a creative director for the remodel.
“There’s more than one way to crack an egg,” Hansen says. “Our purpose is to support the homeowner in the ways that they need.”
Hansen met the clients at one of the regular networking events she holds at her home. The house they had purchased in a wooded area of Portland had a 1980s feel to it, with arched windows and other vestiges of the era. The main living space had expansive ceiling heights and a workable floor plan that they kept. But some of the spaces still felt dark and kind of drab, and the home’s main surfaces and materials felt dated.
“We didn’t have to do anything structurally,” Hansen says. “We already had a lot to work with.”
As with many remodels, finding unique ways to update dated looks and a lack of function drove the big-picture process in the home. The project proceeded in two phases, encompassing all of the home’s spaces, including a kitchen, dining room, living room, bedrooms and four bathrooms.
First, working with LUX Construction, Tandem redid the floors, switched up the tile in the entry and traded out the old railing for a new, more modern one.
But just as important to material changes was finding a way to hold the couple’s existing art collection—making choices that felt both congruous to the home’s design while holding space for beloved artworks and sculptural pieces the couple had collected along the way.
“Working with a client’s collection of past items is what makes a house feel really interesting,” Hansen says. “You can’t just go out and buy things and also make it feel like a home.”
Tandem began thinking about the art with a wall in the living room, where a fireplace had been illuminated by coach lights, like what you might find on the floor of a limousine.
“The fireplace was so big and so present in the main space,” Hansen says.
The design team decided to replace the tile in front of the fireplace and build a deep shelving unit on either side to accommodate the couple’s books below. They had been collecting art for years but wanted it all integrated in a more suitable manner, so Tandem took the wide and tall wall above and designed boxes to create custom spaces for each artwork.
Hansen went to the couple’s previous home to take pictures and collect measurements. Then she designed a grid with ledges so the couple could place art and, potentially, move it around as they’d like.
“It has worked out so wonderfully,” Hansen says. “They are enjoying being able to move things around.”
Across the room, the kitchen island was an opportunity to create something more fitting with the space and the couple’s lifestyle. The previous island had been large, with no seating whatsoever and had been eating into the living room, so they reduced it in size and added room for stools.
“There was more than enough storage in the kitchen already,” Hansen says.
Tandem found great ways to keep the couple’s budget down while tackling the dated cabinetry. The designer didn’t change the location of any of the cabinetry boxes; instead, she switched out the bottom for white oak and painted the top cabinets. She traded out canned lights with downlights to improve the harshness of the original home.
“Keeping some of the original kitchen really adds that depth and sense of connection within the home,” Hansen says.
Tandem upgraded all four bathrooms in the home with stylish choices that feel simple and modern while invoking a sense of personality and interest through texture.
All in all, Hansen is proud of how the collaboration was able to work with what was there before—the existing art, and the parts of the home that still felt helpful, interesting, and full of character.
“For me, home has always been a place to feel comfortable and at ease and surrounded by beauty,” Hansen says.
