Before the first course, I knew that we were in for a rare dinner party. For one thing, when the host took his seat at the head of the formal dining table, he was flanked on either side by his miniature dogs. They sat in fancy high chairs. They ate off fine china. … Read more
All About Stone will be holding two free DIY classes this Sat. May 28th. The first class is how to install your own Paver Patio and the second is on how to install a Retaining Wall.
The future doesn’t look quite as exciting as I imagined. No flying cars. Disappointedly, fewer personal jet packs than expected. Our homes look less like George Jetson’s and more like Fred Flintstone’s what with all the granite and no-tech compost bins substituting for hungry dinosaurs. So I got pretty excited when I read about “advances in integrated home technology” at Mari Design. It sounds so space age fancy. What it means to the Portland company is that sales of their motorized shades and light control products are sky rocketing.
The Historic Preservation League of Oregon presents a walking tour of Mid-Century Modern homes in the Oak Hills neighborhood, on Saturday May 21st from 10am-4pm.
The Santiam Heritage Foundation’s 11th annual garden tour takes place this year on Sunday June 26 between noon and 5 PM. Visit seven beautiful gardens while at the same time supporting the restoration of the Charles and Martha Brown House and garden.
Floating homes range from fancy to funky, but their allure is constant. Check out additional photos of all three floating homes from our June/July 2011 cover story below.
These were the Beatniks of housing. They turned their backs to society – and streets and neighbors – to focus on individual backyard havens. Walls of glass invited the outdoors in. Ceilings soared. Massive wood beams were left exposed. During the late 1950s through the early 1970s Robert Rummer built almost 1,000 such houses in the Portland metro area. At the time, many people were skeptical of the modern look, preferring the traditional formality of Colonials or the cozy familiarity of Arts and Crafts.
Robert Oshtaz designs unique residential and commercial buildings. The floating home he designed for Randy Fennell and Kazuyo Tojo on the Willamette River seems to be part of the water. A house he designed for another client appears to echo the trees around it. We talked to him about his design process.
Managing Editor Vivian McInerny reminisces about living on a Portland houseboat in the late 70’s.
