Homes & Gardens Northwest

11/01/2023

Fans of the kid-empowerment movie “The Goonies” have swarmed the tiny Oregon city of Astoria for decades to see the hilltop house central to the plot of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film.

Entrepreneur Behman Zakeri, a 46-year-old “Goonie,” which he defines as someone who stays loyal to friends, was devoted enough to pay $1,650,777 to buy the private house and he has a childlike fantasy to open it to others.

Behman Zakeri paid $1,650,777 to buy the private house and he has a child-like fantasy to open it to others.

14/09/2022

Beatrice Morrow Cannady, one of Oregon’s most prominent civil rights activists who challenged the Ku Klux Klan and discrimination in the early 1900s, lived and worked in a Craftsman house in Portland that’s for sale.

During a real estate open house last weekend, listing agent and the home’s owner Ana de la Rua Domenech of Living Room Realty spoke to several visitors she describes as “history buffs.”

She also met a woman who has written a scholarly paper on Cannady, a Black newspaper editor and founding member of the Portland branch of the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.

Cannady published the Advocate newspaper in the attic, which is now a family room and office, said listing agent Ana de la Rua Domenech.

14/09/2022

Oregon preservationists are applauding that a vacated church has become an inviting event center, an old bank is a bustling brew pub, and new energy-wise buildings alongside historic structures are adding to an area’s diversity and growth.

To highlight how rural and big city downtowns can change from easy-to-ignore to robust, the Restore Oregon organization has selected 11 restoration projects to receive a 2022 DeMuro Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation.

Eleven restoration projects from Portland to Bend to La Grande receive the DeMuro Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation.

12/09/2022

Real estate agents generally specialize in areas where homes come in many styles, from classic to contemporary. Jeff Weithman of (W)here focuses on modern dwellings across Oregon, constructed in the midcentury to present day with glass walls and easy indoor-outdoor living.

Modernist architecture was introduced to most people when structures of steel and reinforced concrete rose up after World War II. Why does it continue to appeal to home shoppers today?

Well-designed, dramatically spare, landscape-framing modern houses typically sell fast in Oregon.

11/09/2022

Northeast Portland’s famous Caravan-The Tiny House Hotel, popular with people wanting to test out living in a space smaller than a parking spot, has closed.

Two of the original tiny homes on wheels are for sale.

Caravan, the world’s first collection of rentable micro dwellings built on trailers, opened in 2013 on a former parking lot at 5009 N.E. Alberta St.

The inventive lodging soon had imitators around the globe, and was touted by tiny house living blogs and shows as part of the movement to live simply with few possessions.

Caravan-The Tiny House Hotel co-founder Deb Delman rents the 160-square-foot Pacifica house, built on a travel trailer by Zyl Vardos and moved to her Portland residence, on Airbnb.

08/09/2022

Portland was fortunate to attract architects early on, setting the stage for handsome buildings and astute residents who appreciate great design.

Two historic mansions in Portland for sale showcase how a century-old home with original quality features can be updated for modern living. Both have classic Tudor Revival exteriors with storybook dormers popping from steeply pitched roofs, and decorative dark timber dressing up stucco walls.

These century-old homes for sale have original features and remodeled floor plans.

05/09/2022

The fabled Fogelbo log home in Southwest Portland, built by the Steiner family of craftsmen and stonemasons during the Great Depression, will be open for autumn tours on Oct. 7-8.

Visitors will learn about the chalet-style house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and see one of the largest private collections of Nordic antiques and folk art in the United States.

Tickets ($30, $10 for children) are limited, and only 12 people will be in each of the six tour groups.

Visitors to Fogelbo House will see one of the largest private collections of Nordic antiques and folk arts in the United States.

04/09/2022

Selling a home can feel like taking one of your most personal possessions and largest assets, and tossing it into the air, hoping the right buyer catches it. Nothing, it seems, is as emotional, financially important and puzzling as putting a residential property on the market.

No matter how long it’s been since you last sold a house — typically, it’s been eight years, says the National Association of Realtors — a lot has changed.

No matter how long it’s been since you last sold a house — typically, it’s been eight years, says the National Association of Realtors — a lot has changed since then.

02/09/2022

Adding two income-producing rentals or self-contained guest homes next to an existing house on a city lot continues to get easier in Oregon.

Factory-made compact dwellings, complete with windows and paint, are being delivered to driveways, then hoisted or rolled onto a new foundation. Pre-made covered porches and decks are then attached to the structure like Lego pieces.

Other companies are selling packaged accessory dwelling unit (ADU) plans and building materials in an updated version of the Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward mail-order house kits sold more than a century ago.

Prefabricated accessory dwelling units (ADUs) manufactured in a factory and hauled in a flatbed trailer to the prepared site are options to homeowners.

30/08/2022

Low-cost, low-barrier housing will soon be a reality for those who can’t afford a place to live due to their criminal history, addiction or mental health issues.

30/08/2022

First responders train hard to prepare for wildfires and other disasters. Residents need to do the same, according to the Klamath County Fire Agencies that compiled the online Oregon’s Ready Set Go guide to reduce the risk of a fire harming people and property.

People who have been evacuated know there is no extra time to figure out what to take. And those in a rush may forget a vital item or bring too much.

Shelters most likely have food, water, first-aid supplies and toilet paper, but not your lifesaving medicines or driver’s license to identify yourself. Make your go bag lightweight in case you have to walk to safety.

30/08/2022

The honorees are among the nearly 2,300 Master Gardeners who work with OSU Extension to share their knowledge of sustainable gardening practices across 27 Oregon counties and 85 educational gardens.