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annzgw

2012 Portland Home Tour

annzgw
11 years ago

Just toured the Portland Street of Dreams homes today and enjoyed seeing the new materials being used. All the homes are over 4,000 sq ft. I took photos and after seeing them wished I'd taken more. I got caught up in looking at details and thought I'd taken pics of them!

Things I noticed:

Use of porcelain tile everywhere

Sandblasted granite...textured, polished surface.

Lots of stacked stone

Mix of woods used in kitchen and bath.

Espresso machines are out and beer making is in

Builders seem to forget we need niches, shelves and benches in showers.

Most homes used wood with simple lines (no design) for baseboard and trim.

Also saw the use of beautiful ceiling fans in bedrooms.

Here is a link that might be useful: SOD 2012

Comments (12)

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    11 years ago

    Thank you so much for posting these....brought back fond memories of many years ago when Mom and I went to SOD in FL.

    Questions for you...

    About pic 77, is that a mirrored 2 sided fireplace? Not sure what I was looking at...

    At pic 86, the girls bedroom...is that actual pearls or rhinestones glued to the wall paper?

    Great stuff! Thanks so much for postiing!

  • gsciencechick
    11 years ago

    Great pics! Thank you!

    I love the bathroom near the end with the granite that looks like rainforest green and the vanity with the "branches" on it.

    My favorite is the rustic modern kitchen with the knotty pine and cool BS. Really cool!

  • rafor
    11 years ago

    Bless West Linn! they are still building those huge McMansions and helping the economy. I lived there for 25 years. It used to be such a nice bucolic countryfied area. Now it's teeming with McMansions. I thought we were all so over that :( This is about the 6th time the Street of Dreams has been there. They must be running out of places to have it.

  • annzgw
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Annie,
    In pic 77 (I think you're referring to the one with a tall red sculpture to the left) the tile on the fireplace is reflecting all the light from the doorway I was standing in. The red sculpture is sitting on a stand on the other side of the fireplace and that is a glass doorway to another room on the other side of a hallway. When I zoomed in on my pic I can see a person standing there reading the booklet.
    Many rooms had so much natural light it was difficult to take pics, yet many of the bathrooms were so dark I couldn't get a good shot with the flash.
    One other feature I forgot to mention..... most of the living rooms had a wall of folding glass doors that opened to a furnished deck or patio. All very lovely.

    Here's a closeup of the girls room. Those look to be rhinestone discs and they've also placed them in each tufting on the headboard.

    gscience, I loved most of the bathrooms but getting full shots of showers was very difficult, so I just focused on the tile work! :)

  • terezosa / terriks
    11 years ago

    I used to go up to the street of dreams in Portland fairly regularly, and I noticed that lately (actually probably the last 10 years) most of the home are decorated very similarly. Not that they aren't nice, but years ago there was a lot more variety in the decor. There would be a traditional home, a very modern home, a cottage, etc. Now they are all so predictable.

  • rafor
    11 years ago

    I agree terriks. They all have very similar elevations from the outside too, just different use of sidings. It's become the standard in the PNW. Although one year when I went I was laughing when I saw some of the decor items: I had seen them all at TJMaxx or Home Goods. Several millions for a house and they decorate it with things from off price stores.

  • annzgw
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    terriks,
    I found this year to be very different compared to the homes of previous 2 years. There was a traditional home, a contemporary home with Asian decor, the home I call 'rustic' that used lots of knotty pine, the traditional, and one I could only call eclectic. Two of the homes I didn't even photograph simply because I was not drawn to the interior decorating nor the feel/flow of the home. I didn't feel any of the homes were alike, but would love to hear input from others that made the tour.

    What I enjoyed seeing was how new materials are being used and I never tire of gathering ideas that I may be able to apply to my home. I want to go back just to get a photo of a piece of artwork I saw. It was grouted, translucent stone that was placed in a huge white frame, hung on a bathroom wall and lit from the back with LED lights. Gorgeous!

  • sochi
    11 years ago

    Interesting, thanks for posting. There were some neat ideas. I loved the baseboard feature the best. Unlike gsciencechick, I really hated that pine kitchen I'm afraid. Makes me think that we need to do the knotty pine challenge on the kitchen forum - I have seen knotty pine used well, but I don't think it was here. But perhaps I'm the odd one out on that, I have been before!

    I love house tours, they are almost always interesting, even if the styles may not be to your taste.

  • lolauren
    11 years ago

    The attached blog featured some of the homes (7 thus far) with floor plans.... some different shots than the OP posted. OP, thanks! I couldn't make it this year and always love to see... :)

    Here is a link that might be useful: http://blog.houseoffifty.com/

  • gsciencechick
    11 years ago

    Isn't there also another home tour where it's more homes that are vintage, Craftsman, etc. I remember seeing pics on the Kitchen forum.

  • housefairy
    11 years ago

    Annz its nice to see the return of ceiling fans. The TV shows really give them a bad rap. Flipping through your pics I was really interested in the dark doors with the white trim. I keep wanting to do it upstairs to kind of stream the upstairs with the downstairs. I may have to go and check them out. I haven't been to a Street of Dreams show in probably a decade.

    Rafor the reason they picked West Linn is location. People with the money to buy, are only willing to live in specific areas surrounding the city. The builders learned that lesson when they had the show in Hillsboro.

  • rafor
    11 years ago

    Yes I understand why they keep using West Linn for this venue. Close in to Portland and lots of land for parking for the show. It's just a little sad that the Urban Growth Boundary has created such a crowded set of subdivisions :( I take it these are within the UGB and therefore not on 5+ acre lots so the proportions of the house to the lot would be skimpy. These are down behind the Safeway off of Rosemount, Tanner Basin area.