Although Zoé Stone has spent the past several years at Sera, an award-winning architecture firm in Portland, Oregon, designing her own home was a new and unique challenge.

The site, in the city’s West Hills looking out toward Marquam Nature Park, is a wooded slope with a creek running through it that had never been developed. This added engineering challenges and costs, as well as the need for extensive environmental review and stormwater management plans, which took paperwork and patience (not to mention the planting of approximately 30 trees).

Zoé, founder of Zoé Stone Design, had been looking for a lot to build on for over a year when she saw a small ad for the property, and decided to visit “on a whim,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Wait, this is actually really awesome.’”

Unlike other prospective buyers, Zoé wasn’t daunted by the site’s topographical and regulatory challenges. Besides her own architectural training and experience, she had a trustworthy builder who could handle everything from foundations to furniture: her dad. Al Stone, a general contractor, had built the family’s home in Belgium when Zoé was a child.

The 2,000-square-foot house, which Zoé shares with her dog, Pepper, feels spacious thanks to a wide-open kitchen/dining/living room with vaulted ceilings on the main floor. This level opens to a cantilevered deck, as does the lower floor, where two bedrooms and an office are located. And the interior spaces feel unified thanks to custom built-ins and furniture made by Al.

Habitats and Helicals

Zoé: The city wanted to keep the integrity of the site as far as plants and trees, because it’s good animal habitat. We get a lot of deer: a whole family this morning. We have a lot of owls, and bunnies that somehow persist even though we also have a lot of coyotes. We also had to have a setback from the creek. At the time, the city was adjusting its protection zones on either side, so there was a lot of back and forth.

Al: It took a lot of creativity for the house to be built on this spot. Rather than coming in with a dream house that was 3,000 square feet, it was, “No, this is what we can do.”

Zoé: I think it was two years of permitting. Finally as we were on the way to the beach for a family trip, they wrote an email saying, ‘You’re all good.’ And we’re like, “Oh, great, we still have a project!”

Al: We used helicals. It’s just a really solid foundation. So the dirt below us can slide away, and we’d still be here.

Zoé: Helicals are these giant screws, which, once they hit a certain resistance or torque [in the bedrock], that’s as far as they go. It’s not a common foundation system in Portland, but in the L.A. hills, they use it a lot. You’re able to sit a little bit lower on the site. We didn’t want to be 20 feet off the ground and start building from there.

One Great Room

Zoé: Upstairs, it’s all just one giant space. It’s not that big of a house to begin with, so we wanted to keep it open.

Al: We did scissor trusses, with these soffits that came out [to form the overhanging roof] without having to have any posts coming down. That’s one way we can keep that whole room wide open.

Zoé: In the kitchen, the wood island is my dad’s work, and then we have leathered granite tops. It reminds me a little bit of soapstone, but without the upkeep.

The backsplash is ceramic tile. I wanted something clean and warm, so it’s this off-white with a little bit of tan around the edges, which makes the grout lines pop a little bit more to highlight the tile pattern. And then we did really simple cabinets. Eventually, I’d love to get these in oak, but we were very tight on our budget to make it work, so we went with white Ikea.

Al: Then we customized it. I added the built-ins and locally-made cabinet hardware.

$104,000 Land	$75,000 Permit Fees	$25,000 Engineering
$80,000 Foundation/Site Work	$35,000 Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing	$45,000 Paint, Drywall, & Insulation
$10,000 Interior Sprinkler System	$40,000 Interior Finishes	$25,000 Windows & Doors
$35,000 Siding	$20,000 Roofing	$5,000 Lighting
$5,000 Appliances	$4,500 Woodburning Stove	$15,000 Landscaping
$10,000 Patios	$125,000 Miscellaneous
Grand Total: $658,500

Zoé: The floors are engineered hardwood. We knew we were going to do oak for the screens [between the stairs and living room] and for the kitchen island. We wanted something that was going to give it a little bit of a contrast, without going too dark. This also happened to work really well with the color of my dog’s hair. And the floor has held up really well.

Al: She needed a dining table, so I said, “Okay.”

Zoé: I’m excited for the holidays. I can actually host people.

Al: It’s white oak. I just used an Osmo stain, and then waxed it.

Zoé: We were building with the intent that someone might put a house on the lot next door [with a view through the front window], and so I wanted some screening. These we did ourselves.

It’s three separate panels that we oiled and tilted into place. I think it warms up the space having some more wood. In the summer, when the foliage is bright green, you can really see that through the screens. But when you’re sitting here at night, you still feel cozy.

Charred Timber and Sliders

Zoé: Me and my structural engineer really planned for our patio. It’s cantilevered on both floors, and it’s covered. Especially in the summer, it’s really nice. Eventually, it’d be great to get more of a dining table out here, but with all the sliding glass doors, you almost don’t need it because you get all that light and fresh air indoors.

I call these our budget NanaWalls. We went with the sliders, since the folding glass versions are more expensive and a bit of a pain to install.

Al: These are two-by-two porcelain pavers on the deck. They came in at about $5 a square foot. Underneath them, we did a TPO [thermoplastic polyolefin] roof membrane.

Zoé: For the cedar siding, we did a yakisugi treatment. It’s been super easy to upkeep. I think as far as wood siding goes, it’s pretty cost effective. Ours got a little more pricey because we’re in a wildfire hazard zone up here in the hills, so we had to do an extra fire-retardant treatment on it. You don’t have to paint it or do a whole lot after you install it, which gives you a little bit of cost savings.

Bed & Bath

Zoé: We did a slider and a window in both bedrooms, so there’s really nice ventilation. In the summer, it’s lovely, nice, and cool—being able to have everything open for that indoor/outdoor feel. The adjacent office is little, but it works really well with the shelving and work table.

Al: I just went ahead and made it, to custom fit the space.

Zoé: For the primary bathroom, we did the same porcelain tile on the walls and floor. It’s got a little bit of a texture, so it feels really nice when you’re barefoot.

For both bathrooms, we did underfloor heating. In the winter, it feels nice and toasty in the mornings.

Al: For the wood shelf carved into the wall, I used some of the oak that we had left over from the screens and tables.

Zoé: And then we did a little soaking tub. We hunted for a while to find one that would fit into this little alcove. We found this cute 36-by-36-inch tub that’s I believe, 26 inches deep.

Passing the Test

Zoé: I think it’s every architect’s dream to build their own house, so that was definitely a big part of the project: being able to really do something that was my design and my tastes, and getting the expertise from doing it.

It was a little bit of, “I wonder if I could do it, and do it well for the budget we had.” We were testing out if we could do something that doesn’t cost an insane amount of money—but it’s still really nice, and at the end of the day, it feels like a quality house.

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Project Credits:

Designer: Zoé Stone Design / @zoestonedesign

Builder: Al Stone Remodeling & Design

Structural Engineer: Todd Maurer

Geotechnical Engineer: Rapid Soil Solutions

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