Cary Hixon and her husband, Barrett Jackson, originally purchased their four-bedroom, one-bath Craftsman-style bungalow in Portland, Oregon’s North Tabor neighborhood because they wanted a home with extra space for their “boomerang children.” But after 20 years, the children had grown and now had families and houses of their own—and the couple realized that their needs had changed. Their upstairs was, for the most part, unused and the first floor had its challenges. “I think if you stay in a house long enough, at some point, it won't fit your needs anymore, and that is certainly what happened to us,” explains Hixon. Rather than move, the couple decided to renovate.

The couple found a contractor, Glen Ford, to start on what was going to be just a simple kitchen renovation. Ford introduced them to several interior designers, and they felt an immediate connection with Stephanie Dyer of Dyer Studio, engaging her to design their kitchen. But as they began working on the plans to update the kitchen, they started to discuss their unused second floor—and soon decided that they were ready to remedy the upstairs as well. “We are newly retired,” explains Hixon, “and hope to age in place, so tackling the upstairs meant changing it to meet our current needs and also providing us with a better chance of being able to stay here as we age.” It also meant that Dyer needed to pin down the couple’s current needs in addition to anticipating their future needs—and design for both.

Before: The Upstairs

The first order of business was to transform the upstairs and its two small bedrooms with very small closets, rearranging the space to create a master bedroom suite with a master bath and a home office at the top of the stairs with the flexibility to someday house a future caretaker.

Additionally, Hixon and Jackson are used to traveling often and having house sitters stay in their home to watch their dogs. With this in mind, Dyer made sure that the couple would be able to close off their personal space upstairs and keep it totally private from house sitters. “Closing the door at the bottom of the stairs when we leave town means that house sitters have complete access to everything on the first floor but our space is completely private, which I love,” Hixon shares.

After: The Upstairs

The second floor was also a place where Dyer was able to address the couple’s future needs, “There will come a time when the stairs will be a problem,” says Hixon. Dyer planned for this by making adjustments to both the first floor and the second floor so that when the time comes, the couple could easily move their master bedroom back downstairs. She tweaked the design, inserting plumbing in an upstairs closet so that the space which is currently in use as the office area could become a kitchenette as needed. “In very short order the area can convert to a separate apartment for a caregiver,” shares Hixon. But as for now, she confesses, "The upstairs is now so wonderful we don't want to leave."

Meagan Larsen Photography
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Meagan Larsen Photography
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Before: Master Bathroom

Space for an ensuite master bath was a priority now that the master was upstairs and Dyer carved out some space for this.

After: The Master Bathroom

Before: The Kitchen

During the remodel, Ford, the contractor, pulled up the floors on the second story and unearthed a chaste 1920s love letter addressed to Rose Cully—a very Portland-sounding name to the ears of anyone familiar with the city. The “very proper and sweet” letter was dated June 8, 1920, and written by a gentleman named Oren. “I felt like the letter belonged to someone and I wanted to get it to the right person,” Hixon shares. So she posted it on Facebook and Nextdoor, and after only 11 hours, “total strangers skilled at internet sleuthing" led her to Rose's family. With the information, Hixon was able to connect with Rose's great-grandaughter in Atlanta, who put her in touch with Rose's granddaughter and son-in-law who were still in Portland. “We met for coffee. I gave them the letter and we had a long talk about their memories of the house. It turns out that Rose and Oren had married five months after the letter was written. They lived in this house for 50 years and had five children here," she says. In fact, Rose had been responsible for the home's first remodel, during which she added the entire second story of the home and blew out the back of the home to add a modest nook in the kitchen.

After: The Kitchen

The kitchen still had all its original cabinetry, 1940s red Formica countertops, wallpaper, and flooring from the 1970s. The windows were also all original and they were all painted shut. "I cook well and frequently but somehow managed to embrace the kitchen's quirkiness," shares Hixon."I think what held us back was just feeling overwhelmed. The kitchen is such a big project and we just didn't know what we wanted or where to start." Luckily, Dyer was there to help; she created an extremely personalized space for the couple with multiple customized features, including a bespoke pantry and custom-made tiles crafted in the perfect shade of green by Jackson himself.

Ultimately, the renovation is so flexible that it not only provides the couple with a plan for the future but also gives them an additional back-up plan. “The house could very easily convert to a duplex," says Hixon. "We also have an ADU in the backyard that my husband uses as his pottery studio that can be converted to an apartment so, if we outlive our 401Ks we could live in our house and have income from two apartments.”

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Project Credits:

Interior Design: Dyer Studio Inc., Stephanie Dyer
General Contractor: Glen Ford Contracting
Structural Engineer: Munzing Structural Engineering

Appears In

Before & After: A Thorough Renovation Primes a Portland Home for Aging in Place