When Lara White and Jason Stamp were hunting for their first home in Portland, Oregon, they were looking for a project. The couple—both partners at Workaday Design, a collaborative architectural design and interiors studio—had met in high school and worked together in the wood shop in college, so they were up for the challenge of tackling a renovation themselves.

The perfect canvas presented itself in the form of a 1922 bungalow that had gone relatively untouched in recent years. “One key thing was that it hadn’t been upgraded super recently,” says Jason, “so there were no terrible updates that we were going to have to live out and redo.” After purchasing the residence in 2012, they tackled the remodel in phases, first addressing the first-floor living spaces. Later, they added a low-lying addition to comfortably expand the main suite upstairs, making room for a bathroom and dedicated office.

Before: Front Exterior

After: Front Exterior

Before: Rear Exterior

After: Rear Exterior

The ensuing multiyear project would prove to be an outlet for the pair to experiment with materials. Take the sleek addition, which follows the contours of the bungalow roofline, covered in a rainscreen and thin cedar strips to contrast with more traditional exterior.

They would interrogate the treatment of every material, remembers Lara: “What if we cut this wood three-quarters-of-an-inch thick and then have a half-inch gap? Or, what does it look like when it’s a quarter-inch thick with a bigger gap? That [process] was definitely a part of what we enjoyed about this house.”

Before: Living Room

After: Living Room

It was also a learning endeavor since Jason and Lara executed much of the work themselves. In addition to cutting down and planing all that cedar for the exterior, on the interior, they refinished the floors, tiled the kitchen backsplash and en suite shower, installed the sleek bank of kitchen cabinets under the stairs, and built many furniture pieces. “We learned not to do drywall,” jokes Lara.

Before: Dining Room

After: Dining Room

Carrara marble top from Design Within Reach is surrounded by CH23 Chairs designed by Hans Wegner for Carl Hansen & Son." layout="" credit="Photo by Meagan Larsen" photoUserId="6217072552278081536"/>

Shop the Look

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen and Stairs

The result is a home that chronicles the couple’s design thinking over the years. From the floating media console in the living room that Jason built—which doubles as the cat’s favorite nap nook—to the striking, curved mirror in the upstairs en suite that Lara devised after playing around with various shapes, it’s a custom home in the most personal way. “When you get to do your own project, there's nothing quite like it,” says Lara. “You’re really just exploring.”

Before: Attic

After: Main Suite and Office

More Before & After:

A Brooklyn Couple’s Dim, Sequestered Kitchen Becomes a Luminous Gathering Space

An Airy Loft Opens Up a 1920 Bungalow in Atlanta

Project Credits:

Architecture: Workaday Design / @workadaydesign

Photography: Meagan Larsen

Appears In

Before & After: A Design Duo Give Themselves Free Rein to Experiment With Their Portland Bungalow