Today is a great example of why I love this blog so much – you have really good ideas, from experiences and locations I just don’t have. Today’s example is all about how to deal with the vintage sliding door on the guest cottage – a feature that we love in theory, but wouldn’t be a great way to get in and out on a daily basis (it’s super heavy and not sealed up at all). When I casually mentioned not knowing how to deal with it, back in a post in August, some of you had the clear answer that I hadn’t thought about:

From T: “When I was in Britain, there were a lot of barn conversions where you couldn’t change the exterior of the building because they wanted to keep the historic features, so what a lot of people did was put a pass-through window behind the barn door. That sealed up the space, but if you slid the barn door open, you could access the new door that was within a wall of windows”.

Then DJ responded, “Yes, yes! I love this! The barn door would basically serve as a huge, hulking, aging (unnecessary but awesome) shutter, kinda!”

Then another reader, Hilary, sent through photos of her mom’s place in New England, with what they did there – THANK YOU!

It makes so much sense to me now (took me a second to get it). I should design a window/door situation that is inside/behind the big sliding door so that the sliding door is just a huge shutter. It can stay closed when we aren’t going in and out frequently, then can be left open should we go in and out more frequently. Got it!

But trying to find inspiration was hard. I didn’t really know what to Google or search for on Pinterest.

So then the questions start rolling in…

1. Wood framing or black metal? Do I want to lean traditional so edge it up with something that looks more contemporary and design forward? Could this hyper-modern look be super rad? I mean, sure, but that means other elements would maybe need to feel that way, too. I do think that I want to do some contemporary light fixtures that could combine this historic vibe with some elements that are more unexpected (think Paris apartments that have super ornate molding with 1960s metal lighting – the juxtaposition is so exciting). This is likely the more expensive route, but any custom door/window situation will be expensive…
2. If I lean into a traditional wood-framed window/door, do I customize the panes/lites to merge the diamond pattern AND the square grid like I did on our house in the sunroom? Or just keep it simpler with squares?
3. Is it two side panels and a single door? French doors?
4. If we are customizing the door, then should we frame the opening a bit smaller so that the kitchen can be a couple of feet bigger?

Here’s a photo of the interior showing how big the opening is:

By making this opening smaller, we’d need to get more interior paneling or come up with a different solution for that. But that kitchen is tiny, shoved in that corner, so having another even 18″ would be huge.

Anyway, I know that there is a company in town, Versatile (co-owned by the owners of ARCIFORM), that makes custom doors/windows and can execute any design. It will be a pretty penny, so I need to make sure that the design is right and worth it. I could also look into something readymade (French doors with side lights) and then just frame it in, but that sounds less fun to me (but would save dough). There are definitely going to be some design elements that I’m ok splurging on, and I know that a beautiful custom door/window situation could be one of them. But I want to do more research to make sure that’s the right choice for this project. Also, Sierra Pacific, who did all our first-floor windows, including our gorgeous sunroom diamond-shaped windows (above), could absolutely do it (well, I think…), so that could be an option as well. I’m looking into vintage, of course, but I don’t feel confident that it would be easy to find nearby (and function well).

Meanwhile, here is a glimpse into where my head is at. All these are vintage doors/windows (or custom, I suppose). I put the pink one on there to show the configuration that could work – two side panels and a large door with lights above them. The rest just show a version of the diamond pattern that our main house has. Designing the windows in the sunroom was extremely fun (and a super long process on my end), so part of me knows that the pattern works well – we could do two panels and a large Dutch door in the middle. Although now that I think about it, when you are inside, you’d need to be able to open the door where the barn door handle is in order to get out, which would be far to the right…Or do you just leave the huge slider open while you are inside and only slide it shut when no one is in the house? Lots of fun problem-solving, but if you guys have any insight or suggestions, I’d love to hear. And thanks again for your input – it’s seriously so appreciated. One of my favorite expressions is “we don’t know what we don’t know,” which keeps me endlessly curious. So while many designers might admit to not knowing stuff, I actually love knowing that I don’t know something – it’s a real fuel for getting to do research and then learning, which is honestly such a gift and keeps me so delighted in this industry.

Catch Up With The Guest Cottage!!

• The First Tour Inside Our 1850s Carriage House – Let The Restoration Begin!!!!!
• DIYing The OG “Homestead” – The Carriage House Exterior “Before” Tour
• Our Guest Cottage Inspection Report – WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER???
• What Are We Really Doing With Our Guest Cottage? Is There A Budget? And Other Burning Questions Answered
• How Big Is The Guest Cottage? All The Dimensions And Floor Plans For Us To Geek Out Over
• How Much Will It Cost To Remove Asbestos And Lead Paint From Our Guest Cottage (+ What I’m Willing To Do Myself To Save Money)
• Our Guest Cottage Update: How Much Will The Foundation Repair Cost???
• Guest Cottage Update – How Do You Design A House If You Don’t Know How You’ll Use It????
• We Demo’d The Guest Cottage Ourselves – Here’s How It Went

*Pretty Photos by Kailtin Green

Well, summer 2025 is almost a wrap, and we used the heck out of the yard since we finished in spring. It’s a pretty ridiculous property at this point. We know how lucky we are, and it feels most like the home we always dreamt of (when we lived in NY and LA) when there are at least 6-10 kids running around, four men playing corn hole and a bunch of ladies gabbing. While we aren’t DONE done, we have checked so many boxes that were big construction, and the rest of the rehab can be done WAYYYY over time. These photos were taken at different times over the summer (we shot different areas in different months), so you’ll see the plants grow in, etc.

We thought it would be fun to show you the whole property layout from above because it can be confusing to know how it flows. We have about 2.75 acres, mostly usable and flat with pockets of extreme overgrowth that we aren’t touching for a bit.

The Driveway/Entrance

Walking down the driveway felt magical 5 years ago, and we still love it. It’s full of invasives (Hawthorne trees lining both sides, ivy, and blackberry everywhere), but I can’t bring myself to get rid of it all – it’s too much of a project right now, and we’d lose so much of the rustic nature. If money were no object and if we could just snap our fingers, would we clear it all out and plant big beautiful non-invasive trees and clover? Sure! But it’s pretty great for now.

It’s funny, people in Oregon don’t find the driveway nearly as charming as our California friends when they visit (they don’t say anything, you can just tell). Everyone from other states reacts consistently like we did – so green, so rustic, so charming, but I think if you’ve lived here for decades, it’s just an old-looking long Oregon driveway:)

Once you round the driveway, you get the reveal of the house, which always strikes me as WAY more “adult” of a house than I ever thought I’d own. As the chronically 27-year-old that I feel inside, this still feels wild that it’s ours. I really, really love her so much.

I love seeing the covered walkway at the end of the driveway – still one of my favorite features. You MUST slide the before/after slider below – it’s so satisfying and pretty wild to see where it came from 4+ years ago.

To the left of the driveway is the grove of fruit trees that are in such sad shape over grass that is full of weeds (and brown now as it has no irrigation).

Since this part of the property is so front and center, this might be somewhere we tackle next spring – bring in a proper arborist to trim and heal these trees (they are sooooo overgrown, crowded, and don’t bear the best fruit). We have plums, pears, and apples. Then I think we’d demo out the unhappy lawn and seed for clover. Simple, but better, and have everything be healthier. It actually looks fine in the winter/spring, but by the end of summer, it looks like kindling.

This is the view that you see the most of the house – and I still want to rework the plants here – the grasses are MASSIVE and unruly, but nothing seems to really grow well here besides that! We have since trimmed the Japanese maple that was looking pretty dang wild along the house. Dennis’ 7 Dees had some great ideas of what they would do, but we are pausing on execution for a bit (we also wonder/know that any construction at the guest cottage might be hard on the surrounding plants).

I really love the vibe of the back – all the hydrangeas make me so happy, so I’d love to bring some of those up here. Just something with more structure and lose those wild grasses (that are awesome, but just MASSIVE).

This is the view most people have when they enter (because most neighbors/friends come through the back gate). Having the garages all done means that people aren’t staring at all our trash, recycling, and compost bins upon entry. Seriously, a HUGE win as those things are such eyesores.

The guest house is up next – I’m dragging my feet a bit right now (mostly nervous financially – it’s such a beast!) but it’s moving forward, I promise!

The cutest 4-car garage ever (that is full of props). You should know that all those plants were there for the shoot, but without irrigation, I knew they wouldn’t last (too far from the house for a hose to even reach). As a content creator with partners, it’s our job to create the prettiest photos for their usage, thus adding those pretty hydrangeas and the bench. But for those of you worried if the plants are all still alive, they are! Just on the front porch now (actually, I think two of them didn’t make it – sorry).

Rounding the front of the sunroom, you get into what feels like the backyard – a big patch of grass that gets a ton of play from kids and cornhole, and is the entertaining hub.

Many a game of Ghosts in the Garden has been played here after dark (no idea what it is or how it’s played, but the group of 16 kids that play sure do seem to have fun).

Maybe someday I’ll paint and attach the wood post cap on the mudroom entrance 🙂

Over the long weekend, we spent all three nights in the pool – first night when it was super hot out (water was 75 degrees) and then the next two nights we turned it into a 95-degree hot tub, which we all stayed in for hours. There are times when I can recognize the kids would likely play longer in a big pool, but we still LOVE that it can be a hot tub and is used more year-round.

We usually have two umbrellas shading the pool (the stones can get super super hot), but they wouldn’t stand up straight for these photos, so we nixed them (there is a real hole in the heavy-duty umbrella stand on castors market, BTW – they all get so rusted and then crooked!).

She’s a small pool, but we love her so much. Soake Pools is the company if you weren’t here when I was documenting it – see this post here!

I really failed at the garden this year – overplanted, got greedy, and everything grew into each other. Plus, what did get harvested didn’t really taste that good! Ballerina Farms, I am not, Lol. Next year, I’m going to try harder and likely turn at least one of the beds into a pretty cutting garden. Plus, the truth is that some of the best organic produce comes from a few miles away in Oregon, and we simply prefer their lettuce and tomatoes over ours – it just tastes so much better and stays for much longer in the fridge.

We moved those chairs to the pickleball court for people to watch close by. I love that they are all-weather and we can keep them out year-round (not real wicker, it’s the all-weather wicker).

One of the changes we are going to make is turning at least one of the picnic tables into a seating area. I noticed that at all three huge parties we had that people don’t like to sit on these – maybe they feel too locked in? So I brought down the seating from the back porch and BOOM, people sit down and are much more comfortable.

So next spring, I’ll likely add a more conversational seating area where the bottom picnic table is. It’s so nice to have them there right now.

I believe they are going to reseed the clover on the left of the path soon – it didn’t take because we didn’t water it as much, and then the pickleball cover guys put all their stuff on a big tarp over there and killed the clover that was growing. No biggie, but we’ll add more.

The rest of the clover is THRIVING, by the way. Hopefully it doesn’t take over in a way that we’ll regret 🙂

Remember when this was a broken asphalt tennis court?

The Trampoline…

So this photo really pained Kaitlin to take, but I wanted to show you how we actually use the yard – and that trampoline was the MVP this summer (I don’t need to tell all you parents out there). I’m still glad that we didn’t install it into the ground (we can move it around for shoots, which is great), and it’s a massive eyesore, but they genuinely love jumping – solo or with friends.

The tumble track also gets a ton of use by the cheer crew. This side yard is where all the kids gravitate (and the sports court), and we can easily keep an eye on them from both the kitchen and the backyard.

This part of the yard was what we finished first and could probably use some editing, but I love all the wild, tall perennials here – Studio Campo and Yardzen were both a part of this side yard. The kitchen patio is looking a little less happy than when we shot it, so I might spruce it up with more plants this spring. We don’t really sit out here much, but it’s a nice vibe to greet you (Brian jokes that he wants a ping pong table here for flip cup, which I think we both know got nixed). Also, yes, the dogs pee on the lawn and leave yellow spots! Rude!

I still want to plant more climbers on the covered walkway. I planted some more mature clematis last year, and they started taking off when they caught “scales” which had to be eradicated.

Here we are back at the front. It’s a lot of property and, of course, a lot to maintain (which we have help from Dennis’ 7 Dees). I’m sure it will morph over time, and we’ll pare things back when they get a bit overgrown or add more when we see what is really thriving. We love it so much and feel extremely grateful to live here. We worked with many local experts to get this far, and they deserve more call-outs – A huge thanks to Studio Campo and Northwest Native Landscapes (phase one), and most recently Dennis’ 7 Dees for such incredible execution. My hope is to take photos of every season so you can see the seasonal change, but don’t hold me to it – shooting here in January is pretty brutal and unpleasant (although so lush and green). But fall is around the corner, so I’ll try to show you how it looks when the leaves change and things start getting cut back or dying out. That’s a wrap:)

Here are all the individual posts for the reveals and a couple of process ones (in case you wanted to deep dive!):

• 2023: Our Back Patio Reveal
• 2023: Our Very Cute Front Porch Makeover
• 2023: Our Farmhouse Back Porch Reveal – The “1st Summer” Edition!
• 2023: Our Soake Pool Review (And Reveal)
• 2023: Our New Driveway – A Gravel/Concrete/Asphalt/Regrind Debate
• 2023: The FULL Before And After Backyard Makeover
• 2024: Our Home Gym Reveal
• 2024: Our Back Porch Reveal
• 2024: Our Outdoor Living Room + Firepit Area
• 2024: The Art Barn Reveal
• 2024: The Art Barn Floral Mural
• 2025: Our Built-To-Last Outdoor Kitchen Reveal
• 2025: BIG Landscaping Update – Phase 2 Is Done
• 2025: Why We Chose A Clover Lawn Instead Of Grass
• 2025: My New Prop Garage Reveal
• 2025: We Found The Best Garage Doors Ever
• 2025: Our Regrind Driveway Review
• 2025: A Front Of House Tour
• 2025: Our 2025 Summer Landscaping Reveal
• 2025: The Carriage House Exterior “Before” Tour
• 2025: The First Tour Inside Our 1850s Carriage House
• 2025: The Pickleball Court Reveal

*Photos by Kaitlin Green

I definitely didn’t envision a pickleball court here when we bought the property 4 1/2 years ago. Sure, I knew we’d make improvements to the broken tennis court we inherited, but I don’t think I had even heard of this “pickleball” then (now the #1 growing sport and so much fun, TBH). The whole thing is just ridiculous, and we are wildly grateful to have been able to do this. And after last weekend’s second annual pickleball tournament (a fun “party board” neighborhood school fundraiser), it was incredibly rewarding to see it so well-loved/used by lots of friends/neighbors (and formidable teams that slayed us). Let’s back up because it didn’t happen overnight.

2019 – When We Closed On The Property

She was charming and rustic. We loved the idea of a sports court and naively thought we could just resurface this one, although it was HUGE (tennis courts are massive, but this one was even much larger with tons of space all around it). The asphalt was broken everywhere, with tons of weeds growing through all the cracks.

But there was such a sense of play and fun just having it there. We envisioned years of kids playing here with their friends and a lot of parties. I barely thought about this area, as I was super focused on designing the house, all the insides. Brian certainly had dreams over here – not of a pickleball court but of a sports court for basketball, rollerblading, etc.

But then we learned the reality – that no one will just resurface broken asphalt. It will only continue to crack because the foundation is so poor, and no one wants that on their company’s reviews.

So, unfortunately (for the budget), we had to demo out the entire court or keep it. The only positive of this was that we needed gravel for an access road up the hill, so they brought in a huge truck that turned the broken pieces of asphalt into our gravel road (not total regrind, but a layer of it in addition to even more gravel that we had to pour).

Once it was all dirt, we poured new concrete, 1/2 the size. I still felt that it was too big, but Brian, envisioning so many middle-aged dad pickup games and years of our kids playing horse, thought it was the perfect size.

It looked so much better, and I certainly could not complain. At first, the fresh concrete was just so pleasing to look at (which, spoiler, gets dirty with months of annual rain). But in my mind, to myself, I would say, “It just looks like a parking lot”. But it wasn’t painted/finished yet, and I thought maybe that was it? But the longer we lived with it, the more we really wished we had more greenery, more softness, and we didn’t want to invest in finishing it if it wasn’t the right size. So we put it off.

Meanwhile, the tennis wall was not in the best shape, flanked by a very old fence that was in even worse shape (super broken and covered in blackberries and ivy). We didn’t mind all these things at first and played on the court a TON (including our first pickleball tournament last summer). But I felt that I had done wrong by the property by having too much hardscape and just craved softness.

I had no idea how to do this, but Dennis’ 7 Dees did. We hired them to remove a big chunk of it so that we could make that space softer, but still usable. It was gone in 2 days and I was so relieved. I knew we’d add some stonework for paths and places to hang, but the big block of hardscape would be gone in favor of lots of greenery – trees, shrubs, evergreens, and perennials.

Updating The Broken Fencing

But then, in the middle of this all, other things kept popping up…all of a sudden, what didn’t bother us before became such an eyesore – that broken “fencing” that flanked the wall covered in blackberry and ivy. My brother was like, “What are you going to do about the fence and the tennis wall?” And Brian and I both were in denial, saying, “It’s fine, it’s fine!”. But as you can see above, it was not fine. The only reason to wait to fix it was financial (but it HAD to be fixed soon). So we asked ourselves the hard and privileged question: if we are going to fix it in 2 years, are we sure we shouldn’t just pull the bandaid off now, while we are already in construction? We feared this would cost like $15k to do it right (you guys, fencing is CRAZY expensive). We were in the middle of the garage redo and the landscaping, and while I’m still not ready to fully add it all up, it was a lot, and this tennis wall fence just wasn’t a priority. But “future Emily” imagined taking the photos of this stunning landscape with this janky wall in the background, and it would have ruined the shots. She was like, “Don’t be shortsighted, make it look better now”. So I asked my brother, “What if we gave your framing team a $4k bandaid budget – don’t rip out the posts and re-pour the footings, don’t do it the ‘best’ or ‘right’ way, just make it look better for $4k.” They understood the brief and said that in two days it could be “better”. They took off the rotted wood and replaced it, but the structure, including the posts and footings (which were old and in OK shape), remained. The plan was to just nail gun-ready-made off-the-rack vertical planks of doug fir to the existing posts and rails. GREAT.

But of course, we needed to choose how the fence was going to be finished, and I had an idea that it should be stained green to kind of “go away” and match the tennis wall. It was surrounded by trees, so maybe a dark green would just disappear? We tested a bunch of colors above, and I had a clear winner.

But when I showed my genius decision to Brian, he did NOT agree. He thought it should just be stained a natural fence color, which was hilariously irritating to me after testing so many greens. I was sure of myself on this one, but Brian was EXTREMELY sure that it was a bad idea. So we compromised after some awkwardness around my team, LOL, and agreed to leave it natural wood. We’d wait til it grays out like the rest of the split rail fence, and if it bothers me, we can readdress it next summer.

But the bright “orange” of the fresh doug fir fencing was bumming me out, so while I was out of tow,n Ken and Brian came up with the idea to use a slight gray stain to cut the orange and make it look more grayed out. The sample on the left had one coat on the top of the plank, 2 on the bottom.

I had to approve this from my shoot in California, BTW, but I agreed that the top staining was fine – just one coat of a gray stain to cut the orange. You can also see above how messed up the tennis wall was, which we didn’t really notice until the new fencing was up (WHERE IS THE END OF THE STRING??).

Surfacing The Pickleball Court

Finally, we were ready to hire the professional resurfacers to make it look like a finished sports court. We got a few quotes (all between $10-12k) and went with the nicer, more communicative team (a father and son who were lovely). It took about a week – they have to level it, acid wash, sand?, paint, dry, paint dry, paint lines, dry, etc. I wasn’t in town to take photos, but Brian sent me the screenshots above. Oh, and we chose just to do one green and white striping (you can choose to make “the kitchen” an alternative color like blue or a different green, but we felt like this was the least loud).

Resurfacing The Tennis Wall

But THEN once the court was done, the tennis wall looked even WORSE. It was so filthy, and when we tried to power wash it, all the paint started flaking off and taking layers of the plywood with it. It was probably 30-40 years old and just in terrible condition. This was not in the plan, but it was so clear that it had to be done – it was now a glaring problem.

Choosing Paint Color

As I was getting repair quotes, I chose the paint color, which was a whole thing – do I match the green paint of the court (which I liked, but is definitely a “sports court” color) or do I pull one of the darker green colors from the barn mural (SW Rosemary)? Up close, the colors could look bad if they clashed, but from a distance (which is how you experience the wall within the yard), I did NOT want that brighter green color. From a distance, the darker green on the mural looked pretty great with the court color, but up close, they weren’t the match that I would typically choose.

I let Brian make the decision because I didn’t feel confident about either. We both agreed that since you see this wall color more (it’s a huge vertical wall), it was more important if it were pretty and cohesive with the property than matching the court floor. Rosemary by Sherwin-Williams, it was 🙂 It didn’t look perfect with the green floor, but it didn’t offend us either.

Redoing The Wall

Kaitlin had a recommendation for a fence repair guy she had just used, who she said was speedy and affordable. I texted him photos and told him that we were on a budget, and he quoted me $2,700 to take off the wood, screw in new wood, and paint. He could do it within 2 weeks, which was in time for our neighborhood pickleball tournament (the work only took 2 1/2 days).

Again, we went the cheaper route and left the original posts in (which everyone agrees are in OK shape, but not great). We toyed around with putting a basketball hoop directly on the wall, which would require much more reinforcement (the one Brian wanted was 300 LBS with a big arm, so the wall would have to be super strong). I let Brian make this decision – I did not care and thought the hoop we had was fine. Ultimately, we are sticking with the movable hoop and no hoop on the wall (for now).

The Finished Pickleball Court: FINALLY SHE IS DONE!!!

There she is 🙂 While I didn’t have any pickleball court dreams 5 years ago, we are so excited that it’s done, and happy to say that the kids (and us) use it a lot. We had 4 weeks of “Camp Hendo” here this summer, where a bunch of kids came over and played with a local teen supervisor (shout out to Jay) while I attempted to work inside (I’ve locked myself in the new garage a few times, lol). They are all between 9-11 and get along really well, so it was great, and having lots of kids playing here. It made me extremely happy to hear all the screams and kid antics.

The two green paint tones together are totally fine – again, I likely wouldn’t combine the two in a room inside, but they work well enough as they do share some of the same undertones.

My only real regret: the shed is the biggest eyesore in all these shots (doesn’t really bother me in person) and I’m considering moving it, but it’s full of ALLLLLLL the sports stuff, basketballs, rackets, balls, corn hole, roller blades, etc, and really works here functionally. I ordered a waterproof resin shed because I just really didn’t want a rotten wood shed in 3 years with everything inside being gross and ruined (I couldn’t find any waterproof wood sheds, just water-resistant and similar to outdoor wood furniture, it just can’t last without being covered, and you can’t really cover a shed). I probably should have shopped around more – maybe a resin with brown wood grain? Doesn’t sound awesome, but it might be the right solution. Then, we could move this behind the fence by the barn to hold more yard tools, etc.

The pickleball net is easily movable, btw, for basketball games or roller blading. You just lift a lever and roll it on wheels.

As you can see, we shot this a month after painting the court, and it’s already getting dirty (we used the blower, but didn’t power wash before this shoot). Doesn’t really bother us in person, but in these shots, I wish we had cleaned it up more. Whoops.

The awkwardness of the gazebo being 1/2 on the court is there, and we could have reduced the court more, but there wouldn’t be room for the full pickleball court experience. You honestly barely notice or think about it (this was on me, btw, not Dennis’ 7 Dees).

The barn animals (see in the back) love watching us play on the court. It’s hilarious. This view is really so pretty – the setting is pretty insane.

Jury is still out for me if the wood fence should be a green stain, but I’m not motivated to try to win that one with Brian, as he is still strongly team “wood” (and he is likely right). So we are leaving it for now, but maybe I’ll AI it and see what it looks like green 🙂

Oh, and shout out to my pendants that finally arrived (after we shot the kitchen). The copper ties in perfectly with all our sconces on the house (they are so pretty). Look at those beautiful corbels 🙂 I think in this shot, you can really see how the greens just kinda work together. Not your typical yard, that’s for sure.

And while I wouldn’t say it’s subtle, LOLOLOLOLOL, all the planting that Dennis’ 7 Dees did really did soften the extreme “court-ness” of the court. There is obviously a lot of hardscape still, but all the shrubs, trees, and plants mask it a lot, and it looks gorgeous in person.

What do you think? Should the wood fence/wall be stained green???? Or if that shed weren’t so dark, would it just be simple and natural?

It should be noted that despite being the only family that has a pickleball court (because it’s highly unusual, obviously), we got seriously schooled in the tournament. People are GOOD at this and play all the time. Most of our neighborhood tennis courts have been converted now, and I’m now motivated to get better and better. If you haven’t played, you should know it’s so much easier than tennis (thus the obsession), but I’ve also had two friends with pickleball injuries, so warm up!

So are we done with yard work??? YES, FOR NOW!!!! There are some areas of the property that are super overgrown and unused (the fruit grove, the back pasture full of blackberries, the areas flanking the driveway, the big hillside by the new gravel access road) but we are so happy to call it done for now and let the rest come together slowly over time (or not). I truly don’t feel like we deserve this property at times – we feel really, really, really grateful and lucky for it all. In fact, now that there isn’t construction, we are thinking about seeing if any blog readers want to house/animal sit next spring and summer when we know we’ll be out of town for big chunks of time. Still working on how to do that logistically (we aren’t going to Airnb it or anything) but I want to share it as much as possible (that still makes sense for our family) and feels like that could be a win/win for any city dwellers wanting to hang out with some pigs and alpacas in the summer. I’m also thinking of how to do a mountain house reader event version here – it’s just tricky since we actually live here, but a bus tour of this house and the river house would be so fun (plus, The Carly?). I’ll likely wait til the guest cottage is done for a larger design event, but just know that the wheels are turning.

Like all things you heavily invest in, you just pray that you’ll actually use it and look back years later as worth it. The pickleball tournament last weekend gave us a lot of hope that it’s fun for so many people (not just athletes who play tennis) and that as long as we continue to open our house, it will get a ton of use. We are doing another school party board fundraiser situation in September that is an outdoor movie night, projected on the tennis wall (Lilo and Stitch:)) So by god this yard is getting used and abused, just how we want it to 🙂

*Landscaping by Dennis’ 7 Dees
***Pretty Photos by Kaitlin Green

When we first started “fixing up the garages” (that’s a real understatement, I know), one of the few things that we knew we could salvage was the concrete floor of the first bay (where our prop shelves live). The second bay (where our sofas now live:)) would need to be poured because it was rotten wood + dirt. For most of the renovation, I was so budget-focused (this was not a budget project, mind you), I tried very hard not to spend more than needed. So I was like “just leave it concrete, maybe seal it, but that’s it”. No fancy epoxy or garage floor company for us. But then, of course, when it’s all done, the pine was on the walls, and it was so pretty, the gross rust-covered floor popped, and I changed my tune. So today I’ll show you what we did and why.

Ok, this was the OG prop storage garage and floor. I think the darkness was wet. We don’t know how old the concrete was, maybe 10-20 years, but it was FINE. Like, not incredible, but not worth demo-ing out and repouring. It had some cracks, and it wasn’t super level, but it was FINE.

See? For a garage, it was “ok”. Now, of course, when you are redoing a garage, you have so many other options – Epoxies, fancier finishes with flex, or even rubber squares? But all of them cost $5k + and it just wasn’t where we wanted to put any money.

This floor (in the other bay) had to be poured with new concrete. Now the reason I bring this up is because we actually treated the two differently – something I typically wouldn’t do, but it truly wasn’t important enough to me to spend the time and money. You’ll see.

So for the sofa bay, Ken poured new concrete. GREAT. It looked really pretty. And just needed to be sealed. We used a satin polyurethane that he just rolled on and called it a day.

But for the prop garage, which had a lot more stains and rust marks (and cracks), we decided that we needed more coverage. Something to cover the stains and make it look as fresh as possible.

But of course, we were in a rush. It was Thursday, and the IKEA task rabbits were coming on Tuesday to install the closets (that once installed couldn’t be moved). I did a dumb thing – I thought I was choosing a transparent stain from Sherwin-Williams and quickly chose a deep blue. But then I realized…

I actually chose a concrete paint that was opaque (aka not transparent, not a stain, a full paint color). Now I like the color, don’t get me wrong. But it was way too intense and jarring. I walked in and immediately called my brother (this was only one coat, thank goodness) and said, “I’m so sorry, I was wrong”.

We just wanted it to look like a clean garage floor appropriate gray cement color. But you can’t just choose “gray,” there are a lot of bad, cold, clinical-looking grays, and our garage is pretty! So we sampled many, taking into account the wood on the walls and the green of the cabinet fronts.

Left to Right: Mega Greige | Rushing River | Felted Wool | Elephant Ear | Illusive Green

You have to pretend the floor isn’t blue and that the color would connect the wood to the green cabinets. They are all neutrals and all warmer grays (a couple even taupier).

SW Mega Greige | SW Rushing River

SW Felted Wool | SW Elephant Ear

SW Illusive Green

And that there was the winner – Illusive Green. FTW! It had a slightly green undertone, which looked great with the cabinets and the wood, and yet was still super neutral, letting the cabinets be the star. And by the way, we used Sherwin-Williams color-match concrete paint. Two coats, and each took about 3-4 hours to dry (no long curing session).

I mean, sure, it just looks gray here, but I promise a bad gray could have looked flat, sad, depressing, and this gray does complement the green nicely.

It’s full coverage, and should be easy to clean. Super low maintenance and stuck really easily.

In that shot, you can see the undertones more, and how they complement the cabinets and wood. It was the cheapest option (besides just leaving it). My brother acid-washed it first just to clean it and get all the gunk up so that it would stick, and then the darker blue paint essentially just became a primer for this paint color. So that’s how we painted our concrete floor with “Porch and Flooring” product. Non-spon, Ken has just become great friends with the crew at the local SW, so he was psyched to use the product they recommended. Thanks, Ken!!

Pretty Images by Kaitlin Green | From: My New Prop Garage Reveal – Including IKEA Shelving (Non-Spon) And A Lot Of Vintage Collections

I’m currently caught in the “why would anyone live anywhere else” fever dream that is “Oregon in The Summer”, and while I intellectually know there is no perfect place to live, right now, up here, it’s magical (and has been since March – 2025 was a real pretty one). This backyard is certainly serving up some particularly beautiful vibes, and we are in full hosting season. Today I wanted to do a full documentation of the backyard landscaping process, and get into the details for all of us landscape design nerds. Like most things in design – it looks a lot easier than it is, and the more expertise and experience involved, the better product you get. As you know, for this project we hired Dennis’ 7 Dees, a local (and booming) family landscaping company that now manages all our landscaping maintenance as well (besides Charlie mowing the lawn…when we are in town). They designed, planned, executed, and now care for our yard with total seamlessness – not once did I feel like I didn’t know what was happening, when, or that they were too busy with other jobs to take care of us. (Read til the end for some hot tips on working with design professionals.)

January – OOF IT WAS SAD

Of course, there are more “before befores” from 2019 (when we bought the property) and 2021 (aka the year of the mud before phase 1 began). But this was in January 2025, which is always a sad time of year (and before we had proper maintenance because we thought we could handle it, so the leaves were clearly a problem).

As you know, the sports court was way too big – I even mentioned this in the reveal 2 summers ago. And then the area underneath the cherry trees was fine in the summer, but just not working as well as we wanted (that’s the area between the flagstone path and the sports court). So this was the main area we were working to make better, along with the outdoor grill area (which was done by my brother’s company).

The Overall Landscaping Plan

We worked with Eric Hagberg from Dennis’ 7 Dees, whom we loved – he had so much experience, expertise, and was so flexible – listening to us, and editing as things came up. He came up with the first plan and accompanied budget, and presented it to us (I believe this was in November).

Landscaping Plan Number #1

We really loved it, but needed to scale it back for budget purposes. So we reduced the amount of trees, plants, stonework, and lighting (all the pink), and totally nixed the back area near the paddock, seeding for clover instead. One thing we were more sensitive to this time around was planting enough evergreen plants, not just perennials. I love echinacea and all these gorgeous wildflowers, but winter can be really sad here (sadder than my former California lady brain knew), so this time we asked for 70% evergreen plants, 30% perennials.

Plan #2 – Reduced Plants, Lighting And Square Footage

He sent through the edited plan, which reduced the scope by almost in 1/2. Sure, we still had demo, prep soil, irrigate, run lighting lines, but the scope of planting, stonework, irrigation, and lighting helped reduce the cost substantially. I mean, it’s obvious, but the less you do, the less it costs.

The Plant Palette

Here was the palette they had planned, which I was in love with and all came from their garden centers (which have an incredibly robust selection). While in the past I have been picky with plants, needing to love each one and feel like stylistically it was “me,” this time around I shifted my mentality. My goal was to have a cohesive color palette, sure, (no random pops that didn’t make sense), but otherwise all I wanted was for the experts to choose things that really thrived easily here, in Oregon, under our conditions. I didn’t want to make suggestions that would override the expertise. For instance, I never thought that I, Emily Henderson, would choose hydrangeas (I had wrong judgements about them, ok?), but as you can see below – they are all over our yard and so beautiful. I am a full hydrangea girly now!! I really, really trusted Eric that they would plant plants that loved living in Oregon and would be easy to manage/tend to and beautiful year-round. They understood that we like a less manicured look, less structure, lots of levels and layers (I said no to orange, sorry, and nothing oddly tropical or like red roses). I really let them do their job because everything they showed me was so aligned with what we wanted. We were speaking the same language, which is really what you want from any designer.

The Schedule

From Eric: “Originally, we were thinking this would be a 4-week project. But because we’ve doubled the crew size to 6 guys, it’s likely to only take about 2 weeks”. OK!!!! Let go!

• Concrete Demo: Feb 17-20
• Green Demo: Feb 21
• Stone Patios/Paths: Feb 24-25
• Soil/Grading: Feb 26
• Irrigation: Feb 27
• Plants: Feb 28
• Irrigation: March 3
• Lighting: March 3
• Bark/Clover Lawn Seed: March 4 (we’ll come back in April, after freezing to apply the seed) 

They ended up extending it a bit, which worked better for us so that we could be around to capture more of the content. But we were seriously thrilled with the speed and manpower that went into it. Again, this whole “booking in fall and starting in winter” strategy strangely sped things up because it’s the slowest time of year, and a company of 7 Dees’ size has multiple crews they employ – more manpower and time to spend on us!

The Prep Work

This clearly wasn’t a DIY situation, at least not for us. They moved fast, and that chunk of the sports court was gone in a matter of days.

The Hardscape – Flagstone

Next came the laying of the paths and landing pads (which they drew out with water-soluble spray paint). If you think it’s just putting down stones (like we did), it’s clearly not. So much prep work underneath the stones as well as leveling and grading. But still, they were so fast.

The dirt/puddle areas are where the plants would go. Then, we had the landing pads and the stepping stone paths to the sports court.

Now, if you haven’t done flagstone before, know that this is a massive investment (ours cost over $20k). We could have used pea gravel, but it’s a lot messier and we wanted it to be cohesive with the rest of the walkway around the house. In Oregon, due to the rain, you really want solid hardscape to walk – you can’t use DG like you can in CA. So this was a massive investment and something we knew we needed the experts to execute.

The Planting Phase

Eric, our designer, created the plant selection that we tweaked together. Again, it’s a combination of perennials and evergreen plants and in all the tones that I love. One of the perks with working with them is that since they also have three garden centers in Portland (well, one in Vancouver), they call pull from them as well as place the bigger orders. They are also great resources as a home gardener without a designer – their inventory and selection is huge and so well cared for.

The plants went in so fast, I couldn’t believe it. Brian and I were watching from inside like it was a movie – every day there was so much progress. So many people working so hard to make our yard beautiful. We felt so grateful. After planting, they added irrigation and the lighting, as well as a French drain with river rocks along the sports court because it was flooding a lot (remember that disturbed soil doesn’t drain as much as established soil – a fun fact I’m learning over and over).

The June Reveal – 2 Months Ago

We shot the first round of reveals in June because, well, it was done and looked so beautiful. Check out this post to see that full reveal. We needed to shoot the outdoor kitchen, so we did a tour of the landscaping as well. But little did we know that over the next six weeks things would pop and grow in the most beautiful way. It’s honestly so stunning, I can’t even tell you. Magical, enchanted, already so grown-in (thanks to the Monrovia plants that are so healthy and thrive so well). We have been hosting like crazy back here. We had another big 75-person multi-family school fundraiser here last Saturday – I love sharing it (read: showing it off 🙂 so much). P.S. The theme was the pig’s birthday party, i.e., the “Wine and Swine,” which I need to show you photos from – Barb and Alicia were the belles of the ball in party hats!!!

The Newest Update! Mid-July 2025

It’s incredibly beautiful. The panicle hydrangeas are incredible – all from their garden centers (Monrovia has very healthy, high-quality plants that are locally grown, which helps), and the layering, textures, and colors feel so natural but not messy.

Here you can see how the whole yard works – the stone pathways with the picnic tables surrounded by all the greenery (designed to be full but not grow too high) and with the trees that will eventually create shade for the seating areas.

We are hoping that greenery will eventually take over the grout lines in the stone (left just as soil, unplanted for budget reasons). We love how organic it feels and know that once it’s fully grown it we think it will look like it was always here.

They did a great job specifying plants that would be ball barriers from the sport court but not too fragile or thorny. Here you can see the river rock that covers the French drain to keep water from flooding the plants or the new pickleball court.

It’s just incredibly beautiful.

Over the weekend, we put umbrellas over the picnic tables to create shade, which was wonderful (and made me secretly want big comfy upholstered chairs or a sofa + 2 chairs for the middle one to be more comfortable). The entire yard gets used when 80 people come over, and it’s incredibly delightful.

Dennis’ 7 Dees did such a great job of making it look like a park-like area, casual but still elevated and appropriate to the farm vibe.

Jess asked where the umbrellas went, but we just couldn’t get them all straight for the photos and videos at the same time – there is SUCH a hole in the market for long-lasting umbrella stands that actually keep umbrellas perfectly vertical. But I love that you can see the full garden without them.

These hydrangeas keep changing color – first bright white, then blush, and now these sweet pastel pink. I’m here for all of the shades and love seeing the yard change.

The pops of these hotter pinks from the agastache surprised me a bit, and while I love them, I want to add a few more to make the other areas more balanced. All of the echinaceas (perhaps my favorite flowers) are that bright pink, so holistically the yard works together really well.

The lighting is perfect. It’s mostly path lighting for nighttime without it being lit up super bright. I know that most people like more/brighter landscape lighting, but we love the string lights on the fenceline and roofline and don’t mind that the garden area is more subtle. We had some uplights in LA and didn’t really love the vibe and prefer less (as of now).

I love this view – seeing the sunroom through the trees and flowers is just so pretty. I really want to add wisteria to the back porch, to grow up those posts, so stay tuned on that (although I’m not ready for a phase 3 yet, folks).

A huge thanks to Eric for the design and his wonderful crew at Dennis’ 7 Dees for executing it so professionally. This project was so seamless, and caused us zero unnecessary stress, which is saying A LOT. We got all the plants from the 7Dees garden centers (one in Lake Oswego, Vancouver and Cedar Hills/Beaverton). They source a lot from Monrovia for their garden centers, who grow such healthy plants (thank you). And always Kaitlin for all the beautiful photography. The rundown pickleball wall is getting replaced today, so we are about to do a full backyard tour with the kids in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait to show you how it all flows together.

A Special Reader/ Follower Offers From Dennis’ 7 Dees

For all of you in Portland, they are extending some pretty sweet deals. Check these out:

Offer #1: Free Landscape Design with Installation, like ours below

If you mention my name, “Emily Henderson” when requesting a residential landscape consultation, you’ll get a free AutoCAD landscape design (a $2,500 value) when you move forward with an installation contract of $15,000 or more. Essentially, you’ll pay the design fee upfront, but it’s fully credited back on the final invoice if you move forward with the full design (saving $2500). This offer would be good for contracted projects through August 31, 2025 (so act now!).

Additionally, they wanted me to mention that right now they have fast install timelines available, which will change as fall approaches. They also offer flexible financing options to fit your budget

*Reminder to use the landing page link we sent you guys for any website links. 🙂

Offer #2: 20% Off at Our Garden Centers

For any Portland followers that are more into plants + DIY, Dennis’ 7 Dees Garden Centers are such a gem if you’re looking for gorgeous, high-quality plants and fun DIY inspiration. They even have the cutest indoor plant shops—like their Bridgeport Village location that’s all about houseplants. You can get 20% off any in-store purchase with the code EMHENDERSON through August 31st (in-store only at any of their 5 locations). I love the Lake Oswego store (it’s such a lovely shopping experience), but I usually pop into Cedar Hills because it’s closer—plus, their Vancouver location is supposed to be huge and beautiful too!

Thank you, Dennis’ 7 Dees, for your landscape magic. I’m just so grateful and proud to call this ours.

Here Are My Tips For Landscaping:

Be realistic about your budget up front. I still fall into this dumb mental trap – not wanting to say what I can spend for fear that I’ve just played my card and lose leverage. But consistently, it has wasted people’s time. Our first quote for the first design came in so high because they didn’t know what our parameters were, so once we cut it by 1/2 or two-thirds (which was realistic for our budget), they had to edit and essentially redesign it. I should have said at the beginning what we really couldn’t go over on the project as a whole from the beginning.

When it comes to landscaping, while you want your artistic vision to be executed (farm! natural! wildflowers!), what you really want is for an expert in your region to choose plants that they know will thrive in your yard, based on your conditions, sun location, etc. Like I said below, I weighed in on the color palette but wanted them to use their expertise to choose the right plants that would help the yard look pretty year round (crucial, as we use it and stare it at allllllll year long).

Plan early for spring/summer usage. Most landscapers are slow from October/November – February, and then they get SLAMMED. The second that we start fantasizing about using our yard (February/March), they get inundated with new work, so do what we did – reach out in late fall, and then you could be ready by spring!

*Landscaping by Dennis’ 7 Dees
**Plants from Monrovia
***Pretty Photos by Kaitlin Green

The other day I realized I’ve never shown you the full front of the house – nor did you get the play-by-play of the 10 million decisions we made to get here (a huge shout-out to ARCIFORM – my goodness, do they know how to nail classic design so well). Every time I drive up, or anyone does, really, it’s hard not to be impressed with how truly pretty this view is (far more of a grownup house than I ever imagined I’d own). But it wasn’t always beautiful or charming. Like many 100-year-old houses, it started simple/basic, then over the years people made repairs and judgment calls – both good and bad. So today I’m very excited to walk you through what it looked like when we bought it, what we did to it to make it this classic, charming home we have now (PLUS, what two things I have yet to add to it when the budget magically arrives, lol).

These were all of the things we knew needed some help with the house and curb appeal…

…and these were all of the things we did to achieve that:) Now, come read alllll about it!

The Addition – A New Sunroom

First things first, ARCIFORM designed my beloved sunroom to help the house look like it had a wraparound covered porch. It looks incredibly original. Thank you, Anne! The house was totally fine, a classic 4-square (where the main living areas are on the first floor, all bedrooms above). Of course, they had added a wing in the 60s, so already that style had changed, but the addition of the sunroom created the sense of this wraparound porch, which just added so much charm.

I designed the sunroom windows to marry the original diamond windows (upstairs) with the newer classic grid. The only reason we didn’t do all the new windows like this was due to design and budget constraints. The sunroom windows are absolutely gorgeous, IMHO, and so having these and the entry window be custom-made felt like the right move.

The Hefty Porch Railing

We went round and round about the porch railings. Classic white wood railings felt basic and, dare I say, boring to me, but I couldn’t find an alternative that made sense (that wasn’t going to be custom welding metal work, which is crazy expensive). Ultimately, I trusted ARCIFORM that this was the appropriate thing to do for the age and style of the home. As far as the size, we wanted them to be a height that people could rest their butts on (we landed at 28″ high), but I thought that these were going to be too chunky, thick, bulky. I was so wrong. ARCIFORM kept telling me that with the scale of the house, we’d need big posts and big railings. They were right!! I love how they look. Our railings are 6″ wide on top with 3″ vertical square railings and 7″ square posts.

Ceiling Beams And Rafter Tails

I learned a ton about classic porches thanks to ARCIFORM. We chose a tongue and groove ceiling with beams that were 18″ apart, with custom rafter tails to match the original roofline rafter tails (which we tried to replicate on the gazebo but were floored by the pricing – $$$$$$). The pretty carved detail at the end is, of course, gorgeous, but very expensive. Here, you’d have to do it to match. Now I thought we were leaving these rafter tails exposed (so you could see them from the front of the house, with the gutters going on top of them) but they were covered with a piece of wood (is that called skirting when it’s up there, too?) that covered them and then they attached the gutter to that piece of wood. Ultimately, I didn’t have them redo it, but it was something that bummed me out at first. They said that the gutters worked much better this way, and with the rain in Portland, I respected that as we want the best water management here. Now I’ve gotten used to it and heck, maybe all the exposed rafter tails would have been too busy throughout the entire property? Just Google “exposed rafter tails” if you want to see what I’m talking about – it’s a different look.

Cement Stairs And Black Metal Handrails

Another two details that I sweated over were the cement stairs and the black handrails. We were told over and over that we can’t have wood railings or wood stairs exposed to the rain – they are sure to rot (maybe not for 10-15 years, but still!). So I looked on Pinterest for hours/days/weeks of what we could use that wasn’t wood, and I either found crazy decorative custom stuff (too $$$) or just simple/boring. I was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed, so I designed them to be thin and wide and hoped that they would just go away. I hoped that the house was so pretty that these didn’t need to be anything special. Thank god, I was right about this because even though they were simple, they still cost thousands of dollars since we needed 10 of them around the house at every entrance/exit (by code). Same with the cement stairs – cement is so boring! But because we had so many entrances (front door, mudroom, our bedroom, and the kitchen), we couldn’t really do brick or anything special due to budget. Just the cement was $10k, so imagine had we chosen to do real masonry…ANYWAY, that’s all to say in retrospect. These are the things you don’t notice – the house is so pretty, and these simple and classic elements just disappear in a good way.

Vertical Wood Skirting + Horizontal Siding

We chose real lap siding (not hardy board), which I think we did because it was a more authentic thing to do, but we did our garages in hardy board and you can barely tell the difference, TBH. Our siding is a 5″ reveal (so I’m assuming it’s 6″ lap siding, where the top of the first inch is covered by the next board). Super classic. Now, the vertical skirting underneath the porch threw me at first, but it makes sense as it contrasts with the horizontal siding nicely.

What About Copper Gutters?

Oh, you bet we thought about copper gutters, but the price difference was pretty nuts. Now I don’t remember for sure, but I think our white vinyl gutters were around $5k and the copper ones would have been $30k (or something like that – a CRAZY Difference). And the more we thought about it, the more we actually felt that our bright white house didn’t want copper gutters – that they’d get too much attention. I love seeing them on Chris Loves Julia’s house (and they broke down the process so well) as their house is so classic and moody and their patinated gutters look so good. But for our white house, having you not notice the gutters really works. Of course, the copper sconces really pop in a way that I love (and I love how they work so well with the brick landing pad, which is an architectural call back to the kitchen patio).

On Mixing Stone And Brick Hardscape

The hardscape gets complicated, but the reason we did a herringbone brick anywhere on the property in the first place was because of the covered walkway on the north side of the house, which was long and skinny. It felt like it needed to be a linear pattern (not organic like flagstone). And doing a rectangular flagstone didn’t sound pretty enough to me. The reason we didn’t do herringbone brick everywhere was due to the extreme cost of both the material and the install (which is saying a lot because the stone is also shockingly expensive). So we decided to mix the finishes – a more formal herringbone brick and casual/rustic bluestone. My philosophy was and remains that with older houses like ours, there is something charming about not having all the finishes match or be the same. My feeling is that over time, people in different eras added on different style choices, and that as long as they are all high quality and well executed, the hodge-podgeness of it is actually charming and feels collected over time. I think I’m right for this house, but I wouldn’t do this for a contemporary house – I would likely curate all hard finishes, with some custom details, but I wouldn’t do organic flagstone next to herringbone brick just anywhere.

The Landscaping

While the house is gorgeous, it’s still simple (white on white, pops of copper/brick but nothing too whimsical). At times, I was so worried that it would be boring (should the windows have been a color? The trim a color? The whole house a color?), but I kept reminding myself that once the landscaping grew in, it would be surrounded by different tones of green and darker aubergine/pinks. Cali (Studio Campo) originally selected the plants/trees for here and they have already changed a lot since install (those amarlylis just showed up this year and I should probably get rid of them before they take over). I added the hydrangeas from Dennis’ 7 Dees), but that statement cherry tree (thanks to Big Trees Today in Oregon) and all the plants really added a ton of color.

Two Things I Want To Add (Eventually)

I truly love our home, so much. But if I could snap my fingers and add two things, I’d add blue shutters on the bedroom second floor and custom corbels (like we did on the gazebo). I know we went round and round about shutters, here, and it was very polarizing, but I really think that this house can handle real shutters (NOT these renders, they would be the right size and REAL), with pretty black hardware in the same blue as the garage doors (Sherwin-Williams Dutch Tile Blue). And it’s not abnormal to have them only on the second/bedroom floor (since they wouldn’t work on hardly any of the first floor windows). When I had them quoted before, they were $25k (!!!), and I was on the fence, so we didn’t do it. But I do wish we had them, and I might play the lottery and go for it 🙂

And then re the corbels, Purl made the most beautiful corbels for our gazebo, so I’m going to hire him to add some to our porches ($400 each + install, so not nothing but architecturally worth it to me).

Anyway, we’ll see if I get around to either of these things (both financially and time-wise). The corbels feel easier to execute (and I love supporting Purl and his artwork), but the shutters feel like a lot. I’ve got other fish to fry (i.e., a carriage house to restore). Thanks, ARCIFORM, for helping us make such classic decisions on the architecture of our home. Everyone thinks that the front was original, and they can’t believe that we didn’t have a porch or the sunroom. Ask me questions in the comments!!

*Design by ARCIFORM and Emily Henderson (me!)
**Photos by Kaitlin Green

I am a new person. Transformed! The fact that there aren’t more before/after shows for the “chronically disorganized” (me!) is a real missed TV opportunity. Now, I do give myself grace because the amount of stuff one has to have to do this job, run this company, and create so much design content so frequently is extreme (occupational hazard – just the way it is). And even with a team of people, it’s impossible to keep it organized unless you have what we now have – a dedicated space, with IKEA shelving and cabinets, labels, color-coded shelves, THE WORKS. Without systems, there is chaos!!!! And Houston, we now have systems. For those of you who want to jump to the reveal, you can watch our latest YouTube video right here. I couldn’t love it any more.

2019 – The BEFORE before

When we bought the property, this was the garage – full of potential and spiders/dampness. We always knew that one of the perks of buying the property with so many outbuildings would be that we could have prop storage within reach (crucial to running the business), but not when they looked like this…

She was in rough shape. A slab had been poured in the last 20 years (we think), but otherwise it was “vintage”. So my brother’s company, Afore, set to restore and repair it, using the existing footprint and structure (and slab). They reinforced the framing, scissoring where they needed to, replacing other boards, but we really tried to save money by using the original wood. We opted to get rid of the broken windows, choosing functional wall space over a weird fence view. We updated the simple electrical and panneled it all.

January 2025 – Construction Progress

As you can see, the four bays remained the same, just fixed for new garage doors. The two on the left would be furniture store, holiday, and “Henderson life stuff”, while the two on the right would be smaller props, tools, supplies – all the stuff that needed a true dedicated space. Brian’s truck would go on the far left (and to save money, we made it just a covered carport without a slab, electrical or garage doors, and just a corrugated roof).

Initially, we were going to leave the original ceiling (it was pretty!), but we ended up cladding over it just to keep it as clean, insulated, and simple as possible. We needed to add recessed lighting so the paneling covered up the wiring, and honestly, we just didn’t want to deal with spiders and the potentially ickiness ever again.

The Old Prop House – Carriage House

As a reminder, we had everything on shelving in the only “not-totally-damp” room in the carriage house. Things were not staying in great shape, and we needed to start restoring this house, so it was time to fix the garages so we could have safe, dry storage.

June 2025 – DONE!!!! And I’m So Happy

Garage Doors | Garage Paint Color | Garage Doors Paint Color | Sconces

Last week, I showed off the prettiest garage doors ever (by Clopay, installed by local company Ponderosa) that we are legit obsessed with. Head over to this post to read alllllllll about our doors and the color, etc.

Once open, those doors really create this indoor/outdoor workspace which we all love being in (besides the fact that there is spotty wifi out here – fixing that asap). It’s a huge garage, extremely functional and tidy, and I spend far more time in here than predicted.

The After After…My New Favorite Space

Shelving Units | Cabinets | Table (vintage) | Chairs (vintage) | Rug (vintage) | Bins

It’s so much space, and so organized with the right dedicated storage for every type of thing. We have three sides of storage – the shallow shelves on the left, the deep closed storage on the back, and then deep shelves on the right. I mapped it all out beforehand, and I think I did a fantastic job if I do say so myself!

In front of the PAX units (which I want to discuss more below), we have our old vintage kitchen table from LA that I have been hoarding, and my beloved Cherner chairs (which admittedly shouldn’t be in a garage, but they aren’t comfortable enough for our day-to-day chairs – so squeaky!). We use this table to pull props and pack them up, but also we have been meeting out here while the kids have been running feral all summer. It’s oddly peaceful and quiet out here. While it’s likely not our year-round “studio,” it’s reallly nice not to always work in my sunroom and have some separation (we are hybrid, so unless we are meeting or shooting, everyone does computer work from home).

Are The IKEA PAX Units Good Enough For Garage Shelves??

I saw a lot of comments after I posted about how we had installed the PAX units. A few of you mentioned they aren’t strong enough for true garage storage (based on your experience). So before you do what I did, do more research (than I did). So far we are fine, but as you can see, we do have some stacks of dishes which are rather heavy, and I think I’m going to disperse based on your advice. For the most part, what is in these units isn’t heavy, but if you have heavy bins of garage “stuff,” then based on the comments, you’d want to get the kitchen cabinetry from IKEA.

Dish Rack | Labels

This is our tabletop cabinet as you can see, pared down and super organized. The labels are my boss!!!

Vertical Drawer Organizer | Horizontal Drawer Organizers

In the other prop house, these were stacked in a bookshelf and were a total disaster. Here they are stacked perfectly and dust/spider-free. I bought the IKEA organizers for inside that work fine for the flatware.

Wall-Mounted Organizer

On the left is oversized art and mirrors (which I organized in that cute little wall-mounted art organizer).

More IKEA Shelving!

Shelving with Closed Storage

This is my favorite wall – so many pretty things that we pull for shoots, rotate in and out of my house, and I think I have a story about every single thing (not saying it’s healthy, just giving the facts). Most of this is vintage or one-of-a-kind (with a decent amount of really useful Anthro, CB2, and Target mixed in here).

I had so much fun organizing everything by color – forcing Marlee and Gretchen into a personal show-and-tell monologue about each thing that had a story. Yes, I’m a hoarder of pretty things, and I accept this full accountability (I also purge a lot – and trust me, you want to be friends with “purging Emily”).

I’m glad that most of you are likely design enthusiasts and aren’t judging but instead admiring (but it’s ok if you don’t get it, too!)

Let me be clear, this is post-purge. As in this is the stuff that made the cut, either because I use it a lot, or it’s somehow special to me, or it’s new and I haven’t found its permanent home yet.

On the other side is “Lamp Land,” which houses (you guessed it) all the lighting, as well as art and fabric.

Shelving | Soft Storage Bins

How can a photo of shelves of stuff make me so happy???? I guess I see years of collecting (dopamine burst after dopamine burst) mixed with excitement for future projects.

Now that I can see everything clearly, I can really place them in future projects (that I know of). I’ve gotten pretty great and knowing what I should keep versus what I really don’t think I need to store any longer. All of this made the cut.

Lamps, baskets, small inside pots, and large vessels – everything has a place, and it’s visually so clear.

Soft Storage Bins

On the bottom row lie row after row of fabric bins that I bought specifically to fit in here side by side, and with a vinyl window to show me what is inside. Admittedly, they look squished, but they do the job assigned to them so well and can fit a LOT.

Art Dividers | Art Dividers with Wheels

I’m pretty obsessed with these art dividers (pot lid organizers work, too). I bought these from Amazon, with the larger rolling ones here and the smaller art dividers here. These make me feel on top of the world, TBH, and I’m so excited that my art will stop getting damaged by being thrown around.

Art Dividers with Wheels

How smart are these rolling art carts? Very specific to my needs (not an every garage staple), but they work so well for our needs. We keep them in front of the door, which we aren’t really using (we might in the winter) because the garage doors open so easily and quickly.

It’s such a dream. And a big shout out to the Clopay garage doors that open and close so quietly and, as you can see below, honestly look pretty lovely when closed (the windows help a lot).

We’ve been leaving the doors open while we are in here, and it really stays cool (no direct sun, north facing) and is just so nice to get away from the free rein kids running around our property all summer.

It’s also fantastic that cars can pull right up to it, so even in the winter we have very little excuse to not put things away (but we can also just stack everything on the table if we are in a hurry – a dedicated staging spot).

We put in a cadet heater that is behind the art, leaning on the floor, so we’ll see if we use it in the winter. I think at minimum I’ll set it to keep it 50 degrees so that it doesn’t get too cold in here and warp the art.

That white door leads to the other garage, which is full of samples of something I’m very excited to show you, but can’t yet. So more to come from that garage soon…

A huge thanks to my team for helping me with this. I know that it’s technically part of their job, but reorganizing your boss’s life (while also shooting a YouTube series about it) is definitely both hard work and very personal. And thanks to my brother’s company, Afore, for making these garages so beautiful, safe, dry, and polished. They are such a dream. Now go watch the fun/fast YouTube to see the full tour (including what is in the other cabinets).

*Photos by Kaitlin Green

Now that our latest construction project is done (the garages) and until we start the next one (the carriage house), we have fewer trucks, cars, and equipment wreaking havoc on our property, which made me stare at our regrind driveway with fresh eyes. I just reread the original article, from three years ago, debating all the driveway options and unsure if we made the right decision. We compared concrete (too expensive), gravel (would wash away in rain), chipseal (would also wash away with rain), asphalt (cheapest but very black and new-construction-esque/wrong vibe), and regrind (compacted recycled asphalt with a layer of loose gravel on top). We chose regrind, which was $2k more than asphalt (done by our asphalt contractor). I left that last post on a cliff hanger – did we make the right $40k decision???? Three years later, let’s see.

Before – 2019

As a reminder, here’s how busted it was before – SUPER BUSTED. And I wish I knew the exact square footage of our driveway, but I’d say it’s around 1/4 of a mile (at least it feels that way when we take the trash cans to the street – so freaking long).

While I had hoped to not invest in the driveway (boring way to spend money), we had to and belabored the decision of what to do. Read the article where I break down all our options, with the pros and cons of each.

First Year Of Our Regrind Driveway – 2022

As a reminder, we wanted something that felt older, appropriate to a 120-year-old farm. Listen, however fancy our house has turned out, it still has a casual vibe, and we were (and still are) afraid that asphalt would not be the right choice, style-wise. And as a reminder, gravel would have washed away because we are on a hill and we live in the Pacific Northwest, where God blesses us with months of rain every year.

Our initial reaction was “it’s fine,” then months later, “it’s actually GREAT”. And since then, it’s honestly not something we ever think about. It’s just our driveway and I give zero attention to it. Listen, I barely know which of our two cars I drive (not joking, I have what the kids call “car blindness” where I get into the closest black SUV), so we all have the things we care about, and driveways aren’t one of mine.

Now, Our Regrind Driveway in 2025…3 Years Later

It looks mostly the same but dirtier and looser in parts. I just asked Brian what he thought of it now, and he said, “I don’t know – I guess it’s fine?”. That’s kind of how I feel. I still prefer the charm of the gravel sound under my feet. I love that it’s more rustic and not a harsh dark new color (or broken concrete). You can really beat it up without leaving a trace. I do fear that had we done asphalt, we would have to have it redone already since we deal with so many trucks here, likely damaging it.

Over time, some areas have gotten a tiny bit “bald” of loose gravel, but the compacted asphalt underneath is still there. I didn’t even notice it, to be honest, until I forced myself to look. I think it’s mostly the same, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the top layer of loose gravel is shaken up a bit.

My Official Verdict – Regrind Or Asphalt?

Regrind is still the best choice for us, even if we aren’t vocal Regrind enthusiasts. It’s just great, appropriate, and works here really well. Listen, if we didn’t have an older, more rustic property AND have a sports court for biking/roller blading, then I think asphalt would probably have been our choice. If you have young kids and want a place for biking or blading (or playing basketball), then regrind isn’t the best for that. They are about the same cost, so like most things, this is a personal preference, and we are happy enough with what we chose. We have zero regrets, but really don’t think that asphalt is a bad choice, just stylistically not what we wanted. We don’t love dragging the trash cans down to the street (feels like 1/4 mile) on the regrind driveway, but it’s better than gravel. But the look and feel is worth it to us. Will give you an update in another 3 years 🙂

*Pretty Photos by Kaitlin Green
**Emily’s Outfit: Top | Shorts | Sandals

I never thought I’d be this excited to show you the prettiest garage doors ever. When we finally agreed to invest in making our garages better, our goal was to make them functional, but we had very low expectations on how beautiful they would be. Our garages aren’t on a street where neighbors can see (only friends and our trusted FedEx guys would see them), they aren’t part of our curb appeal (not attached to the house), so our goal was “better and basic” (along with “dry, not disgusting, less spiders and mold,” and ultimately way less dangerous). But today we are talking specifically about the doors – what we now call the best garage doors ever. And because I clearly have a disorder where I can’t do anything simply or “without obsessing about how pretty it could be,” therefore I ended up choosing these pretty doors that make me so happy – far happier than predicted.

Before we get into the full post, here is a fun little video (just wait for the ad to play:))

The Before

Here is where we started 5 years ago. We knew we were lucky to have this huge garage at all (right?), but they weren’t in the best shape, and everything needed repair.

We ignored them for a couple of years, finally hiring the most affordable painter in town who was willing to just paint without any prep (a real literal lipstick on a pig situation) because they were such an eyesore after our house was finally done. But we knew they were not in good enough condition to invest in scraping and painting properly. The fresh coat kinda helped, but otherwise we didn’t touch them for another 3 years.

Starting in January, we knew that we needed the storage soon because we wanted to start restoring the original carriage house on the property. We’d need the garages to be our future and permanent storage space for my vintage hoarding and any future product lines (not to mention life and holiday stuff). So we hired my brother’s brand-new company, Afore Construction, to fix them up, and new garage doors were a clear must.

I received multiple word-of-mouth recommendations for Ponderosa, a local (and experienced) garage door installer. I reached out and really loved their customer service, speed, communication style (fast and personal with easy text notifications), and variety of great door products. After telling Ken, the owner, that I wanted carriage-style doors, he suggested we work with a company called Clopay because they are meant to be the best garage doors, with a massive variety of customization and styles (ours are vintage style, but they certainly have very contemporary and modern as well). They range in price, as expected, and ours are more than average, but for our style of property (more historic and antique), we felt we needed to pick something that really aligned with the property. Turns out even though I promised myself “I didn’t care”, more focused on function and speed – turns out I always care, always.

I chose the Canyon Ridge Elements garage doors, and to get all specific about them (should you want to copy them exactly), they are low-maintenance, insulated steel garage doors with composite overlays. We chose Design 22 (how the diagonal lines are designed) with the SQ23 windows (size and configuration style) and had them all painted SW Dutch Tile Blue (they can match any Sherwin-Williams color).

My goodness, are they beautiful. Ponderosa installed them in one day – ONE DAY!! They arrived, a team of 3, and powered through without me having to do a thing. And they were extremely professional, knowledgeable, and just so impressive. 10/10 service. They texted their eta, and were so easy to communicate with, with everything being electronic (so not a lot of annoying contracts and paperwork at the end). They offer a 5-star service program which provides annual maintenance and has the quietest motor (and it’s oddly quiet, not something I thought I’d care about, but it’s really lovely). They are also very hard to break into with high-end steel and mechanisms, which is clearly important.

We added the faux handles and strappings in black to make them look more vintage, working with the farm design of the property. And we wanted windows on top to add natural light inside (and charm).

Sconce | Doors | Door Color | Plants

They had a lot of options for all of these elements, both in style and color (we chose the spear style strap). I literally couldn’t be happier with what we chose and how they turned out – they add such charm and are super high quality. And there is a slightly “faux” wood grain finish to the garage doors that adds a really nice texture, which I was SO relieved looked fantastic in person (I’m always nervous about faux anything, but this is not cheesy, just subtle and nice).

We chose to have each controlled separately, with individual codes, and inside, there are convenient buttons to open and close.

The garage doors on the inside are clean, and the windows add nice natural light. Ponderosa really nailed the execution, and they function so perfectly, quietly, and just so seamlessly (zero annoyance to me and super intuitive to figure out). I wish I had more drama to tell you, more things I wish I had done differently, or lessons I learned. But I have zero regrets or lessons on this one! WAhoo! Just the best garage doors executed perfectly.

We left the last bay open as a carport. It was the original sheep’s barn and was never a garage. But we did this mostly for budget purposes. We saved on not having electrical, simple framing, finishes, and no cement floor (just gravel). It’s super bare bones, which we are fine with (we almost just tore it down, but my brother convinced us to keep it, just not really invest in it). Ultimately, we didn’t need a fifth garage, just a covered carport for Brian’s vintage truck and a great space for messy painting projects. And heck, a future owner might have a boat or something they want to store here (no intent on a future owner, but we always consider all the possibilities).

A few quick and dirty facts:

1. The doors themselves would typically cost $18k for 4 doors. Choosing a custom Sherwin-Williams paint color adds $10/sq. ft. to the door cost and a few extra weeks. Remember ours were on the higher end, and they have a lot that are much more affordable with fewer design details and general bells and whistles.
2. The install for these four doors would typically be around $11,340, which covers the cost of the high-end Liftmaster motors, all the elevated, premium parts, and extended warranty that comes with the 5-Star bundle that Ponderosa provides, and of course, the labor to install everything. You get what you pay for, and we are thrilled. You wouldn’t buy the doors separately or anything, but just giving you the breakdown so you understand the overall costs.
3. The cost didn’t include the new framing and the electrical prep. Since we were fixing our garages, not just changing out the doors, Afore worked with Ponderosa to frame it perfectly and prep all the electrical in advance. Ponderosa measured and ordered the doors after the framed door openings were finished.

NEW FEATURE ALERT! We now have before and after sliders. Just use the arrow toggle button to see the transformation:)

When they arrived, I was oddly delighted by these garage doors, and I remain so happy every time my eye lands on them. The happy blue, the windows, the decorative strappings, and the super smooth, quiet function – truly the best garage doors. I feel extremely lucky and grateful. A huge thanks to Ponderosa for their excellent execution on our doors. Thank you, Clopay, for partnering on these beautiful garage doors, and Afore Construction for doing all the prep work and helping us fix up the garages. Interior reveal coming soon, I promise.

*Photos by Kaitlin Green

I feel like I’m about to step into an opinion minefield today. Deciding to do a clover lawn in one area of the property has been oddly polarizing. I’m not an expert, so don’t use me as your sole point of research, but we did opt for a clover lawn instead of traditional turf this time, and today I’ll talk about why (and how I feel about it). I’ve wanted clover forever, but I was alone in the past. So many experts (both in person and online) think it’s a fantastic new alternative to lawns, and other experts in the field (LOL) say it will ruin your landscaping that you’ve just invested in. My typical approach (on anything) is to do a ton of research and then realize that, like everything, it’s nuanced, depends on a lot of things, and lands somewhere in the middle. I also generally try to listen to people with the most real-world experience in anything, and yet sometimes old-school folks don’t want to risk something new because they’ve been trained to hate it. With clover, apparently, farmers used to love it, then “big herbicide” demonized clover as a weed, and the rest is history. Four years ago, during phase 1, I proposed a clover lawn after being heavily influenced by commenters during our artificial turf conversation in Arrowhead (which I don’t regret for one second, btw – it absolutely made sense for the no-irrigation-allowed dry landscaping). Up here in Oregon, I was met by “Clover instead of grass? Are you nuts?” But I was uneducated (outside of internet searching) and outnumbered, so I didn’t fight for my clover lawn. Grass it was. And listen, grass lawns thrive in Oregon, we have a lot of rain, 8-9 months of the year, and many people don’t irrigate at all. I love our grass lawns, mixed a bit naturally with clover, and totally imperfect. Last weekend we had six families over for a full day BBQ that went until 11 pm, where 16 kids played ghosts in the graveyard, gymnastics, soccer, frisbee, and football for HOURS. Grass is best for this. Does it take a lot of water in the summer? Yep. But we invested in recommissioning our well, which is what we irrigate with. Could we have done a clover lawn instead? Maybe! But we recently seeded clover by the paddock, and today we are discussing it all. Keep reading to check it out.

What’s The Beef With Real Grass Lawns???

There is a new movement that is certainly against the traditional lawn. Like so many things right now, the loudest voices seem to be passionately against what most of us have deemed kinda normal, causing us to critically rethink it all. From what I’ve researched and learned, here are the points that seem to make sense to me:

1. Grass lawns are high maintenance (daily watering and weekly mowing).
2. They create a monoculture (one species, not creating a biodiverse environment for bees and butterflies, and other native plants to thrive).
3. They deplete resources (water).
4. They are often treated with chemicals (fertilizers and herbicides – glyphosate from Roundup are seen to be universally known as AWFUL and possibly one of the worst demons to our environment and our bodies).

Oh, but then there’s the “no-lawn” movement, which is a mix of pea gravel, DG, and low-drought shrubs, which can look great in a front yard, but doesn’t make sense for a lot of families. Clover lawn versus a grass lawn felt like a real alternative. I’m sure in many areas, all the above points are very true (I’ve never been a “perfect green lawn” person, I’m from rural Oregon). But, the vibe of many of the articles can often be pretentious, as if those of us who want a lawn are just for “suburban show” – it’s not. For us, at least, so much life happens on lawns with young kids, and in Oregon, it thrives without extra water almost year-round. It is mostly set it and forget it. Or maybe we are just basic 🙂

Let’s Go Clover Lawns!

The hype towards having a clover lawn is this:

1. Low maintenance because it requires far less water and mowing than grass.
2. Eco-friendly, using nitrogen that acts as a natural fertilizer in the soil.
3. Attracts and feeds pollinators like bees and other beneficial insects.
4. It is soft, cool, and pretty! I love the look of clover. In fact, I love the look of clover mixed with grass (so sue me). And in hot summers it’s way cooler on feet 🙂
5. It is evergreen or semi-evergreen. Year-round without irrigation for the most part – it might go dormant in August, but otherwise requires very little once established.
6. Super cheap – once the soil is prepped, it’s just seeds, which can be under $50.

The Cons Of Clover:

This seems to be more anecdotal, but both a traditionally trained former landscaper of ours and our trusted maintenance guy, Domingo (who has been taking care of Oregon yards for 30 years), both painted a potential horror picture of intentionally using clover. They claimed clover lawns will take over everything – lawns, garden beds, and would choke out pretty shrubs and annuals. And when you have two experts with decades of different types of experience warning you not to do something, you listen, right? But what if they care about lawns in a way that I don’t? We like a more natural, rustic vibe. I don’t mind clover mixed in with our turf – in fact, I LIKE IT. We like overgrown and wild. We do NOT like manicured (I even hate when they edge the lawn, TBH). At the same time, we planted these gorgeous beds full of perennials that need to thrive!

P.S. This is our new area that I really don’t want to get ruined, and you can see the clover in the back just starting to grow.

Stage 2 Landscaping – We Went With A Clover Lawn (But Not At First)

As you know for stage 2 of our landscaping, we hired Dennis’ 7 Dees to redesign the area under the old sport court and to make the area by the barn and paddock simply better (and truly couldn’t have been happier). Eric sent through the design plan below:

We loved the original plan – a mix of flagstone, trees, shrubs, and perennials. But the $$$ numbers were higher than we wanted, and Brian and I panicked. We quickly prioritized our budget and deprioritized the area at the top, along the split rail fence by the barn. It just wasn’t that important to us. Sure, we didn’t want it to look like garbage, but that area in and of itself was going to cost $40k – demo, irrigation, a ton of stonework, planting, trees, shrubs, lighting, etc. Here’s what that area looked like before:

Every winter it was green, wild, and full of weeds (which we didn’t mind, TBH), and every summer it was so dry and ugly (which we did mind). But this area is more utility – it’s where Brian wheelbarrows the food to the animals, and kids stand on the fence to feed the animals. It didn’t need to be pretty, just better than it was.

Could this be the clover opportunity I’ve been waiting for?? So this time I relied heavily on Dennis’ 7 Dees to help us make our clover decision. They confirmed all of the above and gave us even more insight.

1. Clover changes throughout the year—lush and blooming in spring, thinner in summer, then rebounding in fall. (Fine by me!)
2. They confirmed it needs reseeding every 2–3 years to stay dense (Easy! Especially since they are also our maintenance team, so they’ll stay on top of this) – P.S. More if there is harsh weather.
3. Less ideal for heavy play zones without occasional mowing (true, which is why we also love having a traditional turf lawn for kids to play).
4. Maintenance in Oregon is low:
   • Watering: Needs only occasional water in dry spells after it’s established.
   • Mowing: Optional—some mow every few weeks to manage blooms, others let it grow freely with minimal mowing (that’s us!).

DONE. We were into it. Let’s save some dough, make our yard look more natural, and feed those bees and soil at the same time.

The Process And What We Chose:

Eric and Dennis’ 7 Dees came back with this specific recommendation (because they are pros): “PT 755 Fleur de Lawn, a premium eco-lawn seed blend that includes micro-clover and a mix of flowering, low-growing species. It’s designed to be drought-tolerant, pollinator-friendly, and soft underfoot—perfect for areas where a traditional lawn might not make sense”. Sounded GREAT to me. This whole area cost $3k, whereas the original plan was obviously much much more.

Since we were hiring out for this, they did it professionally – demoing out the lawn, bringing in new/better soil, leveling it all for draining, soil, then waiting for spring to spread the seed. No irrigation. Our job would be to mist it daily for 10 minutes when it didn’t rain to establish the seeds (which was hard to remember, TBH). Here’s what it looks like 3 months in:

I LOVE IT. It makes me so happy. This is probably because I’m from rural Oregon and it just reminds me of my childhood. Here are a few things to keep in mind from the experts:

Maintenance in Oregon:

• Watering: Needs only occasional irrigation in dry spells after it’s established.
• Mowing: Optional—some mow every few weeks to manage blooms, others let it grow freely with minimal mowing
• Reseeding: Expect to overseed every couple of years, especially after high foot traffic or harsh weather.

Seasonal Care Rhythm:

• Spring: Let it bloom and thrive with seasonal rains, mow down and allow grassier look to develop.
• Summer: drought tolerant clover will take over to compensate for lawn dieback. Irrigated as desired.
• Fall: With rain, it fills back in like a soft green carpet lawn look.
• Winter: It may thin or get mucky, but bounces back in spring.

Why Dennis’ 7 Dees Recommends It In Certain Projects:

“Clover and eco lawns aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution, but they’re a great option for large, low-traffic areas where sustainability and simplicity matter. We’re always looking for ways to reduce inputs (water, fertilizer, labor) and support pollinators—this choice checks all those boxes while still feeling beautiful and thoughtful. It’s a ‘Design with nature, not against it’ approach.”

If you aren’t done talking about clover yet, here is more from our current account manager, Emily Smiley (how great is her name??):

“The great clover debate is real. Lawn purists say it’s weedy and wild; environmentalists say lawns are outdated, period. I say: know your goals and choose what serves your space best. Sometimes that’s a manicured lawn. Sometimes it’s a pollinator meadow. And sometimes, it’s a patch of clover that costs a fraction of traditional landscaping and makes your yard feel intentional. Clover isn’t perfect, but neither is turf. As a landscape designer and gardener, I believe in designing with nature; not against it. This specific choice softens the space, supports Natural Pollinators(!!) and reduces our environmental footprint without giving up on aesthetic beauty.”

“This isn’t a turf replacement—it’s a true eco-lawn that works with the seasons, not against them.”

So How Do We Feel About It?

I couldn’t be happier. BIG FAN. In some places, it’s taller? Other places it’s more like ground cover. I love how it looks soft and natural, bright green, and easy. Imperfect, wild, but not out of control, and just so appropriate for our space. It is taking over the boxwood a bit, which we can’t tell if we care about (we put in those shrubs after the clover as a ball barrier), so we might carve out a moat around those plants with mulch. Easy fix. All in all, we love it. Now, if we could just plant it in that brown paddock, without the alpacas and pigs eating it before it could grow (which would never happen – such pigs!).

*Photos by Kaitlin Green