They say you shouldn’t make permanent decisions in a temporary situation, but here we go. The pandemic has both slowed life down and yet sped things up, right? I know so many people who are fast-tracking their life, and making more huge decisions than ever before. These last 6 months have given us some perspective – time to think and reprioritize the long term life decisions that are so easy to put off when you are busy. We know how unbelievably lucky we are to be able to do that. I know that many people were/are even busier, juggling so much MORE. But for us – with production, design work, and theater at a stand-still – Brian and I had time to ask ourselves (and answer) some big questions. Now that we practically live up in the mountains full-time and love the access to nature, did we want to go back to living in LA? Do we really want to raise our kids in a big city? Do we really need to be in LA “for work”?
The answer is “no”. After 8 years in New York and 12 years in LA, truly appreciating two of the most exciting cities in the world, we are ready to move back to Oregon to raise our kids amongst our family and extremely close childhood friends, surrounded by more nature and trees (not sure you guys caught that I’m super into trees). We have been talking about it for 5 years (even looked at houses after Birdie was born), and seriously thinking about it for 3 years. We always knew that we would end up there, but with the business and Brian’s theater career it was so easy to think we HAD to be in LA. The pandemic has proved that we don’t, and while we have seriously considered raising our kids up in the mountains long term, ultimately we want to be closer to our family. We are SO EXCITED. Nervous, yes, but SO EXCITED. A lot to talk about, I know. So I figured I’d answer the questions in the order that I get them. Because I’ve been getting them …
Wait. WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?
More than anything we really want to be closer to family. Not to mention, there are some patterns you fall into living in a city. I was on a hamster wheel, addicted to being busy while being happy in so many ways and enjoying the hell out of my job every single day. But, I over-scheduled myself because that’s just what you do when you live in a big fast-paced city. Living up here out of LA slowed me down enough to get a foot off of the wheel. Once I was off, I realized that it was an addiction I needed to give up – hopefully permanently – to be more healthy. No. I’m not retiring. With Oregon being more affordable I’ll be able to make a larger impact. I want to focus on helping more underserved families in a bigger way than any individual Feel Good makeover. More to come once we get settled up there (but we do have our first pandemic Feel Good makeover in November, FINALLY, yay).
Are you selling your house in LA?
Yes. It’s not listed yet, but we will be selling it. Hopefully to someone who will love it just as much as we have. After living there for 5 years, it’s really the main emotional pull that has kept us here. We moved here when Birdie was 1 and Charlie was 3, and it has been THE PERFECT home for young kids. The way the house is laid out, the year-round indoor/outdoor flow, is just so wonderful to live in. The flat, enclosed backyard with no bodies of water or access to cars means the kids have some freedom. It’s fully fenced, with lots of pockets of shade and intrigue, and you can see the backyard from the kitchen so I left them unattended while I cooked, even when they were tiny. I know that is boring to most of you, but to moms of small kids, that is HUGE. Our bedrooms are all near each other so we felt close and safe, and the house is walking distance to the local public elementary school on the east side (Ivanhoe, which we LOVED).
But we can’t hang onto it and move to Oregon. Pre-pandemic, before this decision, I started finishing some rooms that I was excited about (like the living room, shared kids room). But as it became clear that we weren’t going to return to LA, I started tackling the other rooms that would need to be fixed in the event that we needed to sell (like the basement studio and Elliot’s old room). If you are a serious buyer looking for a magical family home, with a separate studio (and bath) and a shady backyard in Los Feliz (Ivanhoe school district) see the info at the end of the post.
Are you selling your furniture in the house?
Nope. Maybe a few pieces if I can easily replace them. But I have really come to curate pieces that we love and we aren’t starting over this time. I want almost every single thing forever.
Are you selling the mountain house?
No. As of now, I can’t imagine selling this house and we picture coming down here in summer and winters to see our friends and get away from the rain. We might rent it out, give it away to friends or auction it off for charity fundraiser weekends in between.
So, where in Oregon ???
Well, I’m nervous to talk about it without jinxing it too much. It’s a very long story, but it’s a place that we have a relationship with and the opportunity came up recently, and quickly. The property is outside Portland and if it works out we feel is the next (and likely forever) Henderson home. Obviously as soon as things are finalized I’ll be sharing the project with you because TRUST ME, it’s going to be fun to document and watch. But until it’s 100% finalized, I’m not gonna say anymore. BUT WE ARE DRIPPING WITH EXCITEMENT.
When are you moving???
It’s still TBD as we aren’t in escrow yet on a house. After much thought, we plan on living in Lake Arrowhead until we make the official move. We know we’re going to make the move, but the details are still a little up in the air. So we are homeschooling from the mountains, while I can still commute down for shoots when needed. We aren’t trying to rush it. We are going to take it slow, not put more pressure on ourselves than we already feel homeschooling the kids (maybe distance learning, still figuring it out) and just try to keep our foot off the temptation of the hamster wheel (although I do need to write that book…).
What will happen with the business?
It’s going to be GREAT, as we’ve already made a lot of changes, working remotely for months. Turns out we don’t all need to be physically together to run a blog (even though we love being together for so many other reasons). So luckily me leaving the state doesn’t affect my team, whose jobs are mostly online. I don’t plan on hiring in Portland, because my team here in LA is amazing and work so hard. They’re really the ones who have made this remote work thing work. Sure, there will be some shifts (new faces via contributors, familiar faces coming back, more freelancers when needed) and the future is always unpredictable when you are running a small online media business (in general, not mention during a pandemic). But my team has been killing it on this blog and we have a lot of fun things planned. I’m dying to start blogging about the new house, but until then there are a lot of reveals from how each room in our LA house was styled and some design projects/MOTOs in LA that we are wrapping up.
You might have also caught on stories last week that Sara, after almost 6 WONDERFUL YEARS, has decided to pursue a full-time freelance photography career. Neither my moving or her going freelance had anything to do with one another, they just happened to line up (like I said, lots of people making big decisions). But I couldn’t be more excited for her, and if you are in LA and need an interiors photographer please reach out to her directly. She’s joining a beloved group of EHD alum, all who have really helped shaped the company you know and love today.
Are we sad to leave?
YES. Of course I’m sad to leave our friends, but we’ve stayed pretty connected to them through the pandemic (thank you, Portal). I tell them all the time that they were literally the only thing keeping us here for YEARS because we loved them so much. But we’ll always stay connected. I’m not worried about that.
What Will You Miss About LA?
I’ll miss the light. The flea markets. The amazing produce (wait, Portland has amazing food) and the weather. Did you know that most Instagram influencers move to LA for the year-round amazing light? I’ve literally met so many content creators that moved here sure, for the opportunity, but also because it’s so much easier to take good photos in LA. Fun – and true – fact. Looks like I’ll need some new skills…
The Truth:
I’m VERY sad to leave our home, neighborhood, friends, and community. Like I gushed about earlier, it is a magical, happy home full of natural light, charm and now four years of incredibly happy memories. We transformed it into our dream home with so much hard work and even more love. The energy is just so good here and so yes, I cry thinking that we may have made our last memory together here. I’m scared that by leaving, I’ll forget things, that distance will make the memories fade. Last year Charlie and I walked to kindergarten and held hands 1/2 the way. Birdie started cooking soup with me at night and put on impromptu ballet shows in the living room. We’ve danced to Moana on the patio for weeks and the kids have had so much fun in the bath that we had to eventually give them an hour curfew. We could walk as a family to the school fundraising street fair and get drinks at Hyperion Public. Heck, even our church was walking distance – Silverlake Presbyterian (I’m letting out all my secrets now. And when it opens back up I can’t recommend it enough for those looking for a nonjudgemental progressive community).
And as you know, we lived NEXT DOOR to one of my best friends in the whole world, a sister really, with whom we shared a hole in the fence that our kids climbed through, back and forth all weekend. Who gives that up???????? Imagine how that conversation went – cut to the three hours of us bawling, with as many glasses of wine. To say I’ll cherish those years is the understatement of the century. I got to live near my best friends, school, church, and work in LA for four amazing years. But at a certain point, your priorities just become so clear. If you always know in your gut that this is how it will end, why wait?? Why put off the next phase in your life, one that you know will make your family happier, just because it seems crazy?
Here’s just a little quick trip down memory lane (don’t worry there will be more).
It’s been 4 years exactly since we bought that house. It’s been 20 years, almost exactly to the month since we left Oregon. I suppose it’s all full circle and while everyone is shocked, I think no one is really surprised.
As blog readers hopefully this will be a new adventure for you, too. Can one go home again? How will our kids adjust? What property could be so “us” that it drew us up there after 20 years of living a city life? I promise that you’ll understand once you see it.
I’d love to hear what, if any, large life changes you’ve made during the pandemic. I heard a quote somewhere that said, “the pressure and stress of the pandemic has opened up the cracks in our lives, and the light has come blasting through, shining the light on what we couldn’t see before (for good and bad).” My cracks showed me that I was on a hamster wheel, addicted to staying busy, and insisting on living in a city that I would never truly feel at home in. It also showed me the contentment I can feel in living a slower life, and the total joy I get strictly from my husband and kids.
BUT AGAIN WHAT ABOUT YOU????? What changes are you thinking about making or have you made since COVID???
P.S. The house isn’t on the market yet, but should be in the next couple of days – I wanted to give you guys a heads up first so you didn’t hear it second hand. If you are interested or you know a serious buyer have your realtor contact Howard Lorey at Nourmand & Associates, HLorey@Nourmand.com DRE # 01263717. I’m so sad that we can’t have an open house like we did last time so more of you can come and see up close all the crazy renovations and updates you’ve watched online the past four years. But I do have a lot of fun updates to show you here, coming soon…
P.P.S. While the real estate photos aren’t out yet, if you are interested and want to see what this house looks like here you go: living room, kitchen/dining, powder bath, patio, backyard, primary bed, primary bath, kids room, Elliot’s room, jack and jill bath).
Opening Photo Credit: Photo by Jason Frank Rothenberg for Rachael Ray Every Day. Additional styling by Scott Horne
Wow! Very excited to read about your new house journey. Good luck with the sale and everything! I really love the look and feel of your house, all of them actually, and I always get so much inspiration from your blog.
thank you 🙂 It’s a LOT, but yes, so exciting. (and this next place – if we get it – I mean, Its the house of our dreams with more fun projects than any other :))
Very happy for you and your family! You made me think that this pandemic (glad summer break came in addition) has brought us closer as as a family. No big changes for the moment, but it feels as the most important change anyway.
Us, too. The weekdays can be tricky, but having ZERO obligations on the weekends and rarely a social encounter means just us. We thought we were the people that didn’t -over-schedule their weekends, but now realize just how busy we made ourselves. xx
Congratulations Emily, so excited to watch this next chapter. There is nothing better than living near family!
We’ve never done it! I’m so excited…. xx
No big decisions here (yet), but my boyfriend of 6 months and I have been having our first “where would we like to live” conversations and being close to family, friends and the outdoors has definitely become a much bigger priority than it would have been before. The pandemic just made it much more clear which things give you joy and make you feel grounded, and city life apparently isn’t it (or at least not as much as I thought).
Congratulations 🙂 Best of luck. I know many people are moving during the pandemic and I am interested to see how all these individual decisions will shape our world once everything and everyone settles down.
Me, too. ONe of the title options for this post was ‘big decisions during a pandemic … will we all regret it?”. It was a big click bait-y so I changed it. also I since we ‘ve been thinking about this for years I don’t think we will (although i’m sure there will be bouts of ‘was this the right thing? in the middle of february), but yes in 3 years when the dust settles and people have moved, our world might look different. xx
Emily- Check out Silverton Oregon!It’s a great town. It’s about 2 hours to everything, beach, mountains, big cities. We have great schools, restaurants and of course people!!!!!
Big changes can certainly change the MOOD of 2020. Congrats!
Excited for you, and excited to follow along while you find another space to transform, and to see how weather and light will influence your style.
For me, I pushed up my retirement to September 1st, the day I can start Medicare, instead of waiting another year for full retirement age. I’m a HCW, and I have asthma, and I live in a red-state hotspot. I want to live to enjoy a few years of retirement.
ah, enjoy it. that’s my birthday so its a pretty good day if you ask me to retire. xx
This is so exciting! I’m happy for your family and hope the moving process goes smoothly.
its a tricky time to move, thus the ‘taking it slow’. we might just put everything in a pod and send it up, then drive up when in-person school starts. not having a firm plan feels very 2020 🙂
Having recently moved contact free with a POD I can highly recommend it. It felt good to know that my exciting decision to buy a home didn’t have to conflict with my strong desire to protect self and other from transmission of COVID. I imagine there are a lot of ways to love thoughtfully and responsibly, and I really enjoyed this one.
MOVE, not love. Dang autocorrect.
If that’s your plan, you’ve got lots of time. Most Portlanders I know don’t think school will open in person this school year, unfortunately.
Portland area parent here….fully agree it will be next fall before kids are back.
Very happy news for you all! Sounds like a wonderful shift in perspective and new adventures await you all. Our dream has always been living in the south and during this we finally bit the bullet and bought land where we will build our forever home. Moving away from aging parents is a hard decision although they wish nothing but happiness for us. The decision to buy land gives us the time we need to settle things here and design our dream home. 2020 has been… well, pretty shitty, actually but what is quoted above I believe is true for many. Can’t wait to see what’s to come.
congratulations! building on your dram land sounds like a very fulfilling way to spend 2021. xx
Congratulations! Our family moved from Manhattan (where we lived for 15 years) to my home town of Delray Beach, FL for the same reasons, and it was the best decision ever! So much of our identity was tied up in the city (especially since I’m an artist – no better place than NYC right?), but there is life outside of it and it’s even more fabulous than we imagined. Enjoy the adventure.
oh good to hear. Its like you can’t run from your roots (nor have I meant, too). also maybe i’m not an extrovert like I thought? or i’ve changed? I just love the quiet of the country and i’m not getting sick of it! Although what’s so great about portland is that when the world does open up again, we have options whereas up here we really don’t (restaurants, stores, culture, theater)…
This is exciting to hear! Yay for another house to fall in love with virtually as we follow along with your design journey. My husband, two young children and I live over 4000km (don’t know what that is in miles?!) from our family, and I know that pull to be close again. I hope it all aligns beautifully for you & your family.
Wow! Congratulations!!! All the feels will be felt, excitement, sadness, even some fears of are we sure this is what we are doing? My husband accepted a new job right when the lock downs started. He was at his first job for 20 years. Then we sold out house and moved to a new city after our daughters graduation. Now we have decided to homeschool our 6th and 10th graders. Not digital learning but homeschooling as in, I am the teacher. We’ve made some big changes this year and it’s been a wild ride. I am so excited for your family! This is the year to do it!
how is homeschooling going? we are trying to figure it out and kinda taking it day by day to see if distance learning works for us … so crazy!
Starting homeschooling is so exciting! Check out Wild + Free at bewildandfree.org 🙂
As a child of Oregon, who left and is returning almost forty years later…of course, you are returning! There is something that draws us…to the calm, the drippy grey, the glorious summer, the sandblasted coast,…congratulations!
As a native Southerner back in the South, I think I will always miss my WA years…The PNW is magical, for all the reasons you’ve said and more. My husband and I are still young; maybe one day we will rejoin you all!
Yay! We get to watch you decorate a new house! Seriously, though, good luck. I think anyone who isn’t rethinking how they live and work in 2020 must be living underground. If this dumb year has taught us anything, it’s that there’s no point sitting back and waiting for things in your life to get better.
So agree with you!
As a lifelong Oregonian living in the valley I totally get what you mean about the obsession with trees. ❤️🌲 Welcome back! Are you ready for the rain? 🌧
You know, the rain is probably the main reason we haven’t done it sooner. But we have so many close friends and family that tell us ‘its worth it’. So yes, we are mentally prepared … but know that there will be some darker months…. xx
As a Washingtonian I am interested to see how your style/wardrobe is going to change. I tend to run cold but I would be freezing most of the year with the clothes you normally show. Also there is a big difference between the cold wet winter we get and the dry cold of a lot of places in the country as I’m sure you know. Good excuse to buy new boots I guess
After 20 years living in Toronto my husband and I made the decision to leave the ‘big city’ and head back to my hometown. We made the decision and bought a home before Covid-19, but JUST before. We moved mid March when everything was shutting down. It’s not exactly how I imagined my move home, and we still haven’t been able to see all the people I was moving home for, but being closer to family, having access to more nature (including a small backyard) and just living at a different pace has all been worth it! I am still waiting for the move to hit me… at times I feel like we’re on vacation (a very weird vacation) and that we’ll be heading back home soon. Congrats on making this decision for your family! Good luck with the move!!
I’m from Ontario, too (an hour from Toronto)…Curious where you moved to!
Very happy for you and wishing you all the best! We are in a similar situation and have decided to leave our city rental apartment in favor of a larger apartment in a close suburb that is near my family. It was a joint decision between wanting to spend more time with family, and finally taking the leap into a fixer upper property that we could afford to purchase (buying in NYC is so unreasonable for a starter home!) If asked in January if this possibility was even on our radar, I would have totally dismissed it, but now that it’s happening I can’t wait to call our new town home and have some fun along the way!
So excited and happy for you! Honestly (selfishly) I’ve felt like this house has been “done” for years so I’m excited for new content (and hopefully a new vibe in the new house). And so excited to see how content might shift once you’re in Portland (hoping it will honestly)!
Wow! Congratulations! It really is fascinating the way the pandemic is making people rethink big city living. I live in Canada and moved from Toronto to a smaller city with more connection to nature etc a decade ago and never regretted anything except the friends I left behind. Now I’m suddenly hearing from lots of friends who are rethinking it and considering moving away, and know of at least 3 couples who are making serious plans. I truly believe it is a better life – you don’t need me to tell you I’m sure, but you’re not going to regret it! I’m excited to watch you redo another property :).
Congratulations! My family made a very similar change 6 weeks ago. We moved from the house we had been in for 6 years, brought both our kids home to, in a nice, super-walkable, lovely neighborhood to another state to be closer to family.
It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, and I realized it was because I was choosing between two very good options. We had also been talking about it for years, and last year when my grandpa passed away it made me realize how important it is to me to be physically close to my family and for my kids to get the benefit of a close relationship with their grandparents. The pandemic only made that more clear, and frankly, it felt like a good time to move because what’s a little more disruption and uncertainty.
There are still things I miss about our old town, and I may always feel that way. But I’m also glad I’ve gotten this opportunity to clarify my priorities and to feel like I’m making an intentional decision rather than just living on inertia.
Congrats! We decided to buy our first home in the middle of the pandemic (which is obviously a very privileged position to be in) and spending time settling in for the long term here has been so good. We’d love to have more friends visit us in our new home obviously, but I also feel like I haven’t rushed to make design decisions like I have in the past because no one is going to see it but me and my partner for a long time!
So happy for you and the family!! Cannot wait to follow you on your journey! Wishing you the best!
I’m so happy for you and your family and really excited to see your new home and projects. I don’t think you’ll regret moving. It’s worth it for your children. Really! COVID-19 hasn’t changed my lifestyle much because I’m retired. I haven’t been able to visit my grand kids much and that’s sad but they know we love them and we will visit in person (as opposed to Online) as soon as we can. Good luck to you! Keep us all posted!
My husband and I are in the middle of moving from a 650 square foot downtown condo to a 2100 square foot rural mountain home that’s about 2.5 hours away. Feedback from friends & family has been mixed – most think it is crazy.
We’ve talked about leaving our area altogether to be closer to family who are about 1,000 miles away, and while this move isn’t that much closer to them, I think of it as a chance to dip our toes in the water of working remotely almost full-time and having more space to spread out, in a home that’s more affordable than what we could find in our city’s suburbs.
That said, as the move date gets closer, I feel the cold feet setting in. I think that’s normal with any major life change, right? Add in a global pandemic and uncertain economy, and it is a lot to process at once.
That said, anyone with tips on city-to-country moves, I’m all ears!
You might want to check the Frugalwoods blog. Mrs. Frugalwoods wrote a very helpful post in the past couple of months about a city to rural move.
Ahhh thank you so much – will do!
Following up to this… what a WEALTH of information. Thank you so much for the suggestion. I cannot wait to dive in more to her site.
Yah, it took years of convincing our friends that we weren’t crazy. I think they still think that we’ll regret it. I have had two friends move to colorado from LA – one LOVED it, the other already moved her family back to LA. which made me nervous. but listen, we can always come back. you can always go back. its like we need to scratch this itch no matter what.
That’s exactly what I keep telling the more vocal skeptics, and reminding myself of. If we hate it- we’ll move. But I really don’t think we will hate it. And worse case scenario, we can rent the property out if we need to. My mom used to always say it’s just as valuable to find the things in life that you never want to do again as it is to find what you love. If nothing else, we will learn more about ourselves!
You can always go back! We moved our family to be closer to my family and the idea I thought it would be was very different from reality, so we moved again 1.5 years later to be near my husband’s family. Was it hard being let down by the reality of the situation? Of course it was. But I am so grateful we moved near my family, even if it was briefly, so I didn’t always have that nagging “what if” feeling.
That’s a great point, Lena!
So excited for you, Brian and the kids! After 13 years in LA – and a year after our first son was born – we got serious about all those…”Do we really want to be here forever?” discussions. With no real obvious family-anchor place to move to, just a list of smaller cities we were dreaming about (and a way for my husband to run his business remotely), we ended up honing in on Denver as the best option for us – we had so many friends here and we could also visit family in a day’s drive (so, an improvement). I am SOOOOO glad we made the leap – Denver has the right mix of livability and city amenities that we wanted, but life is – no joke – 5,000 times easier…you just have so many more hours in your day. Four years in, I will say you’ve got to give yourself time to adjust, settle in and allow your new life to ‘bloom.’
It’s not easy to undo decades+ of how you’re used to living and you’ll feel torn between both places for a while. It took a few years of simultaneously loving things about Denver/missing things in LA (flea markets every Sunday for one), plus a couple visits back to realize much of what I was romanticizing about my old life was distorted by rose-colored thinking. It’s a process, you’ve got to give yourself a good amount of time (definitely at MINIMUM a full year, but really 2 I think) to explore and find all those things you love about your current life (friends, church, small businesses, etc) in your new home. With kids too, it depends a lot on where/how you grew up….my husband and I grew up in the Midwest, so the thought of our kids growing up in LA was really at odds with what our childhoods were like. For us, Denver is the sweet spot between the two, but I can also see how someone who grew up in LA would feel like a small city childhood is foreign as well – all those nuances in our own lives, shape where we will ultimately feel at home. Finally, there will be incomparable perks to your new spot that you would have never anticipated (there are a zillion parks here for example…never would have thought to prioritize that or realized how few there are in LA, until living here)…you just have to keep the panic at bay and truly ‘try on’ your new life, for those things to emerge. Can’t wait to follow along on your the Henderson PNW adventure! Congratulations!!!
On going back — we made a similar decision to move to Portland from the Seattle area about three years ago. After years in one place we were itching for a change and we thought Portland would be our forever home. Well — after several major life changes and some Covid-inspired shifts in perspective, we’ve decided to move back to the Seattle area but do it differently — move somewhere with more space, a bigger lot, better access to nature, and better schools. I am a little bit embarrassed to prove the you’re-going to-regret-it crowd somewhat right, but the truth is we were in a much different place when we moved here, and could not have imagined the things that are driving our decision today. And you only get to live once, so if something’s not working, you might as well find something that does. Best of luck in Portland — it didn’t work for us but I hope it does for you!
Oftentimes, country people take just a little while to open up, build friendships, etc. Maybe the friendships become deeper, because they’re built more slowly?
I guess my advice would be…take it slowly and don’t throw yourself at people. Try and let them come to you, sort of.
Good luck. An exciting time! x
Thank you so much, Rusty! Our city friendship network dwindles each year as people move, and we still keep in touch with them. So, i’m very hopeful that trend will continue while we also make friends in a new community.
Congratulations! I think this is a great decision. Perfect time to make the change in terms of your kid’s ages. The older they get, the harder it is to move and leave behind their friends and schools.
We haven’t made any major life changes, but I hope that we will continue to be able to work from home more often in the future. That’s been awesome for me and my husband, and our kids love us around more too.
I’ve also been able to spend a lot of time making art, which I’ve always loved to do, but with three kids and a full time job…it fell to the back burner. Now without a commute and no kid’s sporting events or practices, I suddenly have the time. I’ve been producing a painting a week basically, and even started an Instagram account to document it. It’s been wonderful and I’ve had such a nice reception from people that I’m thinking about opening an Etsy shop to sell originals and maybe even prints. I never, ever thought this would be what I’d be doing, so the Pandemic has changed my life in this regard for the better, for sure. 🙂 #kristinsilvaart
just followed! I love those blue birds. so beautiful. We weren’t even in the after school sports stage of life so I can’t imagine not having to do that shuffle. xx
Aw, thank you! Made my night to see you followed me. 😊
Yaaay for you! 😍
That’s so exciting Kristin! I’m also an artist with a family and demanding corporate career, so I’ve been making efforts to schedule more time for my art. The lack of a commute during quarantine has been a blessing, but it seems like my corporate job has been even busier so it can still be a struggle. Keep on working at it, and if you ever want to talk social media strategy, or website/art business stuff, feel free to message me on IG. I’m @foxfiregalleries on FB and IG. (I just gave you a follow.)
My corporate employer has noticed that our entire team has been impressively productive during quarantine, so I’m hoping they will make the decision to allow some of us to go full time remote work. If they do that, my husband and I may decide to move north to some place rural away from the heat of Texas. My only reservation on that is if it will impede my ability to grow my art as a business being far from Houston.
Thank you so much! I would love to talk with you. I have no idea what I’m doing social media wise. 🙂
I look forward to it!
The beauty of remote work is that you can do it anywhere with internet. Have you ever heard of Geeks in the Woods? I’m surprised we don’t have more intellectual property creators moving here. In Southeast Alaska, there are multiple tiny remote towns with big nature everywhere. It rains enough you work when it rains and play when the sun is out. If you are desperate for big city culture you hop on a plane, but the day to day is so smooth and easy.
Congrats! I felt something was coming! My guess is you are moving to the Portland Project house you designed a few years ago?!?! Eek!
nope. we love that house, but you know i love a project 🙂
I thik you’re going much more RURAL! 🦉
Thanks for answering that question/option. I was thinking it was going to be return to the Portland house.
We moved into a new build home in April. From so Cal. Beach living to Flagstaff. My life has shifted considerably and the pace has slowed.mi miss many things about the beach, friends mostly. The peace and calm and beauty here is a bucket list come true, and our adventure realized. I wish all of that for you.
Your Portland project kept me sane, and informed MANY of my decisions. Your stamp on this house is everywhere and I am eternally grateful.
Wow! So exciting and scary. The last year for us (so a bit more than just the last few pandemic-filled months) held an unexpected pregnancy at 42 years old after years of infertility, a new job for my husband which meant a move from Atlanta to the Florida panhandle, a new church, new school for the kids, new house, and then homeschooling the ten year olds while breastfeeding and trying to keep up with a work-from-home job during a worldwide pandemic. WHEW! But God is in control and he’s got us😊 Prayers for your family, Emily!
Aww, this is totally unrelated to the original topic but as a forty year old dealing with infertility, your story just gave me a little boost to know such a thing can happen- congrats to you!
Ever so slightly more on topic, this pandemic has ramped up my struggle with having moved countries- from Australia to the US- a few years ago. I’ve yet to fully settle in here, plus miss my family, and was booked to go back to Oz in March to visit everyone and meet my sister’s new twin babies…until Covid crushed that plan like a bug!
Now it feels like I can’t ever get back there (I’m being dramatic- there ARE some flights but there’s also big restrictions like a mandatory two week hotel quarantine on your own dime and no interstate travel, and the general uncertainty of travel between countries) and I’m missing out on time with my family and their little ones- plus infertility makes you wonder whether you should just go all in on being an auntie just to have SOME connection… But while my American husband is up for it (ya know, work and how to wangle that aside), moving countries is a BIG deal- like $8k and an 18month process just for the visa for hubby- so it’s not a simple break-the-lease-and-rent-the-u-haul decision! Sooooo it’s less pandemic decisions and more like pandemic angst-riddled contemplation 🙂
YAY! I was hoping this would happen one day. SO SO excited for you and can’t wait to follow along.
We also left Los Feliz for a different life in Michigan. We are both professors (UCLA and USC) and while the institutions are some of the best in the world our quality of life was wanting in LA. Air quality, traffic and more traffic, a patch of grass on Russell for our child with no possibility of buying in the LA market left us searching for something else. And it was hard on our marriage the go go go pace and so much pull to compare our life to others. But there was so much to love too – Griffith Park, our Farmers Market at the post office, flea markets, etc. I had an epiphany one day. I started crying on the treadmill watching a show where a woman was foraging mushrooms and I thought I WANT THAT. I want time and space and freedom to go and do something so simple as pick some wild ramps or something. The hamster wheel of LA made that impossible for us. Another life was possible. Sure, I’m not at UCLA anymore and I miss my colleagues but here there are trees everywhere, I bike everywhere, so many parks for my kids, lakes, quiet (no helicopters hovering 24/7) and it works for us. That’s the beauty of it all. When colleagues doubted our choice it didn’t matter because it was right for us. Just like your move is the best decision for you and YOUR family. Big leaps are thrilling and wonderful! Go for the YIRAH!! I’m excited for you.
So happy for your family. Can’t wait to see the new place!!
Oh how exciting, congratulations! It’s the start of a wonderful new journey and I hope it all works out well for you and your family. I moved house just 21 days ago, and after 20 years living in cities I now live outside a small town in the west of Ireland. I’m hoping to buy a house in the near future and so I’m really looking forward to all the inspiration your new home will bring 😄
A small town in the west of Ireland sounds like perfection. Congratulations on your move and hope you are able to buy soon!
So happy for you! What a great move, and I can’t wait to see content from Portland, a city I love dearly and want to see more of.
My husband and I (with our new little baby girl) plan to move to Oregon soon too! We will be selling our house in St. Petersburg, FL in spring 2021 and make the move to the southern Oregon coast! It’s been a dream for a long time— we’re originally from Northern California and can’t wait to get back to a life closer to nature.
We live in St. Pete too! I’m having wild dreams of selling our house and buying a large plot of land in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. I’ve never even been to Pittsburgh! Being trapped in FL all summer is doing wild things to my brain…
Congratulations on a very hard decision! Covid has, as you said, definitely called on many of us to take a look at our priorities. Your post really helped me finally make my own hard decision to move. I think I’ve been pondering it for 6 years. Leaving what has truly been a dream house and the kind of home I’ll most likely never live in again, feels devastating. But I know there’s room for hope. And a few things, along with this post, just finally fell into place this morning. So thank you! Your own journey has many ripples! Can’t wait to follow along on this next chapter (yours AND mine!)
Hurray!! I’m excited for you and your family and to follow along your journey. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since you left Oregon and I’m thrilled to welcome you home again 💚 -Best
I’m not at all surprised y’all are moving. In all honesty I’ve been expecting to read this news for a few months now. I’m excited for you! From what I’ve seen with my friends it just makes sense as the kids get closer to school age to try to be closer to family (I’m a non-breeder, but about the same age as you). And of course you’ll love Portland! I LOVE Portland! I have tons of college friends and family there and enjoyed a few holidays on the Oregon coast when I was in college.
Selfishly I’m excited for you to do another house. I just love watching it come together.
Me, I bought a Chincoteague Pony foal during the pandemic. Do yourself a favor and go buy “Misty of Chincoteague” to read to Birdie and Charlie and you’ll see why I did this. It’s the BEST story for kids to read (and it won a Newbury medal) Well, a friend and I bought him together. He’s in Pennsylvania right now and will make his big move to Texas (where I live) by the end of August.
Wow! It is so exciting that you got a Chincoteague pony! I have wanted one for many many years. You’re living my dream! ❤️
Congratulations! I’m thrilled for you. We just finished up a year in Puerto Rico where I learned pre-pandemic how nonessential it is to work in person. I run a marketing agency and while there were some bumps and surprises it was the best ever time, and living on an island forces you to slow down, spend more time outside, everything we wanted for our family. We’re back in DC to be closer to family but I’m holding on to all the togetherness and rejecting the rat race for as long as I can. Good for you to make a bold move, enjoy it!!!
Wow wow wow! Such HUGE news! I’m so excited for you guys and I can’t wait to follow along!
Congratulations Emily! Very excited and not surprised as we’ve all know for years that’s where your heart is.
My questions are: how does Brian’s family feel about the move? Did you ever consider Sacramento with all of its trees?
I’m in the Bay Area and wanting to move to the foothills (Folsom/El Dorado Hills) though I sometimes dream of one of the super old homes downtown sac and restoring it into its glory. So just a little curious if you considered this area and if there are reasons you wouldn’t move there.
Again so happy for you. I’m very excited for you all and what this new world means for full time workers who can work remote.
I was wondering about this too. It seems like Emily’s family in Oregon is really close, but it also seems like it’s been nice for the Hendersons to be able to visit Brian’s family pretty regularly.
Good luck with the move and so very excited to see your new home and what you’ll do with it. Side note – can I just say Sara’s articles were my absolute favorite from your staff? Especially over these past 6 months, I feel like she BROUGHT IT every. single. time. Sad she is leaving, and good luck to her!
THANK YOU for this post and your honesty!
I love this blog, and have been a reader for many years. My fiance (now husband) and I moved from Florida where both of our families live to Orange County, CA right after college nearly 4 years ago to follow our dream jobs, which are now pretty much entirely online. We’ve been sitting in our small apartment on laptops all day for the past 6 months contemplating why we live in the state we live in when our families are so far away. We are both homebodies, love nature and greenery, and the pandemic has made us realize where our true priorities lie. We want an affordable house with a yard (that we can renovate using your blog’s advice, obviously), lots of family time, and lush/green nature galore!
We were just talking about how this pandemic could change big-city dreams of many college graduates when you realize how important proximity to family truly is. This post validates our thoughts!
Big news for you and big news for Sara too! I will SO miss her voice on the blog! And please please please tell us that Sara will continue to be a guest and share her home renovation progress with us. It’s just not fair to dangle a kitchen/back yard reno in front of us and then never let us see the end result!!!
Really happy for your family returning to Portland and embracing all this pandemic time has revealed to you. I hope so much that our country and world will be forever changed for the better with the truths this pandemic has brought to light. We all need to slow down, get off the hamster wheel and focus our energies on creating a new reality in which racial justice is our number one priority.
YAYYYYY Welcome back to the PNW! I cannot wait to see the new house and what you do with it!!! We live in WA and would never leave the PNWonderland (except to move back to France, my home country – I’m waiting to see what November 3rd will bring to make that call). We have been so thankful to live in a such a beautiful place during the quarantine, it definitely helped calming our anxiety down.
Haha! Lucie- as another foreigner living in the US, I totally feel your comment of seeing what happens Nov 3… and living in dried-out Denver, I’m dreaming of a trip to PNW to get some moisture back into my skin and greenery into my eyes! Who knew one could actually get tired of constant sunshine?!?
Wow! Wow! Wow! Totally didn’t see this coming but how exciting! I’m so happy for you and pre-pandemic WE were house hunting in Portland looking to leave Minneapolis! Ha!
Gah! Why did this make my heart leap so much? Maybe I’m secretly a quiet/mountain/quiet loving girl at heart (wait, yes last year we moved from Minneapolis which I love to a quiet wooded suburb complete with deer that eat my plants- never looked back). I’m excited for your fam, it’s so clear from your Instagram stories you’re all so happy in nature. Aaaaand selfishly I’m excited to see you do another house. On our front? We moved less than a year ago and welcomed little girl #2 2 months ago, I’m ready for some quiet. And hopefully soon some wine around the bonfire with friends.
My sis made the decision to sell her house and buy a residence in my senior living building in the middle of the pandemic. She was always planning to sell and move … someday … so she was already downsizing. She bought in Seattle and prepped and staged her house and garden (sold in 6 days). She moved here and now the last box is unpacked (pictures aren’t up yet) but most things are in their final position.
It’s working out for her, even if she can’t mingle as much as we’d all like. Darn pandemic!
Happy for you! My parents are from Oregon, but all my siblings and I were born and raised in San Diego. After living there for 20+ years, my parents and sister moved to OR in 2007, my brother in 2008, and my husband and I in 2011. We’ve never looked back. Historically, we’ve all been in different parts of the state, but when we had our second baby three years ago, we moved closer to my parents for more help. Flash forward to the pandemic, and we closed on the house and 1.5 acre lot right NEXT DOOR to them last weekend. It is every bit as worth it as you think it’s going to be. Big hugs as you make this bittersweet transition!
Well this is exciting news! I can’t wait to follow along! Wishing you a smooth transition and easy home sale!
I Can’t wait to see the new property!! Exciting! I hope whoever buys your home loves it as much as you and boy will they be lucky to have had you work through all those designs in the past. Who gets that when they buy a home?
I can absolutely see why you would move, despite all that holds you in LA. One of the things that always seems hard to me about that city is the focus on how we look physically, for women in particular, and then the concomitant focus on trying not to care. It’s almost harder when you fall into the blonde pretty category, IMO. That might have nothing to do with why you are moving, but if you’d like a random extra reason from a stranger, now you have it;).
As an LA native i think it depends on where in the city you live and who you mingle with.
Agree.
Yay! After 12 years on the East Coast, I moved back home to Oregon and it was the best decision for my family. There is a readjustment period, sure, but soon you’ll be breathing the fresh air surrounded by trees. (Currently looking out my window at the hills, sipping my local roasters’ coffee. Good choice, Emily.)
Congratulations on a big decision! Our family has made the decision to move, giving up our dream “forever” home for a new opportunity. It goes against all of our instincts and plans, but when your priorities shift, sometimes the right thing is just the right thing.
I’ve learned that no matter what “common sense” tells you, when you and your partner have peace about a decision, you should just do it. Your family will be happier, no matter what the outside world things. Way to go!
Welcome (back) to Oregon! It really is just a magical place to raise a family. Been following you for years, and had a hunch you’d Come back someday!!
Welcome back to the PNW. Maybe Kristine and I can help out with something during the process.
i’m very excited to hear this news because it is yet another wink from the universe that affirms my own radical
life changes – my family is also taking a step back and moving from silver lake to se portland. the pandemic made me realize that i just couldn’t keep juggling all of the things i was juggling to make life with a small child work in LA. i’m so excited to close on our first home purchase and move in to a place 45 minutes from family who can be near us as our daughter grows up. congrats on the big decision, emily!
I’m excited for this new adventure! We’re thinking about moving from our large city to a slightly smaller city (with a river!) if we both get the OK to telecommute permanently, which we think we will.
Oh, Emily!
When I saw the makeover of the kids’ room, I knew.
I thought back to your summer last year at the mountain house snd I remember commenting something like “I manifest for you, living in the mountains permanently.” Then, when the pandemic hit, I thought back to that comment and wondered…
Now, this?!?
Won-der-frul!!! ❤❤❤❤
I’m a tree person too, growing up near a Tinglewood forest on the southern tip of Western Australia, in a town called Denmark, “Where the river meets the sea.”
Your family has meshed so, so much since you’ve been out of LA, so much that it’s obvious via the internet, across to the other side of the world! Brian is so much more relaxed and you’re in touch with you again and not obsessed with perfection. You’re more playful again.
I love it and I’m so, so happy for all four of you and your extended family!
Sending you love and light that it all comes to be…wishing, wishing, wishing…
Big hugz,
Rusty xOxO
Congratulations! It’s funny, we’re also in California (though closer to the Bay Area) and seriously considering moving to Oregon. We’ve lived in Portland before (our now 6 year old son was born there) and loved it, but we might settle down in Eugene which has a smaller, university town feel. Best of luck, it’s always stressful moving that far when kids are involved, but it’ll be worth it I’m sure!
Exciting! As a native Portlander, our family moved back (for many of the same reason as you) after 15 years in the Bay Area. When I went to the DMV to get my Oregon license, they saw that I had a previous Oregon license in the system. The employee made a big deal about celebrating my return. He said, “welcome back home— it’s about time!! we missed you!” It was just a small kindness but a reminder of the awesome community I was moving back to.
So to you Emily, I repeat- “welcome back home— it’s about time!!” : )
This is SO nice to hear! The TX DMV said something very similar to my husband when we moved here last year.
And this Portland love is especially lovely after a lot of the CA-OR negativity I’ve seen lately. A dear friend and native Oregonian moved back to Portland AND into her childhood home- and some neighbors told them to “go back to CA!” when they saw the plates. My friend quickly corrected them though haha.
Exciting news! Love your blog and I’ve been following you for many years 🙂 We moved to Portland 6 years ago but originally from Canada. After being in the US for 16yrs, and 2 kids later, this pandemic has really put things into perspective for us as well – it’s time to go home 🇨🇦. It will certainly be amazing to see how lives have been changed through this pandemic! We will miss this beautiful city and wish you all the best as you move back!
Where in Canada?
Very excited for you. Two years ago, my husband and I moved back to our hometown after living away for 18 years. It has been so wonderful for our kids to be close to extended family, and I am so happy we made the move, even though I miss our former cities (and country!) and friends immensely.
OOOMMMGGGGG!! Wow, this is huge! Yes! We will welcome you with open arms to Portland. I can’t wait to see the new place!
My favorite thing about this post is that you wanted your readers to know before putting your house on the market! So, precious and attentive of you! ❤️❤️❤️
Such awesome news! Being a blog reader since Design Star days, I’m beyond excited to follow this next adventure! Yay for trees.
Portland can’t wait to have you! Can’t wait to see it all unfold.
We just moved from our beloved city of Somerville, MA (a city directly next to Boston) to live out in the woods of Naples, FL to be near my family. My husband grew up there and I spent 17 years there after moving from NJ. I totally understand the feeling of being so sad to leave that you cry, but also so excited for the next chapter. Boston has a piece of each of our hearts, but being near family won. We had been contemplating a move to FL for 3 years and just moved 3 weeks ago. Nothing like a pandemic to put things in perspective. We are so happy watching our one year old son and my 3 year old niece play almost everyday and we have a new nephew on the way in October. Hearing them laugh and seeing their smiles makes this huge move for our family totally worth it. Congratulations on following your heart. I think you and your family will be so happy.
Major kudos to you for deciding and taking action on pursuing a different life that better aligns with your family and what’s most important to you. I’m always thrilled when people say they want to be closer to family and friends, slow their pace of life and work down a bit, and put more energy into things other than work. Best of luck with the house hunting and moving!
I teared up reading this. Y’all are going HOME. This was so beautifully written, Emily. I can tell by your writing how powerful of a decision this is for you and your family and I’m over the moon that you’ve found peace outside the hamster wheel. It will only yield more and more happiness and growth. Best of luck with everything. You have so many people rooting for you! Cheers.
I love your blog and read it frequently. I have found so many tips and tricks from you and your team, and I love the quirky/cute humor infused in all of your essays. As a native Portlander though, your piece about your recent decision to move to Portland had me feeling not so great. Portland has had a HUGE recent surge of rich white folks moving in and snatching up housing by paying way over asking price, and making cash offers, driving local Portlanders out of their communities. You mention the affordability, which is an all too familiar narrative I have heard over and over from Californians moving here. I get it…people want to live somewhere…livable. But where is the consideration for the folks that already live here and can’t afford to compete with the white yuppies who move into their community and marvel at how much they love the new tapas bar down the street, without acknowledging that it was once a small local business, driven out by gentrification? I was really disappointed to read that you plan to move here, take advantage of the affordability, but don’t plan on moving your business here or hiring locally. Great, so you’ll take advantage of all of the wonderful things Portland has to offer, but not contribute meaningfully fully to our local economy? Even though you have a platform and could be doing something meaningful for OUR community? Cool. How very disappointingly typical. Ugh
she’s literally ALSO a native portlander moving home…
It’s not so much where you were born, but the fact is that Emily has been earning LA money for many years. I don’t feel any type of way about her moving, but Portland really does have a problem with newcomers (primarily from California) moving in LARGE numbers and driving up the cost of living. For people who are stuck in a cycle of wage stagnation, it’s really frustrating to feel like it’s a clock ticking down the days until you are essentially or literally evicted from the place you call home. It sounds like Emily is committed to having a positive impact on the community and she has family ties here, so that’s great. But simply being born in Oregon doesn’t mean you can’t be part of the problem. It sounds like gatekeeping but please understand that people are speaking from a place of hurt because they feel like they are slowly losing access to their own community. I’m looking forward to seeing how Emily uses her business and participates in the local community.
This is absurd. As someone who has suffered from gentrification (in California, believe it or not we also have problems!) moving to be close to your family is not in that category at all. Because she has money she needs to stay put? Do you hear yourself? It ‘sounds like gatekeeping’ because it is.
As I already said, I don’t personally have any negative feelings about Emily moving back to be near her family. Just elaborating on why many Portlanders like Becca are salty about situations like this. Perhaps it feels “absurd” because you are feeling defensive?
And as a native Californian, I’m quite happy for non-Californians to go back to their hometowns.
As a native Angeleno I can tell you this happened to us in LA too.
Totally!
She grew up in Coos Bay. Which is nowhere near Portland.
I totally appreciate your comment. Rest assured I will absolutely be contributing to the community in a large meaningful way, actually on the opposite side of gentrificaiton, I just can’t announce it yet as things aren’t in place and I have a lot of research and reach out to do. I will be hiring a lot of freelancers and potentially employees, just not laying off my LA team and replacing them just because I feel like moving. And when it comes to “affordability” the idea is that with extra resources we will be able to do more for others. One of the things I love most about portland is the support for small businessses (and how big businesses can’t move in so easily) and that will be a huge focus for me, too. But thank you for your comment. I remember when I was living there in high school and during summers everyone really didn’t like californians for that exact reason. I totally get it, just don’t count me as one of them. I’m coming for the community and believe me, hiring and buying local will be a massive goal in this next project. I actually can’t wait to tell you guys my big ultimate plan. xx
Don’t worry, Emily will be paying Oregon tax, Multnomah County and Portland City tax, Portland Arts tax, real estate taxes, the new homeless tax, shopping at our stores, restaurants, etc. Portland needs people like Emily to keep this city running. My kids go to a private school in Portland, and rarely to do I meet a parent there that is actually from Portland. We wouldn’t have my special little school if it weren’t for the parents that can actually afford these services.
Also, 1) Emily is allowed to live whereever she likes and shouldn’t feel shamed. 2) I’m going to guess the house Emily buys is not going to be the $485,000 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in SE Portland that a family making $125,000 a year is trying to buy. Larger houses in the higher price range sit on the market for much longer, especially ones that have not been updated. So I think it is incorrect to accuse her of pushing lower income families out.
Thank you for the response and I look forward to hearing what you are doing locally in Portland. That is reassuring to hear that you plan to hire local freelancers, and I will be curious to see what projects you start here. I wasn’t trying to be a “gatekeeper” as people mentioned above…of course you are free to move if you choose, and being closer to family makes sense. I just think that with your platform comes a certain level of responsibility, and I was disappointed to read that you were seemingly not going to be contributing to our local economy. I am hopeful after reading your response that this will not be the case as that is a huge problem here. People can call it gatekeeping if they want, but I turns out I care about marginalized folks being driven out of their communities by people of more affluence and privilege. I don’t consider it gatekeeping…I consider it holding other white folks of privilege accountable for the impact we have on communities. So sue me. I’m glad they you are aware of the issues Emily, and being thoughtful about your choices. Best of luck, and I look forward to reading more.
This is such a weird comment thread.
The tone is so off! State vs. state. What the…? Closed state borders? (Oh the irony if you are for open national borders) or is it just Californians that can’t come to Portland?
I’m just sitting here in shock that people have an opinion about who can and can’t move states. I’m baffled.
Becca, are you Native American? If not, then YOU are probably living on someone else’s land. And they probably wish VERY MUCH that things could return to the way they used to be. It seems a little naive to have your attitude.
Gentrification is absolutely awful, like a fly that follows everywhere you go. I lived in a small village in the UK as a child – now the house where I lived is on sale for £700k and no shops or post office, decimating the community.
Canterbury, a Cathedral town, has sold itself to chain stores and all the small shops petered away.
Whitstable, a working fishing town, now peppered entirely with interior design shops for the weekend tourists.
Bristol, a fantastic green city with a vibrant community, inundated with DFL’s (down from Londoners) zapping the once energetic, creative place.
Margate, an ageing seaside town, again infiltrated by DFLs …an absolute dump now gentrified in two or three years.
I don’t blame the people moving – I blame the system which lets this happen. In Germany they have rent caps / long term rentals / renters rights. In Portgual there’s rent protection for small businesses in the capital city.
We need to move away from blaming people to looking at the mechanisms which allow these things to happen – because everyone is impoverished by gentrification except the few.
We also did some reevaluating during the pandemic. We have lived all over the world due to job requirements and currently live in the DC area. With telecommuting, we also realized we were not tied to a city that would never really be “home.” We bought a house virtually (!) and are moving to San Diego, a place we’ve lived multiple times over the years. We look forward to seeing your transition and how it compares with ours. Cheers! 🥂
Woohoo! Congratulations to you and the family! These times really make us narrow in on what’s important and prioritize around that. And sometimes that means coming full circle. Amber and I are jumping for joy for you! We’re here if you need us ;). Can’t WAIT to see about the new house! A farm maybe? With horses and goats?? 🤔.
SO exciting! My husband and I (and our 2-year-old girl) just bought our first house! We went through a really similar progression during the pandemic and decided, why wait?!
Speaking of, looks like I may need to join the EHD Community for some “design agony” ideas in our new space.
Congrats!
Huge decision, Em! So happy for you… and knowing Portland, I can only imagine the greatness of the new dream home – can’t wait to see it. I love watching your business grow and knowing you, you will not let distance from “the city” stop you from reaching new heights. We’ll always have our Design Star days! Ha! Congrats again on the big decision.
Yay congrats! Welcome back to Portland soon! Do you wish you would’ve just lived in the Portland house?! 😊 I know for us during this time we’ve really gotten to know our kids better on a deeper level.
Best of luck to you and your family! Sounds like this will be the perfect move for you. I recently moved to Nevada after my 15 year marriage ended, and it’s been an adjustment for sure, especially because of Covid.
We have been having these convos constantly. Where do we want to live? Remote working (for my husband) has shown is we don’t have to stay in Silicon Valley for work but all our friends are here (and they’re our family as our actual family live 6000 miles away). Oregon is on our list but… the rain! We’re British and there’s a reason we live here and not there and the weather is a big part of it!
I’m looking forward to reading about your move and the plans for your new house.
Oh Emily, thanks so much for being you. Sharing your good news is so good for us, too…. a hopeful new beginning after all this difficulty in our country and our lives. You and your team bring so much light to every day. We are looking forward to your new adventure and the new design reveals as you inspire us for our own homes.
Emily, I’m so happy for you — I can’t wait to see your new place and keep following along. (I’ve also been pouring over real estate listings in Oregon in the last few weeks so this feels so coincidental!) Good luck!!!
I’m so happy and excited for you. I too, believe that although there are so many stressors from the pandemic, it did put things in perspective. I made a huge decision that after teaching music, theatre, and voice for 23 years, and designing and writing on the side, that I was no longer doing what I loved the most. I took the leap to go to work for an amazing design firm in St. Louis and I am designing and blogging for them, and myself again. At closer to 50 than 40, it…is…terrifying, but life is too freaking short. My kids are almost grown and it’s time to do me!! I think that it was a blessing in many ways. I can’t wait to see where you land, and I’m sure you won’t regret the decision for a single minute. Cheers to new adventures, and crystal clear perspective.
oh wow. THATS AWESOME. I love this. good for you and huge congrats (and good luck, you’ll be great). xx
Wow! The pandemic has certainly made us all think, reflect and have a better idea of how we want our lives to be.
We live in San Diego and all three of my daughters and grandbaby live in Portland. We are ready to make the big move. Family is soooooo important!
The hard part is finding a house in the perfect area. Thankfully, we are not pressed for time and trust that we will find our next forever home.
Looking forward to seeing yours! Good luck with everything. 💙
Who else started bawling when they read this?
“But at a certain point, your priorities just become so clear. If you always know in your gut that this is how it will end, why wait?? Why put off the next phase in your life, one that you know will make your family happier, just because it seems crazy?”
I guess it must have been something I needed to hear 🙂
Congratulations to you and your family! As a reader, I’m of course looking forward to all the new projects I’ll be seeing. As a fellow human trying to discover her passions and priorities, I’m super inspired by you and wish you and your family the best.
I copied and pasted THAT exact bit and put it in my journal…by Emily Henderson.
I needed to read that right now, too!
I got very emotional reading this because you put into words so much of what I’ve been feeling. I loved my work but am also happy to be off the hamster wheel, and we are considering moving from the home where we raised our three young kids to have more space and safety for them. It is so scary but I can see how once a decision is made it is also liberating and can allow for excitement and peace, mingled with all of those harder feelings too, of course. Wishing your family the very best of luck.
Woooo hoooo!!! SO SO happy for you. I’m a native Oregonian who did a 10 year stint in LA. Slightly different timeline— I moved there when I was 18 and stayed till I was 28, then made the big, scary leap back home. I get a knot in my stomach just remembering the feels of that leap. I can’t even fully put into words how unequivocally right that decision was. The three years I’ve been back home have been the sweetest ever. There is NO substitute for being with your people, in your homeland. In those three short years I reconnected with childhood friends, fell in love, got married, and a million other wondering things. There are things I miss about LA— the culture, the food, the action (I live in Salem, so a few notches calmer/more boring than Portland) but honestly nothing I can’t experience by taking a trip down there. It’s a quick plane ride away. And truly Oregon is MAGICAL (you know this!) in so many ways, that I never stop being in awe of its beauty and charm. I spent the entire first year back just absolutely dumbstruck that this place is so beautiful, and that I got to spend every heart-filling holiday and birthday making sweet, mundane memories with my loved ones. Wishing you all that happiness and more. And so excited for your Oregon content! I’ve been following you since before you were pregnant with Charlie and secretly always hoped you’d end up back here 🙃
Love this so much: “ that I got to spend every heart-filling holiday and birthday making sweet, mundane memories with my loved ones.”
THIS is what I miss . . .my husband and I live in Paris, which of course everyone thinks is so great — but my brother and sister-in-law and their girls are in LA, so i don’t get the opportunity to make those sweet, mundane memories with them. Would love to be near them but can’t for the life of me imagine what we could find to do in LA (and at our ages, we are both in our early 50s so need to stay put for retirement purposes etc. ).
Gaaahhh! I’m so excited for you! As a basically lifelong Portlander I’m a fan of this place. My husband and I are actually about to move to CA…central coast area and it’s scary and exciting! I’ve never done an out of state move as an adult and man it’s a lot. We’re renting currently and don’t have that much stuff or any kids but. And yeah the pandemic has really hit for us that we want a safe, quiet, relaxing place to just be for a while. We don’t see this getting much different any time soon and so we’re really looking to just find a happy place for a bit. Now we’re just watching the fire maps and trying to not completely freak out—-we’re supposed to drive down starting 31st! 😳
Congrats! Change is scary, but totally worth it sometimes. We made it half way across the country (Chicago to Sacramento) with our move one month before lockdowns. My husband somehow saw this getting bad in advance. Selling our house in three days. Moving uhaul ubox was a lifesaver. Maybe you guys can do a backyard remote makeover giveaway. We have fruit trees galore and a messy garden, but totally wish the kids could run around without worrying they would get hurt. Dreams!
Congratulations! I can’t wait to see your journey and whatever you decide to do with your next place. This sounds like a fantastic decision for you and your family. Best wishes to you all.
I can’t wait to follow along on your next adventure! I hope the dream house works out. I love Oregon and the Portland area. We have friends and family there, but the majority of our family is here in the SF Bay Area, so we stay. I think being near family is the best when kids are young. It sounds like you’ve thought about this a long time, and the pandemic just gave you the time and space to believe it was possible. I’m super excited for you!
I grew up in LA and live in Portland with my partner and young kids, and I would love to be closer to my parents, but there is no way we would ever want to live in LA. We haven’t been able to convince my parents to move, though!
Congrats! But also – I am so jealous! Was born and raised in PDX, currently live in TN and would give anything to move back (to Portlandia or anywhere on the West Coast – ideally, Central Oregon for the weather) but it’s just too expensive – plus the rest of my family has also moved here and that’s the priority right now. I do have a friend who sold everything and moved West to CA. She had made that decision before the pandemic and postponed her moving/road trip from late February to early April. She is now seriously considering moving back because (as one might imagine) there just aren’t that many job prospects for ANYone, ANYwhere right now.
Good luck to you and I can’t wait to see/read more!
Wow, that was surprising!
Good on you making the best choices for your family.
So sad about Sara’s voice leaving the blog, any chance of regular mini posts?
I checked out Sara’s new website, which was great, and still no blog attached yet for an easy avenue for us to hear her voice.
Wishing you the best!
Thanks
Gabrielle fear not! Sara will still absolutely be contributing and of course, taking beautiful photos of our projects. She just won’t be ours exclusively anymore:)
Beyond happy for you all!
Congratulations Emily! We did the very same thing and moved home with our three young children after 15 years away. We knew we wanted to be closer to family and ended of moving right when the pandemic began. It was by far the hardest of our moves (we’ve moved about 17 times in the last 22 years 😳) but we are so happy to have hopefully put our permanent roots down near so many of the people we love.
I mean, we ALWAYS knew this was coming! I remember you trying to make both backyards more like Oregon! The trees are calling you home. 🌲🌳🙌 So excited to be following your journey from PDX. Welcome home Hendos!❤️
Our family recently made a shift too a few months ago; right in the middle of a pandemic. But we went a totally different direction from a small town, huge house and yard to an area which is more urban, walkable, with plenty of restaurants and WARM weather. I have always grown up with plenty of sunshine and the East Coast unfortunately was too cold for us most of the year. We moved to Atlanta and enjoy it thoroughly. We are city people and enjoy that lifestyle. It’s been the right choice for our family. When you know it’s right, it likely is and you HAVE to try it so you don’t harbor regrets. Good luck!
My family is also in the midst of a covid-pivot and moving from Seattle to Camas, WA. I grew up in the Willamette Valley and so resonate with your desire to be closer to family, some of whom live in Camas. The teen isn’t happy with the change but we trust that this is the best decision and certainly an adventure. We continue to live on the WA side of the river … so don’t think we’ll suddenly become Ducks fans. haha! Look forward to following from a little bit closer — which seems amazing!!!
Yes, 2020 is the year of re-thinking things and making big decisions…not only because of the pandemic for me but because my best friend (and sister really), died of colon cancer in April. I almost bought a horse, came extremely close to buying a 6 bedroom fixer upper farmhouse in Maine, and now we just put in an offer and we are in negotiations to buy a small (976 sq ft) fixer upper on a remote island in Maine…its been my dream to buy a house on the water in downeast Maine (my family is from the NH coast and my parents live there still), and though the house is more than we wanted to spend I feel like there is no time like the present moment…I want to be closer to family and I also want a different lifestyle for my kids where we can play on the beach every day and know everyone in our town (330 full-time island residents). My only question is where will I keep my (future) horses…I am hoping to either keep them on our 1 acre piece of land or rent land from someone on the island…but getting hay for the horses will be a challenge…it will all be worth it I know.
I am so so sorry for your loss.
All the best to you as you build your new life in Maine.
Wow, I tried to buy that house and lost out to you and now you are flipping four years later. As a 4th gen Angeleno I love that our city attracts so many diverse and interesting people, but also have really come to understand how much the potential of the city is undermined by people who expect and take so much from my hometown, but never really invest or root themselves in a way to create the kind of civic spaces we need. I was really happy to see for the first time in LA history that more than half the population is native. I hope that trend continues and fewer people set their sights on LA as a kind of shangri-la there to help them fulfill their dreams at the expense of the locals who are trying to compete to stay here close to their families and for basically all the reasons you want to be back in Oregon. I hope as people are connecting with what’s important to themselves through covid we also think about how we impact each other and the world as we move through it and tend to our own needs and wants. Good luck with your move.
So what would’ve been enough time in your opinion? 5 years, 10 years, never leaving? She raised a family in that home, grew a business and created jobs, invested in her neighborhood through relationships, put her kid in local public school, attended a community church… What would’ve been enough for you? The truth is we live in a globalized society where people move and migrate. LA was home to them. Now, as life has changed, they are seeking home elsewhere, no need to shame or claim her actions have directly harmed you or the city of LA.
I’m not trying to shame anyone, but I did notice above that people are expressing the exact grievances I have – except framed as concerns about her intentions in terms of establishing herself in Portland, is she going to be another “gentrifying Californian, etc…” That seems ok to ask and Emily was quick to assure them. My point was more about Los Angeles – it is a unique city that people do not feel deserves the same kind of civic commitment that most other cities do or the right to have its identity or local community protected from displacement, which is a huge problem right now, especially in underserved communities and in BIPOC and immigrant communities throughout LA. My impression from Emily was that she never really wanted to be in LA and – that “one foot out” mentality that a lot of people who live here have does hurt the character of our city, even as those people are taking advantage of the amazing public and community resources we have. It’s not really about what’s enough for me, as you put it – but as people are reframing their priorities in our post-Covid future we should be re-examining how our choices, consumption, etc… impact those in our immediate community and more broadly across the globe. Seeing so many people abscond from the cities that supported and launched them to go back and make their hometowns better places is something I am seeing a lot of people do and I’m interested in better understanding it and what it will mean for the future character of my city and hometown.
I understand what you are saying. I was born here, in Santa Monica, and my husband was born here as well. Our parents both had nice, middle class jobs, were able to buy homes and raise their families, all while taking vacations, having two cars, etc. Unfortunately that could never happen here now, no teacher or machinist could afford a decent home in a decent part of LA. I get the appeal of our city but I also understand what Alexis is saying. So many people have come here, it’s made it very difficult for the people who are native. And then there’s the traffic… maybe once this is over we’ll all be where we need to be and LA will have thinned out a bit.
This cracks me up because a few comments up, the Oregon people are complaining that she’s a Californian gentrifying Portland. As a Bay Area person who has suffered from rising rents and home prices, I am happy if people who want to be here, are here. It doesn’t matter how long they stay because life circumstances change. What I don’t want is the people who complain day in day out and live separate from the community.
I live outside Portland and so I’m thrilled that you’re coming back to Oregon! I’m also house hunting, and the market here is crazy at the moment! Everything I look at seems to go pending within a day or so. Good luck with the move!! Such an exciting time for you all.
Congratulations on your upcoming move! We made a similar decision four years ago. A move from the Bay Area, close friends and good jobs do far Northern CA coast, about a hour and a half to OR border. We moved when our daughter was two. A very hard decision, as we moved farther from family, but wanted a slower and nature filled life. It hasn’t been without its obstacles and second guesses, but for now, especially during quarantine, we are happy to have the 1/2 acre we live on, amongst trees and two miles to the beach, as it has made it easier for our 6 year old. I’ve had to slow down more with my social work job to take care of my daughter and it has been good for by mental health. I wish you all the best on your next adventure near Portland!
thank you 🙂 I think those of us really needed space without knowing it. xx
So happy for you Emily!! When you moved up to the mountain house, from one Oregon girl to another, I thought that it might also spark a love and drawing towards home. We’ve also decided that the Portland area will be our next move, probably in the next year. We still live in Oregon, but as an interracial couple with biracial children, this year has taught us that we need a community with diversity that supports our family and didn’t make sense to stay somewhere where our daughter will ever see someone who looks like her. I think you’re right though, when the whole world shifts it reveals what was once in shadows.
Your families live near Portland?
Portland is one of my favorite cities ever!! I could live there. Lake Oswego is where we went last summer for 4th of July, and the downtown was so super cute and the nearby homes so charming, we didn’t want to leave our friends house!
Congratulations, Emily! As a born-and-raised Portland-er I’m selfishly excited that you’ll be closer to home. 🙂 Looking forward to seeing more of your work in a familiar setting!
Our family decided to buy a travel trailer during the pandemic so we can go camping and adventures together. It was definitely a pandemic decision, but we are excited for all the family memories.
It’s a shame you chose to make so many structural changes to the house and removed so many original features. You should stick to decorating if you don’t plan to stay in a house. You definitely spruced it up nicely, but the permanent changes are sad. My friend just told me about the sale. It’s a bummer. Good luck just the same. I’m very tempted to buy it back.
It’s interesting when people “should” on others.
Also, glad you’re willing to pay Emily for her awesome work in buying it back.
Whoa. What a dramatic turn of events. Are you the previous owner, Melissa Sawyer?
I’m so excited for you and your family! Yay! MOM TIP: When we moved from the only home my son remembered living in (we moved in when he was 1 and moved out when he was 11) I asked him to give me a house tour of the old house that I captured on video. He, in his still little boy voice and his own words, recounted anything that was special or memorable or even routine about each room and the backyard, which included a cameo from the neighbor’s cat that he loved … we even filmed he crawl space under the stairs where he had made his beloved “hideout” and the garage where a bird once flew in to roost and where he loved to practice hockey and baseball. I cry EVERY SINGLE TIME I watch it. P.S. It’s been 5 years since then, and he hardly remembers living in that house because this one feels so much like his forever home. That’s another reason that video is priceless to me. HIGHLY recommend. Huge congratulations on your new chapter. Happy for you!
What a wonderful idea!
Congratulations!!! So excited for you and your family 🙂
Congrats! Your LA home is lovely, but I always sensed you’d move back to Portland eventually. (Although moving away from a next-door BFF … not sure I could bring myself to do that!)
We haven’t made any major major changes, but we did spend a month up in Maine at my dad’s summer home. We usually only go for a week, two at the most. It did wonders for our sanity, and made us realize that we absolutely can and should go up there for longer stretches in the summer. We were off two weeks and then worked remotely for two weeks and we hope to do that again (hard to argue against teleworking when we’ve been making it work for 6 months already!). And that of course led to discussions about buying a place up there ourselves …
Wow!!!! We did the exact same thing 5 years ago (literally moved back to Portland after 20 years in L.A.)!
Excited for you guys. And dying to know where the house is….
Congratulations! I’m excited to follow this journey – my kids are the same ages as yours and my husband and I are also thinking about moving. We live in a great neighborhood in Seattle, and while we love the city and our schools, Seattle Freeze is real, and we want to live somewhere with better weather and more community, and we want a bigger space, indoors and out. He started his dream job, which is actually based in Austin, from home here in June, but now his large company has basically said people can work from wherever they want indefinitely. So… do we move back to the east coast, which we both grew up on? Do we move to Austin? Do we move out into the woods in Seattle to get more space and nature? We are still hashing all of it out!
So excited for you Emily and fam! We moved from LA to Bainbridge Island, WA 7 years ago, and I at the time wasn’t ready to leave that busy, exciting LA life, but now can’t imagine not living in nature at our fingertips. Love that you get to be near your family too and back to your roots. Can’t wait to follow along and congrats!!
So happy! There was a different tone in the posts over the last few weeks/mo the and I had a feeling this was coming! I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to pick up on it, and all of your long time readers might’ve figured out it was coming even before you did! It feels like the very right move and I’m so happy for you all!!
Oh yeah – our big change is that I am finally leaving the professional accounting world and becoming an accounting professor full time! WEIRD year to become a full time educator and even with all the potential health hazards in my heart I know this is where I’m supposed to be and I’m just happy I got here when I did! We moved “home” from NYC 2 years ago and even though I never thought I could live that “slow lifestyle” (it’s still plenty busy with young kids) again, I have not regretted that decision even once since we’ve been back.
What happy news! Oregon is, by far, my favorite state. We, too, are living very far from our western roots and, man, it can be lonely. Glad the Hendersons are able to make the move. And can’t wait to watch things unfold. Wishing you all the best!
Before I even started reading the blog post, I had a feeling your reasons for wanting to move home were likely just the same as mine.
Spot on.
My husband and I have been living abroad for five years now. Our son was born just a few days before Trump announced the travel restrictions- which meant what we thought would be a month split between our two moms visiting and helping and friends bringing by dinner in exchange for baby snuggles was just my husband and I and our new little guy… all clueless about how this all works. That first month was the hardest thing I have been through in my life.
I cannot continue living a required plane flight away from my family. My mom still hasn’t met my son.
We were sort of on the fence about where we wanted to be before the pandemic… you are very right about the light shining through the cracks- it is now very very clear that it is time to at least be on the same continent.
I hope for this: that you use your privilege to fight for a less segregated, more just Portland. We need you.
Congratulations, Emily and family. I’m so excited you are moving back to the PNW to be close to family. It will be wonderful for your children to grow up outside a city and be close to family. We are moving next week (crazy during a pandemic?) but only 20 miles north of the city (San Diego). And it’s three miles to the beach! You like trees, I like the ocean. Living in a city building with narrow hallways and elevators has been too scary during the pandemic. Our new place will have an outside front door! Grocery deliveries right to our door. Did I mention we will be three miles from the beach? Anyway, looking forward to seeing lots of content about the new house. Good luck with the move.
I’m so excited for you!! Oregon is the home of my heart and where all my family lives but I have lived in Nashville since 2002. Had all my kids here and my husband’s business, but I dream of living there again and being close to family…
My husband died 12 years ago and I retired 7 years ago. With both those events I gradually got off the hamster wheel. What the pandemic did was suddenly throw the rest of the world off the hamster wheel and all of you are catching up? – down? with me. It’s been an interesting thing to watch.
I love life in the slow lane!
Hooray!! I’m so excited to follow along!!
We decided to leave New York and move back close to friends and family as well. We didn’t live here all that long, but it just wasn’t the right fit for our family. And I think the pandemic helped accelerate that realization! Congratulations on a new life decision!
Congratulations!!! Fellow Oregonian here, raising 3 kids in Portland. So happy for you and your fam! I bet you will love being closer to family and home.
I’ve always loved your personal style, and I would love to follow along and see how you transition it to colder and rainy weather. Do give us some insights along the way! 😉
Oh no! You are my Los Feliz compadre!!! Say it isn’t so!
Dr Jane Rosen
So happy for you and have loved following your journey. Like you, our lives brought us full circle. After living in NYC my husband and I returned to the town we grew up in Colorado. While it can be bittersweet it just makes so much sense. Once you have a family – it’s important to be near family. Can’t wait to see your next home. Congratulations!
Congratulations!! You won’t regret slowing down, especially while your kids are still small. We are in the process of selling our home of the past 35 years. Where we raised our kids and have so many memories so I feel ya’! But I’m ready to start on our new adventure (my husband is kind of kicking and screaming but deep down I KNOW he really will enjoy it too). You will have a wonderful adventure too and can’t wait to see the new space and how it all becomes EHD-ified!!
I’m making a huge move from Arizona to California. Leaving behind a house I thought would be my forever home. I still had plans to update the bathrooms and the kitchen. Sad I’ll never see it come to life but know this move is best for our family. I am a little nervous post pandemic that making such a a move will all makes sense. Can’t wait to follow your journey.
Congratulations!!! Having lived in the PNW for six years, and knowing we will end up there, I could not be more psyched for you all! And selfishly, the blog posts alone for a new Henderson home – so. freaking. excited. Go, Emily!
I wasn’t from Oregon, but six years ago we decided that we didn’t want to raise our boys in LA. We had a few cities in mind and when we looked at the Portland suburbs the deciding factor were the trees and nature :)! We also loved the fact that we could buy a house for much cheaper than LA. This morning I was taking a walk in my neighborhood and was marveling at how much I loved it (compared to LA). I do miss the sun terribly in the winter, but you lived here so you know how that goes. When we visit LA I love seeing my friends and I do miss the “vibe” of the city, but I really couldn’t imagine us still living there. I look forward to your journey up in Oregon. Our extended family is spread out, but it just happened that where we moved was exactly the same distance to my mom’s place as it was when we lived in LA, so the only thing that changed was that we got to drive the prettier part of I5 instead of the ugly part :). Good luck and best wishes for your move!
So exciting and nice to be close to family! We moved back to Utah to be closer to family after being away for 11 years and it’s been the best decision for our family. Good luck with the move.
I think it’s great news, especially for the kids!
Hope it all works out and that you are all very, very happy in Oregon.
Will the new house need a remodel? She says, keeping fingers crossed. 😂
Congratulations! We made a similar big decision and sold our house in the Midwest and moved back to the East coast to be close to our families. Once you have kids, it pains you so much more to be far away from family so I’m happy we made the jump. Congratulations on setting the wheels in motion and best wishes as you get settled!
I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU. I too, feel the pandemic stirring up lots of life changes. I feel like you just bought this house yesterday!! Wishing your family all the best and I can’t wait to follow along with the journey!!
I am so excited to watch you make a new house a home, Emily! Congratulations!!! We’re toying with a huge move (from Ontario to Nova Scotia, where we know not a soul) because the pandemic has taught us that what matters most is time with our nuclear family and being outdoors. The move would allow my husband to work less as N.S. real estate is cheap. I’m glad we’re not the only ones making big decisions on a moment of crisis… And and also feeling unbelievably sad about leaving and giddy at the possibilities. But it’s just like you said: this pandemic makes everything so clear!
Can’t wait to tag along for this new chapter for your family. Really, REALLY hope you get the house.
Oh my gosh, how exciting! My husband and I have talked about moving our family to Oregon for some time now, but we’d be doing the opposite of you in that we’d be leaving behind our family in a state where we don’t feel like we belong (very conservative southern state) and trying to find our life for our family that is more aligned with our values and lifestyle. The only think keeping us here is the fact that we don’t know if we can move our son away from his grandparents and cousins in good conscience. This decision has been harder than anything we’ve faced in our decade together. I applaud you for taking the big leap and making the move that fits your family best.
But, Portland? Now?
Don’t buy into the right wing media hype.
Ha. Do you live here?
My friends are bailing out of Portland-proper for neighboring cities (like where I live). Their buyers have all been Californians (with cash) so far. I just read an article tonight that the Portland housing market is on fire right now; average Portlanders are fleeing to outer-areas while Californians are fleeing to Portland; livability is relative, I suppose.
In line with all these thoughts we moved a month ago from busy Bay area to the small island in Washington. Also keeping our mountain condo in Tahoe 🙂
So, yes, it’s in the air!
Wow, how exciting! I moved back to Portland a year and a half ago and so glad we did! I hope you share what neighborhood you are in, I’m so excited to see! We drove through Dunthorpe the other day and that’s a really great neighborhood. We didn’t see the house you sold though, since most houses so hidden.
Changes made during the pandemic: lockdown made me realize that I didn’t want my steady, wonderful, work-from-home job to be my forever, and I just quit to go back to school! It’s a whole second act, and I’ll be so lucky if I can retire having had two amazing, fulfilling careers. Life is so long when you think about working. Why stagnate? We have two little kids and one income now, but I feel like I’m flying. It’s so liberating. All best to your family in your new life!
Congrats and welcome from a fellow Oregonian who can’t imagine living elsewhere (in this country)! It’s an adjustment but one I’ve seen go smoother than you’d expect.
You used the past 6 months to evaluate and move ahead. And, yes, moving back can be moving ahead. I wish you every blessing. 😊
ugh fine. Make me cry. But so happy for you guys. And totally get what you are saying about the pandemic making everyone play the tape forward. I now want to move to the country and have a farm but then I think about school districts and my unwillingness to actually home school (virtual school – ok, with a helper) and then I realize that this is maybe my retirement dream.
Congratulations and all the best to you and the family Emily! I’m so excited to see all the content in the new space AND new state.
Most content on the blog has been very LA/CA-centric for obvious reasons and I’ve loved it all, but it will be great to see more local artisans, vendors, craftsmen, and the general vibe and culture of different states. It was so nice to see a bit of that with the Portland Project. But I +1000 the plans to continue the updates please on Sarah’s, Bowser’s, Caitlin’s and anyone else’s projects in LA!
Also this is a great reminder that CA, as wonderful as it is, is not the center of the universe (said with love from a former Californian). 🙂
Good luck to you, but I can’t help but feel insulted. 😢 You gotta do what you gotta do, but it just seems a little … obvious?
Congrats! I understand the bravery it takes to make such a decision. My family moved from Santa Barbara after 43 years and moved to LO,OR. No regrets! Love the green and fresh air. I wish you peace on your journey❤️Have fun!
We’re doing something similar – moving from New Orleans back (well for me, my husband’s never lived there) to Northern California in the Sierra foothills to be closer to my now-widowed mom and help her then move out of her 4,000 sq. foot house (which is WAY too large for her to deal with now).
Welcome to Oregon! I’m south of Portland I live in the country and have been here for 14 years originally from Bay Area. Winters are hard I miss sunny California but with all the fires maybe a good time to be in Oregon
Well we didn’t make these changes during covid but my husband and I did exactly what you are doing-like everything! Moved west to the coast for 6 years, built the dream house, friends to die for, had a child and I wanted to be closer to family. We ended up back in the city we left, never thought that would happen. Life is so unexpected.
We miss it soo much, especially our friends but I’m also happier to be near family. Best of luck.
Emily congratulations on your big move! It will be hard to leave LA but being with family when you have kids is precious. So glad you are making it work. And I can’t wait to see how the new house renovations go….’cause you know you’ll be changing things!!!
This is the first time I’m writing…we are selling what I thought was my forever home where we have so many memories as we pursuit a new bigger dream. Can you share your thoughts on what you think is a “forever/dream home.” I can’t wait to see you new house and hear why this is the one after all the hard work you put into your beautiful home with the additional pluses of neighborhood and friends. Best wishes!
Welcome back to Oregon! We are just south of Portland in the closest non-suburb of the city and we love it!
Wow I remember being at my Bay Area job when you announced buying the Los Feliz house and being shocked.
And now I’ve been in San Diego for several years and feel sort of shocked, but also like you said, not surprised that the trees would call you back, for your kids.
I’m happy for you all, esp the slowing down part. I’m proud of you, as awkward as that sounds because I’m Sara’s age. But I think I’m older than Design Star Emily 🙂 anyways
I’m feeling the pull to move too. East coast is calling. I can feel it, but it’s so sad to think about leaving my people. I feel you in that regard. I try to remember all the new friends I made BECAUSE I moved.
Congratulations! And if I may, proud of you 🙂
Congratulations… wonderful choice ❤️ You cannot ever replace the time spent with family! 🥰
This is what dreams are made of. Congratulations on following your dreams, or more than likely your instincts. Sometimes it’s hard to hear them in the hustle and bustle of a big city. I’m glad you have the opportunity to give quiet, slow-paced and family nearby a try. New and lasting memories await.
So proud of you guys, Emily and Brian, for pursuing and trusting where your heart is leading you. You guys are such amazing people and have an amazing family. What a joy it has been working with you! Hands down one of our best experiences. We love you guys and look forward to hearing more along the way ❤️
Beautiful post, gave me all the feels. I love what you said about this pandemic really shining a light on the cracks of life – it’s such a empowering way to look at this historic year. I LOVE your home and hope the prospective new owner will appreciate all the love you’ve poured into it. Wish you all the best in your transition and upcoming move!
I’m so excited for you and your family. While we’re not making any big decisions, I’ve had inner transformations occur over the last few months. Things like, I’m comfortable with frizzy hair, I don’t need makeup to feel pretty, I enjoy my own company, my home really is my favorite place and my family are my favorite people. And I like to get carry out! Can’t wait to continue following your journey!!
We will miss you toooooo much!
Emily, your passion and energy for living life is contagious! So connecting and energetic. Looking forward to hearing more! I have also been contemplating a move during COVID and living in an area that honors more of me. You inspire me in many ways.
Good for you Emily! That’s amazing news!
Excited to see what’s next! If you need an ex-lawyer, interior enthusiast, photography junkie to do anything in Portland, give me a ring! I guess my big change during the pandemic is the ex-lawyer thing😜
As a fellow native Oregonian and a Portlander I just want to say welcome home!
I bought a pool. I’ve wanted my own pool since I was five, I’m 48. The pandemic made me realize it was time.
Portland will be so thrilled to have you here in this amazing community!
Yvonne(Decorview PDX)
Let me know when you land and I would love to share a great OREGON vintage with ya!
Hi Emily- The news is bittersweet, but I completely understand how you feel and your thoughts about it. However when reading I found myself weepy. My husband and I have been discussing this exact thing recently after living here 20 plus years. I am from St. Louis (with parents in their 80’s, more family and 2 of my best friends there for us) and he is now from Seattle (but neither of us are in love with that idea). My brother (and nephew and ex-sister in law) live in Portland (but we would need to do a longer recon visit to really know if we like it that much or not (the little we have seen we like tho!). So we have considered all three for most of the same reasons you listed.
Unfortunately my husband is a screenwriter so being here has been necessary and I think he feels it would be giving up on his dream (he has had some success but mostly its been frustrating for him), etc. There are a lot of decent things about STL for us but the conservatism and the horrible weather (esp the humid as F summers that I HATED even before I left and became even less tolerant to after acclimating here for so long). But despite that we are considering it. I think maybe if you have kids it makes the decision easier? I have loved living here so much, it would break my heart to leave. But as you know we are all now paying a lot of money to live in LA without really being able to enjoy what we are paying for. I think if I knew we could afford to come back if we wanted to later on it would be an easier decision. I know you didn’t make it lightly. At least since you are keeping the Lake Arrowhead house you can visit easily in the future to see your friends, etc.
This has made many of us take a hard look at our lives and ask ourselves WHAT ARE the really important things that we want to have in our lives. For most, it is being near the people we love and also maybe having a lower cost of living which makes life a lot easier (who are we kidding LA peeps). For me its also that a lower cost of living would mean being able to finally afford a house (I love design too) which we can’t do here in this crazy housing market.
Sorry about the long post but I wanted to let you know that a lot of us are in your place, esp those of us who live here in LA and love so much about it.
Glad to hear the blog won’t be going away as I would miss ya!
Eve
I can totally relate to every word, Emily! We moved to northern CA (SF, Bay area) after living in NYC, and loved it. We also bought a beautiful home and renovated it.
Then Covid hit, and as much as we are extremely grateful to be living in a large house, where my husband can work and our 2 boys (2nd grade and k) can remote learn and play happily, I felt extremely lonely. The slow pace life took, made me realize I have nothing here. No family, and not a lot of real, deep friendships.
So, just like you, we are planning on selling out home and look for a new one in the Seattle suburbs. Our kids are American, but me and my husband are from Israel, and there’s a huge Israeli community over there. They will be our family as our real one lives 15 hours flight from CA.
I wish you best of luck! Stay safe.
We bought our first home in Beaverton, Or (welcome back!) in mid-March. We already knew it wasn’t our forever home and hoped to love to Maui in five years. The pandemic has cemented in our minds that our goal is that huge move. Life is short! We have a one-year-old and are hoping for a second. Moving away from family would be hard, but I miss living there and the pace of life feels so right for our family.
It mist be such a wrench to leave that beautiful home and friends. I know what it is like too.
Would it be possible to see a floorplan of your LA home some time please? Floorplans that work fascinate me and I adore your living room.
Best wishes for your move
So excited for your new adventure! Sounds like the perfect time. Until a couple months ago I actually lived not far from you. I’m a designer as well (hotels) and always loved knowing that you were in the neighborhood. 😉 Been trying not figure out who you use for reupholstering for years. Maybe now I’ll find out!? LOL Best of luck. I hope this move is everything you hope it will be and more.
Hi Emily…congrats on this wonderful move…wishing all the best for your family! I began following you about a year ago and was especially excited to see your Mountain House progress. Our family has a long and wonderful history with Lake Arrowhead. I won’t go into all the details here…but we have 38 greats years of memories attached to that community. If you do decide to rent it out…what would be the agency that we would contact? Again…blessings on you and your family as you take this next step!
Pandemic moves! We are in the process of one as well. Just handed over the keys to our incredibly loved Spanish bungalow of 9 years..moving to a larger ranch that we basically are gutting because we got demo happy 🙃 sooooo for now we are living in an Airbnb while we renovate the new place. All this with 2 kids under 3!
Congratulations! I live in a big city (London) and often think about moving back to the states so I understand going home again… but just not ready yet, not sure I ever will be. We did make a big decision – baby number 2 arriving in 2021 ❤️
Welcome back to Oregon! We have lived in LA and San Francisco and the slower pace here is so wonderful. We moved back 10 years ago after adventuring and fast paced city life. I also grew up here so understand the call back to your home state. Then, after 8 years in inner SE Portland, we moved a little south of town about 18 months ago and it’s so great. Quiet, beautiful, awesome place to have kids. Congrats!!
YES!
Only 26, and have always known where I want to end up … just getting the few ducks in a row and fattened before heading HOME (and finding that person to sign-up on this deal together, ha ha). It is everything; the slow, simple, fruitful lifestyle filled with the TRUE riches of life – our family and friends.
Much love, Hendersons!
X, Fei.
Wow! Great fabulous news & makes perfect sense! So far during the pandemic I gifted my 6 figure property management company to a Black employee 100% & stay on to consult for her for free. I launched a new business & am building up a private therapy practice focused on helping women break thru limiting, self-sabotage & cultivate the passion, purpose & fire to go after their dreams. I facilitate weekly groups & take private clients. I also learned to skateboard & I’m picking up guitar – 2 things that have been on my bucket list for 30 years!!! Taking inventory & going after your dreams is crucial. I’m excited to follow along you next adventures ✨. Also Ivanhoe 💛.
Emily congratulations! We lived in Southern California for over 50 years and moved to Idaho 10 years ago to be near family and love it. We had people ask us why we left San Diego and my husband would say “there’s more to life than 70° weather all the time” 😊
I’m crying. Damn!!! Very excited for this. Completely related to this post in a lot of ways and really excited to learn more about your community efforts. It’s gonna be awesome.
Congrats! We sold our house in Bellevue and moved to Gig Harbor (2.5 hrs from Portland / Lake Oswego)
We sold our house and bought a house the week before everything shut down in WA.
It’s been a wild ride. So happy to be out of Bellevue and excited you are moving closer. 😆
Oh I also blame you for not having a sofa for 12 weeks! I had to have the sixpenny neva sectional. 12 weeks with no tv room sofa was not fun. We just got it a couple days ago. Love it…thank you for the recommendation, it’s the only thing in my home (furniture) that is not second hand and it’s worth all the $$$. I also ordered in pepper.
I’m delighted for you, it sounds like you made a decision that makes sense on every level. You’ve worked so hard these last few years and missed out on so much time with your family, you deserve to be able to nurture that side of yourself and yourselves now. And I’m sure having the full spectrum of seasons will make up for not having year round sunshine.
One question, and if it’s too personal feel free to ignore, but you and Brian – collectively and individually – have always very open here about your lives. I’m wondering how this move will impact on Brian’s acting career. What is the theatre scene like in Portland? I’m sure you wouldn’t have made a decision of this magnitude for your family without also considering this. Apologies if Portland is a known theatrical centre, I’ve done a bit of googling and it’s not showing up, but that doesn’t necessarily mean much.
Hi, Brian here! Thanks so much for asking, it’s very thoughtful. The sad fact is that live theater probably won’t come back for at least another year in my opinion – not many people are willing to squeeze into a small space where actors are spraying spit all over the place. So that’s why we’re waiting out the pandemic up in the mountains. And yes, Portland has a really great theater scene! I’m bummed to have worked to develop relationships and a career in LA, but I can do it again up there. The trade off for our lives is worth it. And who knows, maybe I’ll fly back down if the play is good enough!
We moved home last year after living in big cities (LA, New York, Chicago) for 16 years. Like you said, I felt like my life was a hamster wheel because that’s just how it is in big cities. We live near my mom and sister now, so my 2 little kids get to have a relationship with their grandmother and cousins that they never could have had before. I still get a little sad when I think about walking to school and being so close to our friends and all that from our old life, but seeing them develop a bond with my mom is totally worth it and the right choice for sure. Good luck, Hendersons. It’s going to be great.
Also planning a move to OR to be closer to family! Congrats! So excited for you.
Yes!! I’m excited for you! Moved from Southern California to Idaho 10 years ago and when asked by some people who asked why, my husband would say”there’s more to life than 70° weather all the time.”😁💞
I agree! The pandemic made me feel brave enough to see what I needed to change in my life. It was like a big, glaring sign that said “NOW is the perfect time…use this opportunity…make something good out of this!” Having time to slow down and prioritize pushed me to do three big things that I had been wanting to do but was too scared to:
1) Close the physical location of my business (art/craft studio) and shift it to online and off site only! I had known in my heart that it wasn’t working and I needed a new business plan, but finally felt brave enough to do it. It feels so good to have that decision made…it lifted sooo much stress off my shoulders! Now I can do classes/projects on my own time, mostly from home (which is so so important with two young kids!)
2) Buying and moving into my childhood home in the town where our work and school is! We’ve been living in the country and hauling ourselves back and forth for 10 years. Our daily lives will be so much easier now! And I get to raise my kids in the house I grew up in! 3) Renewed my speech therapy license and got a part time position at my kids’ school! I love seeing them during the day, esp. getting hugs. ❤️
My hometown is Philly (as is my partner’s) and I spent most of my adult life in Washington, DC but we moved here to Beaverton, OR almost 5 years ago for a dream job. First time living on the West Coast and only the second time ever stepping foot in Oregon. We love the more relaxed pace of life and proximity to so many parks and nature in general. (Plus the spectacular Oregon Coast is only an hour or so away.) In the 5 years, we’ve moved twice. Our first house wasn’t quite suited to us (new construction in a new development, cookie-cutter, tiny “yard,” location wasn’t all that convenient, no mature trees) and we admit we bought in a rush. Our current house, however, is truly “us.” It’s an updated 1970s ranch that feels like a jewel box, surrounded by soaring old-growth trees, and with neighbors who are amazing–several are original owners.
We definitely had to get used to the long months of rainy gray but dare I say we have finally gotten used to it (getting a dog certainly helped and he has fast become our beloved furbaby). I am not sure we will ever move back to Philadelphia or the East Coast, and also not sure whether this house is our forever home. It is great for now, and for once, I am actually trying not to plan too far in advance and just enjoy each day.
Beautiful post that I can 100% relate to. My family made the same decision a couple months ago although our move was only an hour away. But we left Oakland to be in my hometown and closer to our family. Congratulations to you and your family! We are so happy with our decision and it really is about prioritizing what’s right for you and your family right now. Can’t wait to see more to come!
Yay Emily! I’m originally from Oregon too and all of my family is there! One day I will move back, nothing beats being near family! Your kids will love getting to see their cousins all the time. A lot of extra love and a lot of extra fun memories are awaiting for you in the PNW! 🙂
Congrats on this big decision. I really believe that if there an upside to this terrible pandemic, it’s that we have been allowed the luxury to slow down and really evaluate our lives and what we believe is important for ourselves and our families. I have enjoyed reading your blog and following you on IG. You have definitely inspired me to up my design game. I have been crushing on your patio for a while now and this summer my husband and I decided to build a patio (pandemic project!) outside our breakfast area under some beautiful mature oak trees (lookin at you EH) It’s still in process but the fact that we did it ourselves gives an amazing sense of accomplishment. I will definitely tag you when it’s done so you can see what you inspired. All the best on your new and exciting adventure.
I’m so proud of you guys! This is a huge decision but makes a lot of sense. Excited to see your Oregon house!
Fantastic news!! If it feels more right than wrong follow that instinct and relish the adventure….you inspire us all ☺️ so excited we get to come on this journey with you xx
Congratulations on your upcoming move I think that you have made a great decision it is so important to be close to family especially for your children. We too decided to leave city life behind after spending most of our adult years in LA and moved to a sparsely populated island in Florida and we LOVE it! My only regrets are not having made the move when our kids were young. Best wishes on your new journey I know that it will be full of fun and adventure for you and your family!
I’m so happy for you! Honestly, all the work and love in building a home that suits is a labor of love and non-attachment is the only way I can process leaving. We have done a new kitchen, 2 new bathrooms and major gardening in our 2 bedroom/2 bath condo set in the woods. I’ve been following you along for all your tips as we are now tackling my daughter’s teen/moving up room. There’s so much finish work to do and the new spaces we are still enjoying. Right here feels right for now and that is reassuring in itself! Oregon is amazing, though! Congrats!
Wow! This blows me away. This is the 2nd time when you’ve seemed to move just after finishing your gorgeous home. While I’m really happy for you & your family…I can’t help but feel a little bit jealous (resentful? sorry!) that people are able to live like that…while my little family (me, my husband, 2 kids, 6 & 10, plus 6 pet animals 😆) has lived in our 1st house for 5 years and have only just begun to be able to make some improvements…and still have so much more we (I) want to do. I will never be able to remodel a single house in the way you have with your last THREE homes…I get that you have worked hard and well to be so financially successful…but it can feel hard as a “regular person” to read all about it at times. I am excited to hear about your plans of helping the “underserved” on a bigger scale in the future. I hope no one takes this comment as an attack-it’s not meant that way AT ALL…I just felt like I wanted to share how some “regular people” readers might feel. I am a big fan of EHD and love reading the blog.
Wishing you and your family all the best!!! I have been a crazy fangirl since Design Star and I have loved watching you do life (and design) but mostly life. All the best!!!
Is it just me or are you going to eventually move into the Portland flip 💛 also question how do you make furniture that is bought for a particular house work for another yet to be seen house? Isn’t that a huge gamble? Regardless, congratulations Emily, you remind me of all my Parent’s friends, who first moved back home to the motherland and then back to the area of my childhood home, wild, but Portland is one of the top like 10 places I have ever visited and the only places in the world I haven’t visited are South America and Antarctica, so that is saying a lot 💛
Hi! This is super exciting and I’m happy for you. My big questions are… about the red dress and the red peasant top you’re wearing in two different pics?? SO cute and would love the info!! 🙌🏼
Emily, I am so happy for you and your family! Like you, we decided to sell our pricey home and move out of the city to Westlake Village where we could get more value and live a more relaxed life. It’s not quite Oregon but we could not completely move since my husband must still go to the Valley sometimes for business. Closer to trails, lovely community, everything close by. We then also decided to purchase a condo in Madrid which is where my husband is from. It has been a dream of ours to live there so we are doing it. Not permanently right now, but it will be waiting for us.
I also decided to get back in contact with my parents right as the pandemic started. I wanted to bury the hatchet and move on. We hadn’t spoken in years. I spent one beautiful afternoon with my father on Memorial Day. I didn’t know it would be my last. He contracted COVID a month later and then passed away this last Monday. I wish I had more time, but I am grateful I woke up before it was too late. Listen to your intuition on this one.
Life is short! You will always have enough money, friends, work, love, but you will never have enough time.
When I read this post, I just felt like, yeah, that’s a great idea, I think it will be awesome.
I left SoCal about 12 years ago to move back to my hometown area, and I love it mucho. I personally do not miss living in California. AT. ALL. I do get back there for work and vacations tho. I now feel strongly that the perfect way to experience California is as a VISITOR who does not pay income/property taxes or spend all my days sitting on the freeway. That’s my two cents. Best of luck to you guys!
It was already in the works, but my husband and I are moving from Boston to Memphis for his new job. I was furloughed in mid-March and have been working on the business idea I’ve been sitting on for 5 years. So lots of changes over here! I’m really sad to leave a network of close friends and venture to a new place especially during COVID, but the long term payoff of being able to buy a home, move our careers to the next steps we’ve been working toward, and hopefully a better work life balance in a slower paced city will make it all worth it.
Congrats to you! I’m excited to see where the move takes you 🙂
Congratulations!!! We have the best friends in the world—but if you have a wonderful family, that love is hard to beat! After all, love is the purpose of this journey (and pretty spaces!).
Congratulations! When you know, you know. Looking forward to watching your latest adventure unfold.
How exciting! Can’t wait to follow along. We also moved out of the city, from Sydney to a town in the mountains nearby – a beautiful area that we’ve visited every chance we could get. We thought living out of the city wouldn’t be an option for us until we retired as both our careers are very city-centric but covid made working from home possible so we made the leap. One month in and we’re loving it! Hope you do too.
Congrats on making such a tough but exciting choice! My husband and I have been toying with making the move from NYC to LA after 1o years, and having a lot of similar thoughts about leaving a city we have called home. In the end, friends are the main reason we have stayed so long, so that especially resonated. Can’t wait to follow your exciting next chapter.
This resonates so much with me. My husband and I (and 3 girls) were thinking of moving before the pandemic and now we’re thinking, YES, let’s go. We have no idea where though! We’re debating between so many different places, Oregon, Colorado, Maine or North Carolina. The sad thing is we’d be leaving family but we just feel this need for someplace beautiful. We have all the feels in our house right now!
In a desperate search for a kid-sized desk chair, I hopped on over to the blog to see if you might have done a round up on kid-size home learning furniture. I didn’t make it far because I saw this post. I’ve never posted/commented before but these lines made me burst out in tears: “But at a certain point, your priorities just become so clear. If you always know in your gut that this is how it will end, why wait?? Why put off the next phase in your life, one that you know will make your family happier, just because it seems crazy?”
My husband and I have been struggling whether we should move our family out to the not-so-close suburbs from DC proper. And I have to tell you…I’ve been in such agony over the decision. COVID has made me want to flee the rat race, get closer to trails, and get away from the crime. It’s made me reassess my values and priorities…what’s more important? Diversity? A private school education? A public school education? A short commute? Financial flexibility?
Yes, I think I know in my gut how it will end.
Congratulations on an exciting new adventure for your family.
Oh Emily—right before I read this I was looking for houses in PDX—we live in Healdsburg CA and after 4 years of being evacuated—we are done and are going to try and outrun climate change—our sons live in Portland and we have been saying “we will end up there”—so why wait and now you will be there to help us remodel our home—I’m looking for a Mt. Tabor Tudor—I’m very happy for all of us and can’t wait to see what you are up to………
Dang! When I saw this I was hoping for Denver or Colorado because you have been loving the mountain life :). So excited for you and your family. I don’t have the same changes but have made major changes in my life to simplify it. I too have found just being with my family is what brings the most joy. So before all the virus hit us this year (actually over the last several years) we planned for me to stay at home with the kids. I left my job as an engineer and am currently house manager and homeschool teacher. I am loving it. Our pace is slower. More time for impromptu picnics, bike rides, hikes, game nights, etc. My inner feminist was nervous because I was afraid I was letting so many women down, especially in a field that is more male dominated. We each make decisions that best suit us because ultimately it’s our lives and our choice in how we choose to spend the limited time we have. Congrats on your upcoming move. I can’t wait to see your posts about this.
Selling your delightful house?! Moving back to Portland makes total sense, though!
Funny, as we are leaving the PNW soon to move to LA for a mid-life adventure for 3-7 years and plan to return to the PNW after that.
I would totally love to buy your beautiful house, but alas, not feasible at this time.
Best to you and your family in your moving and transition.
That was nice of you to give a shout out to your church–churches need the support right now. Love that you share so much of your life. Your work is beautiful, but I always prefer the shots with your family in them. Best of luck, I am excited to see the new digs and even happier for your launch into this new phase. Best of luck.
Exciting! My guess is an amazing house with potential in Dunthorpe. Looking forward to seeing the next project.
My Dad died suddenly almost a year ago. I’m so glad my husband and I made the choice to live close to my folks and my son could know my parents.
I hope you can find a place that includes walking options. My college town, Corvallis, is small enough like that. My Mom is from Portland, and most of her side is scattered throughout the state. Oregon is really lovely, not Alaska 😉, but wonderful. It will be fun to read about your new home and projects!
This is going to be an amazing adventure!! I am very happy for you! I really want to move away from the city too. We live in Montreal but always wanted to go back to my hometown, a quieter place but with all we need… However my husband refuses to. He is from Montreal and has no intention to move away, which is heartbreaking for me as raising my kids in a big city is really not my ideal. The summers are getting hotter and hotter so we cannot enjoy being outside that much, and everything is more stressfull in a city. Anyway, I am so happy when I hear stories of families moving somewhere that is more suitable for them and couples that are on the same page for the move. I literaly cried reading your story, hoping someday we will be able to do the same. Can’t wait to see your new house!!
I’m happy for you and your family. I’ve never been to Oregon, BUT it is in my Bucketlist!!! Gorgeous places to enjoy nature plus close to the family, sounds like a win-win to me!!! Merrier Christmas celebrations!!! Tons of blessings!!!
Just now catching up on blogs and reading this news. Congrats! This is a huge move but I can feel in your writing that your heart is so full of hope and happiness. I wish you guys the best of luck on the move!
In terms of crazy life choices during COVID, my fiance and I bought a camper and just spent 7 weeks out west, “social distancing in style” in 19 states. We visited 7 national parks while I worked remotely and got the bug to see all 62 of them in our lifetime!
We just got back home and are settling in for the fall, but what an adventure. Life is too short to wait until we’re old to enjoy it. You never know how much time you have left in your life, so enjoy it while you can. I’m so happy we took the risk and did it.
We moved close to my family a couple years ago after having our babies and living in a big city for 7 years. It’s wonderful to see our kids having their cousins and grandma and grandpa. It makes a big difference and gives them a sense of place. I do miss the city life but now with covid none of that really matters.
Congrats! I would love to hear how you cope with the emotional aspect of selling a house you’ve poured so much time and energy into. We live in the Bay Area and very recently decided to do the same thing – move to a small town where I grew up to be closer to family and community. We bought our house three years ago and I’m a little heartbroken to give it up. I spent soo much time renovating, picking out the perfect tile and lighting. I feel a bit lost, like, did I waste a bunch of energy/time/money? I’d love to hear your tips for how to renovate and invest in your own house while balancing the reality that everybody moves. Both financially and emotionally – how are you coping with leaving such a beautiful and thoughtfully designed house?!
The family photo included in this post is my favorite of all. So pretty!