Houzz
Home inspiration, millions of products, and designers and architects to make it happen—it’s all on Houzz.com.
Highlights & Contributions
At Houzz, I knocked out 5-7 articles per week: home tours, interviews with bloggers, designers, architects, and organizers. I created fun content (quizzes! polls!) for an ever-active community of engaged Houzzers.
Houzz Tour: A Family of 4 Unwinds in 540 Square Feet
An extraordinarily scaled-down home and garden for a couple and their 2 kids fosters sustainability and togetherness
Interior designer Jessica Helgerson and her family had every intention of spending only a few nights in their new summer home. But the weekend turned into a few weeks, and up until this day, the Helgersons can’t bring themselves to leave. “We came over on the weekend of my birthday and never left,” says Helgerson.
It’s easy to see why. The small home, situated north of Portland on picturesque Sauvie Island, is part of a wildlife and agricultural preserve. “We fell in love with the area after our first hike, but it took a while before we found our home. We saw so much potential in this house despite finding it in a completely run-down state. Its size is definitely out of the ordinary for this area, but since we have to scale things down, we’ve all become more disciplined when it comes to what we consume and bring into the house,” says Helgerson.
House Rule: Off with your shoes
Do you prefer your guests to go shoeless in your house? Here are some ways to encourage stockinged feet
In places like Japan, Austria and Sweden, entering a house with shoes on is a rarity. But those living outside of these countries know that not all guests are familiar with or honor the shoes-off policy.
It's a tough house rule to implement because on one hand, as the host, it should really be your house, your rules. But on the other hand, guests should be made to feel as comfortable as possible — and we all know that not everyone is comfortable going shoeless.
Here are a few ways to implement entryway shoe removal with tact, often without ever having to say, "Off with your shoes!"
Decorated Houses Help Save a Detroit Neighborhood
Art's a start for an inner-city community working to stave off urban blight and kindle a renaissance
Most of us decorate our front porches and yards only for Halloween, the fall harvest season and Christmas. But these homes in Detroit are decked out 365 days a year, thanks to the efforts of Tyree Guyton, artist and founder of The Heidelberg Project. Instead of being demolished, these mostly abandoned homes in Detroit's oldest African American community are serving a powerful purpose as large canvases for eclectic, eye-catching art — and saving a community.
"Detroit is worth saving. It's a city we all love for different reasons," says Jenenne Whitfield, executive director of The Heidelberg Project. "The art on Heidelberg and Elba streets shows our efforts in restoring the spirit of a city and the hopes of this inner-city community."
She can see how the arts community, urban gardeners and farmers, and tech startups have convinced Detroit natives and others to take back Detroit and revive it from decay. "Residents in neighboring streets are now out sweeping their sidewalks, fixing their broken homes one fixture, one shingle at a time and helping out a neighbor," she says. "We thrived on a manufacturing industry that fell, but we refuse to sit back and let Detroit fade away. We have an obligation to our city."
