Patience Pays Off for this Family-Focused Whole Home Reno

While designing their new house, the Silversteins needed the West Linn, Oregon fixer-upper to serve multiple purposes: a comfortable home for their little ones, Milo and Max; an at-home office to run Urban Oreganics, their eco-friendly beauty business; and a blank slate for Emily’s interior design-trained eclectic taste.

After a quick close, the Silversteins and their contractor wasted no time, not even a day, getting to work. “Our contractor came over to look at it a few times before we got the keys, and then we started demo-ing the day we gained access. The entire house was gutted down to the studs and we started over.”

“We were able to stay in our old house as renters for an extra month, but then we faced the reality of having nowhere to live,” Silverstein says. “We could have lived in the new house and chipped away at it room by room, but the work we wanted to do was so extensive, we decided it was best to not live in it while this was happening, so it could get completed faster.” Enter RV life.

A top to-do on the Silversteins’ renovation list was their living room. Two challenges arose while designing this space: its massive size, which made for a tricky layout, and the old, brassy, dated fireplace, which didn’t align with their modern aesthetic. “We’ve always had fireplaces; they’re so cozy and inviting. I love them for ambiance alone, but they also come in handy as an additional heat source during the cold Oregon winters,” Silverstein says.

In February 2018, their contractor and his crew removed the existing stone surround, wood mantel, firewood door and hearth, which was cemented in rebar. Then they repaired the drywall to prep for texturing and painting. Then...nothing. The Silversteins were stuck. “We knew we wanted a sleek fireplace, but couldn’t agree on mantel versus no mantel, or what kind of tile we wanted, or how much of the wall we wanted to tile, so we just waited.”

Removing the existing stone surround, wood mantel and hearth allowed for a blank, raw slate.

And waited and waited–for an entire year. While searching for the perfect fireplace, they lived with a hole in the wall. “After a lot of searching, we found that Heat & Glo had the best model for our budget, fireplace opening and style,” Silverstein says.

In May 2019, the Silversteins (finally) finalized their plan, pairing their Cosmo gas fireplace with thin brick, bright white paint and an unfortunately tricky installation, which they credit Evergreen Gas Heating & Cooling from Sherwood, Oregon with solving.

Two years later, and the Silversteins are still loving their bright and modern living room, which often serves as a makeshift playroom for Milo, 6, and Max, 4, and as a cozy backdrop to their weekly family board game nights.

Was that year of staring at a hole in her living room worth it? Definitely. “Don’t rush the process,” Silverstein says. “Be patient. Every time I looked at that empty hole in the wall, I was so frustrated and just wanted it to be complete. But I’m so glad we waited until we found the perfect unit and the perfect way to finish that wall.”