emilyhenderson and arciform turn potential into paradise

PHOTOGRAPHED BY KAITLIN GREEN

When designer and Instagram influencer Emily Henderson, @em_henderson, found a vintage farmhouse on THREE SECLUDED ACRES in the middle of an incredible old suburb 15 minutes from Downtown Portland and 5 minutes from cute SW restaurants, she just knew it was meant to be—and, she also knew she would need help tackling the renovation.

It has two farmhouses—one from 1860 (a kit house that is dripping with charm—and totally falling down) and the main house from 1910 that hasn’t been updated too much but is in strong shape. It has a barn, multiple super cute sheds, and a massive carriage garage. It has 2 paddocks and a pasture and the entire property is fully fenced. When we heard that Emily and her family were looking for help, we just knew we needed to be part of this project. After meeting Emily remotely, and each of us carefully vetting the other, well—you know what they say, the rest is history! Follow the journey below.

Jamie and the ARCIFORM team built and installed the shelves wall to wall (through some carpentry magic)”

“As you know, we wanted a vintage island to bring in age and soul, but finding the right one proved to be very difficult…until one day it wasn’t. It seems to be an old store counter, because its sheer size means that it must have been in something commercial (it’s more than 9” long). The six drawers on the front side function pretty well—heavier and harder to open/close than new drawers, but they are actually really deep, so we store our colanders, Tupperware, and random cooking tools in there. It’s white oak with an old reddish stain that we actually love. It’s solid, adds so much soul, and feels casual but not too shabby-chic (nothing wrong with that, just not what we are going for in the kitchen).”

“I think my favorite area of the room is this random little vignette or the dining nook—it just feels so much like me.”

“I remember sitting on the floor of the mountain house with buckets of samples from Pratt + Larson and so many pieces of paper that I had cut out into shapes, trying to come up with unique ways to use simple tile shapes. I had so much time (it was during lockdown) and had a real “bee in my bonnet” about the kids’ bath having this fun tile floor/wall border.”

“This lady, Mrs. Mudroom, is quite possibly my favorite room in the house (rivaled by the kitchen, sunroom, and our bathroom, TBH). I’m not joking that every single time I walk into it I feel joy and happiness through the sense of light, space, and sheer ease of function. All the design elements came together just as they did in my mind—NO, even better.”