My Houzz: Wasting Not, Wanting Not in a New Portland House

Shannon Quimby and Glenn Hoffinger tore down a dilapidated 1920s home in the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, with a very specific vision: to build a sustainable home from the ground up without wasting any material. They called their renovation project the R.E.X. — for "the Reuse Everything Experiment."

"My grandmother was very poor," says Quimby, a photo stylist and salvage decorator. "We used everything, and we saved everything. If it was broken, we fixed it. If it was still broken, and we couldn't fix it, we would change it into something else." She and Hoffinger worked tirelessly for seven months as their own general contractors, saving everything from the crumbling foundation to bottles found on the construction site, nails in the walls and even floor grates.

"We saved trees, we supported local businesses, we supported nonprofit businesses who came in to help deconstruct and we taught people how to do this for future projects," says Quimby. For the interior she decorated with secondhand, budget-friendly finds where possible. "Thrift stores and salvage yards are my Candy Land," she says. "I like to find things everybody passes by and figure out what I can change them into."

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Shannon Quimby; Glenn Hoffinger; their son, Chase; and cats Plum and Bella
Location: Sellwood neighborhood of Portland, Oregon
Size: 3,100 square feet (including the garage); 3 bedrooms, 3½ baths
That's interesting: The couple hired as many as 350 subcontractors for the renovation; on average 20 a day worked on it. The most they ever had onsite was 67.

The siding was the only project that cost more to salvage than replace with new. The shiplap needed to be dipped, sanded and primed to get rid of the lead-based paint.

"If we had bought it new, it would have cost us $2,000 less," Quimby says. "But we saved trees and saved it from going to the landfill."


Quimby and Hoffinger began deconstructing the house in 2007. They hired local company The Rebuilding Center to help. The project took seven months to complete.


After taking the house down, they organized the building materials to reuse but discovered a problem. "We made a big mistake," Quimby says. "After placing everything in the yard, we realized we had nowhere to build the house. We had to rent two containers and store everything in those."



AFTER: In the dining room, Quimby repurposed beer and wine bottles found on the property during reconstruction to make a dining room chandelier. She took the bottles to her mason to have them cut with a wet saw and then added the lightbulbs.

Table: salvage, Urban Timberworks


A vintage map hides a mounted television in the living room. "The map keeps the marriage together," Quimby says. She purchased the cabinet at a neighborhood garage sale for $55. The couple cut off the sides and turned it into a corner cupboard to hold their electronics.


Everything in this space got a new life in the new house. The floor grate in the old living room is now the front door boot scraper. The flooring was saved and used on a mini fridge as door paneling, as flooring for two of the bathrooms and as bases for window beds in the upstairs playroom.


They bought the sectional at an estate sale for $300. The back of the couch, buttons and piping are covered in burlap Quimby found for $4 at Goodwill. She found the rest of the fabric online at a discount.


This pair of swivel chairs in the living room cost $35 at a neighbor's estate sale. Quimby reupholstered the seats with old coffee bean sacks and jeans. She designed the fireplace hearth with scraps of wood from the old sunporch.


Quimby repurposed holly trees from the property for stools. "Holly trees are an invasive species, so you don't need a permit to cut them down," she says. An old mailbox used as a side table sits beside a couch Quimby purchased for $20 at a garage sale.


The sink and cabinetry from the original kitchen are now being used in Quimby and Hoffinger's workshop.


AFTER: The kitchen island is made from a combination of 80-year-old framing from the previous house and leftover framing from the new construction. Above the island Quimby and Hoffinger used a window from the old home as decoration.

Knobs and hardware in the kitchen and throughout the home are made of insulators.

The couple found the large scale at an estate sale in Medford, Oregon. It wasn't part of the sale, but Quimby's eagle eye spotted the gem under 40 years of sawdust. She paid $25 for it .


Popcorn and brown sugar are stored in jars mounted to the bottom of the kitchen cupboard. Quimby's grandfather Buzz was a bus driver with handyman skills who kept his nuts and bolts in similar jars in his workshop.

Most of the countertops in the home, including this one, are by Trinity. They are made from recycled broken bottles and low-carbon concrete.


Recycled chestnut floors make a beautiful hallway — and bowling alley.


Quimby made this bathroom pebble mat by gluing pebbles to a $4 mat from Target. She bought the pedal faucet online with her son and his friends in mind. The vanity is made from the old house's back door.


When the treads showed up for the stairs, they were too short. Rather than taking the scraps to the dump and starting over from scratch, Quimby asked the builders to bump out the skirt, add a lip and make a toy-car track for her son.

Numbers are attached at random by Velcro on each stair riser; they can easily be removed should the family want a change.


Quimby painted all the walls in the home with low-VOC paint from Yolo Colorhouse. This guest bedroom hue is Water.02. The chandelier is an antique, purchased for $25.


This armoire in the guest bedroom was Quimby's first antique purchase. A drum-clock garage sale find decorates a repurposed lattice.


The laundry room countertop is made of layers of recycled paper from Paperstone, bought at Green Depot. The color is Gun Metal.

Quimby paid $10 for the white wall cupboards, which sat in storage for years until the R.E.X. provided the perfect chance to use them.


The brass chandelier is an antique that Quimby updated with white paint using a toothbrush.

Friends gave them the letters used below the bathtub apron, which is lined with salvaged door and window trim.

Wall paint: Leaf.04, Yolo Colorhouse


Quimby found this drain pipe years ago in an old house's scrap pile and turned it into a flowerpot.


The main bedroom headboard is made of salvaged wood; it used to be the driveway gate of the original house. Quimby says the gate was once used as an equestrian jump and as part of the decor in a Western-theme restaurant.

The history of the gate was discovered when it was featured in an article in The Oregonian. The creator recognized his work and contacted Quimby.


Ten years ago Quimby re-covered this chair in the main bedroom with burlap. "Burlap and coffee bean sacks are hot right now, and I've been doing that for years," she says. "Everyone told me how itchy it would be — it's not."


One of the biggest splurges was this lovely armchair in the main bedroom. "I actually feel guilty about how much I spent on it. I hate spending money," Quimby says. She found the suitcase at a garage sale and paid $45 for the antique lamp.


Quimby designed the master bathroom vanity using the home's original tongue and groove Douglas fir flooring. The multiple colors are from years of paint layers. She scrubbed the old flooring with soap and water and sealed it with polyurethane, then added chrome-plated knobs from the hardware store, personalizing them with rocks from a nearby creek.

The sconces are repurposed outdoor light fixtures from a salvage yard. "They were missing the glass panels, but I thought that looked great and decided not to replace them," she says.

A vintage railroad sign above the mirror is a reminder of what things cost years ago.

Mirror: Goodwill; shower tiles: Fireclay Tile; countertop: concrete in Coal Grey, Eco-Cem


The base of the upstairs window seats is made with flooring from the original living room. Quimby built them as wide as twin beds so the couple's son and his friends can have sleepovers.


Intricate newel post caps from the former home adorn the new staircase.

Quimby is fascinated with old photos and decorated a wall in the upstairs hallway with old black and white photos of families from secondhand stores. "I always wonder what those people were like and ponder over their history," she says.


Chase designed this tree house, called Fort R.E.X., when he was 6. It is built with scrap wood.


Once a year Quimby, shown here, has a huge garage sale.

She gives two to three tours of her home every year and occasionally shows it to interested folks who are passing by too.

"It's a blessing, and I'm very proud of it. I love sharing it," she says.

















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