Hipster Havens - Design Styles of the Poor but Crafty : Andy Beers rocks Portland!

Woo hoo - this house so is great it makes me want to pack a bag and move to where I can afford square footage! I first spotted designer Andy Beers last year while profiling sustainable interior designer Jessica Helgerson for design^sprout. University of Oregon grad Andy works for Jessica and is doing his part to design healthy, creative and socially responsible interiors. Below are photos of his (super-cute!) Portland home and descriptions as written by Andy for Design*Sponge last year. His dedication to re-use is wonderfully inspiring for anyone on a budget!

I have a light-up Scan Globe that I love; we turn it on almost every night. It would be the ultimate night light in a kid’s room. The print behind the lounge chair is by the lovely Jill Pilotte of Small Stump and Rose and Radish, the painting on the floor is by Ian Dingman. His work is so beautiful in person.

The view from our living room into the bathroom hallway and the bedroom beyond.

The Eames bentwood coffee table was a huge score during a MOMA sale- 70% off the retail price. It’s a piece a furniture I’m almost afraid to live with. I cringe a little every time someone comes over and puts their feet up on it. But I’m getting more relaxed about it. It will get dinged eventually, and that’s probably a good thing. The Dux chairs were reupholstered sometime during the 60’s- I’m trying to find photos of their original upholstery in the family archive. I used to have slipcovers on them, but these days I’m actually a fan of the green floral.

We spend a lot of time in the kitchen and ironically, it’s the ugliest part of our apartment. It was renovated in the 70’s. Full size appliances are very good, retro veneered hollow core cabinet doors are not. To make the huge expanse of wood less obtrusive, I borrowed an idea from Nick Olsen’s blog and used electric tape to add moldings. Probably the best $3 I spent in the whole rental.

Half of our kitchen has the original cabinets with glass-fronted doors. Cookbooks get stored here (by color). Food blogs are my favorite thing after design blogs. I cook the most from Orangette. I trust Molly’s palate- I’ve never been disappointed with anything I’ve made from her site. I ‘m looking forward to her book next year.

My father-in-law grew up eating dinner at this Conant-Ball dining table. The finish is pretty worn, but we love that it was applied by my wife’s grandfather. This is probably my favorite piece of furniture in the house because so many family meals have been shared around it. The pendant is from Le Klint.

In our entryway, we hung our wedding photo next to those of our parents and grandparents- it’s great to see them side by side. A calligrapher made the mats for us. The console is a vintage media cabinet with woven grass doors.

My wife and I share the desk; I have to be considerate and clear my piles frequently. The chair is Ron Arad’s Tom Vac. It’s not a 3 hour chair, so I add a cushion from Area when I’m working. (My next set of new sheets will be from Area. They are so beautiful.) The lamp is from Jonathan Adler, and is one of my favorite things. The calendar is from Camilla, and the letterpress artwork is Steven Harrington via Tiny Showcase

I piled up all of my coffee table books next to the door. I got jealous when everyone else started organizing their books by color, so I did it too. I love the big swatches of color.

Our bathroom is teeny-tiny, but has natural light. The mirror was a $6 thrifting find. It was a hideous green-gold when I bought it, and it took a whole can of spray paint to cover it. I love it because it doesn’t match one other thing that we own. Which makes it perfect.