Our quaint home is located in Grant Park, a neighborhood (and park) in the Northeast section of Portland, Oregon. It is best known as the setting for Beverly Cleary’s Klickitat Street series of books. Houses in our neighborhood generally date to the nineteen twenties and early thirties, and are primarily of the Old Portland or Craftsman styles. Some are historic gems and beautifully restored, others are begging for some TLC (with ours being part of the latter). Some are huge castles, while others are small bungalows (again, our home is part of the latter). In other words, our place has loads of built-in charm, but needs plenty of never-ending love and care.

Our bungalow was built in 1925, making it 85 years old. Its housed dozens of renters and families over the years, however, many original details are still intact, including the front door and lock, wood floors, crystal door knobs, living and dining room built-ins, crown molding, and wood windows.  My husband and I bought the home in October of 2007 and ever since that Fall day, we’ve been busy fixing up the place. Nearly every surface has been repainted and we remodeled the kitchen area last spring, by far our largest home improvement project to date. The floor plan is simple – the two bedroom and one bathroom layout make for a snug, yet comfortable setting. We are lucky to have a large backyard, and we are unlucky to have a large amount of yard work.

Mere steps away from our house is Grant Park, 20 acres of land complete with a baseball field, basketball court, soccer field, softball field, full-size track, tennis courts, picnic site, wading pool, and playground. It truly has it all and was the deciding factor in buying our home. Parks seem to bring out the best in a neighborhood, and visiting it is a weekend staple for us.  The other selling point for us? We feel we get the best of both city and suburban life here, as we are only minutes from downtown Portland.