Editor’s Note: Portland Monthly’s “Property Watch” column takes a weekly look at an interesting home in Portland’s super-competitive real estate market (with periodic ventures to the burbs and points beyond, for good measure). This week: a family's beloved A-frame coastal cabin hits the market. Got a home you think would work for this column? Get in touch at [email protected].

Construction on this A-frame cabin in the coastal town of Waldport started on Memorial Day weekend in 1971. Twenty-six friends and family members gathered around the Kimball family, then partners in the Kimball Brothers Lumber Company in Dexter, to hoist the framework into place and lend a hand with hammers. “In 1971, there were no such thing as a nail gun, so all the nails were driven by hand,” writes youngest son Claude Kimball to Portland Monthly. “Several boxes of nails were used during that first weekend.” 

The home was completed by the end of the year in time for a celebratory party, and hasn’t aged much in the 51 years since, as the family set out to build a structure that was low maintenance for its coastal setting, with exterior cedar walls and that iconic pitched metal roof. The concrete foundation is nestled into the sloped grassy lot, creating storage space underneath the main floor.

That utility continues at the primary entry, which feeds into a handy laundry room with lots of cabinets, past the full bathroom and a bonus room with a closet, and into the connected kitchen, living, and dining spaces. Some finishes, like linoleum, carpeting, and sunshine-yellow cabinets, might not be to modern tastes, but are well in-keeping with the home’s ’70s-era provenance. Others, like the tongue-and-groove cedar that covers every inch of walls and ceiling on both levels, are more than worth preserving into the future.

Upstairs, there’s a half-bath slotted between the two bedrooms, each with its own deck and groovy blue and red colored glass flanking the big windows. (Yellow glass is on the first floor, to “provide some variety and color,” says Kimball.) A third-floor attic is accessed by a pull-down ladder and has just enough head clearance for more storage.

In the living room, a sliding glass door leads to a deck with distant ocean views and a tangle of trees, and a big window in the primary bedroom upstairs does the same. It's appropriate, given that Waldport's town motto is that it’s “where the forest meets the sea.” Even better: the public beach access is just a short walk away.

Listing Fast Facts  

Address:  2780 SW Breakers Dr, Waldport, OR 97394

Size:  1,368 square feet/2 bedroom/1.5 bath  

List Date:  5/20/2022  

List Price:  $349,900

Listing Agent: Sadie Ward, Coldwell Banker Coast Real Estate

Melissa Dalton is a freelance writer who has focused on Pacific Northwest design and lifestyle since 2008. She is based in Portland, Oregon. Contact Dalton here.