Property Watch: See Why This Designer's Woodlawn House Sold in Four Days
Image: Courtesy Assemble Collective
ON APPROACHING THIS HOUSE, it’s easy to get distracted by the landscaping. With its tall, sprawling grasses and naturalistic feel, it's like you’re walking through a meadow, which it turns out, was the point. The home’s owner is self-taught designer Robin Cornuelle, of the studio Jean Armour, and every square inch of her Northeast Portland property—from the landscaping to the historic main house to the newer ADU in the backyard—has been meticulously designed to highlight materials and artisan-made goods in all their natural glory. No wonder it went pending after just four days on the market last week.
Let’s start with the main house, an 1894 Dutch Colonial in Woodlawn that’s purportedly one of the neighborhood's oldest. Cornuelle maintained its classic gambrel roofline over the front porch, while updating nearly everything else on the exterior, like the siding, trim, windows, light fixtures, and mailbox. A bespoke Douglas fir front door with a large circular window reads more modern than the rest of the traditional detailing, and hints at the interior approach.
Image: Courtesy Assemble Collective
There, the palette is pared back, all the better to draw attention to the artisan details sprinkled throughout: think hand-forged hooks inside the entry, or the bathroom’s fir mirror by Emily Johnson. The living room has a real analog feel, thanks to the freestanding wood-burning stove as a focal point at one end. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, gorgeous quarter sawn white oak cabinets from Eastside Woodworks and Carrara marble countertops sidle up beside more high-tech, professional-grade appliances, such as the Bertazzoni induction range.
Image: Courtesy Assemble Collective
There’s one bedroom and one full bathroom downstairs, with two more bedrooms and an office on the second floor. Customizations continue up here, like the built-in desk tucked beneath a sloped ceiling, and the handmade tile backsplash behind the sink in the powder room, the latter accessed via a pocket door in the primary bedroom.
Image: Courtesy Assemble Collective
The 850-square-foot, two floor ADU in the backyard, finished in 2019, was an experiment, a way for Cornuelle to make her career switch into design. “It was important that the new structure complement the old one, both aesthetically and to meet the city’s design codes,” Cornuelle told Dwell magazine about the project. “The overall design strategy was to prioritize simplicity and to choose natural materials, accepting how they age.” Cue equally high-end finishes and fixtures here, including white oak cabinets and marble counters, a custom dining table and bench by Nick Tretiak, and Rich Brilliant Willing, Akari, and Allied Works light fixtures.
The outdoor spaces, designed by San Francisco–based landscape design studio TALC, bring the two buildings together, with a shared dining area, firepit, and patio strung with twinkling lights. With the array of plantings, from bay laurel and manzanita, to the vibrant Russian sage, it’s sure to look good all year round, much like the rest of this place.
Image: Courtesy Assemble Collective
Listing Fast Facts
- Address: 6384 NE Durham Ave, Portland, OR 97211
- Size: 2,604 square feet/4 bedroom/2.5 bath
- List Date: 9/4/2025
- List Price: $1,015,000
- Listing Agent: Karoline Ashley, Windermere Realty Trust
Melissa Dalton is a freelance writer who has focused on Pacific Northwest design and lifestyle since 2008. Contact Dalton here.
Editor’s Note: Portland Monthly’s “Property Watch” column takes a weekly look at an interesting home in Portland’s real estate market (with periodic ventures to the burbs and points beyond, for good measure). Got a home you think would work for this column? Get in touch at [email protected].
