Case study

A Queen Anne Revival in Portland, Oregon

Designed by Jessica Helgerson

On a verdant acre in Portland, Oregon, where 300-year-old Douglas firs rise above the remnants of a hazelnut orchard, a Queen Anne house from the 1890s has been given new life. Its owners, garden designer Marisa Kula Mercer and her husband James Mercer, frontman of The Shins, have spent more than a decade quietly transforming the five-bedroom home. Rather than embark on a sweeping overhaul, they chose a measured, incremental approach, engaging Jessica Helgerson Interior Design to guide a series of carefully considered renovations.

What emerged is not a remodel in the conventional sense but a slow, respectful conversation with the past. Helgerson’s philosophy is rooted in permanence: to create interiors so right for their house that they need never be undone. Each phase of the work has been driven by this conviction, resulting in rooms that feel at once timeless and deeply individual. “She’s a total genius at making remodels seem historic,” James reflects.

The bathrooms capture this spirit perfectly; once tired and lacklustre, they now celebrate Victorian exuberance. Intricate floor mosaics from Subway Ceramics set the stage, their bold geometry offset by the restrained, sculptural presence of Drummonds’ ceramic sinks. “The Windermere Vanity is a more visually heavy sink and so works well with the bolder pattern, whereas the Buttermere is lighter and so suits the paler design, ”Helgerson notes, describing the careful play of weight and line. William Morris wallpapers climb the walls, their motifs unfurling in soft counterpoint to the crisp fittings, while antique furniture adds a note of patina and permanence. The dialogue between intricacy and restraint animates these intimate spaces, transforming daily rituals into moments of quiet theatre.

The kitchen, once a modest space, has been subtly expanded to bring in light and ease, its cream-tiled walls and antique Vaseline-glass pendants casting a warm glow over a deep green Lacanche range. Nothing here feels overblown; the proportions remain in tune with the house, creating the sense of a hearth that has always belonged.

In contrast, the karaoke room reveals the Mercers’ playful streak: walls are dressed in intricately patterned wallpaper wrapping the space with a touch of theatricality. It is a room designed for gathering, laughter, and music, a reminder that even within such a carefully restored home, joy and irreverence have their rightful place.

What delights Helgerson most is the tension between parts: the patterned floors against the calm simplicity of the fixtures, the permanence of stone and tile against the liveliness of wallpaper and light. “I love the way the intricate floor patterns contrast against the simple lines of the vanities, ”she says. “You make beautiful plumbing fixtures – the Windermere is my very favourite.”

The result is a home that feels inevitable, as though it had always been this way. Every intervention respects the spirit of the Queen Anne architecture, while gently layering in comfort, craftsmanship, and the idiosyncratic presence of its owners. It is a house of continuity rather than change, alive to its history yet ready to host the daily rituals of a modern family.

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