Yesterday turned into an unexpectedly delightful whirlwind. We spent nearly the entire day exploring the Portland Home & Garden Show (with a brief detour to sample the famously quirky Voodoo Doughnut — yes, we tried the maple bacon and it lived up to the hype). The Expo Center was packed with beautiful garden displays, smart green-living ideas, and an abundance of friendly locals. We’ll share a full roundup of what we shopped, ate, and explored around Portland once we finish our city wanderings, but for now here’s a recap of the highlights from the show.
Our day began early with local TV interviews at 7:30 a.m. Despite being up before dawn (we were still on East Coast time), we somehow managed to be coherent and presentable on camera.
Our base at the show was the Smart Home — a compact, fully staged demo house that the organizers built inside the convention center in about 48 hours. It showcased sustainable building techniques and energy-efficient systems: solar panels on the roof, high-performance windows, and insulated walls. Inside, the home was full of thoughtful design and handcrafted pieces that we wanted to bring home. A universally designed kitchen made by local cabinet makers centered around a gorgeous handmade table crafted by regional artisans.
The living area featured another striking table — a quatrefoil surface composed of cross-sections of wood. It was one of those pieces that made us daydream about how it might look in our own space.
We were also smitten with a set of decorative pillows that used polished cork-like wood disks stitched with colorful thread. They looked great and felt surprisingly comfortable.
Another standout was a display wall built entirely from locally reclaimed wood. It was the kind of installation that made us want to hang on to every scrap from past projects in hopes of someday creating something similar.
The Smart Home was only the beginning. Throughout the convention, the landscaping and garden vignettes were especially impressive — a perfect source of inspiration now that spring is approaching.
One vignette felt so natural you’d swear it was outdoors: complete with mood lighting, brick walls, wood pergolas, and oversized bulb string lights. Local vendors created comfortable, inviting arrangements and even used mismatched chairs at the table, which gave the scene a relaxed, lived-in charm.
Nestled among the garden displays was an eye-catching prefab home from Ideabox. Our photos don’t fully capture how appealing it was; both of us joked that we could move in right then and there.
The unit was furnished by Ikea, which added a cozy, familiar feel — including light fixtures that made the space feel like a real home.
A few bright green kitchen cabinets added a pop of color that was tasteful and energizing; they drew a lot of admiring glances from passersby.
Most of the day we explored on our own — Clara spent time touring the city with my parents — but she joined us at the show for a while and was just as captivated by the displays. Here she is pretending to be a landscaper.
She also tried out a bed in the Smart Home.
At one point she crowned me “DIY Daddy of the Day.”
And she even posed in a pretend shower, because why not?
There were a few more photos of me in a shower at the show that day, apparently making for a running joke of the trip.
Sherry update: I’m not pregnant! A few people wondered if my trench coat was hiding something — it’s just rainy and cool in Portland. No baby bump here.
Later in the afternoon we led a blogging seminar for local writers on “taking your blog to the next level.” The crowd was warm and engaged, and the session included our usual mix of practical tips and the occasional ridiculous aside (yes, there was a slide featuring a teenage Sherry’s airbrushed jeans and a photo of me on a toilet — because nothing says credibility like good humor). We encouraged honest, passionate blogging rather than jumping on trends for the sake of popularity, and we tried to keep the advice useful and grounded.
After the seminar we met several fellow bloggers and attendees. A lovely pair of local artists gifted us a warm “Welcome to Portland” print — and, in true Portland style, they added a playful bird motif.
One vendor we spoke with, Jim from Northwest Cedar Specialties, rescues scrap wood from construction sites and repurposes it into cedar planters and other items. Hearing how much material gets discarded and how he upcycles it with “a lot of respect and loving care” was inspiring.
I was particularly taken with living walls from Seventh Wonder Gardens — verdant vertical plant installations that make you wish for a sunlit atrium to cover with greenery. Sherry, meanwhile, fell for a charming chicken coop display — which sent us wistfully back to zoning realities at home where keeping chickens isn’t an option for our lot size.
We broke for dinner and then attended an evening meet-and-greet. I promised to include this photo of myself in full blogger gear: backpack, laptop, and camera in tow — apparently I look exceptionally nerdy, but at least I was prepared.
The best part of the day was meeting readers. It was rewarding to put faces to familiar online names, hear feedback, and learn that people took the time to come say hello. That made us even more excited about upcoming book tour plans and the chance to visit more cities and readers in person.
If you’re near Portland, the Home & Garden Show runs through Sunday. If you enjoy home shows, which ones have you visited recently or loved in the past?