Welcome to Volume I of The House that Piet & Keven Built. I should start with telling you a little bit about who we are and what our story is.

Piet & Keven

Keven: Yes my name is Keven, and I am indeed a girl. I became part of the Urban Nest team in January. I grew up here in Portland and one of my lifelong dreams has always been to be a homeowner.

Piet: A local web developer, cat lover, coffee aficionado and European Expat. Born in Holland and raised in England, Piet moved to Portland in 2008 to marry Keven (thats me!).

While we both dreamed of home-ownership, neither of us imagined it becoming a reality for years to come. Once I started working with the amazing team here at Urban Nest (and I am not just saying that because I work here, they truly are an amazing team!), and meeting with David Bunker at Directors Mortgage, we realized we were a lot closer than we ever thought! In fact, it was a mere 5 months from our initial meeting with David to getting the keys to our new house! Its a sweet little 1940′s 3 bed 2 bath cape cod featuring original knotty pine wood paneling in the basement! We fell head over heels for it almost immediately.

As new members within the growing community of first-time Portland home buyers, we decided to document the process of making our new house into a dream home. And we’re not talking major renovations or bank busting remodeling. We’re talking about DIY projects anyone can do that pack a huge bang for their buck.

With that said….i’ll leave you with a few “before” pictures just to get you in the mood.