Budget Breakdown: A $336K Cottage Renovation Gives an Oregon Widow a Fresh Start
Barbara McDonald’s architect son updated the 1946 home by raising the ceilings, opening the floor plan, and installing low-cost, durable materials like Richlite and Marmoleum.
Barbara McDonald’s architect son updated the 1946 home by raising the ceilings, opening the floor plan, and installing low-cost, durable materials like Richlite and Marmoleum.
In 2016, after Barbara McDonald lost her husband, legendary track and field coach Dick Brown (who coached 1980s world-champion distance runner Mary Slaney), she was ready to say goodbye to their spacious home north of Eugene, Oregon’s city center. It was the end of a chapter, and she was ready to make new connections.
"I found it a little bit isolated, as nice as it was," she explains of the home they shared. "I really wanted to be where things were a little bit more vibrant, so I started to look around the University of Oregon, where I could be near friends, walk, and ride my bike."
A close friend knew of a house going up for sale in her neighborhood, a 1946 two-bedroom on Orchard Street. From here, Barbara could hear the roar of the crowd less than a mile away at the university’s famous Hayward Field during track meets, a reminder of her late husband’s legacy.
The cottage was once the ugly duckling on its block. Now, with unpainted cedar and fiber-cement siding, it stands apart from the surrounding pre-war homes in a good way, says Barbara.
Ben McDonald
The redesign lifted the ceiling from seven to eight feet.
Ben McDonald
See the full story on Dwell.com: Budget Breakdown: A $336K Cottage Renovation Gives an Oregon Widow a Fresh Start
