After twenty years in their beloved home, these Willamette Valley winemakers crafted a remodel to befit their next steps
written by Melissa Dalton | photography by George Barberis/Green Hammer
Adam Campbell grew up among the vines. His parents, Pat and Joe Campbell, are the founders of Elk Cove Vineyards, planting their first grapes in 1974 on a property in Gaston. “Growing up there with my parents, it was an all-hands-on-deck family business,” said Adam, and he has the old family photos to prove it. They show him, along with his four siblings, doing things like watering the plants, crushing grapes and helping out every summer well into their adolescence.
It’s no wonder then, that by 1995, Adam was hooked on the winemaking business, and officially joined the company. Ten years later, when it came time to buy a house with his wife, Caroline, they picked a historic vineyard ten minutes down the road from where he grew up. Caroline hails from a much farther distance, but was equally enamored of the property. “I grew up in the suburbs of Sydney, but I also love the country and the outdoors,” said Caroline. “So, I pretty quickly thought, this would be an amazing place to raise our kids.”
It was. Named Five Mountain, the property has 50 acres, 30 of which are vines originally planted by the Ponzi family, and still used today for Elk Cove’s production. Then there’s 20 acres of forest, complete with a stream, gardens, chickens and pigs. Their three kids had plenty of room to roam. “I think we fully embraced the entire 50 acres,” said Adam.
As for the house that came with, it worked. Built in 1992, it had enough bedrooms for everyone, an open plan and a kitchen that (kinda) fit everyone during meal prep. “We often had lots of people in there, but it was always crowded and cramped,” said Caroline. “It didn’t really make sense considering it was a big kitchen.” After almost two decades of “family living, wear and tear, and dogs and cats” in the house, she added, the couple were ready to remodel.
In their search for a design-build team, the Campbells quickly synced with Green Hammer. For starters, the couple were already in the process of converting their property Net Zero—“We’ve got a big solar array up in the vineyard,” said Adam—and are in the process of certifying Elk Cove as a B Corps, which Green Hammer has already obtained. (Certified B Corps demonstrates a business’s accountability for positive social and environmental impact.) “We’re constantly looking to work with companies that have that same set of values as us,” said Adam. Plus, from their architect, Jonathan Lundstrom, to the various subcontractors: “They were all such respectful, lovely people to have in our home,” said Adam.
In talking to Lundstrom about their house’s pain points, the couple knew they wanted to overhaul the kitchen, update the two bathrooms and do something about the living room fireplace. With its fussy wood surround, the latter was “really not our style,” said Caroline. “It didn’t work very well for us, and we didn’t end up using it very much, even though we loved the idea of it.” Lundstrom saw a problem with the too-large pantry as well: “One of the first things that we noticed was that the pantry was cutting off a lot of the beautiful daylight from getting further into the depths of the home,” said the architect. Not to mention that there was no functioning “triangle,” that holy grail of kitchen design that stipulates the stove, refrigerator and sink should be within a certain distance of each other.
The architect’s guidance spanned from the exterior, where he suggested they add a metal roof for looks and longevity, to much of the interior, starting with refinishing the existing oak floors “to take some of the orange out,” said Lundstrom, and specifying organic, zero-VOC lime wash for the walls. “What’s great about that is the way the light hits it, it has some dynamic movement,” said Lundstrom.
The primary bathroom was reworked to have more amenities, given a cosmetic refresh, as well as a tub for relaxing soaks, a double vanity, a water closet for privacy and radiant heat floors. With the kids moved out, the hall bathroom was refreshed to become a luxe guest experience that’s a touch moody, with its inky tile and botanical wallpaper. In the living room, the fireplace facade was carried up to the vaulted ceiling and covered in microcement by Zahara Finishes, with a hearth that extends to create seating before the fire, and an adjacent window seat. “Now we find ourselves using it almost every day,” said Adam.
The centerpiece is the new kitchen. The space-hogging pantry that blocked light and flow was removed, and the room expanded. Now the layout is much more functional, with the main fixtures closer together, and a large island for prep, and guests to perch. “We can have three different people cooking at the same time,” said Caroline. The Portland-based Big Branch Woodworking crafted custom cabinets, as well as a better room divider between the kitchen and nearby dining room. On one side is a coffee bar and, naturally, a full-sized wine fridge, while the other acts as a beautiful serving counter and display for their Australian art and travel collectibles.
While the project may have kicked off with the couple’s youngest child leaving the nest, its next evolution is all about their future. “We wanted to create a space that they can continue to grow into” said Lundstrom.
