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For some of us, making a home involves a lot of making.
We would rather fill our cupboards with locally made pottery—or create our own—than scour big chain home decorating stores for mugs in this year’s “it” color. We’d rather try our hand at printmaking—or commission a mural by a local artist—than leave our walls a drab shade of greige.
Our new Spring Nester magazine features profiles of five Portland-area makers who create beautiful things you can have in your home.
They include things that are purely decorative and meant to reflect your taste—like custom wallpaper with colors that pop, or in-home murals whose motifs have a story—as well as functional items, like furniture, pottery and lamps. And if you’re feeling especially creative or ambitious, we’ve put together some resources that can help you get started on the path toward creating a few things for your place. Whether you want to try your hand behind a lathe or pottery wheel or get more comfortable picking out colors and designs for your walls, plenty of resources are available in the Portland area. We’ve even put together a tutorial for a cedar garden box—the perfect way to spend a few hours on the first dry, sunny days of spring.
What we aspire to do with our homes isn’t always what we actually do; most of my furniture is handmade only in the sense that I pulled the pieces out of a box and put it together while cursing. But I’m happy to have a few pieces made by local artisans, and even a bench I made myself. The trick, I think, is to do what you can with what you have, and to keep your eyes open for inspiration. Nester magazine publishes today - look out for it all over Portland. We’ll be publishing the stories featured inside online over the next few weeks.
Nester, Makers Edition Magazine is free, distributed all over Portland, and can be found at these locations. Love Nester? Save the date for NestFest, where we bring the magazine to life at an event in Fall of 2026.
