Jamie McPartland and Peter Oviatt met 23 years ago in New York City, though neither was from the area. She had come from California, he from Ohio, and they found in each other a similar yen for travel and adventure.<\/p>\n
The couple flickered through odd jobs \u2014 watering office plants, bookkeeping, restaurant work \u2014 before earning graduate degrees: Mr. Oviatt has a doctorate in anthropology from M.I.T.; Ms. McPartland earned a master\u2019s in creative writing from the New School. After they married and had a daughter \u2014 Oksana, now 9 \u2014 they continued to seek out wisdom through travel, living in Airbnbs and sublets for months at a time during her early childhood.<\/p>\n
[Did you recently buy a home? We want to hear from you. Email: thehunt@nytimes.com. Sign up here to have The Hunt delivered to your inbox every week.]
\n\u201cWe used change and stimulation to bind us,\u201d said Ms. McPartland, 41. Their travels led them to France, where Mr. Oviatt studied truffle cultivation; Turkey and Morocco, where they waited out visa requirements; and southern Oregon, where Ms. McPartland\u2019s parents had moved. She created a hand-drawn logbook for Oksana titled \u201cPlaces You\u2019ve Slept.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked living a transient life. I thought it was the best,\u201d Ms. McPartland said. \u201cBut then I realized it wasn\u2019t good for my daughter. I started to long for a home we would stay in forever and have whatever forever is.\u201d
\nIn January 2020, just before Covid-19 lockdowns began, the family landed in Portland, Ore. They liked the city, despite its rainy climate, and needed more stability for Oksana \u2014 and themselves. \u201cI honestly just enjoy being able to slow down and just spend time with people, see movies, go get drinks,\u201d said Mr. Oviatt, 43.<\/p>\n
He put his cultural anthropology training to work as a program director at a Montessori middle school, where he also teaches. Ms. McPartland began teaching high school French courses and continued working as an editor for other writers\u2019 manuscripts.
\nThey were in their third Portland rental when Mr. Oviatt lost both of his parents to cancer. He used the inheritance they left to buy a house. \u201cMy parents always wanted us to settle down,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they would be happy to know that this is how the money was spent.\u201d<\/p>\n
With up to $700,000 to spend, the couple wanted a modest house with two or three bedrooms and a garden. As a dedicated cycling family, they looked for places where they could have a bike workshop and rideable commutes to work and school. But more than that, they wanted to be good stewards of a home with history and character.
\n\u201cWe\u2019d never bought furniture before,\u201d Ms. McPartland said. \u201cI was almost 40 when I got furniture.\u201d
\nAt 1,450 square feet, this two-bedroom, 1.5-bath bungalow was the smallest home they considered. Built in 1906, it had been restored by the sellers, a woodworker and his wife, who had installed cypress and cedar facades inspired by traditional Japanese farmhouses. Inside, original wood floors were complemented by poured-concrete counters and custom rosewood cabinets in the stylish kitchen. The cobbled yard would make gardening difficult, and the living and dining rooms were not as sunny as the second floor, where the bedrooms shared the sole full bathroom. The couple worried about maintaining the woodwork, but the home was close to coffee shops, restaurants and a grocery store, and the impressive basement would make for a great bike workshop. The price was $696,000, with taxes of nearly $6,000.<\/p>\n
The couple’s journey to find their perfect home was long and winding, but ultimately, they found a house that fit their needs and budget. With its rich history and character, the 1906 bungalow was the perfect fit for the family.<\/p>\n
Q: What was the couple’s budget for their new home?
\nA: The couple had up to $700,000 to spend on their new home.
\nQ: What type of home were they looking for?
\nA: They wanted a modest house with two or three bedrooms and a garden, with a bike workshop and rideable commutes to work and school.
\nQ: What was unique about the home they chose?
\nA: The home was a 1906 bungalow with a restored interior, featuring original wood floors, poured-concrete counters, and custom rosewood cabinets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to a Life of Adventure Jamie McPartland and Peter Oviatt met 23 years ago in New York City, though neither was from the area. She had come from California, he from Ohio, and they found in each other a similar yen for travel and adventure. Early Life and Careers The couple flickered through odd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":25623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-real-estate"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/11\/20\/multimedia\/20re-Hunt-Portland-01-lkjw\/20re-Hunt-Portland-01-lkjw-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,549&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25624,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25621\/revisions\/25624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}