About
Stephyn Meiner
Architectural Designer · Kitchens, Cabinetry and Residential Remodels · Portland, Oregon
Stephyn Meiner is an architectural designer specialising in remodels and additions for classic Pacific Northwest homes. Her work centres on the bungalows, foursquares and mid-century houses that define Portland's established neighbourhoods, with particular depth in kitchen design and custom built-in cabinetry.
Remodelling an older home is largely a matter of solving problems within constraints that already exist: a chimney that cannot move, a wall that proves to be structural, a room asked to serve purposes it was never designed for. Stephyn approaches those constraints as the brief rather than the obstacle, and the result is space that works for the people living in it while staying true to the character of the house.
She takes each project from the initial survey through layout, visualisation and construction-ready specification, and remains available to the client and builder while the work is carried out. Her drawings and photoreal visualisations are produced in Chief Architect, so decisions are made while they are still inexpensive to change.
Approach
Start with the house
Every project begins with what is already there: how the house was built, what has been changed over the decades, and which constraints are fixed. Older homes rarely match their drawings, so the survey comes before the sketch.
Design for how the rooms are used
Layout is settled before finishes. A kitchen or a built-in is planned around the way a household actually cooks, stores and moves through the space, so it keeps working long after the novelty of new materials has worn off.
Decide on paper, not on site
Clients review drawings and photoreal visualisations of their rooms before construction begins. Changes made at that stage cost an afternoon; the same change on site costs time, materials and goodwill.
Respect the original character
New work should sit comfortably beside the old. Proportions, trim and cabinetry are detailed so an addition or a new kitchen reads as part of the house rather than an insertion into it.
Planning a remodel?
A first conversation is the best way to understand what your house allows and what the project will involve.