Small, unique, family-owned, intimate, and wildly busy, are the terms that best describe Portland OR-based Truax Builder’s Supply. Founded in 1946 as a wood window manufacturing and sales establishment, Truax today remains a family-owned business. A fire in 2004 led to the construction of a new showroom, but the company is still located at 10949 SE Division Street. Small in that it resides in two modest buildings with only 17 employees, Truax is not small in scope when it comes to... more

Whether painted crimson or stained dark, secured by a screen door or embraced by glass tiles, a dramatic front door can add flair to the plainest exterior. By concentrating on door size, style, and applied finishes the front door can reflect both your personality and the era of the home. Updating an old look? Repaint those original wooden doors. Be bold — when you choose contrasting colors instead of complementary,... more

Small, unique, family-owned, intimate, and wildly busy best describe Portland’s Truax Builder’s Supply. Founded in 1946 as a wood window manufacturing and sales establishment, Truax remains a family-owned window and door business still in its original location on 109th and SE Division Street. Small in that it resides in two modest buildings with only 17 employees, but not small in scope when it comes to windows and... more

McGee Salvage Can a person have a passion for hardwood flooring? Yes, and Tobey Parsons, owner of McGee Salvage located on the south edge of Scappoose, has it bad. Parsons’ main gig is reclaiming high-quality wood flooring from gyms, dance floors, old warehouses, buildings, and homes. Parsons also stocks old growth clear vertical-grain 3 1/2″ fir that graces most of Portland’s older homes. Parsons specializes ... more

Whether replacing damaged molding or adding decorative vintage detail, there are countless knife profiles to choose from. Do you associate the word custom with the word costly? Or, do you think of the word custom as choice? If you live in an older home there’s a good chance that all the moldings in your home are unique. Decades ago, profiles were cut on site using special hand planes with custom-cutting... more

If you’ve never stepped inside Hippo Hardware & Trading Company at 1040 E. Burnside then you owe it to yourself to do so soon. Named one of the “10 best things to do” in Portland by AAA Oregon, Hippo — as it’s affectionately known — has long been a resource for historic and hard-to-find hardware, plumbing, doors and windows, light fixtures, mouldings — just about anything that can be salvaged ... more