I'm Emily Henderson, and this is the Portland project that I've been working on for over a year right outside Portland in a neighborhood called Dunthorpe.

Portland doesn't have the best reputation for sun, so we really needed to make sure that it felt lit and it felt-- had a lot of natural light that things-- that, you know, sconces really can't do.

Before the renovation, this house was-- it was dark, dank, depressing.

We really needed to transform this house from a '80s, kind of poorly built, charmless house to something that felt more of, like, a beautiful estate that has been here for a long time.

We needed to brighten this house up. We needed to add a good, big dose of-- of light and happiness. And architecture.

As a designer, your best friend is natural light.

The quality of light that you get from a skylight-- it's more ambient, it's softer, and it plays off materials in a way that makes them feel richer and more beautiful, honestly.

I knew I wanted skylights, but I did not know where they should go to maximize the light.

It was so nice having a VELUX rep that could come in and help me feel more confident about where they were going and making sure that they were going to really produce the best light in the room all day long.

When you walk through this finished house, there is this sense of space and airiness and light, and it makes every room feel good.

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