About Haven & Hue

The people behind the exhale

We're a small Portland studio with a simple obsession: making homes feel calm, honest, and quietly beautiful — whether they're heading to market or staying in the family for good.

Our Story

It started with one empty house

In 2016, Mara Ellison walked through a vacant listing that had lingered on the market for four months. The bones were lovely — tall windows, oak floors, morning light — but the rooms felt hollow, and buyers couldn't imagine a life inside them. She borrowed a truckload of furniture, styled it over a long weekend, and the house sold nine days later.

"Nothing about the house changed. What changed was how it made people feel."

That weekend became Haven & Hue. Nearly a decade and more than 250 homes later, we've grown from one borrowed truck into a full staging warehouse and a three-person design team — but the heart of the work is the same. We help people feel something the moment they walk through a door.

Today we serve sellers, realtors, and homeowners across Portland and the surrounding valley, pairing real-estate practicality with a designer's patience for texture, light, and breathing room.

Our Philosophy

Design that feels like a deep breath

Trends come and go, but calm never goes out of style. Three principles guide every room we touch.

Warmth Over Wow

We don't chase dramatic showpieces. Layered textiles, natural materials, and soft neutrals invite people to stay a while — and that lingering feeling is what sells homes and settles hearts.

Room to Breathe

Every space needs negative space. We edit as much as we add, letting light travel and sightlines open so each room can speak in its own quiet voice.

Honest to the House

A 1920s craftsman shouldn't be dressed like a downtown loft. We listen to a home's architecture, era, and light, then design in a way that feels like it was always meant to be there.

The Team

Small studio, steady hands

Three people, one warehouse full of beautiful furniture, and a shared belief that every home deserves to feel like a haven.

Mara Ellison

Founder & Principal Designer

A former realtor with a fine-arts degree, Mara leads every design vision from first walkthrough to final pillow fluff. She's happiest in a sun-drenched empty room, sketching where the sofa should go. Off the clock, you'll find her hunting vintage ceramics at the Sunday flea market.

June Okafor

Lead Stylist & Color Specialist

June joined in 2019 and has an almost supernatural eye for undertones — she can tell a warm white from a cool one across the street. She handles our color consultations, textile curation, and the finishing layers that make staged rooms feel genuinely lived in.

Cal Bridger

Operations & Install Manager

Cal keeps our warehouse organized and our install days running like clockwork — most homes are fully staged before sundown. Careful, unflappable, and strong enough to carry a farmhouse table solo, he's the reason our clients never see the chaos, only the calm.

How We Work

What you can count on from us

Selling a home — or redesigning one — is emotional work. We try to make our corner of it the easy part, with clear communication, honest timelines, and no surprises on the invoice.

Every project, large or small, gets the same care we'd want in our own homes.

Explore Our Services

Transparent Pricing

Flat-rate quotes after your walkthrough, in writing, before any work begins.
One-Day Installs

Most stagings are complete in a single day, so your listing timeline never slips.
Kindness First

Selling a home you've loved is hard. We treat every house — and every seller — with care.

Let's Talk

We'd love to hear about your home

Whether you're listing next month or dreaming about a room refresh, a conversation costs nothing — and consultations are always complimentary.

Get In Touch See Our Work