Indholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2019 i Old House Journal

“My inspiration was a family of mice who took up residence in the Hobart mixer bowl one cold and snowy winter,” says David Berman. “I figured if my pantry was going to have mice, they’d best be paper.” His design is similar to one in the Silver Studio collection (U.K., 1880–1962) sold by Liberty of London. ONE LITTLE SECRET “I have some of Mom’s Tupperware, but it’s hiding (for now) in the small modern fridge parked in the back hall,” Berman confesses when asked about whether plastic has been banned.…

I love to cook, so my kitchen had to be functional. Yet I was reluctant to add on, since I didn’t want to distort the floor plan with a room that was disproportionate to others in this 1910 house. Our reconfiguration allowed the range to go opposite the sink, creating an efficient galley set-up, and also gave us a prep and serving area cater-corner to the sink wall. Practical issues solved, I turned to the fun stuff. I wanted to make the kitchen personal, incorporating design features that had caught my eye over the years. Cabinetmaker Jeff Loux was invaluable; one item I had to have was a pair of scalloped, cutaway doors to hide under-sink plumbing, which I’d first seen years ago in an issue of OHJ and coveted…

→ Live in your house a while before renovating. → Do all the demolition at one time, preferably while staying elsewhere, especially if you have children or if anyone has respiratory issues. → Try your best not to permanently alter original features. Any removal should always be reversible. Label and store elements. → Think twice about stripping woodwork, especially if there’s a lot and it’s utilitarian (like pine window trim). Unless the woodwork is a key architectural element in the room, and made of very beautiful wood, it may be better to leave an old clear finish alone, or (for painted trim) to grain over it or paint it a compatible color.…

The industrial look is strong, especially for kitchens. A visit to Olde Good Things in New York City turned up some unique seating options for the kitchen, breakfast room, or office. Inspired by the high-school laboratory stools of the 1940s and ’50s, OGT converted salvaged, cast-iron meter covers into stools and small tabletops. what are they? Back in 1898, Edwin Ford, the waterworks superintendent for Hartford City, Indiana, wanted to be sure customers weren’t wasting water—costing themselves and the city money. So he patented water meters and the boxes to house them. (Patent for the Ford Meter Box Company of Wabash, Ind.) The round, cast-iron boxes protected the meters from harsh Midwestern winters and wear and tear. These Victorian meter boxes were decorative, too, and were soon adapted in other…

When Gerry and Shirley Fisher moved to St. Louis in 1991, they had already restored two early-20th-century homes in Oklahoma City, and they were game to take on another project. They knew what they wanted: a house in a good neighborhood, something that needed restoration but with period details largely intact. When they found this 1892 house, its transitional architecture a blend of Victorian chateau and Colonial Revival, it fit the bill. It sits in the city’s historic Central West End on a street of similarly handsome houses of the late 19th century. A VICTORIAN ROOM ONCE AGAIN The dining room’s glowing oak woodwork, including the mantel, was stripped of a century’s worth of paint. Walls above the handsome wainscot are papered in ‘Raspberry Bramble’ from Bradbury & Bradbury. The…

The front door sets the tone. For style tips, we spoke to Bo Sullivan, who designed the Fitzgeralds’ period door for Classic Sash & Door. • Quarter-sawn white oak and vertical-grain fir, stained and clear-coated, are great choices. • Consider square or “Shaker” sticking (the molded profile around panels and glass) for a clean, classic A&C look. • Match (vertical) side stiles and (horizontal) top rail at a minimum of 5½" wide (including sticking profile). For 42" or 48" doors, 6½" is better. • In general, avoid raised panels, especially if they have fake tongue & groove lines cut into them. (T&G was used only for flat panels). • Skip ordering an off-the-rack dentil shelf for under the glass. New ones simply aren’t authentic, so go with a custom approach.…

1. GOLD-ON-WHITE Hand-printed with warm metallics in a lustrous “white silk” finish, Kunio and Terumi are in a collection of wallpapers based on traditional Japanese design motifs. They’re sold in 30-square-foot rolls for $83 per roll. Bradbury & Bradbury, (707) 746-1900, bradbury.com 2. GOLDEN CROCUSES Sculptor and writer Carol Alleman casts limited-edition bronze vessels like "Golden Promises," then writes a poem to accompany each piece. Lavish with crocuses, the vase measures 6¼" tall x 4½" in diameter, $2,200. Alleman Studios, (520) 622-6377, allemanstudios.com 3. COY KOI Goldfish swim in “Waterlilies I,” a recent triptych from Yoshiko Yamamoto. Each of the 19 colors is block-printed on acidfree, all-cotton paper. Framed, it measures 20¾" x 41": $240 matted, $470 matted and framed. Arts & Crafts Press, (360) 871-7707, artsandcraftspress.com 4. OPEN WIDE…

The kitchen and pantries remain largely as they were in 1910, when the house was built. A ca. 1930 “kitchen renovation” or cutoff date for the room was determined by the Glenwood stove model, which was sold from 1928 to 1931. Most of the appliances and gadgets subsequently added date to that period. All of the pendant lights, and the dome light over the stove, are 1900–1910 additions salvaged from a local department store before it was gutted. Checkerboard floors were immensely popular from the 1920s through the mid-1940s. This one was installed 25 years ago during the house’s restoration. It’s Armstrong’s commercial-grade solid vinyl tile. Most of the serving-ware and utensils also date to ca. 1920–1950. Big green glass bowls and all the Jadeite are 1930s, by McKee. Pottery…

I have always felt that historic preservation should involve all the senses along with a good deal of curiosity. That’s why I do what I do (aside from being OCD-prone). I like to see, touch, hear, and taste history. My friend Paula Marcoux wrote an article for Edible South Shore when I got the Glenwood range. We spent a day testing all the features, using recipes right from the “Glenwood Cookbook.” The stove worked as described. It gave us a window into the tastes and smells and techniques of cooking in the late ’20s and early ’30s. When it came time to use the vertical broiler, we all held our breath, but it worked beyond expectation. I know people who have purchased refurbished antique stoves and consider them a compromise…

“We wanted to capture the look and feel of the ca. 1910 bathrooms we’d seen on tours—but without old plumbing!” say the owners of what had been an undistinguished 1980s ranch. A redo of the house gave even the service rooms—kitchen, baths, and laundry—period authenticity. Mackintosh-inspired details used for kitchen cabinets were carried over to the master bathroom. The custom cabinets, which look like they’re right out of a bungalow-era millworks catalog, are built of paint-grade lumber. Cutouts in the doors are decorative and also provide ventilation. The bath suite even includes a balcony porch. Dark walls set off the creamy tile and cabinets. Laid over electric radiant heat, the hex-tile floor blends with black pencil tiles in the wainscot and tub area, where a refurbished 1931 Stanley clawfoot bathtub…

When Bill Ticineto and his wife, Jill Chase, moved into their first restoration project, a 1920s Colonial Revival in coastal Connecticut, they saw stains on a first-floor ceiling. Not thinking anything of it, they simply skim-coated the ceiling to a beautiful finish. Soon after, there was a heavy snowstorm followed by a thaw. Water began pouring through the ceiling in the same spot. They had an ice dam (water backing up on the roof during a thaw)—and it was obvious this had been a recurring problem, never properly addressed. That experience taught them the value of assessing and repairing the mechanics, which every house needs, before getting into cosmetics. When they moved into their current project, an 1894 shingled cottage in Litchfield County, Connecticut, one of their first projects involved…

Early in her career, Karla Pearlstein decided to build a new kitchen in her badly remuddled 1865 Italianate house, which had a dated 1960s kitchen plunked in its front parlor. “I wanted a ‘period kitchen’ but still had not completely figured out what that meant,” she says. After studying old photographs, she created a design that emulated an early 1900s kitchen, then brought in designer Matthew Roman to put together the details. The resulting kitchen was lovely and looked truly authentic, but it wasn’t particularly practical. “What I had created was a stove room. What I didn’t understand at the time was that a stove room requires pantries in order to be functional.” She went back to the drawing board and added a butler’s pantry and dry-goods pantry, making room…

Lamp wiring kits make the process of rewiring an old lamp simple. The kit comes with all you need for the project: a new socket, an 8' cord, such components as nuts and washers, and, if specified, even a replacement harp. (The harp is the frame that lets you attach a shade to the lamp. It usually has a saddle that fastens to the socket, and a harp frame that surrounds the bulb and extends above it.) • For kit components, choose a metal finish—whether antiqued brass, nickel, silver, or polished brass—that works with your lamp. Cords come in black, brown, gold, and silver. STEP-BY-STEP STEP 1 Unplug the lamp and remove shade and light bulb. Remove the metal harp by sliding or squeezing it to release from the socket. If…

SUCCESS! DEVELOPER Clint Eberlin, Hybrid Investment Properties LLC, New Providence, NJ: hybridproperties.com RANGE La Cornue lacornueusa.com Related Resources SLATE ROOFING Sheldon Slate sheldonslate.com Natural, non-fading slate CORBEL BRACKETS Mad River Woodworks madriverwoodworks Specializes in Victorian millwork ProWood Market prowoodmarket.com Gable brackets, corbels, rafter tails K+B/KITCHEN CABINETS Jeff’s Workshop, Morrisville, PA (215) 736-2258 HARDWARE Historic Houseparts (585) 325-2329, historichouseparts.com LIGHTING ‘McCoy’ pendant Rejuvenation rejuvenation.com TILE field tiles W78 and W80 decos Vintage Illustrationcollection ‘Chives’, ‘Corn’ and ‘Mushroom’ in a custom colorway, all Pratt & Larson Ceramics prattandlarson.com FLOORING Johnsonite Harmonium xf® (linoleum) johnsonite.com PAINT walls ‘London Stone’ trim and cabinets ‘Slipper Satin’, all Farrow & Ball farrow-ball.com SINKS bar sink Blanco #440247 blancoamerica.com • drainboard sink from Gothic City Antiques, Buffalo, NY: gothiccity.com K+B/BATH ARCHITECT Anderson Shirley Architects Salem, OR: (503) 371-1140, andersonshirley.com CONTRACTORS…

INSPIRED WALLPAPER Berman’s ‘Laborate et Amate’ paper was cued by English designer Voysey’s tile series depicting craftspeople. The green chosen echoes the Jadeite. ‘Bird & Rose’ is the Voysey pattern on the curtains. THE ISLAND STORY The island was a school laboratory table from the 1920s–’30s. It was stripped and refinished. The swing-out seats are original to the piece, which is now on modern dolly casters.…

“Edwardian-era kitchens are very functional,” says owner David Berman. “They have lots of space: a big, open room to work in, and plenty of nicely compartmentalized storage places for putting things away.” His original kitchen suite includes two separate pantries. The butler’s pantry (located between kitchen and dining room), nicely detailed and with a marble sink, has shelves and cabinets for serving ware. The other pantry, on the northwest wall, is for food storage. This room is a mirror image of the butler’s pantry, but without plumbing and with plainer details. It stays cooler than the kitchen during the summer, and in winter it’s practically a walk-in refrigerator. • Berman says he did refinish the wood in the main kitchen, but didn’t have to touch the pantries. (Southern yellow pine…

Eschew bulbous plastic eyesores in favor of this Kid-Kraft birch easel in white, natural, or Espresso. With chalkboard on one side, dry-erase on the other, with a roller on top, it comes with one roll of 18" paper and two paint cups. Best price at Wayfair ($113.99); search “double-sided board easel” at wayfair.com Look to Vermont, not Germany, for a box of 12 colorful glass ornaments in such historical motifs as grapes, cupcake, Santa, lantern, and Tudor house front. Each is 2"–3" tall; the set is $32.95. The Vermont Country Store also has 6" tin icicles, spiral-shaped and shiny to catch light (50 pieces, $19.95). vermontcountrystore.com Decorating a ca. 1920 bungalow? Consider this child-size, Craftsman-style Morris chair, just 24" high overall. In oak, maple, or cherry with various upholstery options,…

This wonderful design for the firebox surfaced during the 1880s and remained popular into the 1930s. Owls were a common motif for Aesthetic interiors during the late Victorian era, and again for Arts & Crafts rooms. These andirons are also suitable for Colonial and rustic decorating. The owls have yellow glass eyes that glow when there’s a fire in the hearth. Rustic “branches” create a base. Antiques can go for $3,000—but Vintage Hardware sells a reproduction set for just over $400. Heavyweight and fire-safe, they are made of cast iron with a black finish, just like the originals. Dimensions are 14 ½" high by 9" wide; the hefty steel bars extend 15" to the rear. Vintage Hardware & Lighting, (360) 379-9030, vintagehardware.com…

Sometimes the traditional way really is best. Many old houses have a narrow moulding called a picture rail, positioned either near the crown of the wall—just below the ceiling—or at the bottom of a frieze band. The moulding is rabbeted to accept a brass picture hook, from which framed wall art or a mirror may be hung on cords or picture wire. This handy system allows you to remove or reposition art without damaging the wall surface. Hammering nails into plaster inevitably leaves a pock mark or a crack; damage is even worse if the room is wallpapered. WRONG WAY NAILING INTO THE WALL Granted, this is generally how art was hung after the 1920s. But adding a picture rail is never out of place in an older house; you…