Innehållsförteckning för May 2019 från Old House Journal

We have a well-curated independent bookstore in town, but last Sunday I headed up the line to Barnes & Noble to check out publishing in the wider world. With a separate Architecture section gone, the House & Garden shelves have become … eclectic, with “how-to for dummies” paperbacks next to expensive design books. My impression is that a quarter of the books were about downsizing or decluttering. As an editor who’s published many voluptuously furnished houses, I was tempted to take this personally. But then the very next day our writer Regina Cole called to ask: “Can you Kondo-ize a Victorian house? Forbes wants to know.” She’s writing a story for them that looks at period houses from the standpoint of celebrity tidying expert Marie Kondo. We both knew the…

A first-time visitor to Palm Springs discovers an architectural dream world. Sprawling tracts of consistently Modern, one-storey houses are a singular vision taking us back to an optimistic time. At least as amazing are the small but very public front yards. Some are geometric carpets of varying colors and textures, obsessively manicured. With permeable gravel and varieties of succulents and cacti, others are perfect xeriscapes needing almost no watering. It’s hard to reproduce the look elsewhere. Palm Springs and neighboring towns sit in a Sonoran Desert valley tightly ringed by mountains on all sides, screened only by tall, skinny palm trees. Cactus, agave, and bougainvillea won’t grow in Minnesota or New Jersey. Landscaping is by nature local. Some motifs, though, are recognizable. From coast to coast, you can find a…

By the 1950s, automobile traffic and television had made front porch-sitting a thing of the past. Architect-designed Mid-century Modern and postwar suburban ranches alike emphasized the family enjoying the backyard, privately or with invited friends. While the front yard remained in public view, rear yards were now enclosed by a tall fence or a wall of hedges. A patio on grade became the center of a yard with zones for play, relaxation, and outdoor dining. The pictorial archive for this period is extensive, and shows that most residential landscape design was practial and pedestrian. Outside of California and several hot spots of Mid-century Modern design, the patio was surrounded by green lawn, specimen trees, and flower beds. If the historical archive suggests a unifying theme, it is simplicity. Everything is…

As much as original hardwood floors are prized today, they often pose problems that aren’t easy to solve, from burned or missing floorboards to pet-urine stains. In many cases, the damage can be repaired and evidence of past wrongs can be righted. The solution usually involves elbow grease, some serious sleuthing for the right materials, skilled help, or all of the above. Damaged floorboards can be seamlessly replaced, for instance, but finding appropriate wood for an old floor may require looking in some unusual places. Time-honored methods include using wood salvaged from the house itself (check attics and basements for leftover boards, or even rip up a few pieces of the attic floor if it’s a match), and seeking out locally salvaged or reclaimed wood. If your floors are fairly…

We tend to clean too seldom and too harshly. Especially when it comes to wood floors, try to keep dirt out in the first place. Use doormats. Remove boots and muddy or salty shoes at the door. Vacuum often with a floor nozzle, as carpet beaters and brush rollers can damage many kinds of flooring. Clean up spills and sticky areas immediately, using a mild cleanser and nothing abrasive. LINOLEUM Be sure your vacuum is set to hard surfaces, as a carpet beater brush may damage the surface. The old standard cleaning solution was equal parts warm water and white vinegar. A small amount of dish soap or mild detergent in water also works. You can buy cleaning solutions meant specifically for linoleum (not vinyl). Never use alkaline products such…

WRONG WAY GOING INTO THE FLOOR It’s always easier to angle nails through the center of the moulding. But often that results in nails going through the baseboard into the flooring. Since the floor moves relative to the baseboard, the narrow shoe moulding will be under stress as nails move in two directions, resulting in popped nails and split wood. RIGHT WAY NAIL TO THE BASEBOARD Especially if you are replacing only a portion of moulding, make sure the new stock matches the original. Save time by priming and painting it on all sides before you install it. When you’re attaching shoe moulding, flex it a bit to follow the flooring, and fasten it to the baseboard only using 1 ½" finishing nails. Most inside corner mouldings (e.g., shoe, crown,…

ON ARTS & CRAFTS Tidbits from the 32nd annual Arts & Crafts Conference at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C.: • Conference founder, historian, and educator Bruce Johnson “wrote the book [he] always wanted to read”: Tom, Scott & Zelda, Following in Their Footsteps. It’s a triple biography as well as a guide for touring the North Carolina towns where Thomas Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Zelda Fitzgerald found inspiration in the 1930s–40s. The Grove Park Inn is included! brucejohnsonbooks.com • The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms is celebrating its 30th year. Gustav Stickley’s family lived in the iconic Log House, built in 1911 in Morris Plains, N.J. stickleymuseum.org • Rosalie Berberian brought her gorgeous new book Creating Beauty: Jewelry & Enamels of the American Arts & Crafts…

PALM SPRINGS, CA /$849,000 Designed by Modernist architect Charles DuBois, this low-slung 1966 home has a façade of concrete and open grilles, period-style exterior lighting, a covered entry courtyard, original concrete fireplace, and a bean-shaped swimming pool. PHOENIX, AZ /$730,000 This 1953 Ranch features vertical-plank exterior paneling, Eichler-style clerestory windows, and original low brick planting beds and enclosure walls. Inside find beamed and paneled vaulted ceilings, Saltillo-tile floors, and a massive brick fireplace wall. SHERMAN, CT /$699,000 Shingle-clad but thoroughly Modern, this 1955 Ranch has a flagstone entry, beam-supported paneled ceilings, a hand-built stone fireplace, a fully (double-) glazed sunroom, and trapezoid-shaped bedrooms, all on one floor. PORTLAND, OR /$719,000 Designed by Robert Rummer, this 1968 house features an Eichler-style interior glass atrium, brick floor-to-ceiling fireplace, vaulted tongue-and-groove ceilings, and…

The 1908 E.E. Boynton house in Rochester, N.Y., is the furthest east of Wright’s Prairie homes. At first its property encompassed four city lots, with expansive gardens, a reflecting pool, and a tennis court part of the original design. When the property was subdivided in the 1920s, more than half of the landscape was lost and the relationship between house and site greatly affected. Successive owners over the next 80 years introduced garden revisions. Private owners Jane Parker and Fran Cosentino bought the landmark in 2009, forming a trust to restore the house and rehabilitate the gardens in a manner true to Wright’s original vision. Adhering to the Secretary of the Interior Standards, the design team at Bayer Landscape Architecture did extensive primary research, all in consultation with the Frank…

Located in the historic Arapahoe Acres mid-century development, this 1954 house was damaged by a fire that destroyed the kitchen, carport, and rear elevation. The scope of work in its restoration and remodeling including main living rooms as well as the carport and exterior doors and windows. Throughout, the architects specified Mid-century Modern details, seeking out custom and period-sensitive millwork and cabinets. Making the indoor/outdoor connection seamless, the new kitchen opens to the patio and backyard through floor-to-ceiling custom glazing. Planters and furnishings give the outdoor space the right vibe. Mark Bowers, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB | Architectural Workshop | Denver, Colorado | (303) 788-1717 | archshop.com BREEZE BLOCKS Nathan Anderson of Ground One in Minneapolis used architectural concrete block to partly enclose a patio for a 1950s Rambler. Here…

Completed in 2008, the house was designed to fit into a historic beach community on the South Shore of Long Island. Working in a vocabulary of Colonial Revival details and traditional coastal materials, architect Sam White and designers at PBDW Architects were able to reduce the apparent scale of the new 11,500-square-foot house, keeping its architectural image in character with smaller houses in the neighborhood. The one-third-acre site presented every advantage except size: It’s a waterfront property with a south-facing exposure on a tidal bay. Situated on a quiet street where children learn to ride bikes, the corner lot is separated from the nearest neighbor by a grassy, Village-owned open space, all within walking distance of a schul for Sabbath observance. Into this minuscule parcel, PBDW installed a full program…

“ When the decorative header beam was scribed to the ceiling, we lost inches of its heft.” My ca. 1930 bungalow once had a room-dividing colonnade. I contracted with a well-known cabinetmaker to create a period version. After installation, the glass-front cabinets and piers looked great. But a significant sag in the ceiling, unaddressed during measuring for the project, required the “beam” to be scribed more than could possibly look reasonable, marring the effect.  —Roseann Ferrini THE FIX The homeowner is reeling with regret that she had not noted and addressed the significant sag in the plaster ceiling. But she’s also unhappy that a professional cabinetmaker visited, measured, drew plans, and then built a room-spanning colonnade without accounting for the sag. “After installation, I knew I couldn’t live with the…

Q: This odd bathtub is in the house we recently Q: purchased. The house was built around 1900 and has had virtually no modifications. The bathtub is 42" x 30", and the well is 9" deeper than the rest of the tub. Have you ever seen one of these? —Barb and Howard Wolcott, Rock Falls, Ill. A: That’s a new one on me! I searched in vain through old plumbing A: catalogs, including Mott’s 1908 issue featuring everything from residential bath suites to four-sided/four-user sinks and hospital douche rooms. My first thought is that yours is a combination bathtub and footbath. Your bathroom may not be strictly original—the tile does not look like 1900—but it’s vintage. “I’ve seen a short, squarish, cast-iron tub on feet dating to the 1890s called…

My newlywed parents moved to Vermont after World War II. They were living in a small apartment over my great-grandfather’s store and wishing they could buy a home of their own. There was little money—but plenty of rocks! My parents got the idea to build a house from stones taken from brooks. In those days, a weekend with friends meant picking up rocks together and then having a potluck dinner—such was a social outing in rural Vermont in the mid-1940s. With a mason, they built the house, a simple stone ranch, but eventually they sold it and moved to Florida. In 1995, I got a surprise phone call: The house was for sale again, and since my parents had built it and I grew up there, would I like to…

When the owners of a Mid-century Modern house called in Minneapolis landscape firm Ground One (GroundOneMN.com). for help with a failing concrete driveway and drainage problems, they had no idea they were about to create an homage to Fallingwater in the front yard. The existing concrete steps were steep and awkward, running straight up from the driveway and making a sharp turn toward the front stoop, explains landscape architect Nathan Anderson of Ground One. Building a retaining wall with a large planting bed helped eliminate most of the drainage issues, but the owners wanted a softer, safer approach to the front door. Anderson’s solution is a series of large, raised steps made of integrally dyed concrete, which cascade from the front stoop and key into the driveway. “Concrete is a…

This 1957 Mid-century Modern residence needed a more functional floor plan as well as general revitalization. The main house got a partial second-level addition within the existing volume, preserving its original front gable, while the guest house (shown) was cut down to create a covered entry. The rear façade opens to a reimagined patio that flows from the glazed wall to flagstones leading to the firepit. A low stone wall and plantings follow the line of the house. Timothy Schouten, AIA | Giulietti/Schouten Architects | Portland, Oregon | (503) 223-0325 | gsarchitects.net…

A dull wood floor ready for refreshing might not need to be sanded down to bare wood. Screening, also called buffing or a buff-and-recoat, is an alternative with several advantages—when it’s appropriate for the particular floor. Removing minor damage and dullness, screening lightly scuffs the finish so that a new coat of finish will adhere. Screening takes less time than sanding, creates less mess, and doesn’t remove any actual wood. An open-mesh sanding screen is used with the floor buffer, rather than abrasive sanding discs. Rent a buffer at most large homesupply and hardware stores; be sure to clean the wheels. STEP-BY-STEP STEP 1 Thoroughly clean the floor. Scrape off any paint or plaster drips with a putty knife and remove any marks with a synthetic wool pad. (Steel wool…

Adding a wall cladding of salvaged wood is a great way to make a big change after just a couple of days of labor. This once-plain dining room, for example, was transformed with about $100 worth of old tongue-and-groove wood paneling and some serious effort. As the project designer, I purchased the reclaimed wood boards at the ReSource Building Material Store in Burlington, Vermont, and brought it to the site for cleanup and renewal. What a turn-around! the process 1. SALVAGING WOOD The boards were already separated and clean of nails when they came from the resource yard. On site, the boards were scrubbed clean with a bleach solution, and inspected for mold and insect infestation. When the wood was dry, the designer painted all of the boards with a…

Light-filled Modern With sensitive corrections that inspire easy living, a 1971 home by the Northwest builder and Eichler fan Robert Rummer is rescued from a ’90s remodeling. It’s said that Oregon homebuilder Robert Rummer’s career was jumpstarted by his wife Phyllis taking a trip to see her sister in Walnut Creek in 1959. On that visit to the San Francisco Bay Area, Phyllis toured a Joseph Eichler-designed house in a subdivision known as Rancho San Miguel. When she got home, Phyllis recommended that her husband build similar houses in Oregon. Rummer was not immediately convinced, but then one of his own clients remarked on plans of the very same Eichler home, published in Look magazine. This house, built in 1971 in Beaverton, Oregon, shares typical Rummer traits: low-slung, single-storey, post-and-beam;…

When these homeowners—“hands-on designers”—were looking for an apartment in New York City in the 1980s, they were ready to do some work. They were looking for something affordable, with Old World character, in a convenient neighborhood. When they found a pair of adjacent, one-bedroom apartments in a historic building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, they knew they were home. Designed in 1910 as a residence hotel for Broadway actors and Manhattan “bachelors,” the 12-storey brick building had solid, steel-framed fireproof construction and had withstood the test of time. While each apartment was only 500 square feet, it felt spacious owing to 10 ½' ceilings and windows on Central Park. The couple turned to Art Deco-era design and furnishing. That was a time when highstyle city living was celebrated. The exotic,…

TWO YELLOW FARMHOUSES A reader snapped photos of two gable-and-wing farmhouses, situated in close proximity on the same byway in a New England town, both built in the 1850s–60s, both painted Colonial yellow. Why do they look so different? A series of modifications that probably seemed functional and minor at the time has ruined the integrity of the remodeled house. With changes to the entry and windows, architectural hierarchy and proportion were lost. Where is the front entry? Scroll-sawn ornaments are gone, lost to rot and inattention. Poorly sized faux shutters can’t mask the replacement windows. Even the landscape has suffered. When a property begins to be let go, a downward spiral often ensues. Hints remain of the original house, which might guide restoration in the future. The siding can…