remodel / restore

• Arts & Crafts wallpaper today

  minor updates to this article, originally from Hewn & Hammered in 2004:

  People often think of the interior of Arts & Crafts period homes as austere, minimilist spaces devoid of pattern. They envision tasteful rich woods and plain walls with only a jewel tone paint shade as a foil. There may have been some interiors like that, but the height of the Arts and Crafts movement coincided with the height of Victorian decorating. Rather than homes and design books of the period only embracing one or the other style, what often occurred was a blending of the two styles. One of the finest examples of graphic art to come out of this period were the many rich and detailed wallpaper designs.

  When you think of Arts & Crafts designs it is the iconic images that often come to mind. From the famous Morris chrysanthemums, pomegranates, daisies and marigolds to Frank Lloyd Wright’s hollyhocks
  and branch borders, these patterns from nature figure prominently in
  all manner of Arts & Crafts design. Morris was said to have
  considered wallpaper a ‘medium of communication’ and created over 144
  distinctive textile designs that were reproduced in several different
  mediums such as textiles, wall coverings and carpets. Historically, the
  actual creation Arts and Crafts period wallpaper was a painstakingly
  difficult and involved process. Long sheets of paper were rolled out on
  great tables and dozens of artisans using a primitive silkscreening
  process layered on paint in highly detailed repetitive patterns. This
  made the wallpaper prohibitively expensive for the average decorator.
  But when you have a great room sometimes painting techniques and
  stencilwork just won’t cut it; they just can’t give that ‘wow’ factor –
  that’s when it’s time to look to wallpapers.

  From a ceiling frieze to a feature wall to a room done completely in
  a bold pattern to mimic your favourite period estate, wallpapers is
  what you are looking for. But, where do you find them? Aren’t they
  prohibitively expensive?

  Not necessarily. The advent of laser printing techniques and
  computer-aided design have changed all of that, and as a result prices
  have come down so mere mortal restorers and decorators can work with
  the medium and get the same stunning effect. Currently, several
  companies are recreating these intricate designs.

  A local favourite and one of the few A&C suppliers on the East Coast, J.R.. Burrows & Company and Burrows Studio
  of Rockland MA consider themselves historical design merchants. The
  Burrows Studio, a division of J.R. Burrows & Co., produces and
  recreates designs that are representative of the Aesthetic and the
  early Anglo-American Arts & Crafts movements. The wallpaper designs
  are mainly English in origin, as the English A&C movement was – and
  continues to be – highly influential in New England. There are graphic
  samples of the papers as well as a provenance and a detailed
  description of each style on their extensive website.

  Heading out to the west coast one of the finer manufacturers is Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers.
  As recently as 2000, Bradbury and Bradbury began using computers to
  print their beautiful Arts & Crafts friezes, and they are gorgeous,
  lush, rich (okay, okay, I know – enough adjectives, but I can’t help
  it!) full of color and bold, beautiful designs.  The site is unique in
  that designs are grouped by color theme. Choose an olive room and the
  site will show how to coordinate various Bradbury designs into a single
  cohesive look. You can view it all on the site or order a catalog to
  peruse with a good cup of tea in your Morris chair.

  Last stop is way up north in Canada at Charles Rupert Designs Ltd.,
  dedicated to supplying "splendid items for the traditional home and
  garden." Not only do they have all the paper patterns you have been
  dreaming of, but they have the fabrics to match. One of their great
  features is a complete wallpaper and fabric sample cutting service
  which will allow you to see what you envision before you commit.
  Everything they sell is top quality and they strive to use traditional
  natural materials wherever possible, shunning plastic, vinyl and other
  synthetics.

  Thanks to Jo Horner of the always entertaining and often very touching Counting Sheep for this wonderful article!

• Craftsman bungalow remodel in Salt Lake City

  
  Renovation Design Group, a residential architecturel firm with offices in Seattle and Salt Lake City, transformed a very bland, ho-hum 1924 bungalow in Salt Lake City into a beautiful piece of livable art. This Craftsman-style bungalow remodel involved the entire house, from the landscaping and exterior finish to the addition of Craftsman detailing in every interior room. Some modern touches are a bit anti-Craftsman (odd inset ceilings, can lights, ceiling vents, non-Arts and Crafts cabinet detailing in the kitchen and a few other places, but they don’t ruin it by any means.

  Aaron and Carolyn weren’t in a rush to get started. They had lived
  in their 1924 Craftsman-style bungalow for about a decade and had made
  several small changes that kept the space livable. But while they knew
  they should probably do a major remodel, they were content to spend
  lots of time thinking about it but not much time working toward it.

  “We knew from the time we moved in
  that we were going to remodel, but it was just the two of us, and it
  was hard to get motivated,” Carolyn says.

  But when their daughter came
  along, they needed more room and they wanted to make the home safer for
  their child. So they knew the time had come to move from dreaming about
  a remodel to getting the work done. Their home was built by Carolyn’s
  grandfather, and it was the home in which her mother was raised. So
  there were plenty of sentimental reasons to keep the house while
  modernizing it for a growing family.

  They
  engaged Renovation Design Group to help them figure out how to do that.
  Architect Annie Vernon, using her own ideas and those brought by the
  couple, took them through several options for updating their home. The
  couple decided on a plan they loved and moved forward. But after
  engineering evaluations, they could see that the original masonry walls
  would not meet code and would require extensive reengineering to make
  the remodel work. It would be an expensive process with no guarantees.
  So they had to make the painful decision to teardown grandpa’s house—an
  option they had not entertained. “It was a hard decision,” remembers
  Carolyn. But since reinforcing the old walls “just didn’t make sense”
  in the end, they went back to the drawing board and began planning for
  a tear-down and rebuild.

  If they couldn’t keep the
  original house, they were definitely committed to keeping grandpa’s
  spirit. “We liked the style of the house, and if we were going to have
  to rebuild it, we wanted to keep the style,” says Carolyn. So with
  Annie’s help, they designed another craftsman bungalow. The original
  home had once had a large front porch, so they brought it back in the
  new design. They also kept thematic elements from the previous design
  and incorporated them into the new house, such as a half wall and
  pillars separating their living, dining room, and new craftsman
  bungalow kitchen, as well as lower ceilings in portions of the house to
  maintain the cozy cottage feel.

  Aaron and Carolyn also
  salvaged materials from the old house and reused them in the new house.
  The moldings around the windows are either the exact wood used in the
  previous home or an exact replica. They also reused glass block for a
  living room window, adorned new doors with old knobs, and kept the
  fireplace mantel. And the exterior brick was meticulously preserved,
  cleaned, and re-laid.

  photo courtesy of Renovation Design Group 

• home improvement tips: how to get the most effective results for your money

  regular contributor Joel McDonald forwards us this advice on how to ensure you get good value for your home-improvement dollar:

  If you are a homeowner, you have probably thought about remodeling.
  If you are getting ready to sell, it could very well be the time to do
  a bit of remodeling, and increase the value. Home improvements can be
  expensive, so, of course, the average homeowner will try to get the
  nicest improvements done with the least cost. Saving money is a big
  consideration for most homeowners, but that certainly does not mean you
  want a cheap job.

  The cost of investing in and maintaining real estate makes it a
  serious business. If you are not careful, you could over-invest,
  whether a project is for a single room, the roofing or landscaping, or
  the whole property. Hiring a legitimate professional is key to getting
  a good remodeling job done at the right price.

  The Federal Trade Commission says that homeowners should be aware of
  the tricks of dishonest companies. The FTC warns about these warnings
  that your contractor might be trouble:

  • insists on the need for a quick commitment
  • asks for full payment up front
  • offers you a cheaper price for finding other clients
  • offers you a special price due to (how lucky you are!) having extra materials on hand
  • asks you to get the building permits
  • only accepts cash

  Any of those circumstances could be a sign that you should run and
  get a different firm. Sometimes a bogus contractor will also try to get
  you to borrow from a lender that they know. At its worst, a loan scam
  could literally put you out of house and home.

  Precautions to Take
  There are several precautions you should take to keep from being taken
  advantage of. Interview potential contractors thoroughly. The FTC
  suggests that you ask how long they have been doing business, license
  details, and insurance offerings. Check with the city or county
  building office. Ask around. These things are not unlike the normal way
  you normally approach any big purchase or transaction.

  Another important tip is asking for recent references. Not only
  should you get a list of references, but you should call and checkup on
  them. Ask these references about the quality of the job. Question them
  about whether there were last-minute costs, and other problems.

  Terms of payment must be clear and agreed upon before the job is
  started. Some local laws set limits on how much higher the actual cost
  can be above the contract estimate. Check into the laws where your work
  will be performed.

  This article was provided by Automated Homefinder, Colorado’s Louisville real estate professionals.

• restoration & renovation booming in Los Angeles

  The Los Angeles Busines Journal tells us that old-home restoration in LA is a booming business, largely untouched by the problems that have hit home resellers and new home builders. Perhaps this is because more and more people are nesting – settling in to spend more years at homes they might have sold in previous years – and are taking renovation (and, in historical homes, restoration) much more seriously as long-term investments than they would have before. Flippers see restoration as something to be done cheaply, on the surface, for quick return; people who live in neighborhoods and care about their own quality of life and that of the area see it as an investment to be done right. Read Daniel Miller’s full article:

  Times are slow in the housing market, but it would be hard to tell by following Kevin Kuzma through a typical day.

  The
  historic home restoration consultant is busy from early morning to
  evening, picking up raw materials, visiting construction sites, doing
  estimates and meeting with clients.

  “It’s gotten busier and
  busier. I haven’t felt any slow down,” said Kuzma, whose Revival Arts
  Restoration business is based in his Angelino Heights home.

  Ditto
  that for folks like Ron Radziner, principal at Los Angeles architecture
  firm Marmol Radziner and Associates, which specializes in restoration
  and new custom residential homes.

  Or Charles Fisher, who has
  built a busy business helping owners of historic homes qualify for
  coveted tax breaks that can lower a state property tax bill by up to 80
  percent.

  Builders may be practically giving away homes in
  far-flung Los Angeles County subdivisions amid slow sales all around,
  but there’s one corner of the housing market that so far has been
  immune from it all.

  Historic homes in architectural styles such
  as Craftsman, Spanish Colonial Revival and Art Deco have all grown in
  popularity in recent years. What’s more, an increased interest in famed
  20th century architects has led to a blossoming of the cottage industry
  that services and sells historic homes by renowned figures such as
  Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright and John Lautner.

• renovation finds: Bull Durham!

  My cousin Leora was doing a bit of renovation in her Chicago bungalow and found that a previous owner had done some wood paneling – until now, covered by a newer wall – in deconstructed Bull Durham tobacco crates. Does anyone know if these are especially collectible to anyone?

  What interesting objects or spaces have you found when remodeling or otherwise repairing your home?

• house detectives & a beautiful Craftsman kitchen nook

  
  An article by Holly Hayes in last week’s San Jose Mercury News caught my eye, mostly for the photo of the very pretty period breakfast nook (photo by David M. Barreda):

  "The
  stuff you find out about houses — and the people who lived in them — is
  just fascinating," Tucker says. She has mined the Internet for old maps
  and phone directories and even tracked down relatives of a former
  resident to gather clues about what the place looked like before
  several "improvements" were made.

  Tucker calls the process "backdating," finding the home’s true self, if you will.

  The
  latest project involves the back door and a cute little breakfast nook
  — a feature they were nearly certain was once there. Indeed, they were
  right. When they found the great-niece of longtime owner May Duignan,
  she recalled snacking on tea and cookies there.

  Tucker says the
  nook — a built-in that sat under two windows on the back wall of the
  kitchen — was removed when a former owner turned a service porch into a
  second bathroom and rerouted the back door through the kitchen.

  The new back door was a problem for both historical and practical reasons.

  "The
  French doors that had been installed in the kitchen were just not
  correct to the period of the house," Tucker says of the circa 1922
  bungalow. "Plus, they let in too much light and heat in the summer and
  too much cold in the winter."

  Out they went, and in their place is a single window and a wide back door, both which still allow views to the back garden.

  Losing the French doors also cleared the way for the construction of the new breakfast nook,
  which Tucker and Zappe designed. Paul Davis, who Tucker describes as a
  "wizard with wood," built it. Davis, who is now studying architecture
  in San Diego, is the skilled handyman responsible for carrying out the
  couple’s ambitious projects.

  check out the full article

• radioactive granite countertops, scare tactics & lazy journalism

  Various stories on radioactivity being found in granite countertops have popped up in various places over the past several weeks, most of them pushed very strongly by a specific advocacy group (a group that lobbies on behalf of synthetic countertop makers). There’s not a lot beyond the scare tactics of the story, so I don’t think there’s any reason to pull out your granite; that said, some scientists have gone on the record as saying there are rare cases of significantly radioactive countertops, so it is something to think about.

  “It’s not that all granite is dangerous,” said Stanley Liebert, the
  quality assurance director at CMT Laboratories in Clifton Park, N.Y.,
  “But I’ve seen a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little.”

  The E.P.A. recommends taking action if radon gas levels in the home
  exceeds 4 picocuries per liter of air (a measure of radioactive
  emission); about the same risk for cancer as smoking a half a pack of
  cigarettes per day; a few granite countertops exceed this, but not
  many. But others, like Lou Witt of the EPA, say “There is no known safe
  level of radon or radiation.” Moreover, he said, scientists agree that
  “any exposure increases your health risk.” New York Times
                                

  Of course, completely secondary to the radioactivity issue, Granite is not an environmentally sound choice for countertops: the mining is incredibly devastating, it’s often shipped around the world for processing and cutting, and it is – obviously – completely non-renewable. The fact that it may outgas radioactive substances and contain radioactive ores is now something else to worry about, or maybe Mother Nature’s revenge for being assaulted.

  Thanks to Treehugger for digging a bit deeper (at least, deeper than the New York Times or anyone else had bothered to).

• spec solar windows in your next unlimited-budget project

  
  Folks have been talking about solar windows for a long time – glass windows that act as solar collectors and electrical generators. They’ve finally made it to the consumer market, but they are – for now at least – prohibitively expensive. As Crunchgear reports,

  According to the company, the electricity produced through the panes
  will be just enough to power a PC and recharge a cell phone. The
  electricity will be tapped via USB ports.

  On sunny days, the new windowpanes are supposed to generate up to 70
  watts of electricity per square meter of glass. The solar cells have a
  power generation efficiency of 7 to 8%. The glass (thickness: 10.5mm)
  will prevent up to 90% of sunlight coming into a room and therefore
  reduce air conditioning costs.

  The invention comes at a high price, though. Nihon Telecommunication
  System charges $1,900 per square meter in average but still expects to
  sell 10,000 windowpanes annually.

  So, given the price, you’ll have to "power a PC and recharge a cell phone" continuously for the next 60 years or so just to break even. Maybe, now that the technology is out there, they’ll be ready for real-world applications at real-world prices within a few years.

• Flesher + Foster Architecture: Pacific Grove remodel

  
  Daniel Gregory’s article, excerpted Sunset magazine (visit the site for the full article and a photo tour & more):

  There it sat — a forlorn and decaying
  stucco-and-shingle house with a sagging roof and disintegrating entry
  porch. That’s what Polly Moore saw on her hunt for a home in Pacific
  Grove, California.

  But Moore sensed potential: The house had
  good bones, a great location on Monterey Bay, and most intriguing of
  all — the 1914 structure was designed by Julia Morgan, the architect of
  San Simeon’s Hearst Castle. With the help of architect Gretchen
  Flesher, Moore and her husband, Stuart Builder, looked past the
  disrepair to find a one-of-a-kind Craftsman-style treasure well worth
  restoring.

  Bringing back the home’s original beauty, however,
  required a long list of projects: building a new entry porch;
  strengthening the roof; resheathing the exterior; replacing the
  90-year-old plumbing and electrical systems; and updating the
  bathrooms.

  Flesher + Foster, the firm hired to do the majority of the work on this project, has a long history of historically-accurate remodels and even some conservation work. Unfortunately – and for no good reason – their website doesn’t do more than give a quick slideshow of a few of their more impressive projects. Too bad!

  photograph by Thomas J. Story, from Sunset magazine

• new windows not all they’re cracked up to be

  The Sacramento Bee, full of ads for new homes, window replacements and other signifiers of the area’s sprawling suburbs, recently ran this article urging homeowners to keep old windows and work with existing ventilation. Visit the Bee itself to read the whole story.

  Matthew Piner’s handsomely restored Victorian blends old-world charm
  and state-of-the-art energy efficiency. The 1903 home, which sits on
  Capitol Avenue among the so-called M Street mansions, has its original
  double-hung windows with subtle imperfections such as wavy glass,
  spirals and bull’s-eyes. Instead of ripping out and replacing the
  windows, Piner weatherstripped them with bronze springs so they would
  seal tightly, boosting efficiency.

  "There’s an epidemic of
  replacing windows going on in Sacramento," said Kathleen Green, a
  preservationist and member of the Sacramento Old City Association. The
  group will host a round table Saturday to highlight fruitful
  energy-saving fixes that preserve a home’s distinct and historic
  features.

  Green said replacing old windows with vinyl ones may not reap energy savings and could decrease the value of an older dwelling.

  Piner, an architect and owner of Piner Works Design Build Group,
  said many Sacramento Victorians and bungalows were built with
  ventilation to take advantage of the Delta breeze.

  In his home,
  transom windows above doors, a feature of many old homes that predate
  air conditioning, offer an escape hatch for warm air and help air
  movement.