retail stores

  • Greene House in Phoenix

    This is still confusing me. Sam Fox, a seemingly-misguided but otherwise quite succesful restauranteur in Phoenix, has opened the Greene House at that city’s Kierland Commons mall. The restaurant serves food somehow influenced by the Craftsman ideal, and I would hope & expect that the interior lives up to its name. Due to its location in a mall, however nice that mall may be, I have doubts that it could possibly be anything that wouldn’t bemuse the Greenes themselves. Certainly the food is not something that the brothers would have had access to – green papaya chilled pink snapper, curried pistachios with goat cheese and beets, and mini Kobe beef sliders weren’t very popular in Pasadena in the ’20s, I don’t think, although perhaps they would have been, had they been available.

    I can’t criticise the food – in fact, I don’t have any reason to think that it’s anything but excellent (even given the mall location), but I can criticise the logo. A late ’90s modernist typeface and a logotype more reminiscent of a poor understanding of late-period Frank Lloyd Wright stained-glass design and Seccessionist typography is not necessarily the best signifier for a restaurant offering a paean to Greene & Greene. I’m a graphic designer and I would never, ever expect a client to accept something as shoddy as that, but again, this is no reflection on the food.

  • Bungalow Basics

    BungalowbasicssnohomishSheila Mulligan owns a 1903 four-square in Snohomish, WA (home of many great Craftsman houses) as well as a shop specializing in Arts & Crafts furnishings and accessories, including plenty of stock for the "immediate gratification" buyer. Bungalow Basics doesn’t offer on-line sales, but Sheila would be happy to take orders by telephone. If you are ever in the area, please do stop by; their stock of textiles (including a large number of rugs of all sizes), furniture, prints, books, light fixtures, art glass, framed and unframed tile, ceramics and metalware is absolutely first-rate and certainly worthy of a visit. She will also be receiving a bunch of new releases from Ephraim Faience in August, and I think you’ll agree that her prices are excellent.

    + Bungalow Basics: 912B First St., Snohomish WA 98290
    + tel 360.568.6770

  • Nest and Company

    Nestdining1Just opened on September 18, 2004, Javier and Debbie Santiago’s Nest & Co. shop in Montclair NJ is a treasure trove of home furnishings: they carry furniture, art pottery, miac lamps, embroidered textiles, hand silk-screened wallpaper, ceramic tiles and copperware. In addition to their stock on hand, Nest offers full interior design services.

    Javier and Debbie decided to go into business after not being able to find adequate furnishings in their area after their bought their own bungalow five years ago. They integrated their love of A&C interiors with their own backgrounds in graphic arts and Javier’s experience with woodworking and home renovation, and the idea for Nest was born.

    Nest & Company
    15 South Fullerton Ave. (at Bloomfield Ave.)
    Montclair, NJ 07042
    tel 973.509.9488
    email nestandcompany@comcast.net

  • catalog & mail-order hardware

    2004catalogThere are a number of fantastic paper resources out there for anyone renovating their craftsman home. One of the most complete resources is the Van Dykes Restorers free catalog, which sells everything from Victorian gingerbread to oak and brass registers and every kind of stripping and finishing product known to humankind. They also carry kits for building a wide variety of furniture items.

    At the top of the list as far as quality goes is Rejuvenation Hardware, which sells all sorts of fixtures and hardware (especially lighting!) out of their shop in Portland. They also do a thriving mail-order business.

    The folks of the Craftsman Homes Connection, who seem to do most of their business online now, have a very attractive and jam-packed catalog, with an emphasis on decorative hardware and accessories.

  • Guild.com: 21st-Century Arts & Crafts

    cherylwilliamsBuilding on the Arts & Craft movement of an earlier time, Guild.com is a treasure trove of current artists working in metalwork, ceramics, printmaking, painting, fiber, glass, wood, lighting, furniture and tableware.

    The Arts & Crafts masters of yesteryear would have enthusiastically approved of The Guild’s Philosophy: In a nutshell, we believe that when you live with art that you love, and it’s made by a gifted artist with skill and care, it adds something rich and sweet to your life, every day.

  • Omega Too

    medici5Omega Too sells "everything you need to make your house look old." I’ve bought a number of items from them, including lighting (they have an immense stock of period shades, specifically very small glass pieces in the nouveau and A&C styles) and a bunch of nickel-finish bath fixtures and our medicine cabinet.
    I’ve been saving up for one of their gorgeous front doors, complete with stained-glass panels by the tremendously-talented Ted Ellison.
    Omega’s sister company, Ohmega Salvage, is the premier architectural salvage shop in the Bay Area. Everything from stained glass and doors to furniture to decorative wood- and stonework can be found in their voluminous inventory. You can easily spend a half day between the two Ohmega salvage yards and Ohmega Too’s shop, just down the street.