• A New Focus for Hewn & Hammered

    I want to start out by apologizing for the infrequent posts here in the last six months. Family responsibilities have kept me (happily!) very busy.

    Thus, in an attempt to increase the amount of interesting, useful, readable content here, I've decided to change the focus of the site somewhat. While we will still focus on architectural and design issues, we'll expand a little bit – we'll still include content related to old homes & the modern and historical Arts & Crafts Movements, but I'll also be posting regular articles on more contemporary, non-A&C work.

    Modern furniture, architecture and design objects – still, always, with an emphasis on the wood, the hand-made, the product of skilled craft – will become a big part of this site. I know some of you are not nearly as interested in this sort of thing, but I hope this will bring a large number of new readers here. I promise to keep posting things that fans of Arts & Crafts will appreciate, though!

  • Pasadena’s Bungalow Heaven in Photographs

    Pasadena, like Santa Barbara and a few other communities in southern California, has a very large number of beautiful, well-preserved Craftsman homes. Home to several Greene & Greene masterworks, the town also hosts an annual Craftsman Heritage Weekend (this year's just ended) which is always worth a visit should you be in the area.

    With its combination of typical Southern California sun, wide streets and the overhanging canopy of huge old trees, Pasadena is also a photographer's heaven. Here's a little gallery I'm in the process of building on Flickr.

  • 4th Annual Arts & Crafts Chicago show & sale

    Just got this press release in my inbox. If any of you go, please send me photographs! And remember, the Frank Lloyd Wright home & studio is in River Forest, too, so you could easily make a nice weekend out of this:

    The 4th Annual Arts and Crafts Chicago Show and Sale is coming back to
    Concordia University in River Forest on Saturday, May 30th and Sunday,
    May 31st 2009. Focusing on mission furniture and accessories of the
    American Arts and Crafts Movement (approximately 1890-1920), this show
    will truly be one you won’t want to miss. You’ll find 20th Century
    Decorative Arts including furniture, metalwork, pottery, textiles, art
    and lighting; everything from Stickley, Limbert, Roycroft, Rookwood and
    much more. Over 50 of the nations leading dealers will be on hand to
    answer questions and advise on how to decorate your home. This
    specialized event has proven to be one of the premiere antique and
    contemporary shows in the Midwest.

    Dealers attending this year’s show are coming from all across the
    country. We have dealers from Massachusetts, New York, California,
    Texas as well as the best dealers from the Midwest. JMW and Crones
    Collectibles from Massachusetts will be featuring high-end pottery from
    the Northeast such as Grueby, Saturday Evening Girls and Marblehead, as
    well as furniture and accessories. Jack Papadinis Antiques,
    Connecticut, will be showcasing some of the premiere lighting in the
    country and David Surgan from New York will offer the best Heintz
    Collection for sale in the country. Paramour Fine Arts, which
    specializes in arts and crafts era woodblocks and art, will be on hand
    showcasing some fabulous artwork from the era. Local dealers such as
    John Toomey Gallery will be exhibiting as well, highlighting Midwest
    artists such as Frank Lloyd Wright, TECO and Jarvie.

    Not only is this an antique show, but the weekend will showcase the
    highest quality contemporary craftsfirms as well. Ephraim Faience
    Pottery, Door Pottery, Arts and Crafts Hardware and Dard Hunter Studios
    will be in attendance, just to name a few.

    With the success of the show over the last three years and with the
    rich tradition of bungalows, as well as the Prairie School heritage of
    Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago has proven to be a perfect fit for this
    specialized show.

    Homeowners interested in educating themselves as to the appropriate
    furnishings for their turn of the century bungalows and craftsman style
    homes shouldn’t miss the 4th Annual Arts and Crafts Chicago Show and
    Sale, Saturday May 30th, 2009, from 10 am – 5 pm and Sunday May 31st
    from 11 am – 4 pm at Concordia University at Geiseman Gym in River
    Forest, Illinois. Admission price is only $7 each. Free parking on site
    in a 5-level garage. No parking on Monroe.

  • photography bits & pieces

    To fill a few minutes while I’m off recovering from the holidays:

  • last-minute gift shopping on Amazon

    Picture_1
    I prefer to buy all the holiday gifts for my friends and family from local businesses and craftspeople, but it’s not always possible: many recipients live far away, or need something very specific. And sometimes the online price, even with shipping, is far less than it is anywhere else – and I am not, by any means, wealthy. So there’s that whole needing to make the house payment thing. Should you have backed yourself into a corner and need a few quick fixes this holiday season, there’s plenty – whether you’re buying for a local friend, your spouse, or a faraway family member – on Amazon:

    furniture

    lighting

    tools & fixtures

    books

    and finally, for those who are either completely nuts, ridiculously rich or have a 30-foot entryway to light:

  • gorgeous 1400 sq ft bungalow in Sacramento: $595k

    3rd_front
    Yes, the price is obscene. But the house is gorgeous. Beautifull restored kitchen & bath, great (small) backyard, lots of light and in one of Sacramento’s three nicest neighborhoods, this Curtis Park bungalow can be yours for just a bit over a half million dollars:

    Beautifully restored shingle Craftsman on idyllic West Curtis Park
    street. A large lot with 3 car garage and alley access – this home has
    been meticulously restored. The period appropriate kitchen renovation is
    complete with handmade shaker style cabinetry with inset doors and
    solid wood construction. The ’50s era Wedgewood stove is also restored,
    and the rest of the appliances, including a Bosch dishwasher, are
    completely integrated into the design of the kitchen. Soapstone
    countertops, a full pantry, and plenty of open shelving throughout. A
    central vacuum system makes cleaning a breeze!

    3 bedrooms, 1 bath, approx. 1460 square feet. Newly refinished
    hardwood floors throughout, along with a new 30 year composition roof,
    new copper plumbing, restored original windows, automatic irrigation,
    new HVAC, and more!! There is a partial basement which is great for
    storage. The 3 car garage is currently set up for a woodworking shop-
    the garage door is for a 2 car garage, but there’s plenty of extra
    space inside!!

    Many custom touches including master bedroom with built-in maple closet
    cabinetry and pull-out ironing board- sliding barn doors for the closet
    too!

    Front and backyards are completely landscaped, there’s even an
    outdoor kitchen! Cook and dine outside next to the gentle sound of the
    koi pond waterfall. Much, Much, More… Call for more details!!

  • wanted: dining room table

    wanted: Attractive & sturdy Craftsman-style rectangular dining room table with 2 leaves – capable of seating 8 or 10 with the leaves in, 4-6 without – for under $500. Something that will stay sturdy and last at least two generations. Any suggestions?

  • real estate listings: MLS to RSS

    Rssfeedgraphicbig
    So, obviously I’ve become a bit addicted to Yahoo Pipes. This free tool lets you aggregate, organize, and filter data from an unlimited number of RSS feeds and databases and present it in almost any kind of electronic form you can imagine.

    I’ve found a really good use for it, one which is – amazingly – missing from the vast majority of real estate listing sites. Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com and all the others: you are really letting the entire industry down by not having raw MLS data available as an RSS feed! I just could not believe that in an age when so many of us get our data on mobile devices and from feed readers that these firms wouldn’t have easily-configurable custom RSS feeds of their listings, but sure enough they don’t. Ziprealty is one of the very few to have such a useful feature, and more power to them for it.

    Using Ziprealty’s listings, house-for-sale posts on Craigslists in a dozen markets and a few other small sites here and there, I’ve created a Yahoo Pipe that includes only listings self-described as "Craftsman," "Mission," "Prairie," or "bungalow." Now, if I can only figure out how to include photos of each property…

    http://pipes.yahoo.com/hewnandhammered/homesforsale

    If you are an agent, a broker or an MLS firm, please publish your data as a configurable / custom RSS feed. This way, searches that could take hours can be finished in just a minute or two, and users don’t need to revisit the sites every single day – using a service like feedburner or one of the many rss-to-email services, we can be notified only when our search criteria pop up in a market we are interested in, in our price range.

    And if you know of any listings services that do issue their data as an RSS feed, please share that info in the comments section below – I’d love to add them to the pipe. Also, let me know if you’d like me to include other cities’ Craigslist posts, I can do that pretty easily.

    If this tool is useful to you and if you think other folks might find it interesting, please digg it: