photography

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.
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photography bits & pieces
To fill a few minutes while I’m off recovering from the holidays:
- a gorgeous bungalow photographed by Eric Rudd – digital (raw), 10 second exposure
- our friend Hustler of Culture toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock house
- pretty light fixtures in Blue K Design’s bungalow kitchen
- The Arts & Crafts Home has a whole gallery of great contemporary Craftsman kitchens
- it took me a few minutes to realize that the rooms pictured here were "roomboxes," or dollhouse-sized dioramas
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Blackstar Construction Group
Santa Barbara-based Blackstar Construction Group (probably not named after my favorite Radiohead song) is a general contractor specializing in Mission / Craftsman woodwork, interior architecture and detailing.
While their website does show off some very appealing jobs, many more of their projects are up on Flickr for the world to see, photographed by their friend Justin Wagner – I’m actually surprised more craftspeople don’t take this approach – and it’s easy to tell that they really take pride in the quality of their wood and skill. Some of my favorites:
- simple critique racks for the Brooks Institute of Photography
- terrific period-tile master bathroom remodel in Santa Barbara
- nice custom handrail for a backyard terrace in Santa Barbara
- contemporary custom A&C home in Santa Barbara [kitchen / deck]
- a kitchen island upgrade / makeover in Santa Barbara [1 / 2 / 3]
- an interesting Mission-style fireplace in Goleta
- very nice built-in shelving
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recent Craftsman kitchen remodels on Flickr
My constant urging to check Flickr out for design ideas is probably getting pretty old at this point – sorry about that. Here are three attractive working kitchens, wholly or partially documented in photographs on Flickr:
- custom kitchen by William Pepper
- full-on kitchen remodel with some really beautiful tile
- this kitchen remodel included a mix of modern & classic cabinetry, and some really wild mosaic tile
- KittyBitty’s new kitchen includes this backsplash, attractive cabinetry, and a wall-full of appliances
- this warm kitchen includes some neat wide plank flooring
- using the sink as a barrier between two levels of countertop was a unique idea
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more Los Angeles bungalows

As a gift to the hundreds of visitors streaming in from Curbed today, I give you a slideshow of Craftsman bungalows in Los Angeles, taken from Flickr:

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Alfred Faber, Portland architect

James Heuer has put together several SmugMug photo galleries, including one on homes built by Portland-area architect Alfred Faber, who was active as a residential designer from 1904 to 1917. I stumbled across that gallery this morning, and was struck by the level of detail and the tight symmetrical grids that Faber seemed to enjoy. I was very surprised that he dropped off the map, as it were, after moving to Los Angeles for a very early retirement, right when these elements were very much in demand by builders throughout the Los Angeles area.
The M. B. Nease House is a particularly attractive example of Faber’s work, with all kinds of attractive woodwork – builtins and other architectural detail – still intact.
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Hewn & Hammered on Flickr, redux

The Hewn and Hammered pool over on Flickr continues to grow. We now have many hundreds of photos of fixtures, remodels, historic homes, furniture and more. Here’s a little slideshow (thanks to Paul Stamatiou for showing us how to do it):

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we’re #1 (for houseporn, at least)

I noticed today that we were getting an awful lot of visitors who found us from Google searches for "houseporn." 200 today alone! After checking, I found that we were the number 1 result for this rather odd search term. Not that I’m complaining.
So, to accomodate all of you, some very G-rated houseporn (my favorite kind):
This was created with BigHugeLabs’ neat Mosaic Maker. Too bad it doesn’t generate a clickable html/javascript mosaic!
The photographers are as follows. Click on each link to see the original photo:
1. Heintz Art Metal Collection, 2. details, 3. IMG 1431, 4. Detailed woodwork, 5. Our Dining Room, 6. Arts & Crafts door, 7. Secessionist style Art Glass Door, 8. Plinthy, 9. Roycroft Hanging Lantern, 10. MG 0447, 11. Rockridge – 30, 12. Kitchen Remodel – After, 13. Maybeck church
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Hewn & Hammered on Flickr

We have had lots and lots of additions to our photo pool on Flickr; if you want to see pictures of A&C neighborhoods all over the country, interior and exterior remodels, new homes and all sorts of other bits and pieces, please come on over and visit. Flickr accounts are free, too, so feel free to make your own and share your photos with us!
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