• Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kentuck Knob (1954), Ohiopyle PA

    This wonderful FLW property – built in the "deluxe" Usonian style on a beautiful 80-acre lot – is just a few miles from Fallingwater. Along with the extensive sculpture garden, it is open for public tours.

    The House on Kentuck Knob was designed in 1954 and completed in 1956 for I. N. and Bernardine Hagan, friends of the Kaufmans, for whom Wright built Fallingwater. The home, build of tidewater cypress, glass and 800 tons of local sandstone – and a very striking copper roof – is situated in western Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands, and includes a gorgeous view of the Youghiogheny River gorge and the surrounding hills.

    The Hagans lived in the house for 30 years, and sold it to Baron Peter Palumbo, an English developer, art collector and architecture conservationist, in 1986.

    • slideshow of images from Kentuck Knob and its sculpture garden, including a few of Fallingwater

    Thanks to Douglas Sanders’ wonderful Frank Lloyd Wright Newsblog for reminding us of this very pretty and unique home!

  • book review: Craftsman Furniture Projects

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    Craftsman Furniture Projects: Timeless Designs & Trusted Techniques From Woodworking’s Top Experts

    My colleague Derek Martin, an experienced and very talented woodworker, recently offered to review a book I received from the kind folks at Woodworkers’ Journal:

    Thank you for the opportunity to read and give my brief review of Craftsman Furniture Projects.

    I will start out by saying that I not only enjoyed the easy reading, but I also found myself distracted by the illustrations as I thumbed my way through the book. The book is loaded with diagrams, templates and pictures. Many more visual displays are also included to show exactly what is being done which can be especially useful if it’s your first time trying a particular procedure. Finished products are also displayed to show you what you are working towards at all times. So the use of illustration in this book along with descriptive detail made it an A+ for me.

    One of my favorite items was the use of old woodworking tools and the brief explanation of what their purpose was on the project. Some were tools that can still be very useful today such as the wood marking gauge used to drawl more precise lines while performing the layout of a rabbet joint on a piece of stock. Simple tools like this can be found, usually when you’re not looking for them, at garage sales and flea markets and I have developed a habit of collecting and using such items rather than their newer and cheaper counterparts.

    Throughout the book you will find sections called Quick-Tips and Technical Drawings. These brief paragraphs are hints and tips that outline safety, accuracy and workarounds for each project.

    This issue includes nearly twenty beautiful furniture pieces that can be constructed in any decently outfitted woodshop. I would recommend this book to any beginner who wants to try their hand at building sturdy and eye-catching furniture or any master craftsman who thinks he’s seen it all.

  • Craigslist: Stickley, July 2007

    Plenty of Stickley – some contemporary, some antique, and some needing a good amount of TLC – available on Craigslist this week. As always, be careful that you are buying the real deal and aren’t being taken to the cleaner; unless you are confident in your ability to discern authenticity, stick with buying from a reputable dealer.

    • very pretty rocker with Nouveau inlay design; Rhode Island – $595
    • spindle-sided Morris chair; Palm Springs – $750
    • more spindle-sided Morris chairs, these with leather cushions; Los Angeles – $650 for two
    • Morris-style rocker; Niantic CT – $850
    • rocker & armchair, cushions need work; Palm Springs – $1500
    • #729 drop-front desk; Santa Barbara – $2999
    • slat-sided Morris-style recliner with custom southwestern upholstery; San Diego – $100
    • L & JG side chair, simple design, circa 1910. Seat needs reupholstering; Reno – $385
    • #818 server / sideboard; Portland OR – $950
    • Quaint Furniture rocker, needs refinish & arm repair; Seattle – $125
    • #89 / 91-224 spindle-sided love seat / small settle; Washington DC – $2000
    • red label (Stickley Handcraft) rocker, original  seat, needs cleaning; Hudson Valley area – $350
    • Stickley Bros. metal tagged armchair, slat back, sturdy; Richmond VA – $475
    • set of 4 ladder-back sidechairs, Fayetteville stamp; Long Island – $300
    • set of 4 wicker-seat sidechairs, need refinish, partially recaned; Brooklyn – $40 each, all for $150
    • contemporary Harvey Ellis series cherry, copper & maple dresser; Albany NY – $1500
    • red / gold Fayetteville (Stickley Bros.) label drop-front desk; Pittsburgh – $990

  • Frank Lloyd Wright & the house beautiful

    From June 28 through October 8, the Portland Museum of Art is presenting a new exhibit showcasing "Frank Lloyd Wright’s passion for creating a new way of life for Americans through architecture."

    In particular, the exhibition focuses on his legendary skill in
    creating harmony between architectural structure and interior design
    while fulfilling the needs of a modern lifestyle. Featuring
    approximately 100 objects, the exhibition includes furniture,
    metalwork, textiles, drawings, and accessories from the collections of
    the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and other public and private
    collections. Curated by Dr. Virginia T. Boyd, professor at the
    University of Wisconsin-Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright and the House
    Beautiful conveys the methods through which Wright implemented the
    philosophy of the “house beautiful.” The exhibition explores how Wright
    sought to develop a modern interior reflective of a uniquely American
    spirit of democracy and individual freedom, illustrates his development
    in integrating the space with furnishings and architectural elements,
    and shows his experiments with bringing these ideas to the homes of
    average Americans.

    Several podcasts and audio programs relating to the exhibit are also available:

  • a modern Craftsman kitchen

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    Taunton publishes lots and lots of good books devoted to historic architecture in general and the Arts & Crafts movement specifically. I was happy but not surprised, then, to pick up a few back issues of The Inspired House, an (unfortunately out of print?) at a local used bookshop.

    The magazine seems to have halted publication mid-2006, but mining their online archive yielded lots of good stuff, including this article by Debra Judge Silber on a very modern yet classically attractive Craftsman kitchen remodel in a 1915 historic foursquare:

    When they found their brick foursquare in the
    mid-1980s, Ed and Kathy Friedman couldn’t believe their luck. They’d
    spent 10 years building a collection of Arts and Crafts furniture and
    decorative objects, and here was the perfect home in which to display
    it. The 1915 foursquare, with its built-in benches and bookcases, was
    as well preserved as if it had been locked in a time capsule.

    Except for the kitchen. Remodeled in the ’50s, the boxy room had plastic tiles running halfway around it and
    white metal cabinets backed awkwardly against the walls. Not just
    outdated, it was completely at odds with the purposeful beauty of the
    rest of the house.

    Visit their site for the full article. Floorplan by Martha Garstang Hill, whose illustrations and architectural drawings adorn many Taunton books.

  • Robert E. Koch custom woodworking

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    Robert Koch studied under John Kassay (author of The Book of Shaker Furniture) and continues that tradition of austerity and craftsmanship in his own work. His furniture is influenced by "Arts & Crafts, Asian and American Shaker furniture designs" – and in its smooth lines, deceptively simple framing, delicate dovetailing and use of several beautifully-grained woods, these pieces combine elements of all three styles.

    Robert lives and works in Diamond Springs, California (not far from my home in Sacramento), and takes commissions and may have other pieces for sale.

  • craigslist & ebay: library card catalogs are great!

    I’ve always liked library card catalogs – the old wooden ones with dozens of tiny drawers. Something about the grid or all the little nooks and crannies appealed to me. As a kid, my parents had a wooden filing cabinet, previously used to hold criminal records and fingerprint files, that they had bought at a police auction; it still had a number of old mugshots in it when we brought it home, and I guess the promise of hidden treasure is another reason I like these types of items.

    If my house wasn’t already crowded with furniture, I’d seriously think about picking up one (or more) of these:

    and here are a few on ebay

    One thing I’ve noticed is that even the starting bids on Ebay are far higher than what folks selling via craigslist hope to get. Part of that is that Craigslisters want to sell to locals – they won’t deal with shipping, and don’t bother asking – and some of the Ebayers are willing to crate & ship. Another, something borne out by my own experience, is that people who use community sites like Craigslist are simply less predatory than vendors on Craigslist.

  • “cannibalizing my Craftsman bungalow” on alt.home.repair

    from the Usenet group alt.home.repair:

    I have a modest 90yr. old Craftsman bungalow that I have owned for over 15 years. I recently bit the bullet and took the time (months!) and  money (you don’t even want to know) to have the old composite shingle  siding removed to expose the original redwood clapboard. My
    painter/restorer filled every nail hole, scraped every nook and cranny,  carefully and conservatively sanded off every layer, repaired every  corner of old window frame, etc. and finally completed a new coat of  paint that does my little place justice. It is constructed of solid old  growth redwood and feels like it will go another 90 years, no worries.

    Until today. My roofers came out today. This is a company I have used before – they re-roofed my detached garage a few yers back. I don’t have any leaks, but I’m trying to be proactive and not wait for trouble, so I signed up for a new 30 year shingle. After about two hours of banging I decided to go out and have a look at progress. I was stunned to see two workers in the process of nailing up a dinky piece of pine in the place where my front fascia used to be. This was a 12
    ft. long 2×8 that completed 1/2 of my front roofline – nice and wide with an angled rafter end tail. Gasping, I asked "What have you done with my redwood "Oh, there was some dry rot on the end" Well, I had known about that – my painter had informed me and we felt that during
    the re-roof would be the time to address it, repair and repaint. The involved area was about 1-2" deep along about 6" of the rafter tail.

    For this they removed the WHOLE thing. Just ripped it off – and were nailing up a piece of typical modern day lumber – in other words, too small in two dimensions. A 2×8 doesn’t measure 2×8 these days, but my old one did. Can you imagine how inadequate that was? I felt like someone had cut off my foot – being a preservationist is not easy. They looked at me like I was cockeyed, I was trying not to shoot anyone. 🙂

    My contract specifically notes that the owner is to be informed immediately if any latent damage is discovered, requiring any wood work. What happened!?! They acted as though they were doing me a favor – "Oh, we thought you’d want to go with the lowest cost option" Ack!
    Removing an irreplaceable lengtht of redwood is an option?! Gawd, if they’d only asked me first.

    Read the full article and folks’ advice for fixing this enormous cock-up.

  • stuff you can’t live without: Mag-o-Grip

    I don’t frequently recommend individual products here, but this is so incredibly useful for anyone who builds, repairs or otherwise tinkers that I had to mention it.

    The Mag-o-grip (not sure about the hyphenation) is basically a magnetic wrist-wrap that lets you keep nails, screws, nuts, bolts, drill bits and other useful metal things on hand. That’s it – so simple I’m amazed it hasn’t been around for 100 years, but I guess truly useful things are often this simple – and not really obvious until you see them. It’s available for about $15 from MDG Tools and various retailers. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of having forgotten nails, nuts and heavy staples shred my shirt pockets and clog up the dryer lint trap…