Long and serious discourses upon happiness have ended without a word for the value of gardening as one of the very simplest means to that end. The truly wise, however, know full well this happy secret, and rejoice accordingly in the best of all the fruits of garden labor.
To Emerson’s, “Give me health and a day,” let us add a little garden. “The pomp of emperors” is indeed “ridiculous” compared with the bliss that comes from “a few and cheap elements”‘ within reach of almost all of us. One condition only is to be met if we would grow this fruit called happiness to perfection, and pluck it with unmingled joy. It must flourish in a garden not too large to be under its fortunate owner’s personal care. No factotum, be he ever so well disposed really to help should be allowed to invade the little garden after the turning of the earth accomplished in the spring, lest opportunities for happiness escape us. The sowing of the seed, the tucking comfortably away of the wonderful bulbs in the fresh earth, the staking and training of plants, even the weeding of borders and the sweeping of walks, are all so many means of grace to the garden-lover.
“IS A FIT OF BLUES IMPENDING?”
Then sally forth well armed with trowel, rake, hoe—all the needful weapons—and the demons will fly before you, quite dismayed by the variety of fresh interests to be found even in a garden reduced to its simplest terms.
A neighbor, transplanted from her maiden home into new and somewhat uncongenial surroundings, found unfailing relief from homesickness, in her garden, through the summer, among her window-plants, in winter. Resolutely would she turn to Mother Earth for the comfort denied her elsewhere.
Equal to its efficacy as a mind cure, is its effect for good on physical ills. Yet gardening as a remedial proposition is, unfortunately, not half so popular among us as patent medicines.
“In half an hour,” says Charles Dudley Warner in “My Summer in a Garden.” “I can hoe myself right away from this world as we commonly see it, into a large place where there are no obstacles.”
That “large place” should be the inheritance of all who can compass the use of a bit of earth, and to this end a taste for gardening should be encouraged among children. Whoever succeeds in planting in a child’s mind a love for ‘”the green things growing,” deep enough to reach a willingness to work for them, makes for the greater happiness of one life throughout all its stages. Gifts of seeds, roots and tools will help the little Adams and the Eves to realize the delights of a Paradise which may lie, perchance, in some neglected corner of the back yard, and as the little folk cultivate, at the same time, their gardens and their tastes, they are providing themselves with a pleasant resource for their declining years.
“THE LITTLE ARTS OF HAPPINESS”
Lady Mary Wortley Montague tells us “Gardening is certainly the next amusement to reading, and as my sight will now permit me little of that, I am glad to form a taste that can give me so much employment, and be the plaything of my age, now that my pen and needle are almost useless to me.”
In a garden, if anywhere, “the little arts of happiness” do certainly abound. As one goes out of a morning, the opening of a long-watched-for blossom may change the aspect of a whole day, and it is precisely this simple, natural coming of the garden pleasures that makes them never ending, while the happy garden hours last. Nowhere, however, does staid old Father Time allow himself to take on such flighty ways as in a garden—the pleasant hours are gone before one knows—and this trick of his is the nearest approach to a flaw in the joy of the summer-time.
Our good old Henry—factotum, philosopher and friend in one—summed up this question of the best fruit of a garden in his own wise way : “You don’t want a garden too large,” said he, “just large enough to make you happy. It’ll do that. I’ve tried it many a time. It makes you feel good when you feel bad.”
“Who loves his garden, still keeps his Eden.”
To learn more about Gustav Stickley, the publisher of The Craftsman magazine which featured this eloquent article, click here.
MORE ON CRAFTSMAN GARDENS
Please read my article on Native gardens, which I consider to be a perfect complement to any bungalow, as well as being very user & Earth friendly.
Treat yourself to more wonderful garden images on my Pinterest page.
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You are wondering about what tile is appropriate for your bungalow. So, what is bungalow tile & what are the resources available to obtain it?
The tile most appropriate & at home in a bungalow, is of the Arts & Crafts Movement, unsurpassed in beauty & variety. While the masters of the period, such as Batchelder, are long gone, there is a wonderful group of modern day artisans, working in the Arts & Crafts aesthetic. They produce tiles that could enhance your bungalow, either installed on your fireplace, in your kitchen or bath, or mounted in a tiger oak frame in your study. I have collected these resources & hope that I have included enough images for you to understand what each company offers. It’s a very extensive list, but I feel that each maker, from the well-known to the more obscure, is worth viewing.
ART uses modern manufacturing technology to exactly duplicate the sizes & colors of old ceramic tile, manufacturing to your design specifications, or suggesting colors and patterns to correspond with your era of restoration.
Their unglazed porcelain products have:
• flat tops (no cushioned edges)
• square edge (no rounded corners)
• impervious surfaces
• the style of the early 1900’s
ART’s Historical Color Palette is very informative about the tile colors that were used during different periods in design.
5/8” thick, Stoneware clay, hand glazed in lead free, food safe glazes. Suitable for all indoor applications. Each tile has a notch on the back for hanging.
They feature made to order art, border & field tiles for fireplaces, backsplashes in the Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau & Prairie styles, in your choice of either a gloss or matte finish.
Specializing in classic, traditional & authentic ceramic tile & stone, they include Design Guides on their website to assist you in choosing appropriate tile. Their Subway Ceramics collection, available in The Bungalow Series, offers satin glazes in a variety of historic colors, as well as many complementary accessories. They also carry mosaic tiles & field & border patterns.
Custom Handmade Architectural Ceramics & Tile
Handmade relief tiles available in many different, lovely colors & two different sizes. They also offer matching field tile & borders in all glazes.
Monte, the creator of these tiles, had worked as a potter for a number of years, when he was drawn to durability, warmth & beauty of copper, a material used by many other Arts & Crafts artists.
This company is actually a history museum, owned by Bucks County in Pennsylvania, & operated by TileWorks, a non-profit organization. The tiles are reissues of original designs & are still handmade in a manner similar to those created by Henry Chapman Mercer, the founder, a major contributor to the American Arts & Crafts Movement. They offer workshops & an apprenticeship program to teach the art of handcrafting ceramic tiles & mosaics.
Motawi makes handcrafted ceramic art tiles as well as designing larger-scale tile installations, including fireplace facades, bathrooms & kitchen walls.
Exquisite tiles, many inspired by Batchelder, are made to order by this mother-daughter duo, specifically for your project. They offer brilliant design services to make your installation perfect.
“We believe in the alchemy of earth and fire.”
Founded in 1903, Pewabic is one of the oldest continually operating potteries in the country. Shown above is a beautiful installation for a birthing center.
High quality, high fire decorative tiles, most of which are are hand pressed in molds that are made from their original sculpted works. Inspired by gardening, wildflowers & nature.
To see even more wonderful tiles, visit my Pinterest page!
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“Listerine will kill 200,000,000 germs in fifteen seconds. Smoke these cigarettes and avoid colds.”
~Tampa Tribune- November 8, 1930
With the harnessing of electricity & the implementation of mass production came consumerism. Wages were higher, even for the unskilled who could be taught to perform one function repetitively on an assembly line. Goods could be produced more rapidly & more cheaply than ever before. And then came credit on the installment plan so you could buy, buy, buy & pay tomorrow.
Keeping all this flowing was advertising. With the inventions of the printing press, moving pictures & radio, large audiences could be reached, promoting the latest products with the latest flimflam. The inhabitants of our bungalows were deluged by advertising messages.
Here are some amusing videos which show various examples of the ad men pitch, way back when Madison Avenue was exploding in the 1920’s.
THE BEGINNING OF ADVERTISING
Advertising in the 1920’s (2:21)
Don Frasier
Getting a piece of your disposable income.
History Brief: Mass Production and Advertising in the 1920s (4:36)
Reading Through History
The birth of the middle class.
A silent commercial, made by Edison for the business cylinder phonograph. It’s way too long! I can only assume that the novelty of the new medium of film kept people’s attention. Of course, they were trapped in a movie theater with no clicker. It is cute, clearly demonstrating the advertising of the time.
RARE Edison Advertising record or cylinder (Len Spencer c. 1906) Edison Gold Moulded Record (2:15)
Tim Gracyk
How could you resist?
For some cool print adds depicting the beginning of advertising, visit my Pinterest page!
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My blog has gotten rather chunky so I have chosen 5 articles that I consider to be the most important bungalow basics for any conscientious steward. In these articles I have covered the information that it is vital for you to know in order to understand, preserve & maintain & enjoy your bungalow. The rest of my blog supports these.
When I purchased the Hare House, I had some of this knowledge having grown up in museums & museum houses. I gained more from reading books & magazines about the Arts & Crafts Movement & am still studying today.
The internet is a wonderful resource, the main caveat being that anyone can represent themselves as an authority & unfortunately, few truly are. The external links I provide in my articles & video posts take you to the people to whom you should be listening. These true experts adhere to & promote the use of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, which forms the bedrock of preservation. The internal links take you to my articles which embellish each topic. I urge you to follow the those links & continue reading.
So let’s take a look at the information you need to know to win the bungalow game.
The books of Jane Powell. I started this blog in Jane’s memory & to ensure that her knowledge would continue to spread. There is little information about bungalows that is not contained in those books, save that some of the resources may be out of date. I suggest that you start by just paging through, enjoying the lush photos & reading the captions. After you have had this visual orientation, start reading. The type is very small & the the data is very detailed, but Jane was a dedicated researcher & wanted us to know everything!
These books are now out of print but still available. They can be found in many libraries.
I always suggest starting with this one which Jane called The Big Book of Bungalows. It is a good introduction to the subject, covering the history & philosophy of the favorite American house, as well as providing many pictures of amazing houses throughout the United States. These homes are beautifully preserved & impeccably decorated which can guide you in making your choices. Links to all the books are included at the bottom of the page for each of them.
These beautiful videos will introduce you to the soul of your bungalow. When I hear people wondering about decor, lighting or remodeling, I send them here to learn about the origin of the bungalow & the cultural problems it was designed to solve.
When I purchased the Hare House, I did not have this rich, visual resource, created by many brilliant scholars. After getting a subscription to American Bungalow & locating many back issues which I scoured thoroughly, I purchased a book on William Morris which I read concurrent with Jane’s books & I was hooked on The Movement & its American expression, the bungalow.
These videos & their companions offer you a look at history, philosophy, historic preservation & life as it was lived during the early 1900’s as well as containing advice from some of the top preservationists in the field. I have searched the internet to present the most helpful, entertaining & often amusing information available in the format.
When I am chilling, I watch & rewatch these videos.
The word has evolved through the decades & is now used both as an architectural term & as a catch-all term.
This article is written by Jo-Anne Peck of Preservation Resource, Inc. & Historic Shed. Jo-Anne is a historic preservation professional with a degree in Building Science, a Master’s of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation & a licensed Florida Building Contractor with over 25 years experience in preservation. She is very active, leading community preservation efforts in the historic town in which she lives & her own house is meticulously restored.
Jo-Anne has extensive knowledge of all things bungalow as well as all other types of houses. I met her when I was producing preservation educational events & her presentations were some of the most informative, & popular. She is often called upon to side-check my work & I am grateful for her knowledge & her willingness to help.
Old house stewardship is not for everyone. The amount of planning, surprises, decisions, resilience (both physical & mental) & money required can be overwhelming in the extreme! Fortunately, there are concrete actions that you can take that will aid you in getting through any project.
This is an article I wrote after doing a restoration that almost crushed me. I was floundering & whining & finally decided that I needed to gather every life lesson that I ever learned about everything & apply it to the situation at hand.
Read the story of how I used all my knowledge & all my skills (& then rapidly developed some more!) to get a house done that I should never have touched in the first place.
I am in no way saying that doing these things made it easy! I’m just saying that taking these actions made it possible!
Even the most dedicated DIY’er will at some point need to hire a pro. Even if your only need is guidance, you want to be assured that the advice given is sound.
The majority of contractors know nothing about old house restoration. They know current codes & modern materials & methods. Or sadly, even less. The trick is incorporating these modern materials & methods into old construction while also have an understanding of when the old work ones actually better. Too often their suggestion is to lose the old & substitute the new.
You need to find contractors who respect old houses & have gotten educated on their proper treatment. If you mention the Secretary’s Standards to a contractor & he looks at you blankly, you need to pass or educate.
This article is designed to help you find the right guys.
The blog is now approaching 200 articles. I hope this gives you an idea of where to wade in. To get more of a feel for it, visit the SITEMAP, which serves as a table of contents, or use the Search feature.
I had to learn all of this piecemeal & want to make it easier for you to absorb, evaluate & align the tremendous amount of information that there is for you to know. Please let me know if there’s any way that my blog can serve you better.
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A $14 billion dollar a year industry, the history of Valentine’s Day is both sweet & rather scary. It has long been a wonderful holiday for me. I can remember the Valentines that we shared in grade school, the sweet, beaming 50’s children & the corny rhymes.
My mother & I collected historic Valentine’s Day cards from the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s. The box of them from when I cleared her apartment remains on the top shelf of my closet, unopened after 5 years.
But, I still love love & I still love Valentine’s Day, though its origins are a bit unsavory, so I thought I’d share some entertaining information, a fun love song from the 1920’s, a darling Victorian craft project & show you some cards that were so insulting that they were immediately destroyed!
LET’S ENJOY SOME HISTORIC VALENTINE’S DAY CARDS!
Someday You’ll Say ‘O.K!.-Arthur Fields Assassinators (3:47)
Bigband Lou
A charming 20’s song by a determined suitor.
History of the Holidays: History of Valentines Day (3:17)
History
Some interesting & slightly horrifying history!
DIY: Victorian Puzzle Purses (9:39)
Your Juliet
I had to include this delightful how-to for a person at any skill level. Victorian Puzzle Purses were designed to fascinate & engage with their intricate construction & hidden compartments. Unfortunately, you do not see a finished piece until you are well into the construction so you might want to slide ahead to see what
A brief history of (charming and mean) Valentine’s cards
Victoria & Albert Museum (16:08)
I love this museum & find everything that they produce to be illuminating & charming. Their sampling of historic Valentine’s Day cards is exception!
Sending Love: Valentine Greetings 1900-1910 (1:15:22)
Ridgewood Public Library
A more in-depth look at the holiday with some beautiful historic valentine’s day cards examples. The intro is way too long. I encourage you to scan to 3:30 to get started. The video ends with a sampling of “Vinegar Valentines,” very rare because the recipients usually destroyed them!
Still haven’t had enough love? Visit my Pinterest page to see more examples of historic Valentine’s Day cards.
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THE CRAFTSMAN
Equal to its efficacy as a mind cure, is its effect for good on physical ills. Yet gardening as a remedial proposition is, unfortunately, not half so popular among us as patent medicines.
Lady Mary Wortley Montague tells us “Gardening is certainly the next amusement to reading, and as my sight will now permit me little of that, I am glad to form a taste that can give me so much employment, and be the plaything of my age, now that my pen and needle are almost useless to me.”
LISTERINE CIGARETTES
My blog has gotten rather chunky so I have chosen 5 articles that I consider to be the most important bungalow basics for any conscientious steward. In these articles I have covered the information that it is vital for you to know in order to understand, preserve & maintain & enjoy your bungalow. The rest of my blog supports these.
1. 
2. 
3. 
5. 
A $14 billion dollar a year industry, the history of Valentine’s Day is both sweet & rather scary. It has long been a wonderful holiday for me. I can remember the Valentines that we shared in grade school, the sweet, beaming 50’s children & the corny rhymes.