The Arts & Crafts Movement highly revered the dignity of labor & valued good design. These attributes were evident in their use of the humbler metals- the hand-hammered copper, molded bronze & forged iron- of our bungalow hardware. The abundance of natural materials, employed “honestly,” that is to say, not molded, painted or otherwise contrived to resemble that which it was not, is one of the hallmarks of the Movement & one of the most charming features of our homes.
Bungalows come to us with hardware in various conditions. In the Hare House, I was stunned to discover that the majority of the hardware that adorned my built-in sideboard was intact & I was even happier to discover that I could easily resource the missing pieces.
My Tampa house was not so fortunate. I had to replace almost every one of my doors & find hardware for them also. It took several months of combing salvage outlets & eBay but at long last everything was in place. I used reproduction hardware for the sideboard & colonnades that I created- a far easier task!
I am going to caution you once again to choose the hardware that is appropriate for your house. It is tempting to want to use the largest, most ornate accents in the attempt to embellish your home. However, making choices more in line with the charm it already possesses, be it modest or or mega, will be more more enhancing.
An extensive offering of period-style lighting, interior, pocket & exterior door, window, cabinet & bath hardware. They have a page dedicated to Arts & Crafts for easy bungalow shopping.
Antique Hardware Supply provides consultations with experienced designers who are experts in period style hardware.
Antique plumbing fixtures, obsolete plumbing parts & faucet restoration. Many of their products are made or designed right in their own shop by plumbing experts.
They offer a huge choice of manufacturers & products.
An eclectic building salvage store specializing in hardware, lighting, architecture & plumbing.
They also provide lighting and lamp repair with a fully UL certified lighting repair shop that can customize length, finishes, plating, & configuration. Their plumbing department will coordinate refinishing with local companies. The hardware department is able to customize with darkening, refinishing, cleaning & rebuilding.
Antique & new hardware & parts for doors & furniture, plumbing fixtures & hardware, lighting fixtures & parts, heat registers & grills & most everything else that you might need to restore your bungalow.
Their blog is very interesting & has some great images.
Locksets & door sets, push & kick plates, window & cabinet hardware, lighting & electrical & more. They give you the opportunity to select Arts & Crafts in each category, making for easy shopping.
They are very knowledgeable & will give you great advice.
A huge array of hardware for furniture, much of which you could use for cabinets. Some door hardware.
I’m just going to recommend that you visit the site & poke around their lo-o-o-o-ng list of products. They offer free shipping to anywhere in the U.S. for orders over $100.
An enormous selection of products so this is the link to their Arts & Crafts section. They have a full menu on the left side of each page to you can get anywhere you want to shop easily.
Visit my Pinterest page to see some very cool hardware from many of these folks!
In addition to these vendors, Facebook Marketplace place can be a treasure for the old house owner as can eBay & Etsy. And don’t forget to check out salvage stores!
I implore you to send me any bungalow hardware resources that you might have that are not included my list. Hardware can be completely missing from an abused old house & it can be a major challenge to replace it.
MORE BUNGALOW RESOURCES!
LIGHTING
A series of article on lighting which includes sources for antique lighting as well as work by the modern masters & also reproduction fixtures.
WINDOW TREATMENTS
How to choose window coverings that will give you privacy & enhance the beauty & character of your home.
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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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Restoration can be very rewarding, but, it can be soul-crushing & heavily taxing on the body. Hideous surprises & surly, incompetent tradespeople can threaten to annihilate one’s sweet nature on a daily basis. At the same time, the body is being hit by the stirring up of the 100 year old accumulation of decayed organic matter, materials that are now banned from use, materials that are currently in use but highly toxic, & then there’s the challenge of living with no kitchen.
The resulting deficiencies can cause a reduction in the much needed energy & the emotional resilience required in returning a property to an even livable condition. The common response is to head for those foods that comfort instead of nourish & to hunker down in front of the TV or electronic device of choice instead of moving the body to get rid of the toxins & work out the kinks.
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the basics of a healthful lifestyle. Maybe you need a refresher. It could also be that you could benefit from a gentle nudge or a swift kick in the derriere. These videos will provide all of them & you can take your pick!
VIDEOS ON STAYING HEALTHY WHILE RESTORING AN OLD HOUSE
Wellness Wednesday: How to Heal Your Gut Bacteria with The Sonnenburgs (39:21)
Phoebe Lapine
The Sonnenburgs are Stanford scientists who have been in the forefront of research on gut health. Their discoveries have tied together the various factors which produce good general health. Learn why what you put on your plate can help proof your body against the physical & mental stresses of old house restoration. As a bonus, they are warm & articulate!
5 Surprising Health Benefits of Walking (And Why You Should Do It Everyday) – According To Science (9:40)
Dr. Steven Hulme
A very interesting talk, with some great images, on how walking keeps us healthy.
Stanford researchers find mental health prescription: Nature (2:08)
Standford
I’m a real fan of Stanford. They are producing some great research on natural healing.
Is a Calorie a Calorie? Processed Food, Experiment Gone Wrong (1:39:37)
Stanford Health Care
Who is making this “food,” what is it made of & how is it made? Yep, this is a long video, but the information in it could change, enhance & prolong your life.
Please let me know if these videos have given you a new viewpoint on how you can gain more control over your own health.
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I know that when you come home at the end of the day, you just want to relax but, you need to be alert to your environment. It’s no longer just a cozy bungalow, but the second the first crew walks in the door, it turns into an place in which there could be power tools, construction dust & debris & slip & trip hazards.
I have seen injuries that could have easily been prevented had somebody just bothered to assess their current surroundings, determined sources of possible danger & planned accordingly. I mean, I have seen some really goofy stuff! This applies to anyone on the premises, not just the workers. Please also take a look at my post on staying healthy when you have all kinds of construction chaos going on.
These videos were produced by folks who have a great deal of experience & wisdom & can actually teach you a few things that could come in handy.
WATCH THESE SAFETY FIRST IN OLD HOUSES FILMS & APPLY WHAT THEY SAY!
PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) – 3D Animated Video (3:22)
Safety Videos by Custom Animation
Darling cartoon, great for a homeowner!
DIY Safety Tips: How to Properly Quarantine Your Work Area (5:16)
My Old House Fix
This information in this video by Chris Hewitt applies to the DIY’er, but is also very important for any homeowner who is living in a jobsite.
HEALTH HAZARDS IN RENOVATIONS OVERVIEW (21:55)
NICA SAFETY
Asbestos, lead, silica, & mold, oh my! Does your contractor foster a strong safety culture?
Safety Toolbox Talks: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (7:01)
NAHBTV
More on PPE.
Although I was in the construction industry for almost half a century, when I watched these films I learned a great deal. I really wish I had seen them before I inhaled a wall of a hundred year old, moldy, infested house as it came crashing down 2 feet in front of my unprotected face!
Another good resource is my post on how to read Material Safety Data Sheets. You should know about the products that are going to be used in your home.
You are under contract on a new old house. It’s your first venture into bungalow living & your home inspector has said that he has discovered knob & tube wiring. Because the majority of you are not electricians & many of you have never even heard this term before, I have put together these videos to help you understand what knob & tube is & how it could affect your home purchase.
Forewarned is forearmed!
SO LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT KNOB & TUBE WIRING
Knob and Tube – early electrical insulation (4:34)
EdisonTechCenter TechCenter
A great show ‘n’ tell!
Testing 100 Year Old Knob and Tube Wiring (13:34)
Electromagnetic Videos
Checking out a 100 year old system.
Issues with Old Electric Wiring | Knob and Tube (8:02)
Everyday Home Repairs
Issues of an aging electrical system.
So now that you know what knob & tube is, you can discuss it with your electrician & together, you can make some decisions.
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Bungalows are well-known & loved for their abundance of moldings- strips of wood that are used to cover transitional areas, such as those around doors or windows. Bringing the natural wood in, wood beautifies & warms our homes like no other material.
All the videos I have chosen to tell you about making the correct choices in bungalow moldings, feature Brent Hull. Carefully researching traditional woodworking methods & materials, Brent creates custom historic windows, doors, cabinetry, paneled walls, stairs, mantels, moldings. He is dedicated to imparting his knowledge of preservation in his seminars & videos. I kinda love him!
Often, bungalows have sadly been stripped of their interior woodwork. The task of figuring out how to replace it can be frustrating. Bungalows are simple & it is easy to want to go beyond the original, more simple profiles & elements.
In these videos, Brett explains the history of molding & explains what to use in your bungalow.
HE-E-ERE’S BRENT!
History of Crown Molding and 3 things to consider. (7:09)
Brent Hull
What about using crown molding in a bungalow? Brent has been doing some reading & he’ll tell you!
Moldings for an Arts and Crafts Home- Authentic details you need to understand.(
Brent Hull (12:00)
What is the proper molding for your bungalow?
How to Choose Good Moldings
Brent Hull (24:57)
Applying basic design principles to choosing your molding.
How and Why to Make Custom Moldings (5:52)
Brent Hull
Brent advises, “The value of custom made is the difference between good and great.”
I’ve been telling folks about appropriate bungalow molding for a long time & nobody has believed me. Now that Brent is saying it….
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The Arts & Crafts Movement highly revered the dignity of labor & valued good design. These attributes were evident in their use of the humbler metals- the hand-hammered copper, molded bronze & forged iron- of our bungalow hardware. The abundance of natural materials, employed “honestly,” that is to say, not molded, painted or otherwise contrived to resemble that which it was not, is one of the hallmarks of the Movement & one of the most charming features of our homes.
Antique Hardware Supply
Bathroom Machineries
Hippo Hardware 
Historic Houseparts
House of Antique Hardware
Kennedy Hardware
Wm. A. Kilian
Liz’s Antique Hardware
Nostalgic Warehouse
Van Dyke’s Restorers
Vintage Hardware & Lighting
LIGHTING
WINDOW TREATMENTS
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. 
Restoration can be very rewarding, but, it can be soul-crushing &
I know that when you come home at the end of the day, you just want to relax but, you need to be alert to your environment. It’s no longer just a cozy bungalow, but the second the first crew walks in the door, it turns into an place in which there could be power tools, construction dust & debris & slip & trip hazards.
“What is knob & tube wiring anyway?”
Bungalows are well-known & loved for their abundance of moldings- strips of wood that are used to cover transitional areas, such as those around doors or windows. Bringing the natural wood in, wood beautifies & warms our homes like no other material.