DESIGNING YOUR BUNGALOW’S INTERIOR SPACES, Part 3

by bungalow101 | Jun 13, 2023 | Other areas

INTERIOR DESIGN FOR A CRAFTSMAN HOUSE -More Elements

One of the things that I love the most about the interiors of A&C homes is that though similar, each one is made distinct by the choices made in playing various design elements, one with another. Visiting the homes of Bungalow Heaven on its annual tour is a great example of this. The houses, one to the next are highly distinct, while their similarities contribute to the allover character of the neighborhood. These elements are all crucial in planning the interior design for a Craftsman house- its functionality & its charm.

So let’s continue our look at the parts/basics/rudiments of creating visual harmony, a continuation of those elements from Part 2., & how they relate to your bungalow. Differing uses of each design element make each interior wholly itself & part of the fun is in identifying those unique bits.

USE OF LINES IN INTERIOR DESIGN FOR A CRAFTSMAN HOUSE

Lines help to delineate the space in a room & guide the eye. Using lines, you can change the perceived space of a room, you can direct attention to your focal point & tell a visual story by directing attention.

Horizontal lines give a sense of solidity, stability & efficiency. You do not have to look far in the Arts & Crafts Movement to see horizontal lines. The work of Frank Lloyd Wright, the Greene Brothers & Stickley all emphasize the horizontal, expressing a turning away from the frivolity of the previous era. Our bungalows exteriors are defined by their low, horizontal shapes.

Vertical lines inspire a sense of freedom & strength- think churches of all periods.

Dynamic lines create a feeling of energy & movement. These lines are found most often in the arts & crafts of the Movement, in the portrayal of nature. Pottery, textiles & metalwork feature provide a flowing contrast to the often bulky feel of furniture typical to the period. The juxtaposition of these elements with the horizontal lines of the furniture create interest in a room.

Another place that you find dynamic lines is in the wood grain of the furniture, the flooring & the built-ins. Quartersawn, or Tiger Oak is used heavily in Craftsman furniture, creating its own subtle, dynamic flow of life within the pieces themselves. The graining of the beautiful flooring of Tiger Oak, Douglas Fir or Maple add more of the natural world to the home & several woods, each with their own dynamic grain lines, are often mixed in a house, with flooring of one species, & built-ins of yet another or others.

THE ELEMENT OF FORM IN BUNGALOW DESIGN

Form, a 3-dimensional geometric figure (a cube, a sphere, a cylinder or cone, etc.) as opposed to a shape (a square, a circle, a triangle, etc.) which is 2 dimensional, refers to the shape of the room & any of the objects within it. Shapes are considered to be either geometric, which create a sense of order & structure, or natural/organic which provide movement & fluidity. In the A & C house, we tend to see many geometric forms, in the shapes of the rooms themselves, the furniture, the fireplace, built-ins, the windows & doors. The organic forms of cushions, pottery, pillows, the draping of the window treatments, even the logs in the fireplace create an interesting counterpoint to the geometric objects which ground the space.

USE OF PATTERN IN THE PLANNING OF INTERIOR DESIGN FOR A CRAFTSMAN HOUSE

A pattern is a repeating (of shape, line or color) design. Think wallpaper or stencils.

Inspired by nature, the American Arts & Crafts Movement looks very different from that of the earlier, European aesthetic. William Morris was inspired by flowers, while Stickley was a great fan of the log cabin. Each of them based their concept of beauty on the natural world, but their interpretations are hugely dissimilar.

This cabinet rendering above, by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, shows how powerful a pattern can be as it sweeps the eye across the expanse of the entire wall.

THE USE OF TEXTURE IN CRAFTSMAN STYLE

A home is an intimate space & tactile sensation, interpreted through the skin & the eyes is a key element in design.

Visually, texture helps give a space dimension. Tactiley, it provides comfort or utility.

I love the look & feel of plaster walls with its soft look & imperfections. To me, textureless, flat drywall is hard & cold, machine made & cheap. I love how a wood floor feels under my feet. Linoleum has that nice hint of resilience & on a cold, winter morning, I’m happy to have a rug under my toesies.

Nubby linen curtains over built-in bookcases, flanking a tile fireplace. Smooth pottery with its soft matte glaze complimenting the heavily figured oak mantel. And kitty, playing with her toy on a rug. The natural materials of the Movement- wood, clay & fur, display their textures honestly.

USING COLOR IN YOUR BUNGALOW

Colors are very powerful in setting tone & influencing mood in the interior design for a Craftsman house. You spend a great deal of time in your home & I think that you might need to review Part 1. THE FIRST VITAL STEPS, in which you considered your needs & wants for your home. Color choices for an invigorating home will be different from those of a home in which you are seeking peace & comfort. For example, the warm colors- red, yellow, orange- are going to stir the blood & are associated with passion. The cool colors are known to lower blood pressure & be calming & soothing. Both of these palettes are appropriate in an bungalow.

The subject of color is well covered in my PAINT series. I suggest that you read the complete series to get a full handle on general color theory A&C color in particular. Because the major paint manufacturers have provided us with historic palettes, many people have the idea that these are the only choices.  They are so-o-o-o not.

Take a look at my Pinterest page which shows many fine examples of colors for the interior of your home.

Next, in Part 4., we are going to look at the principles of design- the guidelines for combining these elements when you are creating interior design for a Craftsman house

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DESIGNING YOUR BUNGALOW’S INTERIOR SPACES- Part 5

by bungalow101 | Jun 10, 2023 | Other areas

MORE ON BUNGALOW STYLE INTERIOR DESIGN

We have come to the second lesson about the principles of creating visual harmony in design. The elements of design are the puzzle pieces of design & the way that you fit them together, to decorate in the Craftsman style, is found in the principles. These bungalow style interior design tips are the basics of all good design & if applied, will assist you in creating the home that you want. Perhaps you will never have a Stickley dining room like the one at the American Arts & Crafts Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, but by learning about Arts & Crafts design you will become more confident & satisfied in putting together your home.

I suggest that you should read the articles leading up to this one. They cover the basic elements of design which you will use in the principles written about here & #4 is about the other principles.

Here is the second half of the 7 principles of interior design: unity, balance, rhythm, emphasis, scale & proportion, contrast, & details, which you can use in any home or even to commercial spaces. Let’s see how you can apply them.

USING BALANCE IN BUNGALOW STYLE INTERIOR DESIGN

Here we come to the concept of visual weight. Visual weight refers to the degree to which an object draws the eye, which is determined by its size, color and shape. You walk into a room & there’s a mouse & an elephant. Your attention immediately goes to the elephant because of its enormous size. You see 2 squares & one is pale blue & the other bright red. Your attention is instantly on the red. Objects with a regular shape, such as a square or a circle, appear heavier than objects with an irregular shape, such as a paisley, a tear-drop shape with a curled end. The irregularity gives the impression that mass or weight has been removed from a regular shape.

Balance is defined as a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions & create a feeling of stability. Nobody ever looked at a picture of the Titanic sinking & felt anything but terrible.

There are three ways to achieve visual balance & most homes contain a combination of the different types.

Symmetry

Symmetry is achieved by positioning items evenly along a central axis. It creates a sense of stability, calmness & formality. Mimicking nature- leaves, snowflakes, bodies- this type of balance is often used in A&C design. A good example of this is William Morris’ designs.

Symmetry occurs when each side is a mirror of the other, dividing the space into 2 even parts. This is a formal, orderly look & is used often in Arts & Crafts.

Over the decades, life & design have become more casual. At the beginning of the last century, women wore dresses, men wore ties, & formal symmetry was the order of the day. Additionally, the Arts & Crafts Movement, both philosophically & aesthetically, is based on nature, in which there is often great symmetry.

Asymmetry

Asymmetry is achieved by positioning an uneven number of things along the central axis. The feeling created by this is more modern, with a greater sense of motion.

This native American pot is a wonderful example of asymmetry. Through the use of pattern & color, it creates a visual balance on all sides. Mid-Century is also a good example of the frequent use of asymmetry.

An asymmetrical design is a looser approach. You still strive for visual balance, but without using mirror imagery. Perhaps your couch would be balanced by 2 chairs that would be positioned across from it. Or you might place a large, “heavier” piece of pottery on one side of your mantle & a couple of “lighter” ones on the other.

Radial Balance

Radial balance is formed by placing elements around a circular center core. A dining table with a round fixture, surrounded by chairs is a good example of this. This is is a formal look & often found in Craftsman design.

At the other end of the spectrum is radial balance. This more intricate approach requires establishing a natural focal point and having other smaller pieces diverge from it evenly. A fireplace could be the example of the focal point in question, and then you could carefully arrange other items facing toward it, for example.

RHYTHM

The fetus hears her mother’s heart, the steady pulse of life & once outside the womb, is comforted by lying on her mother’s breast.

Rhythm, a part of every aspect of life, carries us forward in time. In design, it moves the eye from one point to the next, in a pattern of steady repetition, or a sudden change in pattern, creating contrast or focus.

This heard of elephants thunders across the wall in this tile made by Grueby Faience Company in 1900. I have never seen/heard/felt a herd of elephants moving across the plain up close & personal, but I have seen & heard it in films & the rhythm was powerful!

The Arts & Crafts message is one of the natural world, with its gentle (& not so gentle!) rhythm & its subtle variations. This visual rhythm can be created by repeating colors, materials, textures & shapes at varying intervals. Or a frieze of thundering elephants!

The interior features of your house form a basis for this repetition with your wood built-ins & trim. You can provide a contrasting pattern with your textiles, art & other accessories to decorate in the Craftsman style.

HOW TO EMPLOY CONTRAST IN BUNGALOW STYLE INTERIOR DESIGN

This leads us to contrast, sudden breaks in the rhythm. Linen curtains against the dark of the window frame, pillows on the dark upholstery, creamy slag glass in the lamps on the tables, even the glow of the logs burning in the fireplace, below the dark mantel form a contrast against your dark wood trim.

The Arts & Crafts aesthetic is on the subtle side, like Mother Nature herself. For example, in this lamp, there are many contrasts, but you have to look for them.

There’s an interesting combination of straight & curved lines that define the piece. In the shade, you see curved, organic cut-outs, but the shade itself is almost a perfect triangle. The straight vertical legs come down into cute little curled feet. Even its shape is rather contradictory. It is both a rolly-poly elf, but is also elongated & moves your eye vertically. The oat colored runner on which it sits provides great contrast to the allover dark appearance of the lamp, as well as the wood wall behind it & the table on which it sits. Then what’s with the fringe on the shade? To me, it is a totally incongruous piece of frou-frou, but it works. I find it charming!

EMPHASIS

The word is defined by Oxford as “special importance, value, or prominence given to something.”

When you enter a space for the first time, it is the focal point that orients you to all the other elements. This Is where at the eye naturally comes to a halt, & you visually align the whole room to that point. In many bungalows, the focal points are provided by the architecture: your fireplace with its art tile surround, a beautiful built-in sideboard in the dining room, a sweet little inglenook, leaded glass windows. (All features found only in quezillion dollar homes today, by the way!)

Emphasis can be achieved by using line to point at a feature, contrast, negative space, color, light or a change in rhythm. A fireplace like this one would certainly do the trick!

USING DETAIL IN BUNGALOW STYLE INTERIOR DESIGN

While your furniture will help set the tone, it’s the details that will set your bungalow apart. There are so many wonderful choices in textiles, lighting, pottery, metalwork & art that you can fully express yourself while conveying the Arts & Crafts message.

This room in the Hare House, appears in Jane Powell’s book, BUNGALOW: THE ULTIMATE ARTS & CRAFTS HOME despite the fact that yeah, it’s Victorian. However, Linda & I squawked loudly about the fact that not every bungalow buyer trotted out to buy new furniture for their house. It just wasn’t practical. The man who built my house, Reverend Alfred Hare, was known as a good businessman & helped several congregations pay off the mortgages on their church buildings. Throughout the house you see where he chose to spend & where he chose to scrimp. I can guarantee his expenditures did not include new furnishings for the private areas. This argument impressed Jane who was always a sucker for a good backstory & the bedroom appears on Page 238 in all its glory. You can even see the image of my 3 year old mama on the dresser.

So, here, to the left of the bed, you see my grandmother as a young woman. She probably commissioned this portrait with the first money she made as a teacher. One the other side is my husband’s grandfather as a child. I wish the colored, hand-painted background could be seen. On the front wall, photos of my mother-in-law as a child in the 20’s. On my dresser sits my grandmother’s tin candy box which holds her embroidered hankies, & if you look very carefully, you can see her dresser set. The portrait is of my favorite uncle. The lamps beside the bed are oil lamps that my mother had wired for electricity. And on the bed, my kitty pillow collection. Of course the best part of the room is my dear kit, Buhkai, the Big- hearted bungalow kitty. You can read his story here!

As I did, you can express your preferences & tell your story in all of these choices. At the same time, you can honor the history & philosophical underpinnings of your bungalow, the trees who gave their lives for its lumber, the architect who designed it,  the craftsman who built it & the people who lived their lives & built your neighborhood & your town, all there, before you were even born.

I’m sure it’s a heck of a story!

Make sure that you begin at the beginning to learn everything you can from this series.

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DESIGNING YOUR BUNGALOW’S INTERIOR SPACES, Part 6

by bungalow101 | Jun 9, 2023 | Other areas

HOW TO DECORATE A BUNGALOW LIVING ROOM/DINING ROOM

Here you are in your empty house. It echoes. It promises. It suggests. It perplexes.

In this article, I am going to wrap up all the points of how to decorate a bungalow living room & I will probably add a few, hopefully, wise words of advice too!

This article is written from my own needs as expressed in my responses to the questions in Part 1, as well as my own viewpoint, as expressed in the earlier articles. I am always seeking more knowledge & honor all points of view, so I invite your comments & suggestions. I do request that you honor my pixels.

I’m going to assume that you have read all of the articles in this series. They will form a good reference point as you navigate the panorama of infinite choices. Here’s a review of what each part covers & they will be referenced going forward:

BUNGALOW DON’TS
A handy dandy list of design boo-boo’s to avoid in any style of house with a special focus on bungalows.

DESIGNING YOUR BUNGALOW’S INTERIOR SPACES- an Introduction
The Craftsman Magazine was the arbiter of taste regarding this aesthetic. This post is primarily an article laying out the basic philosophy & design theory of the Craftsman movement, highly applicable when you are looking at how to decorate a bungalow living room.

DESIGNING YOUR BUNGALOW’S INTERIOR SPACES- Part 1
Determining your own needs & message. Looking into your our heart- an exercise. If you have not yet done it, please do so. The decisions that you make here will form pivotal roles going forward.

In this article I have included the wishes of my own heart, which again, will be referenced below.

DESIGNING YOUR BUNGALOW’S INTERIOR SPACES- Part 2
Interior design elements/building blocks: The use of space & lighting in creating beauty, harmony & functionality.

SPACES- Part 3
More pieces of basic design: Types of lines, using different shapes & forms, patterns, textures & color to create a space that you will love.

DESIGNING YOUR BUNGALOW’S INTERIOR SPACES- Parts 4 & 5
Using the principles of design- unity/integration, balance, rhythm, emphasis, scale & proportion, contrast & details to decorate a bungalow living room.

YOUR HANDY-DANDY CHECKLIST FOR HOW TO DECORATE A BUNGALOW LIVING ROOM

When you start doing the steps of furnishing & embellishing, please follow this order because each one builds on the previous ones. I am going to include the numbers of the previous posts so you can see what basic design rules I followed for each one. If you should hang-up on the execution of any one step, take a moment to consider if there are any previous ones that might take more considering or more action.

1. Create an overhead scale model of the room or rooms if your bungalow’s dining room is joined to the living room. (Probably.)

You can do this on paper or electronically. (I am going to assume that you do not have a design program.) I like to use Canva, a free design program that allows me to do pretty much anything that I need to do. If you do not have a large computer screen, whether or not you have a design, program, I suggest gathering a large pad of grid paper, a ruler, a drafting pencil, an eraser & pair of scissors.

Sketch in the key architectural features of the room- the windows & doors, fireplace, built-ins, wainscoting, chair & plate rails. Here’s my sketch of my 1925 bungalow in Tampa, as an example.

Number each type of fixed element, the existing architectural elements that  cannot be changed.You can use the same number for things that are duplicates of the same items.

2. Take the measurements of each piece of furniture that will come with you. Include all dimensions & insert them to scale.You can do more than one rendition of this image, fooling around with different pieces. Some of the items that you will bring are not forever pieces. Spaces evolve as you decorate your bungalow.

When I left the Hare House, I sold many pieces with the house. They had been purchased specifically to make the Hare’s feel welcome & comfortable should they ever decide to pay a call. (Fine, they were dead. I didn’t care.) Other ones didn’t fit my new plan which was to go more ethnic, so that’s what came to Tampa with me, my multi-cultural mash-up of Chinese, Moroccan, & East Indian & my Turkish rugs.

The colors & hand craftsmanship of these cultures fit beautifully with A&C & had heavily influenced the Movement so they seemed right to me. (An Introduction.) I was ready for more color & fortunately, it all worked out in my 1925 bungalow which had a more casual feel than my 1910 Craftsman. (Parts 1 & 2 & 3– wishes & space & lines & color.)

I added them to the grid that I made. These are shown on the diagram, named by type of item. I had some problems to solve here, the main one being the shape of the 2 rooms. Even with the added bookcase dividers (Some bozo had removed the original ones.) it was just too long & thin. There was no division between the 2 spaces. (No open plan for me, thank you!) I used Part 3 for this, deciding on the spaces I wanted to delineate & then using the lines of the rugs to form those areas.

You can clearly see what you are missing by this point! I needed a couch & chairs, a table for under my dining room windows & really needed a dining table & chairs.

I stuck with the symmetrical lay-out of the rooms because A&C just seems to feel symmetrical. I was ready to change it should the new furniture demand it but it did not.

INVESTING IN NEW FURNITURE

3. So here are the final, fully furnished rooms. It took me a long time to find the perfect couch & chairs because the room was so large & I am never in favor of using a large number of pieces. I needed comfortable ones that were appropriate in the scale of the room, to which I could add my bamboo folding chairs when I was expecting a houseful of people. (Part 1, wishes.)

I wanted to anchor the room with A&C inspired furniture, not true Craftsman because by 1925, when my house was built, Stickley’s Craftsman style was out of fashion, & considered odd. He had declared bankruptcy in 1915 & his new wares looked more typical 20’s than A&C. I decided to harken back instead of moving forward. The furniture of 1925 was more petite & not suitable in this space which one of my friends described as a bowling alley because someone had ripped out the built-ins. (I built them back.) And even with the dividers it was a lo-o-o-ong space!

The chairs & couch that I chose were large & geometric, using the principles of scale & proportion found in Part 4. They were right for the sizes of the rooms as well as the built-ins that I have designed to be rather chunky. They too served to visually shrink the length of the 2 rooms, with the couch providing a short wall between them.

The principle of unity, mentioned in the same article, was achieved through color & through theme. Even the new pieces like the dining table with its distressed finish, looked old.

SUMMARY

The reason that you are doing all these steps in learning how to decorate a bungalow living room is to accomplish what you learned about your needs & wants in Part 1. You are creating a home that will enhance your life, help you achieve your goals & give you a brighter outlook on daily life. There are few things that are more about you than your living space.

Let me know if you should need some help!

Check out my Pinterest page to see more living rooms.

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BUNGALOW DETAILS: INTERIOR

by bungalow101 | Jun 19, 2022 | Other areas

by Jane Powell, author & Linda Svendsen, photographer

In BUNGALOW DETAILS: INTERIOR, author Jane Powell covers every nook & cranny of America’s favorite house.

FOREWARD

“It is the great excellence of a writer to put into his book as much as his book will hold.” – Samuel Johnson

Written 2 years after BUNGALOW: The Ultimate Arts & Crafts Home, this book, though less chunky is still described by Jane as “the longest I have ever written.” The book is crammed with information & text is tiny, but I still recommend giving it a good read. You can rest your eyes by looking at the soothing pictures & occasionally taking a ginger tea break. But, I assure you that after absorbing the contents of this book, you will be an expert, an authority, verily a master on the subject & will be able to amaze your friends with your knowledge. It will also teach you how to live in a bungalow.

As in KITCHENS & BATHROOMS, in every restoration facet she offers compromise solutions.

And, back to the book contents, Jane devotes a whole page to asbestos & strongly recommends testing. I second. Restoring old houses is not for sissies.

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS A BUNGALOW?

Here she defines is as a “Know one when you see one kind of things,” but goes on to define it as:
A bungalow is a one-or one-&-a-half story house of simple design& expressed structure, built from local or natural materials, with a low sloping roof, overhanging eaves, & a prominent porch, built during the Arts & Crafts period in America (approximately 1900-1930). But offers the disclaimer, that the definition is pretty broad & you just need to look at enough of them until you know.

Should you be desperate to know now, a check out preservation expert Jo-Anne Peck’s article WHAT THE HECK IS A BUNGALOW, ANYWAY, here.

CHAPTER TWO: ROOM TO MOVE

Here she discusses layout & tours us through the rooms of several bungalows, allowing us to see some classic bungalow features in several homes.

CHAPTER THREE: SHORT STORY

Yeah, it’s a pun. Jane’s talking about roofs & attics here including pests found in them. She also discusses insulation (or the lack thereof) & ventilation.

CHAPTER FOUR: CEILING GROOVY

You can’t see me. I am shaking my head. But I am somewhat (It’s a very small picture.) calmed by the image I see of the beautiful box beam ceilings in the living room of the Hare House, my 1920 Craftsman in L.A., on page 56.

Jane describes ceiling cracks, their causes & not surprisingly, recommends against covering them with gold-veined mirror tiles. My ceilings in the Hare House were coated with “popcorn.” Yes, even between the box beams in this room & in every other room in the house. It wasn’t terribly difficult to remove, in fact, after we had sprayed a chunky section of the back bedroom ceiling, the whole thing fell down. Whumph! The sound & the dust were like a nuclear explosion. All the popcorn, all the plaster, down to the lathe, it was on the floor in one piece. A cracked piece, for sure, but it was all there. Amazingly, nobody was standing under it.

She devotes a whole page to asbestos & strongly recommends testing. I second.

CHAPTER FIVE: WALL MART

Whoo, boy! This is a chunky chapter so I think I’ll just list what is covered in it, with little commentary.

• Joinery & nails
• Balloon framing
• Brick & stone
• Paint types & colors
• Stencils
• Wallpaper
• Paneling & trim
• Built-ins
• Wood stains & finishes

As always, the book is well-illustrated with beautiful examples of every topic & sub-topic. And, she ends with her sensible  obsessive & compromise solutions

CHAPTER SIX: OPENING LINES

The chapter opens with Jane saying, “Bungalow designers did their best to open the houses to the outdoors with generous numbers of windows & doors. The interplay between indoors & out made even a small bungalow larger than it really was. There was also a belief that fresh air & sunshine would kill germs, prevent disease & promote good health.”

She gives us a brief window history lesson, including some information about glass.

The best part is her dissertation on why replacing wood windows is a travesty. She lays out 4 pages, in tiny type, enumerating all the lie$ that are told to encourage people to rip out their wonderful old windows & install, new, hideous ones that you can replace in 15 years when they fail because they cannot be repaired. In her OBSESSIVE/COMPROMISE section, she says that she refuses to compromise.

As I sit here writing, tears are dripping down my face, missing this funny, fierce woman. I have written so much about her, but it is in this section that her firey spirit truly shines. I can only pray that my little blog will help her message live on.

A blow & a sniff later & I’m ready to carry on. She gives complete instructions for repairing a wood window, suggesting tools & materials. Then she treats us to vintage ad images for windows parts & signs off with a section on window treatments.

I offer window suggestions in my own article, here.

CHAPTER SEVEN: ENTRY LEVEL

Not surprisingly, this chapter is about doors, types of doors, (interior & exterior) door construction, & door hardware-with the same great photos of beautiful door pulls & knobs & escutcheons. She has a number of cool, vintage ads, including one “For homes of refinement.”

As she says, “The front door was meant to impress,” I have been impressed by more than one front door. I have to admit that the door of the Hare House is my all-time favorite & I was very torn by my choice to build a screen door so that my children could look out onto the world but be protected. (Between the skunks & coyotes, Eagle Rock was not a safe place for kitties.) We found the most figured pieces of quartersaw oak that you could imagine & with my copper screening & pegged joints, I was happy!

She also devotes several pages to lighting, treating us to some terrific examples of Arts & Crafts pendants & sconces.

In her section, CAN DON’T, she is adamant about the inappropriateness of can lighting. Once again, I concur, especially because the lighting of the time is so charming!!

I hope that this wonderful image will help you recover from the last one of the windows, abandoned, like poor relations, under the tree.

CHAPTER EIGHT: HEARTH OF THE MATTER

According to Jane, “Fire fulfills a deep & primal role in the human psyche…”  Why else would there be 110 videos on YouTube of crackling fireplaces?

Anyway, we see some amazing fireplaces here- clinker brick, 2-tone brick, river-roof, cast concrete, granite & Grueby & Batchelder  tiles. Not surprisingly she spends 14 pages delving into the history & construction of the fireplace.

Next is the subject of built-ins & once more, we are treated to beautiful images of sideboards, nooks, Murphy beds & stairways, plus vintage hardware ads & illustrations.

CHAPTER NINE: SUPPORT GROUP

Jane wraps it up with a discussion of floors, subfloors & joists as well as rugs & vacuum cleaners to keep all the dirt sucked up. She talks about furnaces & heating systems & we see some ads for new fangled contraptions that will keep you toasty. She shows us some really cool old water heaters & waxes enthusiastic about fuse boxes & electrical receptacles.

Last Call is about telephones with her closing statement being, “Besides, a bungalow is the best house in the world.”

READ ALL JANE’S BOOKS ABOUT BUNGALOWS!

BUNGALOW KITCHENS
Restoring the heart of the home.

BUNGALOW BATHROOMS
Everything you need to know to restore or create a beautiful & functional bungalow bathroom.

BUNGALOW DETAILS: EXTERIOR
What makes a bungalow.

BUNGALOW: THE ULTIMATE ARTS & CRAFTS HOME
All things bungalow.

& last but not least

LINOLEUM
It’s not vinyl!

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BUNGALOW WINDOW TREATMENTS

by bungalow101 | Jun 16, 2022 | Other areas

A cautionary bungalow window treatments tale.

Once Upon a Time, the Hare House was on the market. I had just finished the bathroom, glad to have a few more weeks in which to enjoy it, kicking myself for not having done it sooner so I would have had a few years.

I spent a day bustling about, getting everything perfect, (including planting a border of annuals, wearing a headlamp, from 10 PM to midnight.) Jane Powell & Linda Svendsen were coming to visit & photograph the house for the book, BUNGALOW: The Ultimate Arts & Crafts Home.   During the shoot, I had flung various pieces of furniture, window coverings & décor all around again to comply with Linda’s suggestions. And then, one more exhausted fling for the staging of the open house the next day.

This was, of course, during our neighborhood association’s Home Tour preparation, the grueling last month of pulling together all the loose ends that liked to spring up. Whee-ee-ee!

Soon after the open house we were under contract, but still taking offers. The FOR SALE sign was still outside & the flier box was almost daily restocked with fliers telling the story of Reverend & Grace Hare. This beautiful home, on which I had lavished such care, drew people from all over Los Angeles. Over 100 people had attended the open house, many staying for hours, & Realtors brought long parades of buyers.

Then the packing began. I was beyond exhausted. One afternoon I could do nothing more. I peeled off my sweaty clothes & hit the cool sheets of my brass bed. But was the front door secured? I got up & staggered out to make a quick check on the lock of my beautiful door with its lovely, un-curtained, leaded glass window. A couple, flier in hand, stood at the end of my walkway, peering right at me. I dropped to the floor, hoping that they would believe that I was but a Rubenesque apparition.

ALL ABOUT BUNGALOW WINDOW TREATMENTS

I am writing this as one who prizes old wood windows, loves the various lite patterns of the period & is transported by looking at the world through old, wavy glass. This is about window treatments for old windows that enhances them rather than hiding them.

Well, we already know one re-e-e-eally good reason to cover windows, but there are several others. Different types of window treatments allow you to regulate the amount of light shining into each room, & also to change the light throughout the course of the day. Layered treatments can diffuse light or block it altogether as well as providing some bit of R value.

The textiles of the Arts & Crafts Movement are exquisite. Utilizing natural materials, such as cotton & linen, as well as ornamentation-embroidery, applique & stenciling- inspired by nature, window coverings enhance your interior as well as softening the angular bulk of much Craftsman furniture. Gustav agrees.

WHAT STICKLEY HAD TO SAY

THE FABRICS SUITABLE FOR BUNGALOW WINDOW TREATMENTS

Stickley brought Arts & Crafts over from England & I’m going to say, evolved it into a truly American  aesthetic which suited our more casual lifestyle. Here are some direct quotes from Gustav Stickley’s publication, The Craftsman, regarding textiles in general, with specific references to window coverings.

“At first it was very difficult to find just the right kind of fabric to harmonize with the Craftsman furniture and metal work. It was not so much a question of color, although of course a great deal of the effect depended upon perfect color harmony, as it was a question of the texture and character of the fabric.”

He discarded delicate materials & searched for fabrics- “that possessed sturdiness and durability; that were made of materials that possessed a certain rugged and straightforward character of fiber, weave and texture… not be coarse or crude… “

He decreed the appropriateness of “certain fabrics that harmonize as completely as leather with the general Craftsman scheme. These are mostly woven of flax left in the natural color or given some one of the nature hues. There are also certain roughly- woven, dull-finished silks well as linen, …and for window curtains we use nets and crepes (crinkled texture giving a wrinkled appearance) of the same general character.”

THE COLORS

Stickley goes on to state, “A material that we use more than almost any other for portieres, (curtain dividing rooms which helped conserve heat) pillows, chair cushions, — indeed in all places were stout wearing quality and a certain pleasant unobtrusiveness are required — is a canvas woven of loosely twisted threads of jute (a very long plant fiber that feels coarse and rough, and is very strong) and flax (a plant, the stem of which is used for making thread, rope, and cloth, and its seeds are used for making linseed oil) and dyed in the piece, — a method which gives an unevenness in color that amounts almost to a two-toned effect because of the way in which the different threads take the dye.

This unevenness is increased by the roughness of the texture, which is not unlike that of a firmly woven burlap. The colors of the canvas are delightful. For example, there are three tones of wood brown — one almost exactly the color of old weather-beaten oak, another that shows a sunny yellowish tone; and a third that comes close to a dark russet. The greens are the foliage hues, — one dark and brownish like rusty pine needles, another a deep leaf-green; the third an intense green like damp grass in the shade; and a fourth a very gray-green with a bluish tinge like the eucalyptus leaf. Our usual method of decorating this canvas is the application of some bold and simple design in which the solid parts are of linen applique in some contrasting shade and the connecting lines are done in heavy outline stitch or couching; (a technique in which stitches are used to tack down a piece of thread, yarn, etc. to create a unique look and texture. The material being couched doesn’t penetrate the fabric but sits on top of it.) with linen floss (a slightly glossy, 6-strand thread that is a loosely twisted.)

The article about the colors of the Arts & Crafts Movement might help you make some choices too.

We get a further color clues when, speaking of dyed sheepskin, Stickley says, “…we finished in all the subtle shades of brown, biscuit, yellow, gray, green, and fawn…”

THE PREFERRED DESIGN FOR BUNGALOW WINDOW TREATMENTS

“Simplicity is characteristic of all the Craftsman needlework, which is bold and plain to a degree. We use applique in a great many forms, especially for large pieces such as portiere, couch covers, pillows and the larger table covers. For scarfs, window curtains and table furnishings of all kinds we are apt to use the simple darning stitch, as this gives a delightful sparkle to any mass of color.”

“The whole scheme demands a more robust sort of beauty, — something that primarily exists from use and that fulfills every requirement. The charm that it possesses arises from the completeness with which it answers all these demands and the honesty which allows its natural quality to show.”

Pretty much textbook A&C design theory. Not surprising since Stickley wrote the book!

WHAT ABOUT LACE?

Any Victorian house worth admiring has lace curtains, but lace was used in windows long before Queen Victoria’s reign. They provide privacy as well as admitting light & can be woven into a myriad of patterns from fussy to the more substantial patterns of the Arts & Crafts Movement.

This is the modern interpretation of Gustav Stickley’s version of lace. It certainly follows the lines of his furnishings, being very geometric & extremely simple in design. Made of an open weave, light cotton, I’m thinking that this is what Stickley is speaking of when he mentions the use of net as a material.

Sears catalogues & other advertising materials show only the froofy lace patterns that one would associate with Victoriana. And I have to say that I am not opposed to this type of lace in a bedroom. Not everyone purchased new furniture for the bungalows. My bedroom in the Hare House had a chunky brass bed & Victorian furnuture with simple lines. Reverand Hare had a reputation for helping congregations pay off their church building mortgages in full- quite a celebratory occasion topped off by the burning of the note. So I’m thinking that it was more his nature to make do with the old rather than to buy new for the private areas.

But wait! There’s more!

For the Hare House, I chose a rather obscure A&C lace. Having been built by a professional man, the leaded glass built-ins, the box beams & the wainscoting seemed to want something formal & I decided early on that I would go in the direction of the more ornate English A&C, rather than the simple, casual American Craftsman style. Truth be told, I have been an Anglophile since my teen years- Twiggy, Carnaby Street, the Beatles- & I had a huge crush on William Morris.

So, for my living room, I chose C.F.A. Voysey’s The Stag, first produced in Scotland in the early 1900’s. I loved the Hare House. We were soul mates. But of all the bits & pieces that made up the house, I think that I loved these curtains the very most.

SHOW & TELL

I think that rather than continuing on, I’ll send you on to Part 2 which is a list of resources for window coverings-curtains, roller shades, valences, café curtains- & period window hardware. They should all be good choices for you. I also have over 100 window treatment images on my Pinterest page so you can see the work of these very skillful fabric artists & others.

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