Vintage and Antique Lighting Field Trip

I went on a field trip recently----to the tulip fields---but also to a fabulous vintage lighting store in nearby LaConner, Washington.  And I can't wait to go again.

A Lighting Plan Allows Your Home to Glow

Even if you are not remodeling right now, any craftsman home is enhanced with warm, inviting light fixtures.  Craftsman homes are filled with color; and a lighting plan allows your home to glow like a treasure box. Well-planned lighting sets a mood, is welcoming, provides light for specific tasks, and can enhance certain architectural elements in your home.

Bungalows shine with beautiful lamps, wall sconces, and lighting tucked behind architectural elements.  Two of the quickest ways to improve the quality of any room is with “period appropriate” paint color for the walls and improved lighting.  I love considering the possibilities using these two simple ideas.

Arroyo Canyon Stone and Clinkerbrick Wall

I took this photo-- this house is around the corner from the Gamble House.
It is one of the most perfect examaples of clinkerbrick movement and great stone placement.

We have someone working on our landscape design and we need to figure out what the exterior elements will be for our house.  A process I am sure many people go through at this stage is pouring over books and magazines and websites searching for photos of what other people have created to collect ideas.  Here is what I have collected......

Pasadena Trip

from Karen Winters- Arroyo Seco Trail

If you are passionate about the American Arts and Crafts movement then Pasadena California is your Mecca. I just returned from a trip to meet with highly skilled craftsmen in both stained glass and wood working. While I was there I had the opportunity to visit with a number of people who truly live the Greene and Greene lifestyle every day.  Over the next few months I will feature those I met while in Pasadena.

Greene and Greene Inspired

Some of these folks work in the stately homes as docents or they are intimately involved with restoration work of the home --or they do both!  Some of them own and live in a Greene and Greene home, others have crafted a business in architectural salvage, craftsman furniture or lighting, and stained glass—my personal favorite.  The Karen Winters painting above shows a scene from where my husband grew up along the Arroyo Seco Canyon in Pasadena (a similar painting hangs in one of the G & G homes I visited this past week). A number of gorgeous G & G homes are also perched along the Arroyo Seco......

Jim Ipekjian Restoring Greene & Greene Grandeur

I am going on a trip to Pasadena! 

The last few Pasadena trips were to family.  My husband grew up in the neighborhoods chock full of Greene & Greene homes, and we always drive through the streets during every visit dreaming about our finished home (someday) in Seattle .

Greene & Greene Craftsmen
This time I have the unique opportunity to meet a number of the talented craftsman who have replicated or restored furniture, doors, and light fixtures in Greene & Greene homes....Details and Joinery class by Jim Ipekjian, it's a behind the scenes 3-hour class....

Help to Save the Thorsen House

Photo from Dwell magazine

If you follow Greene & Greene you are familiar with the Thorsen House.
A masterpiece of the American Arts and Crafts movement, the William R. Thorsen house in Berkeley, California (1909), was the last of the masterfully crafted ‘ultimate bungalows’ designed and furnished by renowned architects Charles and Henry Greene.....

Greene & Greene Furniture

Curiosity.....Knowledge....Passion......Craftsmanship

Tom Stangeland has each in abundance; even in his early days when he made small motorized airplanes these qualities were evident.  As I was driving away from his woodworking shop/winery I couldn't help but kick myself for not getting a photo of those early flyers.

Now Tom makes absolutely gorgeous furniture—and that has always been the case but the furniture wasn't always in the Arts & Crafts tradition inspired by Greene & Greene.  A turning point in his craft was in 1990 when a music industry icon visited the Seattle gallery where Tom's furniture was displayed.......

Construction--Looking Forward into 2012

Much has happened with our construction since the last post in June but not enough to interest the casual observer.  Instead of posting news of the house we will feature the people and businesses that have a love of all things Craftsman and specifically Greene & Greene.  I now have time to explore these resources, learn about their stories, delve into why they are so passionate about their craft, and report it back to you.

I hope you join us on the journey.....in the near future I will be visiting a Greene & Greene furniture craftsman, living for a short time in an actual G & G home, and learning more about Ephraim Faience Pottery.

For those interested in the actual construction....

Construction Retaining Walls and Front Stairs

Construction Footings and Foundation Wall

Thirty truckloads of dirt had to be hauled away to get to this point. The footings are in--our house will actually have rebar to support the foundation walls.  Homes in this area weren't built that way years ago......