Lighting Over Time

Illumination for interiors: 18th century to the present.

What's on the Floor

Finishes for the hardest working surface in the house.

Earthy Colors, New Layout

Textured tile and quarter-sawn oak make it a handsome revival kitchen.

Deep Clean to Save Big

After we got a $50,000 estimate to gut and renovate the bathroom in our 1946 modernist house, I figured I’d tackle the 8' x 8' room myself.

Fancy Painted Floors

Borders and checkerboard designs are DIY favorites; you might also try your hand at stenciling or faux effects.

And Now, The Kitchen

Using original bits and vintage pieces, making the kitchen functional was a high priority.

new KITCHEN for an old house

THE WALLPAPER’S AESTHETIC MOVEMENT OR BRITISH ARTS & CRAFTS PATTERN IDEALLY SUITS THIS 1903 AMERICAN QUEEN ANNE HOUSE.

right ON!

Leaving aside shag carpeting and copper-tone appliances, a couple embrace the best of the decade for a splendid period house grounded in nature.

reclaiming the attic

Is your house bursting at the seams? Do you long for private office space, a guest retreat, or a kids’ bonus room? The solution might be right over your head: no need to leave the neighborhood, or even put on an addition.

displaying collections ARRANGE TO INSPIRE

Ideas, inspiration, and tidbits on the beautiful and safe arrangement and display of collectibles both traditional and eccentric.

A Home Full of Character

Smaller homes like this 1920s Dutch Colonial so often get overlooked as worthy of restoration. Owners don’t think they’re special . . . or they add on or remodel until the original is unrecognizable. This owner saw the potential.

A Furnished Bath

This elegant bathroom has fixture panels fabricated from parts of a Victorian armoire.

Holiday Home

Any of these would be a welcome gift for an old-house friend or for an artful home . . . including your own.

Simple Craftsman Roots Revived

A “clean but sterile” 1914 kitchen is treated to bungalow-era design.

MOVING toward

Changing energy markets and evolving technology make it possible to heat, cool, and ventilate homes of any age with (mostly) clean, all-electric power—and less of it. Heating home water, formerly an energy hog, is turning into an energy sipper, too.

The Rescue of Portland's FIREHOUSE 17

IN WHAT BECAME THE PROJECT OF A LIFETIME, THE REHABILITATION OF A 1912 FIREHOUSE IS ADAPTIVE REUSE WITH HEART AND SOUL. DECOMMISSIONED IN 1968, ALLOWED TO DETERIORATE AND LATER REMODELED, THE OLD FIREHOUSE HAD BEEN BUILT DURING THE DAYS OF HORSE-DRAWN ENGINES. THE PROJECT WAS SPEARHEADED BY RESTORAT ION CONSULTANT KARLA PEARLSTEIN, IN PORTLAND, OREGON. SHE NOW CALLS THE FIREHOUSE HOME.

Caring for Silverplate

Whether the design is Rococo, Aesthetic, or Art Deco, silverplate is collectible—and needs care.

MANTELS in a Holiday Mood

Pretty things from nature are always in style.

Diamonds!

An eternal motif for objects around the house.

A Surprisingly Authentic Bath

The replicated, late-Victorian master bathroom is in an 1892 brick manse in St. Louis, Missouri.

Quintessentially MAINE

A late Shingle Style house designed by John Calvin Stevens is sensitively brought back by owners who use patterns by William Morris in its casual, summer-house rooms.

Lacing in New Boards

Plank and strip flooring with isolated areas of damage can be saved with careful patching.

The Blues

Favorites, from pale azure to deep cobalt.

At the Windows

Shutters & screens: timeless essentials.

RESTORING REST HARROW IN ARDEN

Refurbishing an Arts & Crafts cottage designed by William Lightfoot Price, noted architect and founder of utopian communities.

Glass Room Screens

Old factory windows are repurposed as room dividers, adding dimension while letting light shine through.

a place for PROMISES

DENNIS AND KAYLA WHITE of Lynchburg, Tennessee, had long wanted to start their own business. “I’m a credit analyst, so I work with numbers all day,” Kayla says. “But that is so not me! I think of myself as a creative person, and I love design. When this house came up at auction in October of 2018, we thought it would be a chance for us to launch a venture of our own, and for me to do the work I love.” The house is a two-storey, 3800-square-foot I-house with Greek Revival influences. It was built in 1858 for Townsend Port Green, a lumber dealer and wealthy landowner. In this handsome manse, he and his wife, Mary Ann Landiss, raised 14 children. The family fortune declined after the Civil War; in the early 1880s, Green sold the house to local whiskey merchant Daniel S. Evans.

A BUNGALOW of seven gables

A 1915 Arts & Crafts house on Bainbridge Island, never substantially altered since it was built, is restored with regard for its history, architectural scale, and original style.

Wood Working

Five handy, high-quality devices make carpentry jobs go smoothly.

Glasgow School in the Bathroom

A tutorial in bracing color and geometric, stylized forms.