Lights, Going Up!

Industrial-chic, oversize wall sconces can be made from repurposed elevator indicator lights.

FROM AWKWARD TO STYLISH

A bump-up in rear roof height, a new kitchen, and upgraded interior trim turned our charm-deficient house into a livable home.

ARTS & CRAFTS FOR 100 YEARS

The bungalow retained its original integrity, so our upgrades had to follow suit, and last.

AN AMERICAN HOUSE The Essence of Traditional Wills in Vermont

Nothing captures American tradition like the respectfully modest, perfectly proportioned houses of Royal Barry Wills, the mid-century New England firm that specialized in Colonial Revival homes and reintroduced Cape Cod style.

Keeping the Chimney Well-equipped and Safe

Liners, dampers, fire brick, and chimney caps all play protective roles in fireplace safety and comfort.

A NEIGHBORHOOD FOURSQUARE

Despite good bones, the house built in 1900“was in very poor condition,” says Aaron Pempel, who’d long wanted to restore a rundown house. “The first floor had been used as commercial office space without a kitchen or bath; the second floor was residential.”Indeed, the interior was a forlorn mash-up, made worse by the building sitting vacant. The Nike executive had discovered the abandoned house in the same Northwest Portland (Oregon) neighborhood where he and his wife, Kristen, and their son live.

Radical Restoration

After a 1960s remodeling that succeeded in changing its very style, the Craftsman house in Portland, Oregon, was virtually unrecognizable. Then the right family came along.

The Learning Curve

IT’S ONE THING TO LOVE AN OLD HOUSE, ANOTHER TO TAKE ONE ON. RESTORATION CAN BE INTIMIDATING; STILL, THE RARE SORT OF HOMEOWNER THRIVES ON THE WORK, TYPICALLY DESCRIBING THEIR CHARACTERFUL MONEY PIT AS “A FUN PROJECT.”

To The Last Detail

When you buy an old house, you will have to remodel the kitchen. Old houses never have enough storage space. Bachelors don’t cook. Wrong, wrong, and wrong—at least at Sconehenge, David Berman’s 1910 Shingle Style house in Plymouth, Mass. When he bought the place, it needed a level of cleanup and restoration that meant a dumpster was parked outside for months. Yet he didn’t touch the kitchen’s old-fashioned floor plan. In fact, David sings the praises of his original kitchen “suite” as he serves his trademark ginger scones.

Meet History In St. Louis

TIMES HAVE CHANGED since the 1944 release of the musical “Meet Me In St. Louis,” but the city is well preserved, full of fascinating buildings and neighborhoods of architectural interest.

Incentives For Preservation

Not every old house is destined for restoration in full period style. But more can be saved from demolition if tax credits are used to justify rehabilitation costs.

A Passion For History

BOB AND CAROL LEBEAU are Massachusetts transplants who moved to coastal Maine in the 1980s.

Spanish Revival

It was a style craze that promised History, Luxury, and Leisure.

For A Unique Backsplash

Embossed metal ceiling panels are perfect for this application. 

A Journal, An Old House & A Matter Of Time

As stewards of an 1867 Italianate mansion and carriage house in rural Vermont, we choose restoration over remodeling. After all, the fi rst owner is watching.

Lights Divided, Truly And Otherwise

It should be understood that conserving old windows is the “greenest” option: they are endlessly repairable and easy to upgrade for energy effciency and comfort. For those buying new windows, find good news in recent aesthetic improvements.

Stuff A Plumber Screwed Up

During renovation, we’d created a drain beneath new patio stone, and installed a hand-held shower for rinsing beach sand off kids and dogs. We shut the water off before frost each year, and all seemed well until my son gave the dog a pre-season, early spring bath. When he went to shut the water back off, he discovered a cascade in the crawl space under the shower. —Patty O’Donnell

A Farmhouse In Indiana

A straightforward approach brought back a farmstead on the brink of ruin. By Gene and Roseanna Hatke, Lafayette, Ind.

A Unique Kitchen Island

Cleaned up and repurposed, an old French dental-tools cabinet is nifty and functional in the kitchen.

A Cottage All Grown Up

Beautifully imagined and carefully edited, the 1886 house is a Victorian Revival jewel box, all in 1700 square feet (and that includes the basement).

Bedroom Basics

Give your sleeping space some love by freeing wedged dresser drawers, creating a new closet  layout, and hanging a pretty printed wallpaper.

Inviting and Efficient

This Colonial-style kitchen is an OHJ reader favorite; is it the warm patina, or that display of redware?

The Decorated Bathroom

Although the room’s layout is typical, deft choices in flooring, lighting, and decorating made it a period piece.

Kitchen Cabinets 

Cabinet design and details are critical in making a new kitchen fit  an old house. We look at traditional construction, and outline the must-haves for restoration-worthy cabinets.

Chicken-Wire Glass

New Yorkers Gretchen and Ray Master embraced the use of salvaged wire glass in transoms and door panels at their early 20th-century loft apartment.

The New Lighting High Tech, Historical Revival

The future of lighting has never been brighter. Options are more energy efficient than ever before, and possibilities range from traditional bulbs to tiny emitters that can go anywhere.

Tale Of A Charleston Single House

The 1836 Greek Revival house, built by a member of the prominent Taft family, remains under the diligent care of Umbrian-born preservationists with a light touch.

Cooperstown's Historical Cred

STUDENTS OF HISTORY, ART, AND ARCHITECTURE WILL BE IMMERSED.

A House Remade For Two

A modest addition and Tudor elements turn a 1953 house into home for a couple. 

stuff thermals screwed up

our 1940's colonial revival has hot-water baseboard heaters. when we moved in a few years ago, the walls were pristine, but lately we’ve been plagued with ghosted jets of grime on the walls above the vent openings. it’s kind of creepy.