With vintage houses and buildings, the hardware and lighting are architectural “jewelry.” In any renovation or restoration, attention to detail is crucial to a successful outcome. And among the many details, matching the style of hardware to the period of the architecture is critical. Actually, any changes to a vintage or historic house or building need to be considered with regard to what is right for the period of the architecture and the individual building. This is just a preview...Read... more

Selecting a kitchen sink while trying to achieve the appropriate look for a period kitchen can be a huge challenge. There is just so much misinformation and misleading marketing out there. It is often very difficult for homeowners to know what is correct for their specific period. Many of the ads, images, and plumbing stores insist that clay-fired farm sinks (also referred to as apron front sinks) are “historic.” Though they are indeed historic, this is an English style of kitchen sink rather... more

When we think of a kitchen renovation we usually see lots of dollar signs … And often these projects are big-ticket items ranging anywhere from $50,000 and up. There are times when kitchens need to be gutted to the studs. But often with old houses such heavy-handed approaches are not necessary. With old houses, sometimes less is more when it comes to making changes. This is just a preview...Read the rest... Read More →

The dishwasher, we take it pretty much for granted. When looking at a home, the dishwasher is a convenience that we have come to expect. We use it to store dirty dishes, and sometimes clean dishes as well. But how did the dishwasher come to be? It’s an interesting story. The first patent for a dishwasher was granted to Joel Houghton in 1850. It had a wooden paddle that splashed water onto the dishes, but it was fairly ineffective at actually cleaning them. L.A. Alexander picked up the concept again... more

There is a broad spectrum of appropriate trim colors for historic homes, but white is one of the most common and difficult to select. Finding the right white to paint the interior trim of your home can be a daunting task. Instead of making the choice easy, there is a staggering palette of whites available that cause confusion and indecision and make it difficult to choose the right shade. After all, what is historic “white”? A bit of knowledge concerning the history of white paint and trends... more

To the untrained eye, a scramble of period styles in an historic building may not be problematic. The general approach of just installing what is easiest, or what the current owner thinks looks good tends to be the fate of many historic homes and buildings. Figure 1 This is just a preview...Read the rest... Read More →

If you’ve ever noticed two louvered vents stacked on the exterior of an old house, they were probably vents to a California cooler. These nifty architectural details are often associated with Craftsman Bungalow kitchens, but actually were quite common in kitchens of many different architectural styles built mostly between the early 1900s and the 1930s. This is just a preview...Read the rest... Read More →

Painting colors in your period home’s interior should be an exciting adventure. After all, the reason we paint our living spaces is to create an atmosphere that feels comfortable, relaxing, and results in an environment that says something about us. If we didn’t, we could simply paint our homes institutional white and be happy. Choosing colors that are personal to us is challenging enough, but the challenge takes on greater significance when we are dealing with a period home. This is just a... more