Old House Journal

The Original Restoration Magazine for people who are passionate about old houses to repair, rehabilitate, update, and decorate their homes; covering all classic American architectural styles,—from the earliest Colonial-era buildings to grand Victorians of every variety to Arts & Crafts bungalows and mid-century ranches.

Old House Journal

inspired renovation

home design HOUSES HAVE A PAST—AND A FUTURE, TOO • THE BEST RENOVATIONS TOE THE LINE BETWEEN NECESSARY UPDATES AND ENOUGH SENSITIVITY TO ASSURE DESIGN INTEGRITY.

Name that style • Knowing the period and style of your house is the starting point.

a farmhouse RESCUE • Using a cache of salvaged finds, the homeowner, architect, and contractor together rescued a tumbledown farmhouse in Vermont.

kitchens &revivalbaths

SHOPTOUR • A collaborative team of custom cabinetmakers, designers, and engineers, Kennebec Company specializes in handcrafting cabinets perfectly suited to the architecture of any home. The nearly 50-year-old company in Maine was one of the first builders of period-inspired cabinetry made with traditional methods such as mortise-and-tenon joinery and hand-cut dovetails.

LEARN MORE • A kitchen makeover is expensive and time-consuming. You don’t want yours to look dated in five or 10 years. Happily, period-inspired is easy to do.

CRAFTSMAN DETAILS IN A KITCHEN • An excellent layout and period motifs distinguish this midsize kitchen in a bungalow-era house.

LEARN MORE Appliances

A TRANSCENDENT BATHROOM IN OJAI • A seamless addition allowed for this timeless primary bath, which has been re-imagined as an upgrade dating to ca. 1930.

LEARN MORE Design By Limitation • Certain minimum clearances apply (some dictated by code, others by comfort), but it’s amazing how tiny a half bath can be. You may be tempted to create a jewel box of coveted materials and color.

ADDITIONAL LISTINGS • Like the companies featured, these additional sources provide hard-to-find kitchen and bath specialties suitable for historic and unique homes.

wall & floor tiles

SHOPTOUR • Founded in1903 and ascending to the forefront of Arts & Crafts tilemaking, Pewabic is the oldest continuously active pottery in the nation. The not-for-profit pottery still takes a hands-on approach to its art tile, architectural tile, and turned and slip-cast pieces. That extends to the clay itself, which is made on the same belt-driven pugmill that was installed in 1912.

furniture & decorative accessories

LEARN MORE • Today’s Stickley re-issues iconic pieces while also offering transitional and inspired new lines of furniture.

SHOPTOUR • Known for his Arbor Morris chairs with stylized trees in place of side slats, Brian Brace had been asked for years whether he would build a rocker in that style. The answer is yes: He has just introduced not one but two variations of his signature design. As he chatted with the client who ordered the first (traditional-style) rocker, Brace let slip that he was also working on

CRAFTSMAN PATINA • A smitten owner brings the Arts & Crafts aesthetic to a 1921 bungalow in Seattle.

LEARN MORE It’s in the Details • It’s the finishing touches that lend authenticity to a room: the handmade pottery, the stained glass. Don’t settle for mass-produced, anonymous things. Live instead with fewer objects of unique beauty. “Small goods” inspired by tradition give you aesthetic and practical value, meeting the admonition of the artist–craftsman so eloquently stated by William Morris: “Have nothing in your house which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

lighting+hardware

LEARN MORE Mixed Lighting • Chandeliers, pendants, and table lamps provide illumination and at...