A Home Design Tip to Keep your Historic Bungalow Art Inspiring!
Having met many bungalow homeowners, and painted dozens and dozens of gorgeous Craftsman Bungalows around the country, I am aware of the agony faced by homeowners in needing more space — but at the same time not wanting to deface the charm and simplicity of their historic bungalow.
I am really lucky to be able to see INSIDE many of the homes I paint, so I decided to start collecting examples of the homeowners who do it right. I thought it could be inspirational for others and give design ideas at the same time. So below is a classic Craftsman home in Alexandria VA. As you can see from the portrait, they added onto the side and back of the home so as not to detract from the historic character of the home. They wanted to create a large kitchen and family room space, and managed to combine the old world Craftsman charm along with a chic modern look that is both roomy and practical.
So now you get a chance to peak inside!
This is the entrance from the main original footprint of the home to the new dining room. I think the transition of historic old world Craftsman to new is done both elegantly and tastefully.
Here you see the craftsman charm with this cozy reading nook. It makes me want to nestle into one of the leather chairs, turn off your smart phone and read a good book!
I recently found an article by Suzanne Tacheny Kubach in Small Home Gazette which sums it up perfectly.
“Therein lies the bungalow owner’s dilemma: how to find the space modern living demands while preserving the soul of an old home. Bungalows are so welcoming because the spaces within them are so well-defined; a characteristic too often lost in modern remodels. Whether the house was designed by Greene and Greene, Wright, Stickley, or Sears, Arts & Crafts homes have three essential ingredients: proportion, details and woodwork. Room sizes are proportional to ceiling heights and transitions between spaces are marked with details such as millwork archways, stained glass windows and doors. Remove those details and the space has a sudden identity crisis. Replace them and the room is alive again. In fact, bringing natural woodwork into a room is one of the easiest ways to bring character back to an old house.
“Easy, but not cheap, which is why such details tend to drop out of contemporary designs for large spaces. In her book The Not So Big House, Sarah Susanka notes that too many homebuilders today trade these details to satisfy our thirst for floor space. She observes that in the competition for bragging rights on square-footage, we trade the character—the soul—of our homes.”
I also ran across a very good book called “Updating Classic American Bungalows” by M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman. This book is filled with beautiful color photos of ideas for preserving your bungalow’s unique style while bringing it into the 21st Century.