When we think of famous Arts and Crafts homes in the U.S., we usually think of Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Farms in Morris Plains, New Jersey, or Greene and Greene’s Gamble House in Pasadena, California. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style homes also come to mind, in particular the Robie House in Chicago, IL. Well, Michigan also has an Arts and Crafts treasure in Cranbrook House. More...

Rookwood Pottery was an internationally renowned Arts and Crafts era pottery located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Established in 1880 by Maria Longworth Nichols (later Storer), the pottery remained in existence until 1967 (although Ms. Nichols sold it in 1890). The pottery was known for vessels, figurines, plaques and tiles, for museum quality art pottery as well as moderate commercial ware. The pottery won many national and international prizes through the first decade of the 20th century. More...

Art and Crafts was very much alive in Grand Rapids at the turn of the last century. One of the ways Grand Rapids exerted influence on the Arts and Crafts Movement was in relation to furniture. Known as Furniture City since the late 1800’s, Grand Rapids hosted an annual furniture exposition and was home to several acclaimed Arts and Crafts manufacturers. In fact, according to Larry Koon, Gustav Stickley got his start after a buyer from a furniture company saw his furniture on display at one of these expositions. More...

Each June, the beautiful and elegant Indian Village Historic District in Detroit opens its doors to visitors. This year was the 36th year of the home tour, and there are five homes that are considered Arts and Crafts or have major elements of Arts and Crafts design. There are many types of architecture in Indian Village, including Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival (sometimes considered a type of Arts and Crafts), Georgian Revival, Queen Anne, etc. Many of the homes are a combination of more than one style, making them difficult to pinpoint. Most of the Arts and Crafts architecture reflects the English influence, rather than the American we are more familiar with. However, on both sides of the Atlantic, the emphasis was on simple, refined designs, superb craftsmanship and natural materials. More...

It had been on my list from the beginning, but it is such a dreaded project, that I put it off for five years – the kitchen rehab. I wanted to update the kitchen (there was no dishwasher, for instance), but I wanted to do it in a period-appropriate way. And although I love all the beautiful rich-stained Craftsman kitchens I saw in my research, my kitchen is really small, and I felt that dark cabinets would make it look smaller. So I chose white-painted cabinets, which would have been very common in a 1928 kitchen. But I also incorporated many Arts and Crafts details, such as natural materials, period-appropriate hardware, and furniture-look cabinets.

My kitchen is approximately 11’ x 11’. It had no discernible style. Light wood cabinets mounted below a soffit wasted a lot of useable space. A blue laminate countertop had seen better days, as had the rusted stainless steel sink and nondescript faucet. The floor was white 8x8 ceramic tiles, some of which were cracked. More...

I love living in my 1920's bungalow, but an annoying drawback is lack of closet space. My house has four bedrooms, two down and two up. All the bedrooms are small (the largest is 11 x 11; the smallest is 10 x 10). A previous owner removed a closet from the smallest bedroom to enlarge the bathroom that's adjacent. The closets in all the other bedrooms are very small. In addition, the closets in the upstairs bedrooms are tucked under the roofline, and you have to stoop if you step in more than a few feet to avoid hitting your head on the sloped ceiling. And don't even try to find something in there after dark -- there are no lights. More...