A New Foursquare Home with Bungalow Details
Built 2005–6 in Marietta, Georgia, the owner was instrumental in the design of a new brick house that evokes the bungalow era.
When he decided to use his growing knowledge of Arts & Crafts design to build a new house, Dr. Bruce Gould was thinking of the old bungalows and Foursquares back in western Pennsylvania, where he grew up. “There are so few old houses in this part of Georgia—and anyway, the ‘Money Pit’ scenario scared me,” Dr. Gould explains. “Restoration is fraught. I thought it would be easier to build a new old house.”
He chose architect Dale Peek, whose grasp of period details impressed him. But this client was very involved, researching precedents and making decisions. “I learned so much about consistency from working earlier with Atlanta designer Shane Meder,” Dr. Gould says. (Black Sheep Interiors, Atlanta: (404)-622-9001, blacksheepinteriors.com)
Dale Peek came up with the signature muntin designs in the windows. Interior designer Leigh Nunnery is credited with the finish details, and found excellent craftsmen to do the fireplaces, beams, and kitchen cabinets. “The house has bungalow-era styling,” Nunnery says, “but it’s softened; oak and cherry are mixed with painted finishes.”
Bruce Gould insists that the dining room’s Swedish look was accidental. “I chose paint-grade lumber there for budget reasons,” he says. If it had been done in stained oak, the room would have looked like a typical American bungalow. Instead, the gray and white scheme evokes Scandinavian design. Adding to the charm of the room is the antique iron and crystal chandelier. (It burns candles.) The painted chairs, too, are Swedish.
Sources
Dale Peek, Peek Design Group, Acworth, GA: (770) 222-4345, peekdesign.com
Interior designer Leigh Nunnery, Leigh Nunnery Interiors, Roswell, GA: (770) 650-0770, leighnunnery@charter.net
Dining room wall color Sherwin Williams ‘Festoon Aqua’ SW0019: sherwin-williams.com; All wall colors from Sherwin-Williams Arts & Crafts and Victorian Historic Collections
Tile ‘California Rough’ fireplace surround Ken Mason Tile, kmt-bcia.com
Tile “rug” ‘Fallen Leaves’ series by Michelle Griffoul Studios, michellegriffoul.com; all tile through Renaissance Tile & Bath, Atlanta: renaissancetileandbath.com
Patricia Poore is Editor-in-chief of Old House Journal and Arts & Crafts Homes, as well as editorial director at Active Interest Media’s Home Group, overseeing New Old House, Traditional Building, and special-interest publications.
Poore joined Old House Journal when it was a Brooklyn-brownstoner newsletter in the late 1970s. She became owner and publisher and, except for the years 2002–2013, has been its editor. Poore founded the magazines Old-House Interiors (1995–2013) and Early Homes (2004–2017); their content is now available online and folded into Old-House Journal’s wider coverage. Poore also created GARBAGE magazine (1989–1994), the first unaffiliated environmental consumer magazine.
Poore has participated, hands-on, in several restorations, including her own homes: a 1911 brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and a 1904 Tudor–Shingle Style house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she brought up her boys and their wonderful dogs.
