Woodwork: Before & After Tales
In projects large and small—even quite modest—a bit of woodwork wizardry can transform a room. Here are three inspiring projects from a Chicago designer.
“There’s no reason why the Arts & Crafts sensibility should require a big budget,” says decorative-arts historian Michael FitzSimmons. He offers his clients pragmatic advice, whether the client is a museum curator or a new owner who doesn’t “quite know what the house is trying the tell them.”
The fireplace pictured above is in a Chicagoland house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, but never finished. FitzSimmons, who has been consulting for this client for a decade, designed a glass mosaic pictorial panel for installation above the fireplace of narrow Roman bricks, so popular in Prairie architecture. (The mosaic has flowering dogwoods as a motif, a nod to Wright’s interest in Japanese woodblock prints.) The panel is framed by natural wood trim that wraps around the frieze and heads the wide doorway. It’s a subtle but effective use of wood trim in a period house.
In another project that came with a limited budget, FitzSimmons rescued two mundane and somewhat out-of-character built-ins by using new trim, along with new swapped-in hardware and a coat of paint. (A cabinet occupies each side of the doorway.)
Look at the transformation here! A high (and not terribly expensive) wainscot has utterly transformed this bland and confusing entryway, giving it warmth, character, and period style. It nearly matches the original wainscot in the house’s living room. An Arts & Crafts-pattern rug defines the space, and a window bench neatly stores boots.
Michael FitzSimmons is a preservationist, artisans’ agent, design consultant, and merchant of antiques and fine reproductions. Find his showroom in Oak Park, Illinois, or on the web: (708) 763-8220, fitzdecarts.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.
