Craftsman from a Beach Cottage

The Craftsman reawakened

Contemporary house steps back a century.

By Janet Eastman

July 01, 2004

BILL BLACKBURN has identified the culture growing in his home as "creeping Craftsman," and he knows who brought it there: his wife, Kathleen.

It all began when she toured the Gamble House in Pasadena, the 1908 Arts and Crafts masterpiece designed by Charles and Henry Greene that is an exemplar of the architects' work and the only one of their houses now open as a museum.

Over the last 18 years, the Blackburns' Laguna Beach two-story, which once had white exterior trim, white interior walls and aluminum windows, has been extensively redressed in the trademark dark wood of a Greene & Greene structure, both outside and in. There is timber on the ceilings, walls and bathroom countertops; a grid of thin wood slats covers the heating vents, just as they do in the Gamble House.

"Craftsman is contagious," says Bill Blackburn, standing at the top of his stairs, hand resting on a section of the railing, where 2-inch-thick mahogany is dotted with protruding black square plugs, bolts and washers. "Wood gives you a natural feeling. There's a warmth, wholesomeness to it, and in the Greene brothers' use of it, it's timely and enduring.

The couple, who drove to high school dances in Bill's Ford Woody wagon, grew up in San Marino and Pasadena neighborhoods where, as in other cities, Craftsman-style homes were treasured before World War I, then neglected, then treasured again.

"The original concept of the Arts and Crafts style was a rebellion against the Industrial Age and excess of material in Victorian homes," says John Brinkmann, who has watched his quarterly magazine, American Bungalow, balloon in size and circulation over the last decade.

Craftsman bungalows lost their luster when modern ranch-style homes sprang up after World War II, he says, then regained their cachet in the 1990s thanks to local preservation efforts, and movies and commercials started using them as charming backdrops.

"If ever there was a generation in need of simplification again, it's ours," says Brinkmann, who lives in a 1914 bungalow in Sierra Madre. "The simplicity of wood and stone is a balm for the soul."

The Craftsman style is so prized today that new tract homes from San Clemente to San Jose copy its wide porches, trapezoidal columns and runaway rafters.

Real estate agents and book publishers slap the name "Craftsman" on anything they're trying to sell, says Brinkmann, whose magazine lists dozens of recommended books on Arts and Crafts architects, furniture, gardens and home renovations

Reproductions of Craftsman furniture are available everywhere, including museum shops and Costco, with wood pieces wedged together with conspicuous mortise-and-tenon joints. Also in abundance are evocative tapered lanterns, wrought-iron metalwork and textiles with pastoral motifs.

None of these resources, however, was any help to the pioneering Blackburns. It would have been easier for them to flip open a catalog and point to a finished product, but cookie-cutter Craftsman wasn't an option for them, and it wasn't in keeping with the style's original appeal. Before the bungalows were knocked off and fractioned into kits sold by Sears, Roebuck, parts were made specifically for each house.

This custom ideal benefited the Blackburns' home. It starts at the entrance door, a luscious quilt of beveled glass held in place by maple and mahogany without the aid of nails. And it continues downstairs to the bookshelf-boxed alcove that is backlighted to mimic sunlight in one of the few windowless rooms.

The long remodeling project, completed in phases as the Blackburns could afford it, created the typical inconveniences: mess -- two woodworkers milling Honduras mahogany on the property coated the house with baby-powder fine pink dust -- and the project taxed neighbors who wondered if it would ever end.

The Blackburns also faced another obstacle that few homeowners have to overcome: a skeptical architect.

After another architect passed on the project, the couple consulted Susu Kishiyama, who thought it was a stretch to achieve the Greenes' exacting craftsmanship and composition while keeping the Blackburns' original floor plan

The couple, however, had no doubt. When they compared their home to the Gamble House, they saw many similarities: an expansive terrace on the second floor that pulled in breezes and cooled the house; banks of long windows that framed views and drew in sunlight; and floors that streamed from one room into another.

What was missing, they thought, was the beauty of simple, sensual wood in sunlight-enhanced colors that go beyond brown to warm burgundy and gold.

Kishiyama, who decided to join the remodeling project, knew that finding craftsmen to execute the plan was crucial. If joints were sloppy, there would be no opportunity to hide them behind paint or wallpaper. More important, honoring the Arts and Crafts Movement meant perfecting the curved corners, interlocking the finger joints and installing other puzzle-like pieces that the style required.

The Orange-based architect called in a father-and-son team, the Deasons -- Tom Sr. and Tom Jr. -- of Tustin, to mill, sculpt and finish the wood on site. The Deasons set up shop in the Blackburns' garage and stayed at one stretch for two years. So many boards were used that if stacked floor to ceiling, they ate up half of the two-car garage. Some days, the woodworkers filled five trashcans with sawdust.

Kishiyama provided drawings of windows and screens with "cloud-lifts," where straight lines are interrupted by upturned edges. He also designed built-in benches sized to fit tight spaces and pieces that melded crisscrossing wood with ornamental glass.

A hefty four-column china cabinet needed four piano movers to haul it inside. The light-box chandelier was so large Kathleen Blackburn thought it was a coffee table, until the "legs" were flipped up and attached to the wood ceiling plate above the dining room table.

Kishiyama also directed the placement of the wainscoting on walls and stick trim arranged in a pattern on the ceiling. "Because of my Japanese heritage, where traditional Japanese houses are finely detailed in wood, I have an appreciation for its native characteristics," he says. "I think it's more an honest expression of the house not to cover up the wood."

The Greenes were influenced by the way wood was used in Japanese houses, says Kishiyama, who adds, "Once you learn their ... architectural vocabulary, you have a handle on how to solve any design issue, as long as you remember that attention to details is essential.

Some of the rooms had to be squared up before the woodwork could be installed. Floors that were off by a half inch were "not compatible to Craftsman-style precision," says Kishiyama. "We had to either fix it or create an optical illusion so it appears as if it's dead horizontal or vertical. Bill is particular about precision and joinery, which then pays respect to the beauty of wood."

Now that the pink dust has settled, is creeping Craftsman in remission at the Blackburn house? Not yet.

Take the kitchen. It was remodeled in 1991 by a kitchen contractor when Kishiyama and the Deasons were not involved. The sharp-edged paneling and cabinet doors are more akin to something by Frank Lloyd Wright than the Greenes' softer, sinuous style.

"I saw Bill in the kitchen and I could see the wheels going," says Kathleen Blackburn. "He wants to round out the cabinet corners and put art glass in the cupboard doors. That may happen. We're discovering that with Craftsman, you're never finished."

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Their 18-year project

Bill and Kathleen Blackburn spent 18 years transforming their modern, two- story Laguna home to Craftsman style. Here are some milestones:

1975: The Blackburns build their two-story house with an open floor plan, walls of windows and a large terrace off the second-floor family room.

1986: They remodel the exterior in Craftsman style with mahogany and redwood trim, planters and railings. The front door is designed by architect Susu Kishiyama and made by Bill Blackburn's brother, Dick Blackburn of Pacific Millworks in Cayucos.

1991: The kitchen is renovated with wood cabinets; the family-room fireplace is remodeled.

1992-94: Living room walls and the ceiling are timbered, and the fireplace is remade with Batchelder-like fired tiles. Stair railings are replaced in mahogany with exposed joinery. The master bedroom's mahogany-framed windows and sliding-glass doors, built-in cabinets, headboard and nightstands are installed. The powder room is redone with a hammered metal basin, mahogany countertop and emerald-colored glass detailed doors. Japanese-style custom-designed lanterns and sconces are hung throughout the house.

1996: Downstairs bedrooms are renovated with wood paneling; in the alcove, a built-in upholstered bench is surrounded by bookshelves.

2001: Outside planters are replaced; the mailbox is set in place.

2004: Exterior shingles are stripped, oiled and re-stained

-- Janet Eastman