Craftsman & Arts and Crafts renovation guide

Influential in American homes from the late nineteenth century into the 1920s.

Arts and Crafts design values material, craft and useful construction. North Shore examples range from substantial architect-designed houses to simpler Craftsman expressions.

History and regional context

Arts and Crafts was a design and social movement, not one architectural recipe. Its British origins included concern for production, the relationship between designer and maker and the quality of everyday objects. American practice was diverse. Chicago’s Arts and Crafts Society began at Hull House in 1897, while furniture, pottery, textiles, lighting and The Craftsman magazine carried the ideas beyond buildings.

Craftsman houses often express material and construction through deep eaves, visible rafters or braces, porches and masonry bases. The movement and the bungalow form overlap but are not synonyms: a Craftsman house need not be a Chicago brick bungalow, and a bungalow can carry another treatment. Resemblance to a catalog drawing alone does not prove kit-house origin.

Read the house first

Identifying details

Deep eaves and visible roof structure
Porches, tapered supports and grounded massing
Wood, brick, stone and stucco used for visible texture
Built-ins, beams and joinery that organize rooms

Exterior materials

Preserve the depth of eaves, porch proportions and the meeting of materials. Thin replacement trim or synthetic texture can flatten the design.

Spatial planning

Rooms often connect through broad openings while built-ins define purpose. Improve circulation without stripping away bookcases, benches, colonnades or hearths that make the plan work.

Assess materials and details

Prepare a room-by-room record of built-ins, doors, casing, baseboards, stair parts and fireplace surrounds, noting where dimensions or finishes change. A colonnade, bookcase or broad opening may define useful rooms without making them feel closed. Reversible internal fittings can sometimes make a built-in useful without removing its doors or carcass.

Assess a porch as a room: roof projection, ceiling, floor, steps, guard, drainage and entrance relationship belong to one composition. Enclosure can change the depth and shadow of the facade. Do not box in exposed rafters or add conspicuous “Craftsman” brackets without evidence.

Interior language

Windows, doors, trim, floors & stairs

Oak, fir, hammered or aged metal, art tile and straightforward joinery belong naturally. Furniture should be useful and well proportioned; lighting can feature shaded glass, mica-like warmth or simple metal forms.

Furniture, lighting & color

Wood and masonry are the primary color. Olive, ochre, rust, cream and deep blue can support them, with matte finishes rather than high gloss.

Furniture and fixtures in use

For a contemporary interpretation, let surviving woodwork establish warmth, then add comfortable upholstery, selected solid-wood furniture and tactile woven fabrics. An entire dark matching suite can overwhelm a modest room. Ceramics, one textile or a carefully chosen lamp are more useful than covering every surface with motifs.

Shaded lamps and a well-scaled dining pendant can support reading, cooking and conversation without an oversized reproduction fixture. Kitchens and baths should prioritize clear work surfaces, ventilation and accessible storage, then tune door profiles and finishes to adjacent joinery. No theatrical “period package” is required.

Concept illustration pairing a Craftsman porch with an oak armchair, handmade ceramic tile and a copper-toned shaded lamp. — AI-generated concept illustration; not a completed Waltos project or historical record.

Kitchens and baths

Visible craftsmanship matters more than applied motifs. Use coherent grain, practical hardware, tile and stone; integrate storage into the architecture.

Restore or adapt?

Repair built-ins and woodwork where feasible. New pieces should respect proportions and material honesty without copying marks of age.

Plan the work

Inventory built-ins, joinery, tile, hardware and finish evidence before stripping or removal.
Trace roof, porch and drainage conditions where materials meet.
Plan storage and new services around the existing room-defining woodwork.
Compare new wood, metal, tile and stone with physical samples under the room’s actual light.

Questions for the walk-through

Which built-ins are integral to circulation or room proportion?
Can worn finish be conserved rather than uniformly stripped?
Do new pieces show honest construction without pretending to be old?

Where professional work begins

Stripping original finishes or dismantling built-ins can destroy evidence that is difficult to recreate; test and document first.
A style guide is a starting point, not a diagnosis. Original drawings, physical evidence and later alterations matter more than a label.
Bring in the appropriate architect, engineer or specialist before changing structure, egress, masonry, roofing, mechanical systems, plumbing, electrical work or gas service.
Before disturbing painted or concealed materials in an older house, determine whether lead or asbestos may be present. Do not sand, cut or remove suspect material as a discovery exercise.

Sources and further reading

These sources explain preservation principles and regional context. The concept imagery on this site is design guidance, not historic evidence or a record of completed work.