For Your Reading Pleasure: Gustav Stickley and the Simplification of Life

Simplification of Life--starts on page 1 of the book.

Why am I reading Stickley, you ask? I put an offer in on a bungalow-ish house, and was looking up whether or not it might be a Craftsman house, or just one of many bungalow kit homes that were sold during that time.

This man pretty much spearheaded a backlash against Victorian and Edwardian over-ornamentation for the masses (read conspicuous consumption), and led the way back to simplicity and function over form and useless frill. From it sprang what we know today as Mission style, Stickley furniture, Arts & Crafts style, Craftsman homes, and even William Morris designs, Louis Tiffany furnishings, and I'm sure Amish style fits in here somewhere. Frank Lloyd Wright brings up the rear in all this, and I am most grateful for his building contribution of putting kitchens and baths back-to-back (and aligning upstairs baths over top of downstairs ones) to save on plumbing supply costs (copper back then). Nowadays, it serves pretty much the same thing, only add "holes made in walls" to the list of good reasons to consolidate the water travels.

Stickley's philosophy was to celebrate the individual artist, his craft, and the quality of it, rather than fall for the cheap and mass-produced with no regard whatsoever for quality. The goal was to get back to nature as much as possible--through color, design, and materials in earthy colors, textures, lines, and ingredients (such as in ceramic tile, wood, concrete, leather, flax linen, wicker, and wool).

Sounds pretty timely, doesn't it? I found this a little further into my Craftsman readings: The way we run in ruts is wonderful: our inability to find out the right principles upon which to set to work to accomplish what we take in hand, or to go to the bottom of things, is simply astonishing: while the resignation with which we accept the Recognized and Usual as the Right and Inevitable is really beautiful.

Another stunner is found on page 194, paragraph 2 of The Craftsman, and runs over into page 195, the first part of the page--it seems Gustav Stickley was a social and environmental commentator as well as a home and furniture designer. Many of his compatriots sympathized with Socialism, as well as the idea of bringing back Medieval guilds and exclusivity of the trades (part of the industrial backlash).

If I end up getting the house, I don't intend to restore it unless I win the lottery--I couldn't begin to afford all that woodwork! Instead, I was looking at the possibility of doing a "reminiscent remodel"--something that LOOKED like it could've been original to the house (in the kitchen and bath--counters, sinks, tub, and toilet will be modern versions), but with a yesteryear look. Since all the beautiful woodwork has long since been removed, I don't intend to replace it--insurance companies would have my hide for adding such a fire hazard! Instead, I can add the look of those wonderful built-ins and accessories with furniture, lamps, and textiles that are timeless and can go with me when I go.

I am doing research to see exactly what went into a bungalow kitchen and bath--certainly laminates weren't involved! I do know that modern, energy-efficient appliances will go in, as will a low-flow toilet (required by law). My usual problem is mixing up the time periods and falling for Victorian stuff (like tin ceilings and bead-board wainscoting) which would be inappropriate here. Easy fixes, but inappropriate.

If only I could find a butcher block counter that stayed hygienic after cutting into it, or maybe a marble-looking counter top made of something other than actual marble (a soft stone) or Formica...oh well. I guess I should wait for offer acceptance, huh?

UPDATE: I found a hygienic butcher block counter, and found something close to marble in engineered stone--now I'm just waiting to hear back about the offer.

UPDATE 2: I didn't get the house--I was outbid by a local rental empire.