Historic Restoration: Custom Fence

This is not a recent job of mine, but worth a look anyhow.

The large Tudor style home (not shown) on this lot was built in the twenties, and so was the long lattice-work fence running along one side of the property (just the front half of it shows here). This is not the original fence, which was severely rotted in many places and basically falling to pieces when I tore it down three years ago and replaced it, retaining the original styling.

While a different type of fence for a replacement would have looked OK in this place, the homeowner thought it was important to keep the original look, which was definitely tailored to the traditional style of his house. Being a fan of historic preservation, and also having a technical degree in the field, I agreed with him wholeheartedly--and went to work.

This image may not show off the character of the fence as well as it might, but maybe you can tell that it was certainly a beautiful morning for snapping a picture!

Custom Two-Sink Vanity: A Style Hybrid

This design is the joint work of myself and interior designer Barb Dock. I built it as part of a complete remodel of a 70s-era master bathroom. The whole house has been basically furnished in a modern style, with a slight veering recently into the craftsman idiom with the addition of some understated "mission style" furniture in the living room. This vanity was meant to go along with that move. It's a kind of a craftsman/modern blend, which I think works out well because the two movements are divergent but not antithetical to each other. It keeps to the straightforward lines of modernism with some added elaboration of details that backs off the doctrinaire severity of the modern style.

I find it is almost always interesting, and often productive, to put two different style approaches together in a synthesis: One way plus one way equals a third (new) way. This piece is an example of that process.