It looks like my wife and I will this
week close on our first house: a 1918 Craftsman bungalow in Old East Dallas.
The inspections show the house is in good shape, and the previous owner did
a nice renovation, though there’s significantly more work, chiefly
decorative, that we’ll want to do if we buy it. We considered moving out to
the suburbs, where you can get more house for your money, but inasmuch as
schooling for the boys isn’t a factor for us (we’re homeschooling), we were
free to consider older houses in the city. The McMansion crowd would hate
it, but Julie and I fell in love with this great little 1900-sq.-ft.
bungalow, which is a perfect example of what Sarah Susanka calls the
“Not-So-Big House.” When we first started
looking at the bungalow, I began reading more about the Arts & Crafts
movement, and now we’re pretty excited about
it. The architectural ideas of the movement really resonate with us, and
they strike me as deeply consonant with the sort of principles we’ve talked
about on this site re: crunchy conservatism.
I’m curious: are there any NRO readers who are into the Arts & Crafts
movement? Who own a Craftsman bungalow, or any of the other early 20th
century styles associated loosely with the movement? Would you be willing to
let me interview you about your house and why you love it? Write me at