Insofar as arts & crafts style meant honest materials/ design your heavy 6x6 newels/guardrails are fine. By honest materials, I mean shingles and heavy timbers that aren't ashamed about what they are. 20 years previous, Victorians embraced the idea of all forms of sham and pretense. The porch posts were more like table legs writ large. The popular furniture style du jour was expended into the porch, the cornice, and the dormers! If a material could be tortured into a convoluted shape by saw or blade, it was. Or they cast it in plaster and tacked it on. Was it supposed to be emulating ancient stonework? then paint wood it and embed the surface with sand! Instant faux-stone. Things would not always (if ever?) be what they appeared. A&C was a reaction against this, and timber and shingle and natural lines without artifice and pretension were embraced. Your little bungalow is a simple expression of an honest ideal. "Let things be what they are". They _did_ like to use oversize elements, especially on the porch. Think of the huge pyramidal rounded fieldstone piers, and knee-braces and timbered gable decorations. Brutalism is something else entirely. It's about raw unfinished (and intentionally roughened) concrete surfaces. Not 6x6 porch railings. I grew up in a 1938 house that was sort of a stone cape cod and adirondack lodge combo. It had a third-floor interior balcony/catwalk enclosed with 4x6 white pine rails and 6x6 newel posts. Woodsy, but not brutal. The stair treads were solid 6x10's. I should scan the construction photo album from that place some day... Casey

You should defentley drift on over to www.kingmetals.com J.

kayl, I finally ordered the Plow & Hearth swing, and it arrived, and we love it! There are some caveats, though. Caveat one: We got the eucalyptus finish, and there are some small gaps in the finish between the slats. I bought a stain pen--hopefully, should be able to fix the problem. Caveat two: The swing does not come with the length of chain that goes from the ceiling to the place where the other two chains connect. I bought two lengths at Lowes for $3.00. Problem solved. Caveat three: I ordered the cushion that was supposed to fit the swing. The picture showed a seat cushion. When the cushion arrived, it was a back cushion. Don't need or want that, so back it will go. Caveat four: One of the slats needs to be re-glued. Annoying, but nothing too bad. So, that's the bad news. Here is the great news: The swing is so comfortable. The slats are not a problem at all. I could (and did) sit there for hours. The swing is beautiful--the construction details are elegant, and the color is great. Slightly reddish, but not gaudy. So, yes, I would definitely order it again, but I am going to post my "caveats" in my review on their site. Not thrilled about those issues. Hope you find the swing for you!

Can you put a direct link to it in this thread? I looked for it on that forum and could not find it. We're in the middle of a similar project so I'm always interested in following the progress of a similar diy'er. Edited to add: "Never mind . . . " I found it. I thought it was under your name which is how I was searching. We are in the middle of a similar project. My husband is refinishing our porch, not sure what the wood is . . . he is releasing it from the grip of some rubber pavers that my Dad put over the deck. They actually ABSORBED dirt and other gook . . . but my Dad loved them . . . We also have to redo the stair posts and finials. Our deck was built around the same time as yours, by the previous owners of our house, the people who built it. My carpenter husband is constantly complaining about the workmanship on this house. It's pretty clear they were flying by the seat of their pants, no consistency. But I'm sure it was a nice low bid . . . Just the other day he finally screwed in a ceiling light fixture properly. When it was installed, they got the stud on the first side, missed it on the other, and moved on because it looked fine. Finally the sheetrock wore away enough so that it started to hang loose. I guess 25 years of half done right was plenty good enough . . . but the whole house was done like that, and the deck.