Just a brief report on the Salem house tour. I have been on this one many times and it is always different because Salem is one of New England's greatest treasures in terms of old houses and history. This year's tour was low on Christmas decorations and ideas but high on architectural interest. Re Christmas, the best was the house decorated by a local florist called Fiddleheads--great use of flowers and other natural material. The emphasis this year was on Samuel McIntyre, late 18c architect and woodcarver, and true American genius. There's a wonderful exhibit of his career at the Peabody Essex Musem in Salem right now--ends sometime in Feb. So most of the open houses had some kind of McIntyre connection, including one with the only extant McIntyre fence left in Salem. For anyone interested in landscape, the fences and finials, gates and breathtaking front entrances, either done or inspired by McIntyre, are gorgeous to see. Even if you missed the tour, next summer, take a walk around the McIntyre Historic District and take a look at these. There's a lot to see from the sidewalk. Salem was also the birthplace of many important aspects of early American horticulture. You can see where the gardens used to be--sad. Some gardens exist but I don't know of any that once made Salem famous. I hope I'm wrong.

My thoughts on this one ping pong around like so; What could I do with $20,000 cash and a clean slate? I'm glad to see people thinking outside the box and shedding societal "norms". No, that's not a "shed" pun. I would have opted to add a sizeable covered, screened porch to provide a little more wander space. I need views. Without ample views, the walls would eventually close in on me. What's the big deal? I hail from a coastal town along the Intracoastal Waterway and lots of people, including families, lived on board boats that size or smaller. You wonder how they manage in such a small kitchen space then I remember the article I read this week in a restaurant magazine where they highlighted the 170sf kitchen on board a submarine that serves 5 hot meals a day to a crew of around 300. Does the loft count in the total sf count? If not, isn't that cheating a tad? See, I told you I ping ponged on this one. Scott

Here in Brooklyn (one of the 5 boroughs/"towns" of New York City) there are close to a dozen house and garden tours per year. Similar to Pal's experience, the tours here are representative of various historic "brownstone neighborhoods", are organized by the respective neighborhood associations, and are annual fundraising/neighborhood promotion endeavors. (I also note that Brooklyn's sense of "neighborhood" may be the most fiercely competitive of all the boroughs. Which may account for why there are so many annual house tours in this one borough). The Brooklyn house tour scene developed in the 60's and 70's along with the rise of the "brownstone movement" (Today the latter would simply be termed a "gentrification movement"). It was comprised of those who were intent on purchasing grand old rowhouses on the cheap (usually because they were situated in rundown neighborhoods)and restoring them to their original glory. These brownstone house tours provided excellent opportunities for tour goers to see and learn about old house infrastructure upgrades and architectural salvage and restoration. Back then, much of the excitement of the tours was to see how the home owners had taught themselves how to strip countless layers of paint off their woodwork, restored stained glass, repaired detailed plaster mouldings, etc. IOW, the emphasis then tended to be much more on DIY achievements and showcasing homeowner creativity. Today, the various Brooklyn neighborhood house tours are still well-attended. However, since the new millennium, it appears as if most of the tours are now more heavily weighted towards showing off big money renovations and restorations. For one thing, the majority of the tour neighborhoods are no longer "rundown." If anything, years of gentrification has resulted in major demographic changes as well as mass upgrades of housing stock. As a result, the house tours now feature less of small budget/big DIY projects and much more of very grand homes that have been re-designed, further restored or outright gutted and renovated by high end architects, professional designers and contractors using high end products and materials. Still, given the current economic crisis, the pendulum on tour composition may be swinging back to a more balanced position. That is, while there will always be a tour demand for Architectural Digest type homes, the bubble bust has forced a renewed interest in the purchase of potentially grand but less expensive brownstones which are typically found in the not-yet-gentrified neighborhoods. Reminiscent of the earlier brownstone movement, tour emphasis in these areas tends to be more heavily weighted on "affordable" restoration and upgrade of the bones of the house rather than on the display of spectacular dressings and finishes. And, in most tour neighborhoods, we're once again seeing some remarkable restoration/renovation efforts which are heavier on DIY and homeowner creativity than on expense. As for how Brooklyn house tour kitchens compare with GW kitchens -- well, leaving the question of size out of the equation -- my guess is that a good deal of them are designed and/or owned by active members or lurkers of this forum! :-)

Another tour I did was of the Gamble House in Pasadena. Interior photography also forbidden, of course. Some interior photos available here. The only Greene & Greene house open to the public (they claim) the house is an impressive example of the pinnacle of the arts and crafts style - and what happens when an unlimited budget meets very exacting craftsmen. Although only built 10-15 years before Hollyhock House, and also influenced by Japanese architecture, it might as well be in another world. Our docent sniffed that "unlike Frank Lloyd Wright", the Greenes had incredible attention to detail. Hearth inlays match wood, silver or semiprecious stone inlays in the furniture. Mrs. Gamble's writing desk has an inlay to match her favorite Tiffany vase. Each room features one type of wood, even to the windowsills. Each door is custom designed to match the pattern of panelling in the room to which it belongs. The butler's pantry has a custom cabinet to store table leaves... The table, of course, designed by the Greenes. The carpets were also designed by the Greenes and were surprisingly modern, largely plainish with subtle edge patterns. The house is panelled nearly floor to ceiling and they light it with era-appropriate 15 Watt bulbs, so it is extremely dark. I found the style impressive but also a little oppressive. It was dark and...well, being an almost 100 pure expression of the Greenes' style, very formal, very regular, very matchy. Here are some details from the foyer- exposed pegs, straps (decorative but giving the impression the stairs are strapped together), the exposed underside of the stairs (showing the bones of the house in arts & crafts style), the section of banister carved from one enormouse piece of Burmese teak, and the stained glass front door which has two identical layers of stained and leaded glass.