Vintage styles: Arts and Crafts homes

Arts and Crafts style home

Arts and Crafts homes by definition are meant to be unique and distinctive. Their design was not meant to be cookie cutter. In fact, they were in part a reaction to the industrial revolution and the mass  production of goods.

As their name implies, the homes were meant to showcase the craftsmanship of the builder.

Some features common to Arts & Crafts homes are their asymmetrical design and complex floor plan. Some have cantilevered second floors, meaning the second story overhangs the first.

They have steep gabled roofs with large porches. They can have gabled dormers (front facing windows that extend out perpendicular to the roof).

Siding includes wood shingles, but they can also feature brick and stucco.

Arts and Crafts home were particularly popular in California, Texas, and Florida.

A guide to getting rid of clutter in your home

(ARA) - You're feeling like the walls are closing in. You're not a hoarder, but you just have too much stuff. It's not that difficult to change your ways. If you want to take control of clutter, get a few boxes, one for each room in your home. Start by organizing one room at a time.

Begin this initiative by removing everything on top of your cabinets, tables and in bookcases and place it all in a box, says Keith McCleary, academic director of Interior Design at The Art Institute of York - Pennsylvania. If there are other random accessories in the room, remove them as well. Keep just the basic furnishings. Now sit with the room in its simplest form for awhile.

"In room design, make good decisions about what you choose to put in the room and, often more importantly, in what you choose to leave out," McCleary says. "Simplicity and clean lines make a room feel livable and that's what it's really all about: comfortable living." Think about the kind of focal point you're trying to create. How should you orchestrate this space and show off your special pieces in terms of size, scale, color and texture?

After a day or two has passed, go back to the box and look for items that define your personality, or will be noticed by guests visiting your home. "Ask yourself: when is enough, enough?" says McCleary. "Each piece of furniture in the room can function to complement. Accessories and works of art should contrast."

Homebuyers happy despite housing ups and downs

With the rollercoaster ride homeowners have taken in recent years - gaining great equity, then losing it, now slowly gaining it back - you might think they are a little sour on home ownership.

But a new poll by Bankrate, Inc., found that 90 percent of homeowners say they don't regret buying their current home.

In fact, the pollsters found that homeowners are much more informed about the mortgage process. Today, only 8 percent said they didn't know what kind of loan they had. That's far better than two years ago when as many as 28 percent said they didn't know.

The poll - conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Bankrate - also found that:

Vintage home converted to office in Porterville

• Fixed-rate mortgages are on the upswing. Seventy-nine percent of those polled said they had a fixed-rate loan. 
• Americans making more than $75,000 overwhelmingly preferred fixed-rate mortgages. Almost 90 percent of those who were asked, said they used a fixed-rate mortgage.

You can find happiness to with one of the great deals on the market. Call Ruben Olguin (559) 280-9384, or Vincent Ingrao (559) 799-9165 of the Vintage Home Guys today for an appoinment.