Jane Powell couldn’t care less about self-expression through interior design.
The outspoken preservationist and self-proclaimed “bungalow Nazi” has just one rule: Don’t mess with the fabric of an old home.
“My attitude is . . . you are temporary in this house,” says the California-based author of six books including “Bungalow Bathrooms” and “Bungalow Kitchens.”
Quite simply, Powell says: “You don’t disrespect the integrity of a house.”
She will give the keynote address Feb. 5 at the Denver Old House Society’s annual Old House Fair, a day-long event for owners of homes that are 50 or more years old. It happens at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria campus, and coincides with Colorado Preservation Inc.’s 2011 Saving Places Conference, a major historic-preservation event.
Powell’s talk should spark lively debate among homeowners who relish the charm of old houses but struggle with how to modernize them.
The restoration consultant has restored and sold 10 vintage homes.
Denver homeowner Amy Carbone became reliant on “Bungalow Kitchens” during the renovation of the kitchen in her 1926 classic brick bungalow. “I had an idea of what I wanted, but all that changed completely after I read her book,” Carbone says.
Powell’s tome encouraged Carbone to tone down her color scheme, purchase a 1930s Wedgewood stove, install a wall faucet to replace a metal sink and hide the microwave in a cabinet.
Carbone appreciated that Powell’s book presents three restoration plans for three budgets. A homeowner can hint at the period a house was built through accessories; step it up with period lighting, subway tile and white appliances; or do a full-blown historic restoration with period appliances, original light fixtures and antique hardware.
“Those kinds of compromise solutions were important to me because I couldn’t afford to be obsessive about it,” says Carbone, whose renovation cost a modest $12,000.
House-restoration experts consider Powell a lightning rod in the remodeling industry, where homeowners are pushed to update every five to 10 years. Powell underscores the idea that a period kitchen will always look appropriate in an old house — regardless of current design trends — while a remodeled one becomes dated.
The more “I started observing homes, the more I realized (Powell) was right,” says Elizabeth Wheeler with Denver’s Old House Society. “When I walk into an old house and see a kitchen has been (updated), it’s very jarring.”
Through her restoration company, House Dressing, Powell has helped numerous clients tackle common old-house design issues, including how to select appropriate cabinets, counters, lighting and flooring. More often than not, she says, someone will rigorously restore a formal room to its period glory while replacing everything in the kitchen with stainless steel and granite.
Powell believes the only stainless steel one should have in a bungalow kitchen is utensils and pots and pans.
“Stainless steel will brand your kitchen as being from the turn of the 21st century,” Powell explains. “Someone coming in 100 years from now will say, ‘Oh look at that old stainless-steel stove and glass mosaic tile backsplash!”
Sure, Powell says, today’s homeowners can have the convenience of a French-door refrigerator. Just keep appliances white, get rid of digital clocks and control panels, and integrate everything else behind closed wood panels.
You can still have a kitchen island as long as it looks like a table or workbench. Just don’t put a cooktop or sink in it, which would be counter to the utilitarian look of an early- 1900s kitchen.
Chandler Romeo buys into Powell’s thinking. Five years ago, the Denver ceramic sculptor hired Powell to consult on the restoration of the kitchen inside her 1920 Arts and Crafts-style bungalow in the Berkeley neighborhood. The spacious room had original cabinets and a 6-foot-wide original farm sink.
But there were problem areas, too: Traffic-pattern issues caused by four doorways into the kitchen, low-set windows and an awkwardly tall radiator. To top it off, there was no space for a refrigerator, which Romeo had stashed in the nearby mudroom.
“We had to figure out where the most logical place was to put the refrigerator and how to make the space more efficient,” Romeo says. “Should we take a wall out? How (would) we keep the redo true to the house?”
Powell gave Romeo the confidence to get going and listened to her ideas, agreeing with some and throwing out others. In the end, two of the doors were closed off, and a refrigerator was built into the pantry. Romeo also went through a wall in the hallway and put in a half-bath, using one of the doors from the kitchen.
One small section of wall was pushed back to make a counter work space. A new radiator was installed under the low windows, and a counter placed on the radiator became the family table. The old radiator was replaced with a wall of cabinets. Original wood flooring also was exposed as part of the renovation, which cost $50,000 for the kitchen and a new bathroom.
Powell also helped Romeo distinguish between what was new and original in the house, and spotted the kitchen’s original colors behind a cabinet.
“She has helped a lot of people figure out that we don’t have to give into that tendency to just redo everything,” said Romeo. She hopes to show Powell the finished renovation during the author’s Denver visit next week.
Sheba R. Wheeler: 303-954-1283 or swheeler@denverpost.com
