Answers to Your Toughest Bungalow Questions: Summer 2002


Q: During the Bungalow Porch Tour in May, I saw a house in St. Paul that had old-fashioned, spring-loaded roller shades on the dining room windows. Each was stenciled with a pinecone-and-needles design in the Arts and Crafts style. They looked simple but quite stylish. Do you know where I can get similar shades?

A: Many people on the tour asked the homeowner about those shades. Turns out he made them himself—sort of—about ten years ago.

“I was looking for something that would provide a bit of decoration on the windows. I didn’t want them totally bare,” says the homeowner. “On the other hand, I wanted to cover a minimum of woodwork.”

He also wanted a solution that would let in plenty of light, yet allow for privacy. He first considered sheers, but they would reduce light in the room and provide no privacy. Traditional drapes were out of the question, as they not only blocked light, but would cover most of the rich woodwork that Arts and Crafts houses are known for.

Stenciled roller shades ultimately struck him as the best solution. He found a shop in the Yellow Pages that made custom stencils. The shop charged $25 to create the stencil for the pinecone design. He then went to Depth of Field and ordered custom shades in a tan linen.

The homeowner first tried doing the stencils himself but quickly realized he lacked the precision and patience required for the task. He found a stenciler in the want ads section of the Highland Villager neighborhood newspaper, and the shades were quickly completed.

Fortunately for the rest of us, making similar shades is now much easier, thanks to people like Amy Miller of Trimbelle River Studio and Design in Ellsworth, WI. Amy’s company sells supplies to create vintage stencils on walls and fabric. She says you can get custom roller shades in a wide variety of materials with several degrees of light-blocking ability.

Be careful, though. Choose a muted color as bright white will result in too much contrast with your woodwork. Natural tan or beige works or, for real accuracy, go with a deep forest green, a traditional shade color dating from the Victorian era. Also, note that most contemporary roller shades come with a white plastic, chain-driven mechanism on one side of the shade which will stand out like a sore thumb in a vintage home. Find a company that also sells the old-fashioned spring-loaded roller shades with a dangling ring on a cord attached to the bottom edge. They still work like a charm and add authenticity to your home’s interior. We know that The Little Blind Spot shops sell these shades locally, but other companies do as well.


Q: I really liked the paint colors that one of the homeowners on the Bungalow Porch Tour homeowners used on their walls. Can you tell me what color and paint brand they used?

A: The homeowners got lots of compliments on their wall colors which they weren’t quite prepared for, so they didn’t have the particulars handy. They were kind enough to provide them to us so we could pass them on to you. Even if you didn’t see their house during the Bungalow Porch Tour, you might want to check these suggestions out if you’re looking for interior wall colors.
Living room: The butterscotch color on the walls is Heathcote 7785D, Hirschfeld's brand. The stenciling was done in assorted artist's acrylics with Chromatone 10103 Rich Gold latex metallic highlights, also from Hirschfeld's.

Dining room: The green on the walls is HC-110 (Wethersfield Moss) from Benjamin Moore’s line of historic colors, with the same artist's acrylics and gold highlights used in the living room.

Bedroom: Color on the walls is HC-111 (Nantucket Grey) from Benjamin Moore’s historic colors line.


Q: Two of the homes on the Bungalow Porch Tour had brick fireplaces that had once been painted white, but the owners had stripped them. I’ve been told this wasn’t possible. Can you tell me how they did it?

A: Removing paint from brick—especially white paint—is nearly impossible. Both these homeowners used similar methods to achieve the same result.

In one of the houses, the homeowners used a stripper called "Back to Nature" Ready-Strip which they bought at Restoration Hardware.

“But that doesn't take all of the paint out of the crevices in the brick,” says the homeowner, “so we take a wet toothbrush, dip it into baking soda, and brush the brick just as you would your teeth. Rinse after!” Apparently following the orthodontic theme, they performed some additional touch-up with dental tools.

In the second home with the previously painted fireplace, the homeowners brewed a concoction of lye, cornstarch and water; then slathered it on the paint. Several such treatments (which they emphatically do not recommend, as lye is caustic) were followed by two rounds of a more traditional furniture stripper. Much of the paint came off, except deep in the bricks’ pores, of course. They sprayed automotive primer (which contains iron oxide, the same element that gives bricks their reddish color) into the crevasses to cover the remaining white; then evened out the surface with more primer.

Both sets of homeowners stress that whatever method is used to remove paint from a fireplace, brace yourself for hours, days and even weeks of tedious work.