Bungalow Love
(Page 2 of 4)
November/December 2003
By Mary Beth Klatt
Kipnis and Sonoc also painstakingly retained the bungalow layout as it was originally designed in the 1920s. “These bungalows were scaled-down Victorians for first-time homebuyers,” Sonoc says. “So they have a defined living room, dining room, and kitchen with an open floor plan instead of a traditional hallway. This design allows a great deal of light to enter the house. In fact, you can see all the way from the living room through the dining room and kitchen to the breakfast room.” The couple spends a lot of time in that breakfast nook, originally the back porch, now updated with a new tile floor and new windowpanes.
RELATED CONTENT
From diving into their own dumpster to providing water-based adhesives to the construction crew, an...
Materials, design and location all factor into making eco-friendly decisions and saving on electric...
As the season changes, many more people are looking for natural ways to prevent heat loss from wind...
Floors, walls, and windows are big-ticket items that can eat up a good chunk of your remodeling bud...
Sonoc and Kipnis retained the stained-glass windows in the living room, adding thermal glass panels to make the room more energy efficient. They found the fireplace surround in the basement and returned it to its proper place in the living room. “The surround with accompanying stained-glass windows and bookshelves was a traditional bungalow motif, an amenity that was built with the house as an ensemble, which I found amazing,” Sonoc notes. “Today that would cost extra.”
Thom and Dennis added their personal touches, including antique Arts and Crafts–style furnishings and musical memorabilia. Dennis, an organist who frequently accompanies Chicago’s annual Silent Summer Film Festival, has collected a 1920s-era Edison phonograph and sheet music, which perches on the grand piano. A vintage glass cabinet is filled with his player-piano collection. In the basement sits a 1924 Wurlitzer pipe organ that Dennis played while he was a college student working at the Orpheum Theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma.