by Julie Kolb
From Issue 56

Just as magicians closely guard the secrets of their illusions, interior designer and homeowner Janelle Johannesen hesitates before divulging some of the secrets of her bungalow’s dramatic transformation from simply restored to simply stunning.

Her three-bedroom home, built in 1919, sits on a bungalow-lined street in North Park, one of San Diego’s early neighborhoods. Master builders and speculators built many of North Park’s bungalows, responding to the region’s population boom of the early 20th century. While many bungalows in this neighborhood have been stripped of their built-ins, trim and windows, Janelle’s home survived the decades relatively unscathed

While many bungalows in this neighborhood have been stripped of their built-ins, trim and windows, Janelle’s home survived the decades relatively unscathed. In 1991, a local realtor and investor purchased the house, updated the kitchen and bathroom, applied a fresh coat of aqua and white paint to the exterior, and put it back on the market.

It was the first house she looked at when she decided it was time to buy her first home. She was enchanted by its details: split-shingle siding, divided-light casement windows and a quartet of stout square stucco columns that call attention to the horizontal line of the porch roof, which extends outward to create a porte cochere. The low pitch of the roofline and the forceful horizontal elements in the bungalow’s design reminded her of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie-style influences. “I’m from the Midwest, and the house just kind of sung to me,” she says.

From local historians and preservation organizations, she learned that the home had been built by Alexander Schreiber, one of San Diego’s leading master builders during the early 20th century, who built more than a hundred homes in the area. Many Schreiber homes remain today, especially in North Park and the nearby neighborhoods of Mission Hills and the Uptown District, and several of his homes have been historically designated as fine examples of late-Craftsman-era architecture. Janelle’s is one of four Schreiber houses on her block.

Mixing It Up

Janelle drew on her formal training as an interior designer and her experience as a salesperson for Kneedler Fauchere, a to-the-trades interior design firm, in bringing out the classic character of the bungalow.

To accomplish the transformation, she decorated the house using an eclectic mix of elegant contemporary furnishings, bargain finds, and vintage pieces created during the 1930s through the 1960s. But what makes the mix of elements work magically with the architecture is her faultless eye for detail and fearless use of color.

She credits her first job — selling paint — with giving her the confidence to choose colors that complement the bungalow’s natural gumwood woodwork. “My color palette is cashew, greens and coppers,” she says.

The living and dining rooms are a hand-mixed shade she named sisal. “It’s sort of a parchment color. I painted the ceilings the same color because I don’t like white ceilings.”

Both rooms have elegant Craftsman gumwood details. A wide built-in buffet with glass-paned doors and original glass pulls takes center stage in the dining room. The gumwood wainscoting is capped by a plate rail atop a row of corbels. Trapezoidal columns separate the dining and living rooms, and the fireplace mantle echoes the corbel and trapezoidal column motif. To one side of the fireplace is a built-in bookcase enclosed by a pair of glass and wood doors. She also brought out the gumwood’s character by using texture and material to add color and variety to the rooms. “I chose a little bit of wicker, leather and mohair in here. If you have too much wood, it’s all brown.”

The living and dining rooms are a hand-mixed shade she named sisal. “It’s sort of a parchment color. I painted the ceilings the same color because I don’t like white ceilings.”

Both rooms have elegant Craftsman gumwood details. A wide built-in buffet with glass-paned doors and original glass pulls takes center stage in the dining room. The gumwood wainscoting is capped by a plate rail atop a row of corbels. Trapezoidal columns separate the dining and living rooms, and the fireplace mantle echoes the corbel and trapezoidal column motif. To one side of the fireplace is a built-in bookcase enclosed by a pair of glass and wood doors.

She also brought out the gumwood’s character by using texture and material to add color and variety to the rooms. “I chose a little bit of wicker, leather and mohair in here. If you have too much wood, it’s all brown.”

The dining room typifies her ability to combine decor styles. The black dining table is from Pottery Barn. The maple dining chairs are vintage 1940s. The organically geometric dining-room chandelier is a thrift-store treasure. “It’s from the ‘70s, when the Southwest look was big,” she says. “I replaced the glass with mica and spray-painted the metal black because its design reminded me of Wright.”

A Dedication to Collecting

Janelle’s collections of Arts and Crafts pottery and plein air paintings, gathered over years of scouring yard sales, thrift shops and antique stores for treasures, fill the home. Long before she bought the bungalow, she collected jewelry made from the 1920s through the 1940s. Since then she has focused on Arts and Crafts decorative pieces.

She has been drawn particularly to Roseville pottery and has amassed a collection of Roseville pieces, including many from the Moss and Freesia lines. Her collection has also been shaped by bargain hunting. “I started out trying not to spend more than $25 for each piece,” she says. “But that was in 1991.” In the dining room, three diminutive plein air paintings in gilt frames are displayed beside Roseville pieces. A contemporary white, narrow oblong piece of pottery provides a modern contrast. Pieces of Roseville’s Thorn Apple pottery are arranged across the fireplace mantle, the golden yellows and deep greens perfectly complementing the other colors in the room.

One of her favorite antique-store finds is the copper fire screen. The screen’s relief of pine needles and cones was hand-hammered using the repousse technique, in which the metal is worked from behind. “If I ever sell the house, that piece will go with it because it fits the room so beautifully.”

Finishing It Off While she is confident about choosing interior color, she hired a color consultant to help her develop a new exterior scheme. She had the shingles painted with Sherwin-Williams Weathered Shingle. Trim details are finished with Dunn-Edwards Wood Bark and Marsh Maverick.

And the landscaping?
“I wasn’t going to landscape,” she says, “but once the house was painted, it was like a gorgeous dress paired with old shoes. It was so beautifully transformed, I was in tears.”

In her mind, the changes she has wrought in the house are modest. “I didn’t really change anything. I just enhanced the house’s underlying character with new paint colors and furnishings.”

That may well be, but the response by her neighbors suggests that her decisions have been influential. Since she has worked her magic, others on her street have followed her lead, turning neglected and aging bungalows into gold.

In her mind, the changes she has wrought in the house are modest. “I didn’t really change anything. I just enhanced the house’s underlying character with new paint colors and furnishings.”

That may well be, but the response by her neighbors suggests that her decisions have been influential. Since she has worked her magic, others on her street have followed her lead, turning neglected and aging bungalows into gold.

Julie Kolb is a free-lance writer in San Diego. This is her first feature for American Bungalow.