40 |ARTS & CRAFTS HOMES Winter 2017
T
HESE TWO WERE LOOKING for a house with potential,
and they didn’t mind if it needed work. Brenda Mc-
Donald actually grew up in a family of renovators—
her parents bought and rehabbed homes for a liv-
ing. Her husband, Rick, is handy and has an artist’s eye. This
early 20th-century bungalow fit the bill: The price was right
(yes, it needed work), the floor plan open and welcoming. The
backyard was big enough to house a nursery for Rick’s house-
plant business. The neighborhood was safe and pretty, and the
house—given some TLC—would have curb appeal.
It was hardly pristine back in 1994. A car was parked
on the lawn surrounded by weeds. The house, then a discor-
dant tan with blue trim, hadn’t been painted in decades. Wir-
ing, plumbing (all the way out to the sewer line), and roofing
needed replacement. Previous owners had painted the fireplaceLEFT The bungalow is warm and welcoming
in a palette of natural greens. The entry piers
were enhanced with hand-selected Colorado
River stones. BELOW The staircase leading to the
loft addition is lit by a ca. 1900 stained-glass
panel found on eBay. It features a Mackintosh
rose motif. BOTTOM The McDonald family on
the porch: Maggie, Kelly, Rick, and Brenda.