What Is a Craftsman House, and How Do You Furnish One

What Is a Craftsman House, and How Do You Furnish One

What is a Craftsman house, in plain terms: a low, porch-fronted American home from the early twentieth century, built around natural wood, built-ins and handwork. Here is how I would furnish one with Mission furniture, amber lamps and William Morris prints without turning it into a museum.

In October 1901, a furniture maker named Gustav Stickley published the first issue of a magazine called The Craftsman, and he gave that first cover story to William Morris, the English designer who believed ordinary people deserved beautiful, honest, handmade things. For the next fifteen years the magazine taught Americans how to build and furnish a simpler kind of home, and the houses that grew out of that idea took its name.

So what is a Craftsman house, exactly. You know one when you walk past it. A low-pitched roof with wide eaves and exposed rafters underneath. A deep front porch held up by thick, tapered columns, often on stone or brick bases. Inside, wood everywhere: built-in bookcases, window seats, a fireplace with tile or brick, and trim you would never dream of painting. They went up all over the country in the first decades of the twentieth century, and many of them are still family homes.

The hard part of furnishing one is balance. Go too matchy and it feels like a museum. Ignore the house and your modern sofa looks lost against all that wood.

Start with the furniture Stickley made famous. Mission furniture has straight lines, flat slats and visible joinery. Loon Peak's Impeccable side table and medium oak end table and Charlton Home's cabinet end table and Anyplace side table are the easy entry. Alcott Hill's 48 inch writing desk is perfect for a sunny window. Red Barrel Studio's Leick reclining armchair is essentially a Morris chair, and for the porch, Polywood's Club Mission sofa and Amish Casual's treated rocking chair are made for the weather.

Collage on an off-white background showing Club Mission Sofa, Rust Swing Arm Mica Desk Lamp, Chamomile Linen Blend Fabric by Morris & Co., Heavy Duty 600 Lb Mission Treated Rocking Chair, Mission Style Tiffany Floor Lamp, Morris & Co. x McGee & Co. Mallow Wallpaper, Mission Impeccable Side Table, Fine Art Lighting Stained Glass Mini Table Lamp and Daisy & Oak Linen Blend Fabric by Morris & Co..
Mission furniture, amber lamps and William Morris, the three pieces of the Craftsman look.

Mission-style furniture

Lamps with a warm amber glow

Craftsman rooms were designed around warm, low light. Think of an evening in 1910, a lamp on the library table throwing an amber glow across dark oak. That light is half of what makes these houses feel so calm, and it is the easiest thing to bring back.

Mica shades were a hallmark of Arts and Crafts lamps. Mica is a thin mineral that glows a warm amber when light passes through it. Loon Peak's rust swing arm mica desk lamp is ideal on a writing desk, and their rust mica table lamp sits well on a side table beside a Morris chair.

Stained glass came from the same years and sits happily in a Craftsman room. Astoria Grand has two Tiffany-style table lamps here, one with a classic stained glass shade and the Gregory, which pairs a stained glass shade with a Mission base. Lark Manor's stained glass mini table lamp is small enough for a bookshelf or a window seat. Bloomsbury Market's Mission-style Tiffany floor lamp is the one for a reading corner, and Vinplus adds another Tiffany table lamp. Canora Grey's sea blue glass mini pendant is a good fit over a kitchen sink or in an entry.

Keep the bulbs warm, and use several lamps rather than one bright overhead light. A Craftsman room lit from the ceiling alone loses all its character.

The trick with these lamps is not to use too many at once. One or two in each room, with plainer lamps elsewhere, looks right. Five stained glass shades in one room starts to feel like a restaurant.

Arts and Crafts lamps and pendants

William Morris, the original inspiration

William Morris was the spark for the whole movement, so his prints belong in a Craftsman house more than almost anywhere. His designs are built on the plants of an English garden, daisies, myrtle, iris, oak leaves and blossoms, drawn in soft, earthy colors that look right with dark wood.

Lulu and Georgia carries a lovely range of Morris & Co. designs. For fabric, the Chamomile, Daisy & Oak and Oak & Blossom linen blends are good for a window seat cushion, a pair of curtains or recovering a dining chair. For walls, the Myrtle and Iris wallpapers are rich and full, the Ceiling wallpaper is lighter and more open, and Oxford Union is the boldest of the group. McGee & Co.'s Mallow wallpaper is a collaboration with Morris & Co. and a slightly softer, more modern take.

The best places for a Morris wallpaper in a Craftsman house are the small ones: a powder room, a stair landing, the inside of a built-in bookcase or the space above a picture rail. You get the pattern without covering every wall.

If wallpaper feels like too much, start with a single fabric. A Morris print on a window seat cushion looks like it has been there for a hundred years.

What I would skip: painting the original woodwork. It is the soul of the house, and it is very hard to undo. If the room feels dark, add lighter walls, warm lamps and a pale rug before you touch the trim.

William Morris prints, the Arts and Crafts classic

Our honest take

I think the best Craftsman interiors mix old and new with confidence. A modern sofa, a Morris cushion, a mica lamp and a Mission side table can live together happily, as long as the wood and the warm light lead.

If you take one thing away, let it be this: let the house do the talking. Keep the woodwork, add warm light, and bring in one or two true Arts and Crafts pieces per room rather than a matching set. Stickley wanted homes that felt simple and honest, and a century later that still works. A house like this has already done the hard part. You just have to listen to it.