Newly Completed Modern Bungalow

Bringing Home the Craftsmanship
How a Northern California farmer built the aeroplane bungalow of his dreams

“Trees have a story to tell. Wood can say a lot.”

Rich Collins loves wood. That’s why he spent two decades collecting pieces of high-quality wood that he would one day use to build a dream home for he and his wife, Shelly. Well, about two years ago, that day finally came and now that home – a Craftsman style aeroplane bungalow in Northern California, called “Journey’s End”– is full of stories.

“You could take a laser pointer and point it at any piece of wood in the home and I can tell you the story behind it,” says Collins. And he’s not joking.

Take the treads on the staircase. They are from an old high school gymnasium in Oregon.

How about the flooring? Mostly Douglas Fir that Collins purchased from a contractor in Napa who had stored them in a barn for 20 years.

Or how about the pergolas that line the exterior of the home. Rich created the design himself – 20 years ago on his farm. The ones that decorate the bungalow are made of Western Red Cedar, cut for Rich by a friend who’s a millwright in the central coast of Oregon. “He also supplied, some 17 years prior, a lot of the Doug Fir that we used for the staircase, cabinets and doors,” says Collins.

The Craftsman Mentality

The Craftsman-style home became popular on the heels of the industrial revolution when people began to lament the loss of hand-crafted artistry. “Craftsman is more than just a style of the house,” says the project’s architect, Todd Gordon Mather. “It was a movement – for everything. Craftsman style is an art.”

One can hear the love Rich Collins has for that art when he gives you a tour of his home. He sounds like a proud parent as he points out different intricate details around every corner. Take the furniture – which includes several vintage Stickley Furniture pieces from the early 1900s. Each piece was collected and preserved over time by Collins. “I love Stickley because it’s not too fancy or frilly. It was very much the wood that was to be the focus while the designs and the finishes are really quite simple.”

One quest for Stickley furniture proved to be the inspiration for one of the home's most unique features – Aunt Dorothy’s Cellar. The ceiling joists are Red Fir salvaged from a railroad depot in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The cellar walls are lined with some of the 18,000 or so bricks rescued from the crumbling foundation of a barn in Isleton, California that was built in 1885. The owners lifted the barn up to replace the old bricks, which Collins happily purchased and stored on his farm for nearly ten years before cleaning them all for use by his mason.

As for the cellar’s name – it honors Shelly Collins’ late great Aunt Dorothy. The couple picked up half a dozen Stickley pieces during a trip to visit Dorothy in Iowa. As they were leaving, Shelly asked her then 100-year-old aunt if she had any words of wisdom for young people. “She didn’t answer right away,” says Rich. “But then she said, ‘Well. Everybody needs a cellar.’ ”

After nearly two years of building and a lifetime of collecting, Collins is thrilled with the finished product. Although, he’s not quite ready to call it finished. “The home is 99% done,” Collins added with a smile, “and I think always will be.”

Photos: www.dropbox.com/scl...

About Todd Gordon Mather Architect:
TGM Architect’s principal, Todd Gordon Mather, is licensed in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Hawaii. Mather is an award-winning architect and is known for his ease and adeptness in collaborating with clients and peers to create projects that flow seamlessly and logically with the surroundings. For more information, go to TGMarchitect.com.