New…Yet Old This Weekend’S Home Renovator’S Fair Offers A Chance To Breathe New Life Into A Tired Home

Joan Hollowell peers into photographs like a detective looking for clues. The crime she’s trying to solve, though, involves vintage architecture clashing with bad interior design.

The sentence can be severe: restoring a home’s original design features and new furnishings and window treatments. But once that’s served, the house can be rehabilitated to its proper place in history.

Normally, Hollowell visits the design crime scene, but this weekend she’ll be participating in the Home Renovator’s Fair at the Masonic Temple in downtown Spokane. During her “House Doctor” sessions, she’ll offer free interior design advice to people who bring in photographs of their homes. She wants to see both exterior and interior shots so that she can match the architectural style of the house to her interior design suggestions. Each consultation will last 15 minutes.

The fair, subtitled “A Vintage House Products and Ideas Show,” is designed for owners of homes that were built more than 50 years ago. Antique dealers, craftspeople, contractors, architects and other vendors will offer products and services in line with old-house renovation, such as masonry restoration, custom-designed glass, and cabinetry and millwork.

Teresa Brum, director of the Spokane City/County Historic Preservation Office and one of the organizers of the fair, says the event is modeled after similar fairs held around the country. She hopes to make it an annual event.

Interest here should be high, Brum says, since there are some 30,000 homes in the city that are at least a half century old. Plus, her office gets numerous calls from people who want advice on interior treatments that are compatible with their home’s older design.

Brum will also present a workshop at the fair, offering ideas on using government programs for historic home restoration. Her slide show will illustrate how people have used tax incentives and other programs. Since joining the preservation office in 1994, Brum has advised hundreds of property owners on utilizing incentives for renovating homes and commercial buildings.

Other workshops will focus on researching a home’s history and interior design for Craftsman homes.

Hollowell has worked on vintage homes for 15 years and lives in one in the West Central neighborhood. The Edwin A. Smith house, a small-scale Tudor cottage design popular almost a century ago, is listed on both the Spokane and National Registers of Historic Places.

The seed for her business, Joan Hollowell Interiors, was sown more than 20 years ago when she lived in England. “I was very impressed with how much everybody respected their history over there,” she says. So she combined that inspiration with her interest in interior design and decided to focus her work on vintage homes.

One of her Spokane projects involved the 90-year-old South Hill home of Dr. Sam and Jane Joseph. Hollowell reconfigured the kitchen, which had last been updated in the 1950s. New cabinets designed by Kurt Kimball were installed and an island was added.

They kept the giant vintage stove since Jane Joseph is a gourmet cook who has written articles for Bon Appetit, Gourmet and other magazines. Tile detailing was added above the stove to accent the appliance and complement the wall.

Hollowell also helped Jane Joseph pick out some new furniture and window treatments for the living room and dining room.

“Another aspect to my business is rearranging what people already own and making it complementary and artistic. So that’s what I did,” Hollowell said.

Sam Joseph said the results have been “very aesthetically pleasing.”

When working with clients, Hollowell draws up plans after an initial consultation. Then a budget is discussed and revisions made. Bids on the work are sought, and the project begins.

Hollowell says she’s “a stickler for keeping or replacing historic details.”

Some of her business comes from clients who only seek consultations instead of complete projects. Her fee is $50 an hour.

But at the fair, it’s free. There, she’ll suggest furnishings and treatments, such as the best materials for kitchens and bathrooms. She’ll also introduce people to resources such as magazines and books.

“A lot of vintage homeowners are do-it-yourselfers, and I like consulting with people like that,” she says.

Regional historian Nancy Compau, who heads the Northwest History Room at the Spokane Public Library, will lead a workshop on researching the history of a house. She will explain how to use local sources such as maps, city directories and publications.

Linda Yeomans will present a workshop on the history and architecture of homes in the area. She will explain how research can help homeowners make decisions about renovation. Yeomans performs that kind of research professionally, preparing six to 10 nominations a year for clients who are seeking to list their homes and commercial buildings on historic registers.

Karen Hovde will teach the art and craft of color choice for the interior and exterior of Craftsman bungalows. The Port Townsend resident exhibits and lectures at renovation and home shows across the country and is on the board of Historic Seattle.

The fair is sponsored by Spokane Preservation Advocates in order to provide money for City/County Preservation Office programs that support home renovation.

The four workshops will be held in the Masonic Temple’s Blue Room. The “House Doctor” booth will be on the stage in the ballroom. Here’s the schedule:

Saturday, 9:30-11 a.m. “Interior Vision in the Craftsman Style,” Hovde.

Saturday, noon-4, “House Doctor,” Hollowell.

Saturday, 1:30-3 p.m., “Spokane Houses: Their History and Architecture,” Yeomans.

Sunday, noon-4, “House Doctor,” Hollowell.

Sunday, 1:30-2:30 p.m., “Incentive Programs That Help Old House Owners,” Brum.

Sunday, 3-4 p.m., “How to Research the History of Your Old House,” Compau.

Fair hours are Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5. Refreshments will be available.

This sidebar appeared with the story: HISTORIC HOMES Renovator’s fair The Home Renovator’s Fair will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Masonic Temple, 1108. W. Riverside. Admission is $5. Phone: 625-6970. Web: www.spokanecity.org/historic.