About us

Why Bungalow Home Style?

We've created a couple other vintage home sites including Antique Home Style and Mid Century Home Style. Both are designed as research resources for home owners and professionals including historic preservationists, interior designers, and remodelers.

Beach House We want Bungalow Home Style to be a little different. In addition to house plans (which we love!), we are going to delve a little more deeply into lifestyle topics. For example, did you know that during the 1910s, there were porch dresses designed specifically for casual entertaining on the front porch? We didn't! So we're going to publish images and articles about period clothing, furnishings, needlework, and how-to subjects that were part and parcel of daily life during the bungalow heyday.

As for the who behind our sites, there are two of us. One of us is an obsessed writer/researcher and the other is a remarkably cheerful and extraordinarily tolerant programmer.

As always, we welcome your interest, questions, comments, and criticism.

My Bungalow Story

Over the past 100 years, millions of Americans have treasured their bungalows as a place of refuge, comfort, and simplicity.

The image (above right) shows a small, unprepossessing beach house. Nothing special really. My parents bought it in the late 1950s as a "base of operations" so we wouldn't have to impose on my grandfather who needed some supervision as he got older.

It had one bedroom and a bathroom on the back porch that was more of a storeroom and toilet than a real bathroom. There was a tiny kitchen with an eating nook and a miniscule living room with an alcove that also served as a bedroom at night. The only source of heat was a wood cookstove.

When my dad got home from work on Friday, my parents would load up the car with kids, food, and a few overnight bags. Off we'd go, usually arriving after dark. The house was cold and the still air inside the house was damp, but soon my mom would have the woodstove going and within an hour, the fire would be crackling and we were toasty warm and cozy. A late supper usually comprised Campbell's tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches, Cincinnati-style chili, or homemade vegetable beef soup.

Outside, the ocean a hundred yards away soothed us with its primal roar. Rain often pattered on the roof and coastal pines sawed in the wind. Sometimes we'd listen to the crackling radio that picked up occasional faint signals from someplace on the Oregon coast, but it was pre-cable, -internet, and -technology. Usually, we'd play cards or games and be bundled off to bed early.

The bedroom was a tiny affair in which my dad built bunk beds for us. Rack 'em and stack 'em was his motto. It's amazing how easily you can jam four kids into one 8' x 10' bedroom.

Though we spent much of our time on the beach or in the woods playing, that tiny house represented all of the best aspects of our childhood. To this day, it defines, for me at least, what a home truly is.

Funding

Bungalow Home Style and its sister sites, Antique Home Style and Mid Century Home Style are special interest web sites owned by Small Planet Living, a small publishing house in Hillsboro, Oregon, that specializes in working with historical organizations and other history related sites.

If you want to contribute, you may donate what you can. We hope you'll do so. By supporting our advertisers, you also help support us. Thanks!

Contact us

To reach us, please send us an email.

To reduce marketing junk and other unsolicited mail, we've opted to not publish a physical address. (For those of you who are curious, we live in the Portland Metro area in Oregon.) Because we're a virtual entity, that seems appropriate, but if you want to reach us, send an email; we'll respond with phone and mailing information when appropriate.

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