BY ERIC WILLS

The word bungalow comes from bangla, Hindi for hut. (Jean-Marc Giboux)

"I'm a traditionalist," says Thom Day. "I enjoy stepping back in history when I come home." In 2002, Day, now retired, and Dennis Scott, his partner and a graphic artist and silent-film organist, bought a green model bungalow in the south-side neighborhood of Chicago Lawn. Built in 1926, the house was selling for just $143,000.

Leading to the recently finished attic office\insulated with recycled denim\is a stair rail that Scott designed and that Day built using a handsaw. "With the exception of the main post, all the miters were cut by hand, just like the old guys would have done it," Day says. He and Scott added oak crown molding in the dining room, art lamps around the house, and even replicas of the original push-button light switches.

In the ultimate nod to the era, they turned the basement into a speakeasy with a bar, a stage (a friend made wine-red curtains), and a dozen round tables that they've covered with red-and-white tablecloths. A 1936 vintage Hammond organ occupies one corner, a boiler that is 87 percent efficient the other.

The house has such green features as salvaged plumbing fixtures and restored wood windows. Day and Scott used a grant from the Chicago Bungalow Association to install a pair of skylights in the attic, to help with ventilation and natural light. The back lawn had a few low-maintenance native plants when they moved in, and they plan to add more, to reduce the need for watering. And they use energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs. Day and Scott do, however, admit a small concession to historical accuracy: Two bulbs in the foyer and one bulb on the stairway leading to the basement are carbon filament.

Read more from our January/February 2008 issue online, look for Preservation on newsstands, e-mail us to purchase a copy, or subscribe to the magazine.