If you’re looking for an example of authentic arts and crafts decorating, look no further than your local 
magazine stand. O at Home, Oprah Winfrey’s home décor magazine, printed a feature article on the vacation retreat of Bil and Ruth Ehrlich in the Spring 2008 publication.
The Ehrlich’s upstate New York home, which Bil designed, is a work of prairie-style art in itself. It is a rural, natural-looking structure that was created from joining five different nineteenth-century farm buildings. Inside this unique retreat, you’ll find many details that give the home an authentic Arts and Crafts feel. The living room windows are antique, prairie-style windows from a house in Cincinnati. The stove is a restored, late 1920s Magic Chef with three ovens and six burners. In the bathroom, there is a blue tin bathtub with cast-iron legs and oak trim. Stickley furniture in the dining room and living room complete the turn-of-the- century look of the Ehrlich’s home.
The unifying theme throughout the home, though, is the Weller Pottery that graces each shelf, table, 
mantel, and ledge. There is even a small collection of Weller on top of the Magic Chef stove. The Ehrlich’s have such an extensive collection of Weller Pottery that they have yet to find places to display all of their pieces. Their collection includes several Art Nouveau vases by French ceramist Clement Massier, which now sell for thousands of dollars each. Many of their pieces were purchased at the annual Pottery Lovers Weekend in Zanesville, Ohio.
The Ehrlich’s home away from home is a wonderful backdrop for their art pottery collection, and the O at Home staff captured the essence of their style perfectly. There are beautiful pictures of the pottery pieces, like the one of the Weller Pottery vases and planters displayed behind the mission-style couch. There is also an overhead view of the Stickley dining room table set with Weller Coppertone ceramics. The entire article is very well done, exhibiting both the beauty of Weller Pottery and the passion of true art pottery collectors.
