When it was time for Martha Pilgreen, a Boston architect, to panel the walls of her new weekend house in Truro, Mass., on Cape Cod, she specified No. 2 pine–the kind with knots. “Knotty pine ...

The knotty pine revival may have thrown Pilgreen for a loop, but Gambrel, the decorator, is reveling in it. “It’s a humble material, but it gives a room instant character,” he said.

Oh, the floor boards are wide knotty pine. Aah, the kitchen. Although positively up-to-date with stainless steel appliances, etc., what the galley kitchen has most is pizzazz.

When Bernard E. Byorek and his brother, Henry, opened the Knotty Pine in 1937 on Route 309 in Hazle Township, builders asked why they were putting a restaurant so far outside of town.