Our house is just about as old as me. The blueprints are dated 1958 and ’59; the house was completed in 1961.
It harkens back to the advent of the great room, The Brady Bunch, green (or orange) shag carpeting, sunken dens, and bean bag chairs.
No wonder I feel so comfortable here.
Until I moved into this house and started doing research, I didn’t know what to call it. All I knew was Jim and I fell in love with the place the moment we walked in.
The walls were dingy and the oak and quarry tile floors dark from decades of Mop-N-Glo’ build-up. Yet underneath we saw clean, horizontal lines and untouched red brick and honey-stained birch.
Even though the house was built for function — with cabinet and closet space galore and a big laundry room — we recognized a whole aesthetic.
“It reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright.” That’s what I said to Jim over and over the first day we walked through the house. Dutch doors that open wholly or just the top. Symmetrical ceiling joists. Neat little pocket doors. Built-in accordian room dividers.
Built-in everything, for that matter — built-in desks, built-in shelves, a central vacuum system, a central radio/intercom. All of it intact. Nothing ripped out or painted over or broken. The house even had its original stainless steel double ovens and cooktop range.
We’ve moved in slowly. What I mean is, we’ve taken our time getting to know the place. Well, I take that back. Jim’s domain is the outside, and he’s had to jump in to do the work required for each season.
But I’m in charge of how the home feels inside. What stays and what goes. What to add to the mix. Here’s what I know so far:
Colors & Textures
A cross between sage and celery green, light and soothing.
Blue, also gentle.
And remember the velvets from the 1950s? Mrs. Tabet had a formal living room with blue plates hanging on the walls and in her china cabinet, and blue velvet pillows with buttons. I like that blue and I like that fabric; I skipped the formality.
Black and white. Pillows and a slipper chair that was Jim’s grandmother’s. Accents, which, strange how they anchor.
And because it all seems to match (or maybe because I’m Gemini) I’m throwing in bright orange. Not in the furniture or the rugs or anything like that. But ceramics. It’s gorgeous.
Furniture
OK, it’s taken me this long to say, the house is a Mid-Century Modern. There are no definitive web resources on this style, as far as I could find (I’ll add a link once I find one that satisfies me) but already I have several favorite sites for Mid-Century Modern furniture. Such as:
This is barely scratching the surface. These stores have top-of-the-line vintage pieces, as does ebay, and my goal at this point is simply to look, see, learn.
I’ve started scouring more affordable sources, like craigslists in various cities. I found a 4-foot-diameter Danish teak circular coffee table to go with the vintage contemporary couch we got from Jim’s parents, at a fraction of the price I could find anything similar in the specialty shops.
New Mexico doesn’t do Mid-Century Modern, not in any huge way, but so far I’ve found great deals on two lamps, four simple teak chairs, and a bizarre enamel chair. The trick is to find things that are affordable and real. And to figure out how to mix it with some of the interesting pieces we already have.
I’ll be writing a series of posts about the place and our attempts to make it something special. If you have any ideas on where to go and what to do, please share them. Or, just stay tuned. I’ll let you know how it’s coming along.
And as I find out more about this style and aesthetic, I’ll share what I know. One thing that’s already clear: there are people who make their whole lives about Mid-Century Modern (kind of like how some of us make our lives about Writing). I can definitely see the attraction.
I feel so nostalgic as I read about your home. You describe the house of my dreams, from long ago and even now. You mention Frank Lloyd Wright. Somewhere along the road between Santa Fe and Los Alamos, fifty years ago there was a small house on a big lot — probably a small ranch, at least back then — designed by FLW. When I was a senior at LAHS, one Sunday there was some special music program at the Museum of Art in Santa Fe. A few orchestra students from LAHS were invited to perform, and for reasons I’ve forgotten, my parents agreed it would be okay for me to ride down (alone!) with our orchestra director. On the way home we stopped at a reception at this house. I didn’t know much at all about FLW, but I knew enough to realize this was an incredible treat, and I fell in love with that house. It was such a surprise. From the outside it looked like a gray box. On the inside — warmth, light, sleek space, sophistication. My heart sang in that house.
I want to move into your house when you are finished with it. But no. I won’t live that long, so thanks for inviting us in for this virtual visit. What a fine example of writing about place!
LikeLike
Wow, ritergal, that small house sounds like it had such an impression on you! How cool! (And such trust in those days, eh?, riding alone with a the orchestra director.)
What you said about that house — From the outside it looked like a gray box — is true of this house. The outside is plain. We were even told by people who had been in the house before we saw it that the house was “plain Jane.” Yes, but inside it is very warm. All the woods and the light from the east, in the mornings.
Thanks for sharing your story. I bet there are a few MCM homes in Los Alamos. Some pockets of NM have them — like parts of Albuquerque. But this one is rare for the area we’re in.
LikeLike
ybonesy, what a great post about home and architecture. I want to spend more time with it, but just a few comments off the cuff:
-The photographs are fantastic. I want to encourage people to click on each one for more of your comments and to view the larger images in Flickr.
-This observation about accents anchoring – very nice – “Black and white. Pillows and a slipper chair that was Jim’s grandmother’s. Accents, which, strange how they anchor.”
-The Santa Dolorosa painting is a good reminder of how art can also warm up, liven, anchor a home. I’ve got a friend who used to say she’d never spend money on art to hang in her home. Well, guess what, she married an artist and there is art everywhere in her home!
It’s fun to look at the furniture at City-furniturebe and Lost City Arts. Those are styles that I like as well. It’s interesting if you compare that vintage furniture to newer Scandinavian Design because even the current pieces of SD look like they could be MCM.
I have had the pleasure of seeing your home in person and it’s a beautiful place. It’s got to be fun to start furnishing it the way you want it and to make it the home you always dreamed of.
What your post has done is to get me dreaming again, too. Liz and I live in a very small place (great for one, crowded for two, especially since we are both artistically inclined with all the stuff that goes along with that). So we often go online and look at larger houses.
We are both drawn to the Frank Lloyd Wright aesthetic, too. Prairie style or I think there is a Craft style, too. Our friends just moved into a home similar to yours. It was designed by an architect. The open spaces are great. But the bedrooms are not as elegant and crafted as yours are.
I often encourage them to talk to the architect to glean more info about their home and what his Vision for it was. It is different for their neighborhood. And is also right on the edge of a lake.
Okay, off to dream some more. BTW, was your home designed by an architect? And is the person still living?
LikeLike
Thanks, QM. I remember you writing (in writing practice) aobut your friends’ new home. It sounded solid and light and airy, as you describe it again now.
Yes, this home was designed and built by an architect. We have all the original plans, and they are so detailed. There are plans for all the woodwork. Plans for all the appliances. Plans for the floors. At the time it was built, this home was state-of-the-art. What’s amazing is that the second owner (we’re the third) maintained everything to functioning level.
The only thing I’ve been able to find out about this architect is that he worked as the university architect for a while at our local state university. I ran into an architect about my age who knew of him — said his firm was well-known in the 1950s, 60s, 70s. I don’t know if the man is still living.
There is an architect, quite well-known, who lives katty-corner to us, in his 80s, who has offered to tell us about the history of the home. We haven’t taken him up on the offer, but it’s something I remind myself to do just about once a week. Just do it!
I would imagine MN is chock full of Mid-Century Modern homes. Is it? Are they in high demand?
LikeLike
There are not as many MCM homes as you would think there would be (there is a lot of stucco here). But probably many more than in your neck of the woods. Here they tend to be a little out of the average person’s price range. And they usually have a lot of glass and large windows so sometimes are not as practical for the harsh winters here (and the culture here leans toward the very practical!).
But you can find them tucked into neighborhoods where someone took the time to design their home back in the 50’s or 60’s. And you see them in the high-end neighborhoods out by the western lake suburbs. There are also a few FLW style homes tucked in to the old Minneapolis neighborhoods around Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake. I pass them on my parkway drives and always want to take a tour inside.
I recently saw a TV show on how the prairie style of home is coming back into vogue – smaller than the sprawling McMansions but with an open and cozy feel to them. I love driving around the city lakes here and checking out all the different styles of homes. You can do a lot of dreaming in those neighborhoods.
So what’s surprised you most about shopping for furnishings? And has your new coffee table arrived yet? How do you like it?
LikeLike
ybonesy – are you familiar with the Eichler home designs from the 50s/60s? How you describe your house to be made me flash on the Eichler houses which are plain from the outside but have a remarkable flow of space in the interior that can be sussed out even by perusing floor plans. There is nothing to compare with the crafting of an architect designed MCM liveable home; tract houses, for all their modernity lack the beauty of proportion, restraint and finish of MCM houses and most especially the cocoon nature of the structures which insist on privacy over public show.
Thanks for this thoughtful presentation of some of the textures and colours that typefy your take on MCM. G
LikeLike
Coffee table is due to arrive today, QM, but it’s not here yet. I can’t wait to see it. The other piece that seems core to pulling together a connected area in the great room is an area rug. I don’t have that yet, but I’ve figured out the size. Rugs are expensive, and antiques even more so. Someone gave me a tip to shop rugs at TJ Maxx or Ross Dress for Less. Who woulda thunk?
G, I’ve seen a magazine article and a couple of websites on the Eicher home designs. I agree, there is something about the solidity of these homes. When the home inspector came as we were getting all the prework done prior to close, he said that he’d not been in such a solid home before.
LikeLike
YB, I was thrilled with this post! I have a great interest in decorating. J & I both tend to like the more primitive style & much of our artwork is folk art. Our home is filled with eclectic things. Some might say my style is more country in nature. Our home is filled with antiques & if you find the right shops you might be surprised to find that prices can can be compromised & amount to equal or less of newer items. Almost none of the decorations in my home were purchased “new”. I hit the flea markets, yard sales, & many years ago attended estate sales quite often. Aniques have that quality & history about them that make them unique. I have one of the largest spinning wheels (a gift from my parents) that I have ever seen. It has its original needle, which is not commonly found. I put it out of reach, because it could truly be a weapon of sorts! A dear family friend has called me a “gatherer”. That is a polite way of saying packrat!
Good luck as you make these changes & enjoy!
Your friend who suggested TJ Maxx & Ross Dress for Less is not leading you astray. I don’t know if you have any Tuesday Morning stores in your area or not. They just recently came to our area. K & I loved our first visit there & I have also shopped at another one with J. Also, have you checked out area rugs at Lowes or Home Depot? You might be surprised!
Have fun! D
LikeLike
yb, this post reminds me of one you wrote a while back about surrounding yourself with art in your everyday life, how it doesn’t need to be expensive, just a reflection of what you find beautiful.
I see you’re living and walking the talk, from the photos and the description. You’re on an adventure. The journey of creating the space you want – you make it sound fun.
I love your taste. The orange is tempered and made current by the grey. Keeping the colors and fabrics, but losing the gilt painted wood to me is just right.
Have you seen the Elm Street catalogue? Maybe they have some colors you’d like.
Half the fun is the search, and that keeps on going as long as you want it to!
LikeLike
diddy, I didn’t know you were a fellow lover of antiques. The spinning wheel sounds cool. Who in your family used it?
A lot of my existing collectibles and antiques are Latin American. Mexico, Peru, Ecuador — talented folk artists, religious iconography, and artists like Susanna Chavez who carry on very old traditions with gesso, for example. (My piece is not one of her more traditional works, but the effect in the colors and textures are similar.) Those traditions are still very appealing to me, but mixing them with simple, clean lines is what’s got me most excited. And then the adding in of the new pieces. (Still waiting for the coffee table, which is supposed to come this afternoon.)
I have found what you were talking about relative to negotiating on price. The folks running the few shops I’ve been to have been very gracious. I’ll be posting photos at some point of some of those pieces.
BTW, at a recent garage sale, I almost bought two ex-votos that were available at a reasonable price. I think their value in auction would be much higher. But, I had to force myself to walk away. Some day I’ll take a picture of all my retablos and ex-votos. I have a lot. I don’t need any more of those. Else I will become a packrat!
LikeLike
C – thank you. No, I haven’t seen Elm Street catalog. I shall google it.
It’s almost like a creative project in and of itself. I find as I do it, I have these fantasies about opening up a specialty shop. I won’t, of course. I am committed to other things that take up all my time. But it’s a fun idea.
LikeLike
The spinning wheel was actually a purchase my Dad made at an auction many years ago. With wheel it stands about 5 ft. tall & about the same in length. Perhaps someday I will photo some the items & post them on red Ravine myself.
QM is aware of the many antique items in my home. We have 2 guest rooms & when she visited she stayed in the girly room! I wonder how she felt about that room?
Your house sounds much like mine was when we first moved into it. Very Brady Bunch! Although orange is my favorite color, I knew I could not look at the pumpkin orange counter top in my kitchen daily. It was replaced!
Now in the post you bring up Frank Lloyed Wright! One of his most famous private residences is Fallingwater in Bear Run, Pa. (Western PA) It was built for the owners from 1935 through 1939. The cost of the home was $155,000 including an $8,000 architect’s fee. Just beautiful!
Did you know his life was full of scandals? He fathered 7 children, 4 boys & 3 girls) He aslo adopted a child & I believe she was his 3rd wife’s daughter.
Another interesting thing is that 1 of his sons, John Lloyd Wright, is credited with inventing Lincoln Logs in 1918.D
LikeLike
yb,
I LOVE everything about architecture, interior & exterior, design, etc. I would never hire someone else to do any designing in any of the places I have lived! I am excited for your adventure, and your home sounds great. I will enjoy watching the virtual evolvement of your completion of it. Two very reasonable and fun places to shop are CostPlus World Mkt., so eclectic; and Ikea for Scandinavian design.
There was one FLW home in Bismarck, which reminded me of a ship. The owners were reclusive, and never had an open house. There is one just outside of Cody.
The owners decided to do a minor remodel in it and hired my son in law. He approached the project “with fear and trepidation,” well aware of the daring and daunting task of making any changes to a FLW building! But the owners were insistent, and happy with the results.
Like the other Gemini’s, my taste is very eclectic.
And my walls are full of art that I have acquired over these many years. Most of it done by friends and family, or picked up in travels. I also have a collection of colored glass containers, up high in narrow windows, (turned horizontal to accomodate them.)
As always, your photos are sensational! Can’t wait to see more!
LikeLike
I didn’t know that about FLW, diddy. I did know about Fallingwater. I have picture of it in a book my sister bought me on FLW soon after she first saw our place. My daughter has an assignment — 6th grade Art — to do a report on a famous artist. She also needs to do a piece of art herself in that artist’s style. Guess who she picked? FLW! When I asked her why him, she told me that he’s a great visual artist. She’s right.
We lived in two homes growing up. One was a stucco house, very plain. I think the building material was cement block. Cold in winter. But it was adobe-style, just not the real thing. Then we moved into a ranch-style brick house. Dad and Mom did orange shag in the dining room and den; green shag in the living room. I might have my shag colors mixed; I’ll have to check with my sister. All the countertops were a plastic with embedded shells and/or pebbles. I don’t think the shells and pebbles were real, but maybe they were. You could stand at the counters and stare inside the transparent plastic for hours. And each room (bathrooms, kitchen) had its own color theme. Kitchen was brown transparent, one bathroom lemon yellow, one bathroom blue. OMG, we thought this house was the most amazing, beautiful thing we’d ever seen!
LikeLike
Marylin, given the length of my comments and how much fun I’m having recollecting the homes in my life, I would say I love every architecture, too! Too bad you’re not here to come help tell me if what I’m doing is good, bad, indifferent. I don’t want someone else to do it for me, but I would mind a sounding board. (My decorating sister — she’s like the Hispanic Martha Stewart — is coming into town tomorrow. She’ll be a great set of eyes.)
I don’t blame your son for shaking in his boots. I would, too. But his fear probably helped him to stay true to the aesthetic. I’d love to see photos of the house, and also of those colored glass containers in your windows. I bet they’re wonderful.
LikeLike
I love the resurgence of the mid-century modern … I had one listed late last year that had reproduction appliances … they were new, but looked exactly like 1950s appliances. There is a magazine you can get called Atomic Ranch that gives resources for furnishing mid-century moderns.
LikeLike
When I had to sell a grey ‘marble’ Formica chrome gateleg table, with red vinyl chairs, I took them to a lady that had just started a store. Her specialty was “Mid-century Antiques”.
Imagine my surprise, having been born in the early fifties, to discover that I personally fit the description of ‘something created in the middle of the 20th century’. EEEK!
http://coolstuffnola.com/index.htm
LikeLike
Thanks, dr and leslie, for those resources. Yes, I’m a mid-century modern fixture myself!! And isn’t the definition of an “antique” (in terms of furniture and collectibles) anything over 25 years of age? In which case, we’re on the road to fossildom. (I just flashed on how we used to call our parents “fossils,” as in, Are your fossils home?, or, We can’t do it at my house ‘cuz the fossils are home.)
LikeLike
Geez. Now I’m being called a Mid-Century Fossil 🙂 🙂
I’m ready for my Antiques Roadshow closeup Mr. Demille.
“A lovely specimen from the early Mid-Century period, with an impeccable patina. Keep her out of the sunlight. Estimated worth….”
LikeLike
“$100,000 to priceless! Ah (collective oh’s and ah’s from the crowd)”
LikeLike
leslie, I like that store! Did you see the Picasso? It was sold (and out of my price range but wonderful!). Also, I loved the stainless steel cabinets, among about 50 other things.
LikeLike
ybonesy,
I saw the Picasso! And I really liked the stainless cabinet. we would be dangerous together in an antiques store, wouldn’t we?
“Look what I bought today, honey. On no, I didn’t really want it, but ybonesy said I should have it…”
LikeLike
I like to consider us as being effective rather than dangerous. You’d say, should I buy the stainless steel cabinets? I’d say, Where can you use them in your house? You’d think about it…say, Well I really don’t have room for them. I’d say, Yeah, me neither. And then we’d move over to the Picasso. In this way we’d have a chance to express our love for each piece, but we’d give a reality check.
Or not.
LikeLike
Or not. Admit it. We’d be dangerous. 🙂
LikeLike
ybonesy,
I really liked your old house by the river (the bigger one) but when I saw your house last summer, I thought it was way cool. I really like the retro appliances and simple cabinetry. I really dig that early 60’s architecture. The place I lived in at Borrego Pass was of the same era. One reason I really liked living there was because of the era of the building. They built things to last then. Things were heavy and sturdy.
MM
LikeLike
“Hello,
I’d appreciate if you can give me some feedback on our site: http://www.regencyshop.com/
I realize that you are home decor-Modern design connoisseur 🙂 I’d like to hear your opinion/feedback on our products. Also, it’d be swell if you can place our link on your blog.
Thank you,
Sean”
LikeLike
HI Sean, I thought it was a nice website. You have some good-looking pieces and the prices look competitive.
I’m still going to do a post before the Christmas holidays on mid-century modern furniture. I’ll feature one or two of my favorite shops that I have first-hand experience with, but I will include a lot of other links. I’d be happy to include your shop in the links for that post.
Thanks for stopping in and best of luck on sales. I imagine things have slowed in this climate. I know I’ve not purchased anything new for the house since early in the year. Wish I could get a bunch of artwork right now, but with the economy so unstable, I’m holding off.
LikeLike