I decided to swap locations for our metal Jeré-like tree sculpture with my favorite retro starburst clock. I like the tree in the dining room (though I want to lower it a bit) but I’m not sure a clock in the hallway is very practical. I think I’ll move the clock back into the living room/dining room/kitchen somewhere and find something else for the end of the hall. What do you think?
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Art, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Jason and I picked up these ceramic birds at a thrift store a little while ago. Birds are kind of trendy and I like the trend but also my parents used to collect white bird figurines. That could be partly why I thought these would look best in white.
Though, I have to admit, my first suggestion to Jason was that we paint them orange or red. Ultimately we decided white would go with anything and emphasize the shape. I like them.
1 Comment | Art, Art: before & after, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: before & after, birds, love birds, spray paint, thrift store find | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
This Weekend I …
• went to my favorite Mexican restaurant with my husband, his brother and our sister-in-law
• watched the ultrasound video of our little baby niece
• made lasagna at midnight with Jason
• took lasagna to our friends and got to see their precious, teeny 5 day old Matteo
• spent the afternoon in the Tennessee hills at the home of the musician Jason will be touring with through the fall
• helped Jason finish installing bamboo floors in his studio
• went to church and lost track of time
• had a lunch date with my sweet husband
• put on “Wild Pacific” and took a much-needed Sunday nap (felt GLORIOUS afterward!)
• pulled my favorite winter hat out of storage (it got cold yesterday!) and headed out to our neighborhood coffee shop with Jason (in our pus) for hot chocolate and some website design
It was a wonderful weekend!
2 Comments | Art, Art: graphic design, Art: interior design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason | Tagged: flooring, weekend | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
I wrote about Jason’s great-grandpa Carl back in July after our trip to Naples and our visit to the lot where his house used to stand. We both really loved this portrait of him. His horned-rim glasses, his raised eyebrows, the pencil behind his ear, the stubby cigar he’s smoking, the strap across this shoulder … it’s all part of the story of this character that I only know about through second-hand stories. Jason considers Carl to be an inspiration for various reason (explained more in the original post) and he wanted a poster of this portrait to hang in his studio as a reminder of his great-grandpa and as a reminder that if we keep working hard maybe we’ll get that mid-century modern beach house in Naples we’re dreaming of…
Anyway, I just wanted to share this really good deal I found. This 20″ x 30″ photo poster was only $7.28 ($17.12 with shipping) through Vivyx with their first time customers special offer! Most other sites are sound $21-30 for a poster this size. Score! Plus we found a frame for it at Michael that was originally $29.99 but was on sale for 40% off plus another 25% off with coupon. Came to around $12. Bonus!
2 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason | Tagged: Carl Ahlbrandt, photo poster printing, poster, wall art | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
1 Comment | Art, Art: interior design, Art: modern design | Tagged: home repair, remodel, renovation | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
I just looked up my first post about our bathroom renovation and was shocked that it was almost exactly 1 year ago! Wow! I doesn’t feel like it’s been a year. I guess that’s partly because we had a usable toilet almost the whole time, a usable shower after 5 months (the most labor intensive part of the project) and a usable sink and vanity after 8 months.
Before I go on to show pictures of the finished bathroom, I need to reminisce a little. Here’s a look at where we started:
Remember that this room was originally a bedroom and was turned into a master bathroom and laundry room at last minute and when the house flippers ran out of money. (We’re assuming anyway.) Before layout and our plans for the renovation:
We pretty much stuck to that plan except some of the scale seems to be off here. The shower is 4′ x 5′ as it says but we decided not to do a door or a built in bench. Also, we decided we only wanted one sink on the vanity. (Marriage Advice: Have 1 sink in the bathroom. Learn to take turns!)
OK, HERE ARE THE PICTURES OF THE FINISHED BATHROOM!! (Yes, I’m yelling!)
New door installed between the bathroom and laundry room.
Baseboards on, caulked and painted.
Our hope for this room was that it would be a totally relaxing spa-like space.
3 Comments | Art, Art: bathroom renovation, Art: interior design | Tagged: bathroom renovation, home, master bathroom | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
A repost from East Nashville Atomic
Originally posted on March 3, 2009
Two weeks ago Jason and I found this beast at an estate sale. We fell in love with the design and color. It’s big. It’s long. It’s a sleeper sofa. A mid-century sleeper sofa. Therefore, it is HEAVY! We’re guessing it’s at least 300 lbs. No joke. And in case you’ve never thought of it before—I hadn’t—the people who work at estate sales won’t help you load or move your purchases. Can you imagine Jason and I (who weigh less than 300 lbs. combined) dragging this sofa across a carpeted living room, shoving it through the front door and putting all the energy we had left into lifting it, carrying and heaving it onto a friend’s borrowed truck? I still can’t believe I was capable of that! The next 2 days my arms, legs and back were all sore. I’m so thankful that neither of us got hurt! The sofa is vinyl and needed a little repair but Jason did an awesome job! I helped to mix the colors—one of my specialties—from the vinyl repair kit. By the way, this beautiful specimen cost only $25!
2 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find | Tagged: heavy, mid-century, sleeper sofa | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
A repost from East Nashville Atomic
Originally posted September 21, 2008
The new tables, in their new home:
2 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: american by martinsville, living room, tables, thrift store find | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
A repost from East Nashville Atomic
Originally posted September 20, 2008
That’s the simple prayer I said as we started our thrift store search this evening. About an hour later we walked out of Southern Thrift with this matching set of two end tables and a coffee table, each for only $4.99! We bought them because of their mid-century modern look and decent condition.(Our house begs us to replace our IKEA goods with real atomic jewels.) A gentle sanding and some lemon oil will go a long way. Once at home, Jason started cleaning them up while I googled the maker (stamped inside the drawers): American by Martinsville. Turns out each piece is worth anywhere from $100 to $500. Talk about an answer to prayer! Thank you Lord!! As tempting as it is to resell them, I think we just might keep them.
Tomorrow, once they’re all cleaned up and sitting in their new positions in the living room, I’ll take more pictures.
1 Comment | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Faith | Tagged: american by martinsville, prayer, treasures | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Every lamp needs a shade. At the time when Jason spotted this beautiful lamp as we were driving past the thrift store earlier this summer it had the ugliest Victorian style lampshade. We told them they could keep the shade.
At an estate sale a few weeks ago we found the perfect lampshade on an ugly lamp. The lamp was so ugly that it didn’t even deserve a photograph before we heaved it into the trash cart. Here’s the lamp with it’s new shade.
In a few months this lamp and shade will have a new home in Jason’s renovated studio but for now it’s waiting in hibernation.
2 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: lamp, mid-century, shade | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
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Graphic designer, MCM interior design enthusiast, wife to amazing guitarist and hard working realtor, mama—by way of foster care, adoption and biology—and follower of Jesus Christ.
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