Photography student Cristin Durning from Watkins College of Art & Design (my alma mater!) took some excellent photos of our home for a school project.
There are a few more on her portfolio website.
All photos © 2010 Cristin Durning.
Homework
05/19/2010
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Art, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: cristin durning, photography, watkins | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
House Tour – April 2010
04/22/2010
I don’t think I’ve ever done a tour of our modest mid-century modern ranch on this blog. Jason and I live in this 1420 sq. ft. 3 bedroom 2 bath home. We love it so much that we can never imagine moving! Come on in, I’ll show you around…
Living Room
Studio (just a peek)
Dining Room
Kitchen
Hall
Office (the only clean corner in this room, which is currently in transition)
Bathroom
Master Bedroom
Master Bathroom (still under renovation)
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Bathroom Renovation Stage 12
04/21/2010Bathroom renovation has been slowly coming along the past couple of weeks. Jason hung the new mirror over the vanity.
We hung the “relax” sign made by etsy seller William Dohman. It’s hand cut recycled wood that has been dry brush painted. I custom ordered this because Jason and I both wanted a spa-like retreat and relax seems to be the perfect reminder as I step into the steamy shower and wash away all the stresses of the day.
And the bathroom floors have been tiled! We decided on gray 12″ x 24″ porcelain.
The first 11+ chapters:
Here’s our history:
5 Comments | Art, Art: bathroom renovation, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: bathroom renovation, master bathroom, relax, tile | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
9 By Design
04/19/2010
I know it’s been already talked about in the home/lifestyle/design blogsphere (that’s how I found out about it) but I wanted to share my thoughts about the new Bravo reality show 9 By Design. I really enjoyed watching the premiere last week. (If you, like me, don’t pay for cable tv you can watch it on Hulu.)
It’s a reality show about Robert and Courtney Novogratz. They’re self-taught interior designers, house builders/stagers and sort-of-flippers. The couple, whose company is called Sixx Design, renovates or builds new homes; designs them with thrifted, flea market, new, international and unique pieces; lives there until someone offers to buy or rent it; then they move and start over.
They do most of their work in NYC. What makes the show particularly interesting is that they have 7 kids. In the first episode Courtney is 8.5 months pregnant with their 7th and they’re moving into a new temporary apartment … a small (2bR for 9 people) temporary apartment.
People can say what they want about the couple’s bickering and lying to each other over the phone (I believe most of it is staged anyway) but I love the couple’s energy and creativity and passion for what they do. And I love how having a family hasn’t slowed them down one bit.
I’m inspired and entertained. A couple CAN be successful entrepreneurs and still have a fun and happy family.
Here are their kids: Wolfgang (12), twin sisters Tallulah and Bellamy (10), Breaker (8), Five and Holleder (4) and baby on the way Major. In case you can’t tell by the unusual names, they’re all boys except for the twin sisters.
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Bathroom Renovation Stage 11
04/06/2010I believe I owe you a bathroom update! Sorry it’s been a while. Things have been slowly and steadily moving along in our master bathroom renovation.
Let’s see … we have walls painted and outlet and light switch covers on. (We decided on SW Contented.)
We have a light above the vanity.
We have tile backer on the floors.
We have a towel rack on the wall.
We have robes, toilet paper and art hanging on the walls.
We have a second shower head (half) installed. It’s not actually attached to the plumbing yet. But it looks pretty doesn’t it?
Here’s our history:
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Forsythia in a Boylan Bottle
04/05/2010Our forsythia bush is too small to spare a few sprigs for a vase. While walking Lucy around the block the other night my heroic husband snapped a few off branches of a huge bush in front of an abandoned house. Back home, I stuck them in an empty glass Boylan soda bottle. I love how the yellow matches our throw pillows.
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Posted by mahlbrandt
A Jeré Tree?
03/29/2010
Could this be an original Curtis Jeré wall sculpture? I have no idea. Perhaps unlikely, but definitely possible. Whatever it is – I love it. It’s a mid-century modern sculpture of a tree. That’s enough to make it welcome in our home!
Jason snagged this at an estate sale a few weeks ago for $25. The vendors didn’t know anything about it. It’s unmarked and missing a few leaves. It’s also big—bigger than I thought when I first saw the photos online—about 25″ tall and sticks out about 6″ from the wall. We haven’t yet figured out where to hang it.
What do you think?
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Bathroom Renovation Stage 10
03/08/2010My husband is amazing! (But you knew that already if you’ve been following my blog.) We’ve both been quite busy lately which is nothing but a blessing when you’re self-employed (Jason) or do freelance in addition to your day job (me). And our weekends have been filled up with fun, work and social obligations lately. Also a blessing.
However, the bathroom renovation had almost come to a complete standstill since we (mostly) finished the shower. We’ve both be itching to get the renovation wrapped up but most of the remaining things I have no idea how to do and/or I’d rather trust Jason to do. This past week he has been working hard to find time through the night or during a gap in his daytime work.
Here are some things that have happened (though not very interesting by photograph):
The shower fan & light was installed in the shower. (More adventures of being wedged into a tiny space in the attic. But we do love our low-slung roof.)
Electricity has been run to the shower light, shower fan, and the light above the vanity. Check out this sweet 3 switches in 1 thing. (What’s it called again!?) Saved us (Jason) from having to cut out a bigger hole in the wall for a new electrical work box.
Electricity has been run to a light in the laundry room (I still can’t believe I have a laundry ROOM!), an outlet in the laundry room and an outlet by the sink in the bathroom.
Lights installed … almost. The ceiling light that was formerly in the bathroom, which was once a bedroom, is now dangling a foot from the ceiling in the laundry room. So helpful when I’m doing laundry at night! Also, there is a light in the bathroom now, above the vanity, but it’s essentially just a light bulb hanging out of the wall. Better than the floor lamp we’ve been using!
Holes in the ceiling have been patched up. Moving lights around and taking down walls created several big holes in the ceiling. Jason’s been patching and matching the lovely (not) spiky texture.
Ahhh … progress feels good! Next up we’ll be installing the second shower head and setting up the plumbing for when it will be connected to the water lines (later…) and finishing up the drywall. Once that is done and all patched up (all Jason here again) we can prime and paint. THEN tile the floors. (Not decided on or purchased yet.) THEN install the vanity. THEN install a sink. (Not decided on or purchased yet.)
Again, MY HUSBAND IS AMAZING! We haven’t had to hire help for any step of the process so far. He’s quite the electrician! Soon we’ll find out how much of a plumber he is!
Background Reading:
Catch up with our bathroom renovation progress:
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Posted by mahlbrandt
George Nelson Starburst Clock
02/24/2010When we moved into our house 3 years ago I immediately started keeping my eye out for a great deal on a mid-century starburst clock for our dining room. Problems: the cool ones are super expensive, usually electric and many are brass with traditional roman numerals … we prefer something more modern.
Here’s a beautiful example of Westclok brand Sputnik-style atomic wall clock that’s available through Etsy. LOVE the teak and the spokes. It’s $110 and if you have that much money sitting around you should definitely buy this.
Anyhow, last summer at a yard sale Jason and I found a retro modern starburst clock. We haggled with the stingy seller and finally walked away with this plastic time keeper. It was silver-plastic faced with navy blue spokes so we decided to paint it black and white. I’m very happy with the result. We used appliance spray paint on the spokes (because we had some sitting around) giving them a really glossy finish. (I’ve blogged about it before.)
Also, we changed out the hands to some simple chrome pieces from a free clock I got from work.
Recently, I saw a blog post somewhere about this clock available from MoMA. I can’t believe it! I think our plastic garage sale find must be a replica of George Nelson’s 1949 Starburst Clock. The aluminum and wood version from MoMA is also a replica. And those clock hands? Yeah, that’s what ours looked like, only navy.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I like ours the best! Sorry George. And now that I know it’s a George Nelson replica, what was intended to be a temporary place holder for a vintage atomic clock will be sticking around.
One of the owners of Wonders on Woodland – our neighborhood MCM antique store – gave Jason and I a valuable piece of advice last year. If a piece fits with your decor and looks vintage who cares if it’s just a replication or modern interpretation of mid-century. It’s your home – fill it with things you love!
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Waterfall Faucets
02/23/2010
We’ve been looking at vessel sinks and faucets for our bathroom renovation and I keep coming across these waterfall faucets. They seem to be very popular on eBay. Jason likes them but I’m a little concerned about the functionality. We have a glass vessel sink in our other bathroom that has many chips from us and guests over the past three years. Also, the glass doesn’t stay clean-looking for more than 24 hours. (In other words, even though it looks pretty, I would NEVER recommend a glass vessel sink!) I’m also concerned that the big chunk of glass would get in the way and/or splash too much.
Do any of you have experience with these waterfall faucets? What do you think?
• Does the glass get dirty?
• Chip easily?
• Get in the way?
• Does the water splash everywhere?
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Posted by mahlbrandt
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