Art: mid-century design | myMCMlife.com

Imitation Outfitters

07/05/2010

If you have lots of money, don’t care about American-made quality, want new things or don’t have time for vintage and thrift shopping but you like mid-century modern design … Urban Outfitters is just what you need! They’ve got some great looking mid-century inspired designs. Let’s see …

There is the Night and Day Convertible Sofa …

And the Mid-Century Rocker Chair. I want this! I would gladly accept an authentic vintage mid-century version but if all else fails, this will do.

There’s this Mid-Century Sofa.

Manchester Media Stand for your record player and records, of course. (Or books and a lamp.) Lovely peg/cone legs.

A 36″ Round Woven Mixed Rug that would have looked right at home at grandma’s house.

I love this printed 50’s Birdcage Duvet Cover but I’m not sure I’d want it on my bed.

And a 70’s Clock. If you’ve ever been to my house, you know I love clocks! Every room has one. Some rooms have two. I need more rooms!

3 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: furniture, Mid-century modern design, Urban Outfitters | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Family 4 Quart {Estate Sale Finds}

06/30/2010

Last week I saw a listing for an estate sale with all kinds of great things pictured. I made a list of everything I wanted including an Underwood typewriter, retro striped drinking glasses, a vintage tinker toys set and a small cabinet with cone legs and sliding doors. Sadly, we didn’t get there until near the end of the second day so everything I saw online was gone. The benefit of going at the end, though, is that everything is marked down. We did find some great things.

A Family 4 Quart drink cooler. Perfect for our upcoming beach trip

Five old lady style plastic round bead necklaces (all for $1.50!)

2 vintage kids books: Through the Gate (seems like a knock off of Dick and Jane) and Told Under the Blue Umbrella: New Stories for New Children

A colorful xylophone that doesn’t quite work but looks pretty. I guess it needs some new felt under the metal keys

A small retro glass pitcher (I want to actually USE this but it’s kind of an odd size. Any suggestions? It would only hold enough for 2 glasses of iced tea.)

And two glass vases from another estate sale we passed on our way home

4 Comments | Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: estate sale | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Third Life

06/28/2010

On Saturday, Jason and I finally tackled the job of upholstering the mid-century chair we got at the TN52 Yard Sale. We’ve never upholstered before so it was pretty intimidating. Turns out this chair has been reupholstered once before (hence, the 3rd life.) Here’s the chair how we bought it (for $5):

Amazingly, we only got frustrated with each other one time. That’s pretty good considering it took us about 8 hours. It wasn’t technically hard just time consuming. It was very much like a puzzle. Jason told someone yesterday that we do projects together— that’s how we avoid marriage counseling.

I’m so thankful I got just enough fabric (4 yards) from IKEA a few weeks ago. I think there might even be enough to do a few throw pillows for the couch.

I took these pictures before we were 100% done. We’re going to add 2 buttons to the back before we can tack the last piece of fabric onto the back. We’re really pleased with how it came out and I think it was worth all the sleep we sacrificed this weekend!

5 Comments | Art, Art: crafts, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: chair, furniture, mid-century, upholstry | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Jeré Owl

06/16/2010

I wish I could say this Curtis Jeré owl is now sitting on my bookshelf at home but alas … it’s price tag kept it anchored to the shelf at Wonders on Woodland. If you have an extra $225 lying around this beautiful piece of metal sculpture could be yours or … mine if you buy it and then give it to me. That would be fine. Have I mentioned my birthday is on Saturday?

For now, I’ll just enjoy this photo taken with J’s phone.

1 Comment | Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: curtis jere, jeré owl, sculpture, Wonders on Woodland | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Bathroom Renovation Stage 13

06/15/2010

It’s been a while since I’ve updated about our master bathroom renovation. That’s because we stopped working on it for a while. But, I do have some good news to report – the sink and vanity are installed!

Jason and I tiled the top of the vanity and then he put in the sink and faucet and did all the plumbing.

The bathroom is almost completely done. Just a few finishing touches that we’ll get around to eventually … baseboards, a door to the laundry room, caulking around the vanity. But it’s mostly done and fully functional. Yay!

In case you’re bored:

Bathroom Renovation Stage 1

Bathroom Renovation Stage 2

Bathroom Renovation Stage 3

Bathroom Renovation Stage 4

Bathroom Renovation: Tiling!

Bathroom Renovation Stage 5

Bathroom Renovation Stage 6

Bathroom Renovation Stage 7

Bathroom Renovation Stage 8

Concrete Shower Pan Goes Down Smooth

Bathroom Renovation Stage 9

Bathroom Renovation Stage 10

Bathroom Renovation Stage 11

Bathroom Renovation Stage 12

1 Comment | Art, Art: bathroom renovation, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Mid-century Modern Treasures from the Nati

06/08/2010

As I mentioned last week, over Memorial Day weekend I visited my wonderful friends in Cincinnati. We spent most of our days hopping around from one antique store to another looking for mid-century modern goodies. We were not disappointed!

I fell in love with this Sessions A-frame wood clock the instant I saw it. It has a key to wind it up. How cool is that? It ticks really loudly.

Got this 1970’s Yamaha classical guitar for Jason. He’s still grieving the Manuel Rodriguez classical he sold after college. Maybe this will help a little. It is a cedar top – his favorite.

Corning Ware skillet with blue and yellow flowers

Pyrex blue and white Amish casserole

Anchor Hocking candlestick pattern casserole

And last but certainly not least, this original gouache painting signed by Dick West. The vendor believed it’s an interior designer’s rendering for a client. As a graphic designer who loves mid-century home design, I think this piece is really special.

3 Comments | Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: anchor hocking, antique store, Cincinnati, clock, corning ware, dick west, painting, pyrex | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

06/04/2010

One of the shops in Cincinnati we checked out while hunting for mid-century modern treasures.

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: antique store, cell phone photography, mid-century design, Phone Photo Friday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Lamp, Pitcher & Utensil Tray {MCM thrift store finds}

06/01/2010

We picked up a couple of little treasures on a recent trip around the Nashville thrift stores.

A retro green silverware tray – not too exciting but I love the color and it has more slots than our old one. And it was 75¢!

Jason’s never going to let me forget that he spotted this lamp FROM THE STREET! Meaning: we were driving past one thrift store on the way to drop off our garage sale junk at the Goodwill and he saw this lamp out of the corner of his eye through the window of the thrift store. That man has eagle vision!

We still need a shade. It had an ugly one paired with it that we left at the store. No thanks. Price: $6.99.

Jason also spotted this neat round plastic carafe. The brand is Alfi and it’s made in Germany.

Sadly, in it’s beautiful roundness it rolled off the counter top and the top broke. It’s no longer a functional piece but it still looks pretty on our display shelf.

2 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: germany, mid-century design, thrift store finds | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Painted Ranches in the ‘Hood

05/31/2010

I live a neighborhood loaded with brick ranches – red brick, pink brick, orange brick, gray brick, smooth brick, textured brick. You name we have it.

But thankfully (in my opinion) we also have some painted brick houses. (And we almost had one more. But then the flood swallowed it.) I’m a big fan of paint and if done right it doesn’t harm the lifespan of the brick – just adds a little more personality. And it breaks up the monotony of brick, brick, brick. I like being able to tell people “it’s the green house; the only green house on the street.”

A few days ago I asked Jason to drive me around so I could snap pictures of some of the other painted brick houses within a few blocks from our little mid-century brick ranch.

We saw some blue and gray-blue:

Some taupe and warm gray:

Some cream and white:

And some green and olive:

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: Drive-By Shooting, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: painted brick ranches | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

TN52 Yard Sale Booty

05/25/2010

(ya know, like pirate booty)

On Saturday we got up at the butt crack of dawn and headed out to the TN 52 Yard Sale extravaganza with Leila and Jeremy and Jason’s mom. It’s 95 miles of yard sales; I think we probably hit 10-20 miles of it.

We found all kinds of different mid-century modern and vintage treasures and managed to spend the rest of the profit from our own yard sale the weekend before. I’ll let the pictures do the talking but I’ll just say I’m most excited about the chair I spotted from the street as we were driving past one of the last sales and the owls – just because I think they’re adorable. Oh, and the tea and coffee canisters, too. It’s so hard to choose a favorite!