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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Posted by mahlbrandt
Happy Birthday Mama!
04/28/2010Today is my mama’s birthday. As I was growing up, she was an example of selfless love and generosity that I hope I can someday model for my own kids. Thank you for being such an awesome mom. I love you!
This picture is of my big sister and my mom when she was about my age back in the mid-70s. Love that lamp! Oh, and I certainly remember that orange, brown and gold knit afghan!
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Exterior Paint Colors
04/27/2010I recently saw an article on Exterior colors for 1960’s Houses on Retro Renovation (the mac-daddy of mcm home blogs). Good timing because some friends/neighbors of ours have a 1960’s brick ranch that needs painted – *needs* because it’s an ugly color of carrot-orange brick! I took the initiative to mock up some color suggestions for them. The trim and gutters have recently been painted chocolate brown.
Current
Lemon Loaf Yellow
Cool Coastal Blue
Elephant At-Least-Its-Not-Beige Gray
Charcoal Taupe Gray
I’m trying to nudge them toward something besides beige/cream/vanilla/blah. Which do you like best?
(CBB)
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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)
3 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: house tour, our home | Permalink
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
Phone Photo Friday
04/16/2010
Our first harvest of 2010 – a tiny little strawberry out of our vegetable garden. I love how Jason put it in our big empty fruit bowl for me to find when I came home from work.
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Spring is Here!
04/01/2010There are flowering trees and bushes everywhere! I’m tempted to snap pictures the whole drive home.
Our neighbor across the street has 2 beautiful flowering trees in his front yard that we get to enjoy from our living room windows. The left is a magnolia, the right is a flowering plum.
We also have a couple of small Japanese flowering plum trees in our yard. This one is flowering more this year than it ever has before!
And some new pictures of our little mid-century modern ranch with our golden yellow forsythia beautifully accenting our front door.
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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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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!
1 Comment | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: atomic clock, mid-century modern, retro clock, retro modern, yard sale find | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Jenn Ski Print Winner Announced
02/22/2010
Congratulations to whitneyjc from Huntsville, AL, winner of my first ever giveaway! I’ll be contacting you so I can send you your prize!
Thank you to everyone who participated! I’m looking forward to doing more giveaways in the future.
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Posted by mahlbrandt
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