01/31/2012
We got a contract on our house last night! For our asking price minus some closing costs. I’m thankful. Relieved. And honestly, sad. It’s been an exhausting week (wait, it’s only Tuesday?) so maybe I’m a little extra emotional. I really do love this house. As I was looking for a picture to put with this post, I saw so many projects we’ve done here…our master bathroom, Jason’s studio, landscaping, the fireplace. And there are thousands of memories here from the last 5 years, especially from last year as our family grew from two to three to two and back to three. It’s bittersweet. Even more so than I expected.
Our new house will be nice and most importantly, it’ll have room for more kids we can reach as foster parents. I’m looking forward to the whole process of designing and building a home. But I feel like it’s extra hard to say goodbye to one house when we don’t have another house to move into. I love the character and quirks of our old house and “new” scares me a little bit. I don’t know anything about the buyer except that she seems to really like the house. I hope she appreciates it as much as we do. I hope she likes to garden and is happy with the updates we did.
We’ll be staying with my parents during the transition period—several of you have asked. They also live in our neighborhood so we’ll be close to the new house as it’s being constructed. We’ll be gradually packing up and moving out in February. I know I’ll be so consumed with the next season that soon I’ll detach from this one, but for today I just want to savor this old house a little longer.
8 Comments | 
Art, Art: mid-century design, Art: Old House Favorites | Tagged: mid-century modern, moving, new house, our house, ranch, sold | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
01/23/2012
One bedroom in our house—the kids room—has wood paneling. Thankfully, it was already painted when we moved in. I wouldn’t choose it for my new house but I have thoroughly enjoyed the texture it creates on the walls, the striped effect. Also, it’s solid wood which makes hanging art and shelving super easy—hooray for no hollow wall anchors!
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: kids room, Art: mid-century design, Art: Old House Favorites | Tagged: bedroom, kids room, mid-century modern, nursery, wood paneling | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
01/10/2012
When we bought our house it had a shameful, navy blue, contemporary door with an oval stained glass window. It was brand new and perfectly good but not right at all on this house. Thankfully, Jason found a good old 1950s door at a local salvage yard. He was able to clean up and stain the inside and we repainted the outside. We added the new industrial door handle and deadbolt.
2 Comments | Art, Art: mid-century design, Art: Old House Favorites | Tagged: front door, mcm, mid-century modern | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
12/21/2011
Are you on Pinterest? Since we’re in the process of planning our dream house, I’ve been trying to remember to pin images of features I love for our future home. Here are a few recent additions and what I loved about them.
I love the art and the fireplace here:
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Light airy living room with huge windows. Love it. Somewhere in the great room, if not in the living room:
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Super cute breakfast nook, though I may prefer an island or peninsula in the kitchen with stools instead:
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The next 3 images totally inspired me to rethink the “den” into more of a creative space, playroom, art room:
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Craft supply storage:
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Remind me to make sure we create a space in the kitchen to store cookbooks. I love what they did here on the island. Also, I like the white cabinet doors and white subway tile backsplash:
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design, Art: new home build | Tagged: dream house, ideas, inspiration, new home, pinterest | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
12/20/2011
When Jason and I went to Costa Rica for my sister and brother-in-law’s wedding a couple years ago, we stayed at a beauty house in Manuel Antonio. Somehow Jason and I ended up with the bedroom with the biggest bathroom. It had a huge walk in shower with two shower heads. We were sold. We decided when we renovated our master bathroom, it absolutely had to have duel shower heads. We made this shower 4’x5′, probably less than half of the size of the one in Costa Rice, but still plenty big. We did all the tile work by hand and it took a ridiculously long time. A true labor of love for us and our house.
1 Comment | Art, Art: mid-century design, Art: Old House Favorites | Tagged: bathroom, mcm, mid-century modern, shower | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
12/14/2011
Once we start building our new MCM house, I’ll have lots of home things to blog about. In the meantime, to keep me from only talking about Precious and baby related stuff, I’m challenging myself to post a photo of one thing I love about our current house every week. I’m going to miss this old house a lot so it’s also a fun way to document my favorite elements of it. Here’s the first one:
There were a couple features that made a big impression on us the first time we walked through this house. One of them was the downward angled vanity in the original bathroom. This room has been updated a lot but the sturdy, original vanity has never been replaced. Before we moved in the concrete countertop was installed. We added the paint, new drawer pulls and the white vessel sink. A quirky 1950s design that you just don’t see in new houses.
1 Comment | Art, Art: mid-century design, Art: Old House Favorites | Tagged: bathroom, mcm, mid-century modern, vanity | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
12/13/2011
Have you heard of Eichler (pronounced ike-ler) homes? Jason and I have long admired the style and I decided to do a little more homework on the history and philosophy of Joseph Eichler and the “California Modern” homes he built.
Eichler was not an architect; he was a developer. Between 1950-1974, he built over 11,000 homes in California. He used architects who were students of Frank Lloyd Wright, like Robert Anshen. As I understand it, his philosophy was much like Wright’s: blurring the lines between inside and outside. One thing that set Eichler apart from his peers is that he wanted to keep his homes affordable to the middle class. His strict non-discrimination policy to sell homes to anyone regardless of race or religion led to his resignation from the National Association of Home Builders in 1958.
These paragraphs from Wikipedia (where I’m getting most of this info) really sums up the flavor of Eichler homes:
Eichler homes are from a branch of Modernist architecture that has come to be known as “California Modern,” and typically feature glass walls, post-and-beam construction, and open floor plans in a style indebted to Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe. Eichler Homes exteriors featured flat and/or low-sloping A-Framed roofs, vertical 2-inch pattern wood siding, and spartan facades with clean geometric lines. One of Eichler’s signature concepts was to “Bring the Outside In,” achieved via skylights and floor-to-ceiling glass windows with glass transoms looking out on protected and private outdoor rooms, patios, atriums, gardens, and swimming pools.
The interiors had numerous unorthodox and innovative features including: exposed post-and-beam construction; tongue and groove decking for the ceilings following the roofline; concrete slab floors with integral radiant heating; luan paneling; sliding doors for rooms, closets, and cabinets; and a standard second bathroom located in the master bedroom. Later models introduced the famous Eichler entry atriums, an open-air enclosed entrance foyer designed to further advance the Eichler concept of integrating outdoor and indoor spaces.
Here are some visual examples (sources in • below image):
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2 Comments | Art, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: architecture, california modern, eichler, home, homework, mid-century modern | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
12/07/2011
I took these pictures for our real estate agent over the weekend. I really do love this house. I hope the person/people who buy it love it as much as we did.
4 Comments | Art, Art: gardening, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: landscape lighting, mid-century modern, night, our house, ranch | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
12/06/2011
I brought this poster design back into my etsy shop for a couple that wouldn’t leave me alone about it. (Sorry it took me so long!) Anyone else want one? The shipping is higher price to make sure it gets to you more quickly.
2 Comments | Art, Art: graphic design, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: Christmas, poster, shiny brite | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
11/11/2011
Happy 11-11-11! We’re selling three of these chairs. $15 a pop. Let me know if you want ’em. (Email me at martina [at] lighthanddesign [dot] com.) The legs are metal and the seat bases are off-white plastic. They’re Eames-ish but not the real deal. Pretty good shape. They’ll get up on craigslist as soon as I get around to it.
1 Comment | Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: cell phone photography, chair, eames, mid-century modern, Phone Photo Friday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
myMCMlife.com 