11/09/2011
Let’s pretend for a day that my thoughts are not completely consumed with thoughts about Precious’ situation…
On our most recent thrifting excursion Jason fell in love with 2 mid-century chairs. I like them, I just don’t love them… After a bit of haggling, Jason was toting them down the street to the silver bullet while Precious and I were following along. We ended up paying $40 for the pair. One of them has 2 small rips but sometimes it’s still worth it. We may reupholster them eventually. They’re now crowning the heads of our dining table.
What do you think? I do have to admit they’re more comfortable than our IKEA Gilbert chairs.
2 Comments | 
Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: chairs, mid-century modern, thrift store | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
10/27/2011
I was beyond humbled when Gabrielle asked if she could interview me and feature our kids room in her Living With Kids series on Design Mom. I’ve been a daily reader of her blog for years and have gleaned a ton of inspiration from her and her beautiful family. I even won a giveaway for goodies from Petit Collage through her blog and got the alphabet poster that hangs in our nursery. So click on over there and check it out!
3 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: kids room, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: blog, design mom, foster parenting, kids room | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
10/26/2011
Recently, I told you about our new rocking chair. Since a few people asked about it, I wanted to share that it’s now on sale for just $107 with free shipping. The price seems to change frequently on this for some reason but I’m not sure I’ve seen it this low.
Baxton Studio Letterio White Cradle Chair
Also, I just signed up to be an Amazon.com Affiliate since I shop on Amazon all.the.time. If you’ve been thinking about buying this Baxton Studio rocker, I hope you’ll consider doing so through the link above. (I get a small kick back from Amazon.)
3 Comments | Art, Art: kids room, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: baby, eames, kids room, modern, nursery, rocker, rocking chair | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
10/25/2011
Jason and I have been dreaming big lately… dreaming about houses. I’m not ready to tell you why yet.
Here are some inspiring images I’ve found.
Check my Pinterest page for sources.
8 Comments | Art, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: dream home, dreaming, eichler, homes, inspiration, mid-century modern, modern | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
10/03/2011
I was so excited that I have something to share that’s not related to foster care or babies… it’s actually home related and mid-century modern, too! Then I realized it is still very much related to foster care and babies. Oh well. I tried.
Last Monday night I emailed Jason a link and said, “Can I get this? I want to rock my babies.” He replied back, “Yes dear. You can rock your babies in that chair. Go for it. Sweet mama and wife, I love you!” A couple of clickety clicks later on my Amazon iPhone app and it was ordered. It arrived on Thursday. Talk about rockin’ service! It took no more than 5 minutes to assemble and is exactly what I was hoping for. A white plastic-shell Eames replica rocking chair for our kids room. Precious and I have been enjoying it.
PS. If you want to get a real deal Eames rocker, you can buy one through Herman Miller for $479.
6 Comments | Art, Art: Bedoom for Foster Kids, Art: interior design, Art: kids room, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Foster Parenting | Tagged: babies, baby, eames, kids room, mid-century modern, nursery, retro, rocker, rocking chair | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
09/21/2011
Yesterday’s post inspired me to finish another series I started months ago. Here is the final (for now) phase of our front garden expansion project. Recap: Jason plotted out the garden expansion by cropping the grass really low. Then I helped him put WeedBlock down over the whole area (750+ sq. ft.!). We positioned and planted the first set of grasses and cacti. We got a big delivery of gravel. And now here we are. Jason got some brown metal landscape edging from the hardware store. We decided to go with metal over plastic this time because we’re assuming it will last a lot longer (and not get mangled by the occasional lawn mower clip.) Jason also added a few more plants and moved a pretty blue pot from the back patio out to the front. I love it. Jason did an awesome job with this whole project. I’m really thankful that he loves gardening because he makes our yard look super.
Also, Jason is frugal. (Praise the Lord!) He likes to buy medium size plants and split them up to save money. Yes, it looks a bit sparse now but it will fill in a lot over the next couple of years. Patience, young grasshopper.
The papery, blue-green grasses below are new. I have no idea what they are. If you care, leave a comment and Jason will respond.
Some already established plants now feel unbalanced in this corner but not for long.
3 Comments | Art, Art: gardening, Art: God's creation, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
07/27/2011
Hallway
Ah, the hallway. It’s so utilitarian. Attic access in the ceiling. Smoke detector. Carbon monoxide detector. Thermostat. Air intake. Doorways…
A couple of black and white photographs of Jason and I from my college photography class back in 2003 (shortly after we got married) hang on one wall. They’re not excellent photos but I like that I shot them with an old manual film camera and developed them myself.
At the end of the hallway hangs this brass tree. I spotted it on an estate sale website a few years ago and Jason was able to find it for me. I don’t remember what he paid for it… maybe $40? My relatives from Sweden wanted to buy it from us when they were visiting.
Cloffice
I actually spend a lot of time in this hallway thanks to my cloffice (closet+office). I wrote about the original transformation from a coat closet into a home office earlier this year. It hasn’t changed much since then, except that the hallway was painted SW greek white.
When Jason removed the closet door and doorway to give me more elbow room, there was a strip of the original hardwood floors missing. We came up with this simple solution of inlaying a piece of wood and painting it with white trim paint. I like how it defines the space and it has held up well to 6 months of chair rolling.
The desk is not very deep. It works well for using the computer and not much else, unless I move my keyboard, mouse and laptop stand out of the way. I love having two monitors, and though I think side by side would have been better, this works. I don’t believe I mentioned before that the desktop is removable; it’s sitting on two wooden rails and tightly wedged into place so it doesn’t move. We didn’t make it permanent because there is an access panel to get to the plumbing of the hall bathroom tub on the back of the closet. See it there behind my pen cup?
It feels as small as it looks. Or maybe it looks bigger than it feels. It’s a pretty tight work space and I find myself paying bills on the couch and blogging from bed more than I used to when I had a regular home office. But, this solution was so worth it to free up a bedroom for our future kids. That little cardboard owl cup serves as my waste basket. My printer was relocated to the living room bookshelf. I traded my scanner for a slim design that can slip onto the top shelf of my cloffice, between my portfolio and my storage boxes. The best thing about it being small is that I can’t afford to let it get messy.
7 Comments | Art, Art: Closet Office, Art: house tour, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: cloffice, closet office, hall, hallway, house tour | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
07/18/2011
Jason inherited a few unwanted furniture pieces from his late Grandma Joan. We made a short list of things in her house that we liked but didn’t expect we’d get unless no one else wanted them. We just didn’t want to see them get discarded. This floor lamp was one of them.
By the looks of it, it had been down in that basement for years, tarnished and covered with cobwebs. We decided to spray paint it to cover the tarnished areas with Rustoleum Antique Bronze. Each of the three lights has a (teak?) wood handle that we love. We wiped the wood clean with damp rags and then Jason rehydrated the wood with lemon oil. He sanded the rough spots on the metal with steel wool before spraying it. (I didn’t get a true before shot.)
We’re not sure where we’ll end up using it but for now we’re enjoying it as a piece of art in the living room and we’re thankful it’s no longer rotting away in a basement in PA.
1 Comment | Art, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design, Family | Tagged: family heirloom, floor lamp, mid-century | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
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