myMCMlife.com

Door or No Door?

02/04/2010

I had intended to post a bathroom renovation update today but … we didn’t quite finish the shower yet. We’re SO CLOSE! Hang on until next week to see pictures of the finished shower, ok? It will be worth the wait, I promise.

Besides I need your help with something.

See those two horizontal cabinets above? (Please excuse my messy countertop.) Well, the hinge that holds the door open is broken on the bottom cabinet. IKEA doesn’t sell the hinges separately from the entire cabinet and the only other online retailer we can find sells them for $80 a pair. Sheeah … $80 for some hinges!

However, I am tired of holding the {heavy} door open with my head while I delicately put away antique tea cups. Two days ago I had an epiphany … I’ll just take the door off! After all, open cabinets look good in other kitchens, right?

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So here are some after pictures with the door off:

I need help. It looks unfinished to me. What do you think? Does it need painted or something? Take the top door off too? Should I just put the door back on? Fork out $80 for some hinges?

11 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: modern design | Tagged: kitchen, open cabinets | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Literal Music Videos

02/04/2010

You may have already seen these around the web. The idea is to take a music video with random images that have nothing to do with the song and match the lyrics with what’s actually happening in the video. Hilarious concept. This one is my favorite:

Take On Me

Search for “literal music videos” on YouTube to find lots more.

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: music | Tagged: funny, literal music videos, take on me | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Gold Cortez & Granada Green {MCM thrift store finds}

02/03/2010

Jason and I have been collecting various patterns of mid-century modern dishware from around town. We keep finding pieces from this collection in olive green and gold. They’re glazed ceramic with scallop, half-circle patterns around the edges. It took a lot of research but we finally found the names (they’re unmarked.) Gold Cortez by Homer Laughlin Co. and Sheffield Granada Green. Homer Laughlin is best known for Fiesta Ware.

So far we’ve collected in green: a dinner plate, 5 tea cups, 3 saucers, a coffee carafe and a pitcher that I use for tea. In gold we’ve found: 4 bowls, a coffee carafe (gave away) and most recently: 3 dessert plates and 6 saucers. The most interesting thing is that we’ve found them all over Nashville: an estate sale, a yard sale, a vintage store and 2 different thrift stores.

I wrote this post when we found the bowls. The the olive green coffee carafe makes a great vase:

(Christmas 2009)

(April 2009)

1 Comment | Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: dishes, fiesta ware, gold cortez, homer laughlin, mcm thrift store find, sheffield granada green | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Happy Groundhog Day!

02/02/2010

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It’s Groundhog Day and we have snow on the ground. Not a good sign for an early spring. Being from Pennsylvania, February 2 was always a fun little holiday and a worthy cause for a party in elementary school. Will Phil see his shadow? Will we have 6 more weeks of winter?!

Random fact: my granny was from Punxatawny, PA.

Buy that cute little groundhog and/or read a brief history of the holiday here.

2 Comments | Art, Art: crafts, Family | Tagged: groundhog day | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Skype, Pandora and Online TV

02/01/2010

I’m listening to a radio station that customized to my favorite artists and genres. No stereo invloved. Free.

I just had a 15 minute face-to-face conversation with my husband. He’s at home. I’m at work. No phone involved. Free.

Last night we watched the latest 2 episodes of 24 on our TV. No cable or antenna involved. Free.

We’ve been watching episodes from the old TV series Quantem Leap every weekend. No DVDs or DVD player involved. Free.

All these things through our laptops. All online. All free. This is so not mid-century. But, it’s an aspect of my modern life that I love! It’s amazing what technology can do and how available and affordable everything is.

I’m listening to Pandora radio but every local radio station I know of also has free online streaming. Jason and I just set up Skype accounts. Now we can talk to our friend while he’s touring the world this month, our friends in Brazil and our 1-year-old nephew in Pennsylvania with video, audio and chat options. All completely free. Pretty much all prime time TV shows are available to watch online. We also use Hulu for older series.

1 Comment | Art, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: hulu, online TV, pandora, skype | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

01/29/2010

Rather than let you draw your own conclusions here, I’ll explain this photo. While visiting our friends, Lucy brushed up against a wall of wet paint and ended up with a blue hip, tail and even some white trim paint on one paw. She kept sitting when I tried to take a picture so I’m holding her up. Lucy’s friends Maggie and Abby apparently saw that as a golden opportunity to sniff her butt.

1 Comment | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Lucy | Tagged: cell phone photography, dog, Lucy, Phone Photo Friday, wet paint | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Pilobolus

01/28/2010

Apparently this aired on Late Night with Conan O’Brien a year and a half ago but I just came across it this week. What a beautiful work of art combining modern dance and shadow puppetry! This group is called Pilobolus.

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: modern design, Art: music | Tagged: conan o'brien, dance, pilobolus | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Are You Happy?

01/27/2010

I found this poster through INK & WIT and followed the blog trail until I could eventually find how to purchase it from the designer.

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Flow charts are always fun and I love the philosophy – if you’re not happy, change something! Jason noted that if you either always say yes or always say no, you get “Keep doing what you’ve been doing.” And, if you don’t start saying “yes” you’ll never get to happiness.

Side note: Have you ever seen Yes Man? Good movie.

I finally got the poster in the mail and found the perfect spot to hang it. We’ve got this funky angled wall in the kitchen. (Someday I’m going to cover it with pegboard & cork.)

It can also be seen from the living room, which is the temporary home for our mid-century modern credenza that’s destined to become our master bathroom vanity.

And, most importantly, it’s in a place where I’ll see it every morning as I head out the door.

(Click • for source.)

5 Comments | Art, Art: graphic design, Art: modern design | Tagged: choices, flow chart, graphic design, happiness, poster | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Concrete Shower Pan Goes Down Smooth

01/26/2010

Last weekend we tackled the most intimidating part of the bathroom renovation (in my mind, at least): pouring the concrete shower base. I’ll just show what we did through pictures. And of course I use “we” very loosely here.

Shower all cleared out and ready to go.

Mixing up the concrete mix and water in our pitiful, rusty old wheel barrel. (See the broken wood handle?) I was going to do this part but it turns out my arms are too weak. Each bag of mix was 60 lbs dry.

I prefer to watch this guy in action anyway. I’m excellent moral support.

First bucket full of concrete gets placed. That float is named the Task Force.

Second bucket down. Creating a slight slope toward the drain was very tedious. And important. Jason and his task force can handle it.

The consistency is like wet sand. Not as liquidy as I had imagined.

Four bags/bucketfuls down. 240 lbs. More of the very meticulous smoothing and creating a slight grade toward the drain.

Some days I am very grateful to be married to a perfectionist. Another half a bag to finish it off and get that slope just right. (4.5 bags of sand mix, 270 lbs, 4’x5′ base at 1-1.5″ thick in case you want details.)

All done. Just needs 24 hours to dry. Phew! The whole process only took 3 hours but was very labor-intensive. I’m so glad it’s done. Thank God it all went smoothly. Now on to finishing the rest of the tiling … another update coming soon. I HOPE!

Keeping up with our progress?

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

1 Comment | Art, Art: bathroom renovation, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: bathroom renovation, concrete shower pan, master bathroom, tiled shower | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt