DIY Breeze Block Wall For The Front Entry

PART I

I don't mess around. Over the winter, I had quite a bit of time inside to plan out my spring and summer projects, and now that the warm weather is here, I can't stop. It's like a switch gets thrown and I'm in DIY Bipolar mode. I go until my body breaks and I have to stop for a few days to heal. But I don't want to. Stop. This winter I planned out a couple major projects, now mostly complete: Grade the backyard and finish the retaining wall; put in a walkway (this one is not started yet); build the cedar fence on the one side of the house, and make the front entry more appropriate to the house. We had two ideas that we were pursuing for the front entry. One was partially enclosing it with breeze blocks, the other was using lintels to create a cool modern screen. Unfortunately, the particular lintels that we would need are a dimension that is quite uncommon, and ordering block is prohibitively expensive. We found breeze blocks in town, and in stock at Hebron Masonry Supply for just over 2 bucks a piece. At the right is a render of the original idea. The dimensions of my model are not exact to the house, but close enough to get the idea of the plan. The door (by the way) will not be that yellow! And yes, the plan is for a wood garage door at some point down the road.

Andersen Beauty-Line Windows - A Mid-Century Icon.

Andersen Beauty-Line windows are a true mid-century architectural icon. These windows were/are ubiquitous in all sorts of mid-century building. Andersen produced these windows between 1957 and 1979, and they still have quite a few parts available for them, including hardware and some complete lower sash units. Our ranch was build in 1959, and features three banks of Beauty-Lines - a triple across the front of the living room, a double on the other living room wall, and a double at the back of the dining room - you can see the front elevation in an older post here. The upper sash of the Beauty-Line windows was fixed. The lower sash could be opened, and you could choose between a couple of different options as to how it opened. You could opt for an awning, where the hinge is at the top of the sash and the bottom of the window swings outward via a crank - the screen was on the inside in this version. We have the 'hopper' type lower sash, where the hinge mechanism at the bottom and the sash swings inward from the top. In this version, the insect screen is on the outside.

An Adrian Pearsall Sofa? In Minot? $40? (And, Eventually, How to Reupholster a Sofa)

I found this couch on the Minot Varagesale website last night. Every so often (like once a week), I scour the online classifieds (Craigslist, Bisman, and recently - Varagesale.com) for a set of keywords that don't usually change all that much from week to week: mid century, modern, vintage, vintage couch, vintage patio, homecrest, and a few others. I haven't found a ton of stuff up here, but I have found a few things. But it takes just a few minutes, and it's almost as fun as hitting the thrift stores (which I do every Tuesday). So poking around in Varagesale.com, I came across this sofa under one of my keyword searches. I thought to myself, "Hey, that back... those arms... that looks familiar."

How To: Ressurect a Mid Century Fiberglass Lamp Shade

I was gone all weekend on a trip, so I decided to take today off to catch up on my lost weekend, and to do some work as well. I found this old lamp shade for maybe $2 bucks at a yard sale here in Minot earlier this spring during the spring city-wide yard sale weekend. I saw it sitting there, my wife asked about it, and I don't recall the exact figure - but it was something between 50 cents and 2 bucks. We scarfed it up, and it immediately went into a box in the garage as a future project when we got home that afternoon (I have quite a few pending projects). As found, it was kind of a mess (as you can see from the first photo to the right). The leather lacing holding the fiberglass cloth on rings was dry, ripped, and torn away in places. The fiberglass cloth itself was torn and punctured, *really* grungy, and the lowermost metal hoop was dangling open, broken. Its condition was not good, but I thought I'd pretty easily be able to salvage it - I've never repaired one of these before, but how hard could it be? So this afternoon, I drove off to the local craft supply place and picked up a 25 yard roll of leather lacing from the bead department, and I was ready to give it a go.

New Rya Rug in the Living Room

The new rug arrived, and it was exactly as advertised - original tags and all. Not sure about where it will end up in the living room - I kind of like the idea of putting the orange swirl rug behind the chartreuse womb chair and a shades of green rug behind the orange Ohlsson chair. We still have a few vintage accessories to hang on the walls, but man - this rug really helps bring the room together. Here's a shot of the rug toward the entry of the living room. That's our Karelian bear dog in the back in the photo - one of our three large rescues, and all black. We need a robot maid.

I've also dug out another present that the wife gave me - a Dazor model 2004 in an unusual cream color. It's just barely visible on the credenza to the far left. We have two of these now - we found one in Long Beach at the flea market for $40 bucks - my wife almost couldn't get the money out fast enough. With lamps, it doesn't really matter if they are working or not as they are so easy to re-wire. I will do a DIY post on my next lamp rebuild. The cream colored one we found in a really packed to the rafters run-down antique dealer - I believe that was in either Long Beach or Anaheim. I think my wife haggled them down to around $75 bucks. Really neat lamps - they have a sort of pressure clutch - there is a plastic fitting inside of a brass fitting that is counter-balanced by the offset mass of the UFO shade hanging to one side. This keeps the shade set firmly at whatever height you set it at just by sliding the arm up or down the pole. A very heavy weight in the base keeps the whole lamp from toppling over. This mid century atomic ranch is coming together nicely! 

A Swanky New (Read: OLD) Rug for the Ranch; or - How to Win at eBay Auctions More Often that You Lose.

The rug, as seen on eBay

The house needs some color splashes here and there, and I've been keeping an eye on Craigslist, Bisman (our local online free ad), Etsy, and eBay. With any of this mid century stuff, if you've begun collecting in the post-Madmen era, you know that the prices have gone up steadily. There are a few ways to combat this. One is to have patience, scour your online and in-print ads, and hit your local thrifts *every* *SINGLE* *WEEK*. I've seen some pretty cool stuff in and around Minot at thrifts, junk sales, flea markets, and yard sales. Man, do I miss the Long Beach Flea Market. I have found some great stuff here, though. Just not the kind of rugs that we're after. You would think that there would be some here - they are a Scandanavian art form after all...

First Month Changes

The 1950's character of this house was buried. It was buried beneath layers of flooring, it was camouflaged in paint colors not appropriate for our tastes, and it was buried beneath colonial-style trim details (see previous post of living room). On the day of the closing we showed up tools in hand after taking possession of the house only a few minutes before. We walked in with a toolbox and painting supplies. She got busy cutting in a nice pale shade of grey that will go lovely with all of our vibrantly-colored mid century stuff. I've always had great luck with Behr paints, so we went with a color called 'swirling water' - it's a nice pale grey - a bit on the cool side, but close enough to white that it will work with our furnishings without being distracting, and still goes quite well with the mid-century ethos. Every room in the house needed paint, and several rooms needed two coats, even with the milkshake-like consistency of the Behr eggshell with built-in primer that  we picked up at home dumpster. Especially that red.

An Atomic Ranch (in the Rough)...

We moved up to Minot over 2 years ago when I took a job at the University. We were not sure if, or how long, we'd be staying here, but we finally made the decision this past summer to buy a house - so I guess we're here for longer than just the short term now. We scoured Zillow for months looking for something that we both agreed had good bones. There are enclaves of mid century houses here in Minot, but they are spread out. Finding a place that we both liked took a few months, and really it was one feature in particular that did it for me.

It's not a looker right now from the street. But it's also not a dog. It was build in the Bel Air addition in 1959, so it is a true mid-century raised ranch. The bones are there on the outside, but they will need some help to show through the skin at some point down the road. Yeah, it's clad in vinyl, yeah the lot is pretty small, but look at the low angles of the roof, and that  wall of original Andersen windows across the front! It's what is inside that we both really liked though.