Mid-Century Austin Homes: 5704 Lakemoore Dr.

I love realtor videos. It's like getting a sneak peek into a place without ever leaving the couch. They're also great for stealing mid-century design ideas from. This one for 5704 Lakemoore Dr. is one of the best I've seen.



From the YouTube description:

This truly unique home was built in 1967 by an eccentric Northwest Hills builder as his personal residence. Palm Springs influenced, the mid-century home is oriented to take advantage of the amazing views of the canyon wall towering over Bull Creek. From its great outdoor entertaining areas to its 4 bedrooms that open to the kidney-shaped swimming pool, friends will line up to be invited over - cocktails anyone?

Schlage Color-Accent Doorway

Here's what the cross hair Schlage Color-Accent backplate looks like in real life.
As their vintage ad says

"Color-Accent" is achieved by placing color behind an open-back escutcheon to contrast with door surfaces, harmonize with adjacent walls, or complement any part of the doorways. Schlage's original open-back stylings let you create the effect - by applying your favorite paint color, cutting a texture to size, or even placing a leftover piece of wallpaper behind the lock. The possibilities are unlimited and you are the designer.

This designer decided to leave it plain and it still looks fantastic. While I love it, I think we'll stick with the Mad Men door knob plan.

American of Martinsville Sales Tag

While I was hunting down the history of our American of Martinsville bar I came across a few other interesting things. Like these mid-century sales tags:

More Mid-Century Door Knobs

One of my wonderful readers suggested that I should check out Emtek Hardware for mid-century door knobs. And there it was the Mad Men office door knob that I've been obsessing over, or at least a reasonable facsimile, the Emtek orb knob with square rosette (which is what they call the escutcheon/backplate).

And then I found the Emtek round knob with square rosette, which I might like a little better. I think it's going to come down to which one feels better in the hand.

But then I had a panic moment and thought something more like this would look better on a Crestview Westhaven door.

The longness of it might match the windows nicely. But I always think these types of handles are more commercial in nature, and it might look weird on our mid-century home.

Schlage Mid-Century Backplates

Mid-century escutcheons are harder to find than I thought they'd be. But I did find some pretty sweet vintage ads for them. Like this one for Schlage Color-Accent Doorways:And this one:I do like the cross hair design, but it's probably a little much in real life.

Mad for Mid-Century Door Knobs

As any mid-century enthusiast does, I watch Mad Men and droll. My latest in-show obsession is a rather small background piece, the escutcheons on the office doors (the square door plate behind the knob).
I love the circle knob contrasted with the square plate. I'm already picturing how good something like that would look on a Crestview Door.

Update:
I found a modern version of the Mad Men door knobs.

Mid-Century Austin Find: Danish Modern Credenza

I am a mid-century sideboard and credenza junky and Uptown Modern just got in a beaut.Love the circles.

Broyhill Premier Vintage Furniture Ad

Another interesting find while flipping through some mid-century magazines.
The advertisement copy reads:

Let Broyhill Premier turn "how" into "know how"

200-page complete guide to home decorating ... 25¢
Let Broyhill Premier, outstanding furniture manufacturer, show you how to decorate with confidence. First with "The Personal Touch in Interior Decorating" by world famous authority, Betty Pepis. A guide to principles of good taste and individual planning. Then with the modern and classic groups of furniture, designed by Broyhill Premier, to bring lasting beauty to your home. For the Betty Pepis book, please send 25¢ and your name and address to Broyhill Premmier, P.O. Box 554, Lenoir, North Carolina. We will also send you colorful brochures of leading Broyhill Premier furniture collections.

BROYHILL PREMIER

Now, beyond looking for a Broyhill Sculptra brochure, I'll be keeping an eye out for "The Personal Touch in Interior Decorating."

Austin Vintage Sale

Looking for a little mid-century Austin fun this weekend? Then head to the North Loop Strip block party for fun, food and, most importantly, sales.
For those not up on the Austin vintage furniture scene, North Loop is home to Room Service and Hog Wild Vintage. For those of you more into the vintage clothing scene, Ermine Vintage and Blue Velvet are on North Loop as well. There are plenty of other great local businesses to check out while you're up there.

A new one that I'm hoping to check out is Ecotopes. It looks they do some really interesting mid-century modern landscape design, and our yard can use some help.

Our Mid-Century Ceiling

A little more virtual flipping though vintage magazine ads and I came across this:
Maybe not the most exciting mid-century ad, unless you happen to have that exact ceiling. And we have that exact ceiling. I love our little white tiles a little more now.

Vintage Broyhill Premier Furniture Ad

Google books is one of my new favorite things. I didn't know you could flip through vintage magazines until recently.

I love flipping through mid-century magazines to look at the ads - both because of the copywriting (oh, the days we body copy was paragraphs long) and for mid-century design inspiration. I was recently doing just that when I came across this little jem: a two page spread for the Broyhill Premier Invitation collection.It looks a lot like the Broyhill Sculptra collection with the squares motif, however the Invitation collection also has reed details as well.

The ad really speaks to the changing design sensibilities of the time. The first paragraph reads:

What a wide, wonderful freedom of choice Invitation gives you! This dramatic grouping includes thirty-seven prestige pieces in sophisticated Transitional styling ... all design-related so you can correlate your rooms in the best modern taste ... all harmoniously at home in either modern or traditional surroundings ... many so versatile in style and service they can be used in virtually any room in the home.

Herman Miller Giveaway

Mid-century furniture manufacturing legend Herman Miller is having a contest. And you can enter here.

The deeper into the contest the better the prize, culminating in five one-of-a-kind, artist-painted Eames rockers.

Broyhill Sculptra Brochure

I know that there is a Broyhill Sculptra furniture brochure out there. In fact there are probably few. However, try as I might, I can not get my hands on one, or an image of one.

I contacted Broyhill furniture headquarters to see if they happened to have any on file, and they don't. I also contacted some random guy on a mid-century furniture forum who said he had one, but after promising he'd email me a scan of it, he fell off the face of the planet.

But I have all of my web alerts on high alert, so if one pops up on the internet, or even a mention of one, I'll know. I would love to see what the entire line included and once I track down a copy, I'll be sure to share.

Update: I was finally able to track down a Broyhill Sculptra brochure.

Mid-Century Austin Estate Sale

Have some free time this weekend and some free cash to spend? Then there's a mid-century estate sale that you should check out.

Here are the details:
8108 Mesa Dr. Suite A-102B
Sept. 10 & 11: 10am-4pm, Sept. 12: 12pm-4pm

You have to love an estate sale that promotes itself with, "Offers considered on all items over $50. Discounts on Sunday."

Broyhill Sculptra Dresser

I realized that I never put up pictures of the Broyhill Sculptra 6-drawer dresser (which we found on craigslist) that inspired the purchase of the Broyhill desk. It doesn't have the classic square pattern that defines most of the Sculptra furniture line, but I prefer this look.
The handle that started it all
The Broyhill Premier collection logo to prove it's a Sculptra
The drawers match the desk perfectly
Isn't mid-century furniture pretty?

One Mid-Century Bar, Many Uses

I'm still trying to find out what collection our American of Martinsville bar was part of, but after many hours on Google I might have to call this one done, without an answer.

I'm having such a hard time because it may have been part of multiple collections. It at least has many uses:

The second piece of a bench
The top of a buffet
The bottom of a book shelf
And it seems that in some cases it had legs, but in most it didn't - ours doesn't. That's one very versatile mid-century liquor cabinet.

Mid-Century Austin Homes Tour

The 2010 AIA Austin Homes Tour has been announced, and it looks like there are a lot of modern and mid-century modern homes for people to tour. For example, this uber-modern atomic ranch renovation project
Here's what the builders had to say about it:

Our project creatively transformed an older house in an inner city neighborhood from a small, nondescript, one story cottage into an efficient, hip, two story dwelling for a young couple to showcase their collection of art, midcentury modern furniture, and furnishings.

And here's a time lapse video of the renovation


I just hope all the homes are stroller accessible.

More American of Martinsville Info

American of Martinsville has an extensive history and is still producing furniture today, but here's their streamlined story with the pertinent parts for a mid-century fan: Founded in 1906 by Virginia tobacco producers, American of Martinsville furniture line consisted of only bedroom furniture. In the early 1920s the company added dining room furniture and began to expand its offerings through a number of diverse styles. In the 1950s, as the company grew, so did American of Martinsville's reputation for styling and design leadership. With products in almost every design, the company continued to expand its offerings to cover the living room, in both wood and upholstered furniture.

The adjectives that are used to describe American of Martinsville's mid-century furniture the most are "Danish modern" and "high-quality" - at least from what I've found online. And the easiest way to spot their vintage stuff is either by these slats or these pulls and Xs Neither of which the mid-century bar I'm tracking down has, which is making it a little harder to pin down what collection it's from.

American of Martinsville Mid-Century Bar

Doing research on Broyhill furniture was pretty interesting, so I'm going to track down information on the other mid-century furniture pieces in our house. Up next, the bar we found on craigslist a few years ago.
It's an American of Martinsville bar.
In the top drawer it has a mechanized tray, with glass holders, that comes out when you open the door. Behind the tray is a mirror and a light to make your barware look swank.
Under that on the left is a cabinet with a drawer for silverware, swizzle sticks, etc. And on the right is a big cabinet to hold the booze.
I'll try to find out more about American of Martinsville and what line the bar might be from.

Mid-Century Famous

Thanks to Pam over at Retro Renovation for adding Mid-Century Austin Living to their blogroll. I've been a long time reader (and a former pink bathroom owner). It's nice to see the Mid-Century Austin Living name among the other great blogs there.

Mid-Century Austin Find: Vintage Airplane Seats

I love searching for vintage furniture online. But our house is getting full, so let me help you fill yours with some finds.

Circa 1962, these seats have been recently reupholstered in original Knoll fabric. Seats recline, have the original ashtray, seat belts and magazine storage in back. Could be perfect for a travel-themed nursery.

Broyhill Sculptra Desk

Our Broyhill Scupltra desk was finally delivered. It's a fantastic example of mid-century furniture. Here are the beauty shots.

This will go great in front of our mid-century chair.

Broyhill Sculptra Furniture Ad

I found this Broyhill Sculptra collection advertisement in the Tuesday, March 3, 1964 edition of the Red Bank Register (from New Jersey).

The text reads:

Sculptra Collection...
"Imaginative interiors for imaginative people"

No surprise ... to find such interesting styling in fine-grained walnut. For Foam Interiors makes a point of timeless styling to enhance your way of life. No surprise to find such a variety of pieces ... from unusual room dividers to a modern poster bed. And, naturally, you'd expect such quality details as pieces with "Corolith" tops that look like slate but will not crack ... as a new type of ball-bearing construction so that drawers glide with ease no matter what the weather. But if you glance at the prices shown here—you're in for the always-pleasant surprise that good taste need not be expensive. Tomorrow, see Sculptra and you'll see one of the finest furniture values in years.

shown above:
Triple Dresser, 66" wide 149.00
Framed plate glass mirror 39.00
Master Chest, 42x17x43" 119.00
Bookcase Bed 99.00
Night Stand, 24x15x23" 44.00

Make it a point to stop in for Foam Interiors' free brochure on Sculptra's dining and bedroom groups.

Now I know there's a Broyhill Sculptra furniture brochure out there, I just need to find it.