The Mid-Century Modern Art of Pyrex Designs

I've been hunting vintage Pyrex bowls at estate sales recently. They scream mid-century kitchen and look great even if you don't have a full set. 

Pocono Modern has an entire line of Pyrex-inspired art that you can hang right alongside your Pyrex collection. The Pyrex designs make a perfect transitions to paper, even when they're simplified and streamlined to give them a more modern look.

The good thing about Pyrex and Pocono Modern is that no matter what color your kitchen is, they probably have something that matches.

Mid-Century Exit Sign Typography

Sometimes you just have to look around you to find amazing mid-century design hidden in the details. This exit sign is in a 1950s building I'm in about once a week, but today was the first time I looked above the door to see it. I love the typography on it. The E that almost closes in a circle, the T that has a loop – you don't see signs like this much anymore in our sans serif, safe font world.

Mid-Century-Inspired Art by Human Shaped Robot

If the walls of your mid-century modern home could use a little more love and color, Human Shaped Robot has well-priced prints that can help. Their work has a modern grunge and pixel feel while still keeping true to its mid-century inspiration

If you want to add a little more kitsch to your kitchen, Just Like Moms is just for you.

Or if your media room needs something a little more analog, check out the Radio Dial.

Broyhill Facet Furniture Info

Sometimes you just have to wait for an answer. Sometimes you have to wait a while. Two years ago I got a question about the Broyhill Premier Facet furniture; a line I knew, and still know, little about. Recently though a reader was kind enough to point me to a listing on Urban Dwellers.

Urban Dwellers confirmed my assumption that the Facet furniture line was made sometime in the 1960s, but that's where things take a twist.

"Broyhill Facet was produced for less than one year before being discontinued, as the production cost was deemed too high. Almost no pieces from this series exist; a shame, as the design is entirely independent from the popular Brasilia, Sculptra and Saga series. The dresser is fashioned from a solid hardwood base overlaid with light-toned walnut veneer."

So there's good reason that there's little info about the Broyhill Facet line floating around; Broyhill Facet furniture wasn't around very long. Hopefully as more people see the line and fall in love with it (for good reason), more information will surface too.

Space Age Travel Posters from NASA

Nothing inspires the mind like travel, except maybe the idea of interplanetary travel. That's what makes these travel poster's from NASA the perfect addition to any kid's room. 

They're pretty clearly inspired by WPA national parks posters, with some influence by classic mid-century travel posters and maybe even a touch of Justin Van Genderen's work.

You can't buy them, but you can download print-quality versions here.

Mid-Century Kid's Book: Walk This World

Walk This World has the clean-line, mid-century look that feels right at home in any mid-century house, but also has all the modern-day travel lessons that every travel-themed nursery should encapsulate.  

It's beautiful on every level. Plus, what kid doesn't love a book that has pop-ups?

Broyhill Sculptra Desk on Austin Craigslist

It's not often that I see an unnamed Broyhill Sculptra desk on Craigslist these days, but this one is simply labeled "mid-century modern desk." Still, it's not the super deal you hope to find when you stumble upon an unmarked item. It's a little bit of a deal, but pretty close to market price for the Austin market.

Guess that just speaks to the aesthetic of the Broyhill Sculptra line. Even when sellers don't know what they have, they know they have something special.

A Message from Your Friendly Neighborhood Mid-Century Blogger

Hi readers (those of you that are left),

I do my best to make sure this site isn't about me, other than things I may be doing to my mid-century home, but after posting for five times a week for almost five years, I haven't posted in four months. That deserves some explanation.

Much like a certain West Philadelphian, my life got flipped-turned upside down. I went through a slight career shift to become a Sr. Content Strategist. I help my wife launch a new website for the best marketing firm in Austin. We're selling our first home – not the one you've seen on this site, the one we bought before this blog started and have been renting for a while. And a few other things happened that the internet doesn't need to know about. The long and short of it is, I had to select what I was going to focus on and as much as I love it, writing about mid-century stuff every day didn't make the cut. What started as a little break to keep my head above water turned into an extended sabbatical so I could keep the balance.

However, life is getting back to a normal pattern now, or it should be in the near future. With that, I'm hoping that my posting schedule will return to something closer to normal here on Mad for Mid-Century. I can't promise that it will be back to five posts a week for the next five years, but I can promise you that I think about posting every day and I'm going to start doing it more often than not.

Apologize for the break. Thanks for sticking around. And to new readers, I'll have something for you real soon.