Real Life Examples: 2018-2021

Here are some fresh images of the real life inspiration behind our groovy pad.

It looks ok in this contemporary treatment, however if the entire house was white with yellow front door it would be pretty mod-tastic! 

The yellow brick road in, 'The Wiz' reminds me of our yellow flagstone floors in the 1978 Dream House . 

I know it's a bit grainy, but this is from an episode of Maude circa 1974, and it appears to be a dollhouse-like wall shelf. Since it came out 4 years before the DreamHouse featured on this blog, I wonder if the designer saw this episode and was inspired to create the house we love so much! 

Yep, I would live here. 

There's that asymmetrical lay out with lots of natural light; Americana suburbia at its best! 

Here is the real life 1981 white piano featured here in 1985 on Dynasty.

Here's another striking resemblance, they even have the yellow glass doors and diagonal slats. 

This one is in La Jolla, CA. It kind of looks like an arrow coming out of the ground. It probably costs 5-10 million, and there are other cool examples in the area, but difficult to photograph while driving. 

A New England townhome with that minimalist roofline. 

A Frame as a motel, exhibit A. 

I recognized it as soon as I drove by, had do stop and get a proper picture of it. 

An early 70s condo, in the south east with some familiar lines, exposed beams, possible closet bump out and screen vent slats, of special note is the rectilinear exterior judges paneling on both sides (ala the front doors on the A Frame House). 

Recently, in Northern California, I had the rare opportunity to see inside a 1970's A frame add on to what was originally a simple, plain mid century ranch, so there isn't an A frame downstairs, just upstairs master bed and bath, they had original antique brass chandeliers, rustic earth tone tile, brass hardware, avocado countertop, foil wallpaper, notice the bathroom rug is original and akin to the 1979 TOMY line bathroom rug that always looked like a bacon strip to me, of special note is the iron spiral staircase leading to balcony (something I think Mattel should have included with the house). I made a point to photograph because so many are remodeling and all of this is going away, so here's your chance to see it as it was originally intended. Notice the tile is very similar to the 1979 TOMY line bathroom vanity and tub, almost a perfect match. All of this, spider webs in the eaves not withstanding, appeared almost like new, in nearly mint condition, it has held up well for being around 45 years old. 

What I imagine if looking out from the center piece top floor. 

pretty close similarity if you squint your eyes 

The inspiration behind those wacky floors? 

I'm sure the real life living room would actually look something like this:

So yes, they did have a cobblestone looking floor back then. I have seen green and brown linoleum in 60s kitchens here is a sample: 

They are kind of a variation of the smaller scale tirazzo floors you sometimes see, although a cheaper version. I have seen these on original houses for sale online on Redfin. I am hoping when I buy a house I can score a mid century ranch house that's untouched so I can enjoy floors like these (along with wood cabinets, paneling etc. In other words NO painted wood or half remodels. This stuff, if taken care of is perfectly good 50-75 years later, tile and all.  =-) 

Replacing and Upgrading the Front Lantern Light Fixtures

I have often thought about a better way of doing the front lights. This is especially true when they are not present. In an earlier post where I show cased my re-imagined house in shades of green, I made custom wood globe lamps very reminiscent of the 70s. I would like to use these at some point since, in the 70s there were many Mod houses that had over sized Spanish style wrought iron wall sconce fixtures and I think this would be a nice fit, especially if they are wired for electricity. Its not hard to do, all you need is to run the wire to a battery back concealed in the house someplace and voila! 

You can also light them up quite easily using small LED battery powered light strings from dollar store or amazon: 

Of course missing front lights presents an easy crafting solution. I have my original lanterns, but they are so small and washed out as they are the same color as the walls, so when I collect odd plastic pieces I try to figure out creative things I can do as alternatives for my collection. On this project I used 2 old cat toy balls, 2 medicine applicator tips, two electrical device factory plug covers (painted black) and some thin cardboard covered in shiny black contact paper, cut to size, glue, paint and there it is, two "new" one of a king mid century modern Globe light fixtures. 

Decorated Rooms: Ideas for Your House

These may give you some ideas on what to do with each of the rooms: 

My bathroom is not finished yet, though I wanted to show how well all of the 'faded from pink to peach color works well together, the sink is Arco with a working sprayer nozzle. I just need to glue the blue shower head back on the yellow tub hose. The tall free standing mirror is a generic one from china that is built like a gloria piece. I bought two, one came in (dull) gold and this white one. the scale is great, and it matches the 70s style gloria rocking chair that I painted yellow and brown and usually keep in the house. I did make a wire basket hanging chair I will post pictures of later when I install it.

Repainted sink consoles and custom lighting really work great. I've made cheap and easy lights from dollar store or ebay string or night lights, some even come in the shape of a mini lamp. 

The Philippe Starck ghost chairs work really well with these houses. 

Entrance and patio ideas for the house are limitless. I also prefer the red lanterns for the big house. 

The Arco sink works perfectly. 

Short on original furniture? Gloria brand saves the day. 

1978 Mattel A Frame DreamHouse 40th Anniversary!!!

It's difficult to believe this iconic toy is 4 decades old this year. But, here we are. At 40 years into this house's existence, we have now seen the gradual rescue, collection, restoration, and even reinvention of it through various means. Here's to another 40 years of loving this house!

This is the perfect post to showcase this great new book I got about A Frame houses. The intro I have included here because it is about how A Frames were very popular from the 50's to the 70's and then fell out of favor, and now that they are trendy again the current generation's take on them. Put simply they represent optimism, coziness and sense of play.