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.

Replacing the Font Doors and Faded Window Frames: Winter 2017

Comes in gold, too! 

I have posted before about freshening up faded yellow window frames using yellow electricians tape, and thats a fine solution, but here is an alternative, one that may prove better due to the thinness of pin striping be be less detectable to the discerning eye than thicker plastic tape. 

At Lowes or Home Depot you can buy these great pattern cut sheet metal panels in large or small, as you can see quite affordably. Having never dealt with thin, smooth metal before, I am guessing you would cut to size, prime and paint the correct color. They are rather thin and flexible, so if I were to fashion some new front doors I would plan on creating a sturdy frame on which to place the cut panels, or cut thin hobby wood panels to size, sand, prime and paint them to match, These would be a higher quality alternative to the plastic factory doors, and being solid and not see through would be kind of cool. would love to see some photos from blog fans.

More Affordable Patio Piece Solution - $1.98 - $7.50 Each!

While perusing the Walmart auto section, I saw these $15 for the pair) and thought what a perfect and inexpensive solution to adding more patio space to either the big Dream Home or the 1982 Country Cottage:

They are very well made (to withstand thousands of pounds of pressure) and are a great color match as well. I didn't buy them since I already have patio triangles as well as 3 extra patio pieces for different configurations, but if I didn't I would have. The only consideration is the carrying handles, which could be cut off with a dremmel tool cutting attachment , or better yet covered with a small rug, yellow paper or mini plants.  =-)

Target: lid from an $11 storage box. Would make a great custom patio centered off the tall narrow glass doors, or a free standing one in the back yard for the BBQ grill and furniture set, perhaps even a parking pad for the '78 'Vette? 

I just got mine, and though I already have plenty of extra patio pieces for my house, if I did not, this would be a steal of a deal, I think every house should have at least 3 or more of these excellent replacement patio pieces, you could even cut them in half with a Dremmel tool to get the coveted, rare and expensive triangular shape patio pieces. RUN don't walk to Ebay and get yours today! 

Alternately, I just saw some on feebay (2023) for $375, OR... you can drive an hour or two and get an entirely original house with those rare patio triangle pieces it came with 45 years ago for under 100 bucks, just search your local Facebook marketplace:

These will definitely need an afternoon soak in piping hot, very soapy bath water before attempting to scrub clean with a soft bristle tooth brush and sponge. get all the water off you can, using Q tips in the crevices, stand up vertically against the bathroom wall on a large bath towel so they can finish draining off, let sit for a few hours to completely dry, THEN they are ready to polish or paint. 
Of course you can always skip the yellow floors and do something custom: 

First Post of 2018: A Frame on Netflix!

This is a GREAT documentary series about the history of some fo the best selling toys in history. I am glad to see the makers included the classic 1970's doll house, the 1978 DreamHouse. While it is on fire (along with Barbie), at least it is on TV for the first time in many, many years. I think it was in reference to Barbie being outsold by Bratz dolls?

And this week on 'Dallas', the Krebs' house, hmmm, strangely familiar! 

Old Dreams and New Ones: Comparing the Classic A Frame with the New Dream House

So, just why do we love this house so much? There are many reasons we could describe. For me, the most obvious answer is the open, moveable lay out of the 1978 house. It is large, open, beautiful, easy to change around what room is where. Thus, every person's house will be a little different. To contrast, the new house is bright and eye catching for sure, yet it the rooms are small, cramped, forced, static, and uncustomizable. While the original house has separate lanterns, the new one has stickers, the older one has 360 degrees of play, the new one is one faced. So, I could go on, but I think the winner here is crystal clear. Another thing I noticed is the price. While I think the 1970's house is a great value for the $110 it was back then, this new house is comparable priced, but in 40 years will grown up children who played with this one collect it and adore it as we do the A Frame? I'm guessing not as much. While the vintage home can be completely disassembled, cleaned, repainted, reimagined, and be restored to factory mint again, will the 2016 house have that same ability? How will the stickers, cardboard, electronics and myriad of small pieces withstand the test of time? Hmmm, that remains to be seen, but I suspect I will still have my pristine 1978 Dream house in my collection. =-) 

Something about these large, bulky, well made, pass down able toys captures my imagination so much better than today's cheap, flat, quickly donated products. 

Buying Experience: Winter 2016 - Black Friday Sale!

I must say, this experience could not have gone any better. As an ebay shopper for 14 years now, I know that the holidays can be an excellent time to pick up some excellent deals on merch. Thus, I went on this Thanksgiving holiday week (Wednesday, I think) and found this lovely:

It originally was an auction style listing, sold for $33 and was relisted (not sure why), then it was on for buy it now for $39.99 with $20.35 for shipping. 

I watched it for a few days and agonized over wether or not I should buy it, if I did, would the seller go to USPS/UPS and realize shipping was $85 and cancel the order, am I misreading this and its not the whole house? Whats the deal, yo?! I read and reread the listing, emailed it to a fellow collector hoping at least they would take advantage of this RARE deal (they passed), had my Thanksgiving holiday and decided that if it was still around that evening, then it was meant to be mine so I would buy it. Sure enough, it was still waiting for me, so I purchased it.

Shipped in a box measuring 32x31x18 (small furniture chest), using string tape and plastic straps (handles), it worked great. Usually furniture cardboard boxes can be a softer type of cardboard, so I prefer new Uhaul/moving boxes with nice crisp corners, but this far exceeds the usual boxes ebay sellers use. 

Not sure where they got these, but they are great for moving this mammoth box around until unpacking. I actually ended up cutting into the box side so I did not have to cut the straps. I am storing the house in this box for now until I can restore the house later and will ship it in this box most likely. 

Excellent packing: lots of styrofoam strips and rectangles, lots of clean, large scale bubble wrap, sections of the house were shrink wrapped in plastic to keep all the parts together. 1 door threshold broke, but I am not upset because it could have been cracked already, admittedly, is a very weak spot and I can superglue it and it will never show once the house is set up. 

A little super glue will fix that. 

Even the post covers (broken, brown and incomplete as they were), were bubble wrapped in a separate box to avoid further damage. 

I emailed the seller to let them know I got the house ok, and how much I appreciated the great communication, fast shipping and professional packing. I do all of this and more and have still yet to have one positive feedback for my ebay account when selling these houses, not sure why, but oh well.

I will post pictures of the after, I don't have the time now for a reno, but looking forward to this one. Its a near complete 1979 house, missing just the closet, one small window, flowers and some post covers. So, I don't want to spend too much money on replacement stuff. Everything needs to be cleaned and painted. The walls are VERY yellowed, so I will be painting those flat white. The roofs and floors are likely the most faded I have ever personally purchased, so will go a different color. The doors and window frames are also bleached almost to white, so will be recolored using auto tape (see hardware aisle, pick any color).

Idea one is to reinvent this house with different 70's colors: cream/tan walls, orange roof, medium brown floors, orange or brown doors/windows. While I generally insist on white walls, I would try cream since I am having to paint the walls anyway.

Idea two is to paint the walls crisp white, the roof light grey and the floors light tan. I would paint the doors light grey, and maybe not put in the windows. The planters would be empty or simple. The idea is to emulate a prototype, or "collector's edition" of the house. I was inspired by the high end Lego line of "architect/designer" line. They are all white, without the distraction of colors. It is meant to highlight the architectural lines. 

Post Covers: Where to Find BRAND NEW, Gleaming White, Minty Replacements

I have found an Ebay seller who has FRESHLY MANUFACTURED, identical post covers (or rail sleeves) for the 1978 A Frame Dream House (and 1982 Cottage) for Barbie. Here is their Ebay page:

Contact the seller via their Ebay account. They are wonderful to work with. You will be glad you did! 

Never have to clean, repair, paint, polish (or make from scratch) post covers again!!

Tell them the Blog host from 1978 A Frame DreamHouse blog sent you.  =-)

This is what you receive, the color is off in this photo because it was kind of dark in the room, however, I can tell you that the shade of white is perfect for your A Frame, Maybe we can persuade the seller to have new doors and windows made. =-) 

Affordable Patio Pieces: A Solution-Based Approach

I scored a total of three floor pieces for a total of $21 (including shipping). These are great, and arguably better than the triangle pieces, for staging patio vignettes. But wait, there's more. The seller was GREAT. Shipped them immediately, and used excellent packing. This could not have gone better!

When you have extra patio pieces, there is much more playability of the home. You can have extra rooms, parking pad, patios, etc as seen here: 

Now you can have a driveway and also extra floors without having to bust up wall pieces, just use scrap wood dowels cut to length, sand, paint white and they are ready to go.