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.