Belluschi House

This weekend don’t miss the Architectural Heritage Center’s second annual Heritage Home Tour. This year the Pietro Belluschi house in Willamette Heights is on the tour.The home completed in 1948 and it was the last house he designed before becoming the Dean of the MIT School of Architecture & Planning, and was said to be his favorite.  He liked it so much that he purchased the property upon returning to Portland in 1973, and lived there the rest of his life.

Tour Details:

Saturday, July 30, 2011
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Members: $35 per person
General Public: $50 per person

Visit the AHC website to purchase your tickets.

Summer Garage Sale and Other Events at The Good Mod

Head down to The Good Mod warehouse this coming Sunday for a summer time sale, art, MCM furnishing/decor,  jewelry, lemonade, fun. Presented by Big Things.

Rummer Home

There will be an auction for Rummer items beginning May 26th, 2011 through June 2nd, 2011. The auction will be in Ebay under the seller name “bobrummer”.

Items included:

• Pieces of furniture displayed in the original Rummer showcase home and used by the Rummer’s in their homes through the years
• Vintage Danish modern rosewood credenza
• Rosewood Danish modern table
• Documents and drawings signed by Bob Rummer
• Vintage Magazine Articles and Rummer Ads.

Have fun shopping!

Rummer Owners

You can now purchase the official Rummer designed home plaque customized with the year your home was built. Order on the Rummer Network website.

The Good Mod Showroom

I had the pleasure of attending a special MCML event  a couple of weeks ago hosted by the The Good Mod. I was especially excited to attend because while I have seen all of the inventory on The Good Mods website and have seen some of it staging the Milepost 5 Condos, I had yet to venture down to the actual warehouse.

The Good Mod is a home decor and furnishing store that specializes in vintage 1920′s – 1970′s.  The warehouse/showroom is a 7,000 sq ft space in the close in industrial area of Sellwood. It is huge and you can walk through aisles with shelving full of great mid century finds. The back of the warehouse is a staged showroom with 2 floors that has wood floors that have been repaired with metal plates, weathered steel walls, old wood beams that are the perfect canvas to set these beautiful pieces against.

This store is a must see and shop if you haven’t been. Tip: If you think that you might be there for an extended period of time dress warmly, it is a huge warehouse that gets quite cold.

The Good Mod is located at :

4701 SE 24th

Portland, OR 97202

Open Mon, Wed – Sun 11:00am – 6pm or by appointment if you can’t make those hours

Check out their website for updated inventory and follow them on Facebook where they share good tips and finds.

The Good Mod Warehouse

The Good Mod Warehouse

vintage Pyrex mixing bowls

Some of my favorite (and most entertaining) Facebook friends to follow are the owners of Sputnik Housewares Marci Holcomb and Austin Jordan and of course the Sputnik fan page. They are always posting about the most amazing finds at garage/estate sales and thrift store adventures that make a not as “gifted” vintage housewares hunter absolutely jealous but also fuels the addiction fire  to keep searching and fine tuning those hunting skills.

The most wonderful thing about the owners of Sputnik is that they offer their amazing scores for sale at good prices for the vintage housewares lover that doesn’t have the time, patience, luck, knowhow but still want excellent condition sets of mid century goods.  They sell a healthy stock of merchandise in the Deco to Disco store on Hawthorne. Everything from a full primary Pyrex mixing bowl set (my current obsession) to rare tiki mugs, working hand mixers & lots more.

For the upcoming holidays, Marci let me know they will be bringing out their  light up vintage lawn ornaments (which have a serious following and sell out really quickly so get there soon), Sunbeam stand mixers for baking, and special vintage holiday cocktail sets.

If you are not local don’t worry you can still shop at Sputnik online on their newly established Etsy store.    To check out the merchandise that they currently have in stock at Deco to Disco you can see it on their Faceook page and don’t forget to become a fan.

Deco to Disco is located at:

1960 SE Hawthorne

Portland, OR 97214

Mid Century Homes for Sale in Portland

bubble lamp love

e15 tafel hp01 Hans De Pelsmacker, 2000 design

After spending way too much time drooling over their website, I finally took a couple of minutes out of my day to stop by Hive Modern’s showroom on NW Glisan in downtown Portland to touch and feel their fabulous modern offerings for your contemporary modern or mid century modern home. The showroom is a small, light and bright well utilized space that is merchandised very beautifully. They sell well designed furniture, lighting, housewares, decor and  have a good children’s selection. The list of designers that they sell is long and includes favorites such as Eames, Saarinen, Panton, Noguchi, Nelson and a lot more to browse here. If you live in the Portland area or plan to visit, make sure Hive is on the must visit list.

Modern Kids Corner

Alessi Accessories

Hive Modern is located in the Pearl District at 820 NW Glisan Portland, OR 97209

Pearl District Portland

Other stuff you might like:

• Rummer Built Mid Century Modern Home
• Sunlight Community – Contemporary Modern Home

George Perrou - retro modern art

I have had the opportunity to attend two of Portland artist George Perrou’s openings at the fabulous Elroy Art Space. The first show was his “Dreams of Eames” opening and just last weeks “Shipwrecks of Sparta” opening.  Perrou’s work is inspired by mid century animation, colors, decor, art and life.  Perrou’s method is unique in that he uses tape (as one time stencils) and a knife to create the sharp , overlapping lines on his canvases.  The contrast of vibrant background colors with the sharp geometric images draws you in and gives one the overwhelming sense of nostalgia for the days when you spent endless hours in a different world with The Jetsons.

George Perrou - retro modern art

You can view more of Perrou’s work (and buy it) through the Elroy Art website.

Also, here is the OPB Oregon Art Beat feature on George Perrou.

George Perrou - retro modern art

Mid Century related posts/pages:

• Mid Century Modern Homes
• Mid Century Modern Home Furnishing

loads of natural light pouring in from the great wall of windows (and all over the Noguchi table)

UPDATE: THIS HOME IS CURRENTLY NOT ON MARKET

I had the opportunity the other day to go and tour a late 70′s contemporary modern home that is for sale ($750k) in a quiet SW hills neighborhood. I love  most things modern but a lot of times I cringe when I think of late 70′s early 80′s anything to do with homes because of the finish work we typically find in these homes. However, the owners of this contemporary modern have a great sense of style and design and the home itself is more of a well laid out canvas that has allowed them to imprint their great taste on it without making it feel or look awkward. The house flows seamlessly from room to room where each new room is more comfortable than the last. The house is situated high on a hill so the main living space (pictured above)and family room has forested mountain views as far as the eye can see that are very soothing while the huge rock encrusted fireplace gives you the cozy feel that you are in a comfy ski lodge, taking a break from the slopes.

cozy up in the Eames lounge chair in front of the fireplace and the view? yes please

custom Doug Fir front door (photo: Marisa Swenson)

Two huge custom Doug Fir grid doors invite you into a slate entryway where you can go either head to the living room that opens to the sky or take a left and go to a couple of bedrooms, office or up a flight of stairs to the landing and open hallway that overlooks the living room. The master suite is nice and separate from the rest of the home with a balcony that is so high up, it feels like you are on top of the world. The master bath/spa has a large soaking tub imported from England, teak cabinets, Pratt & Larsen (local company) sliced pebble walk in shower, and connected is a huge closet.

custom Euro spa bathroom with hidden toilet

The landscaping surrounding the house was done by a Kurisu trained professional landscape architect by the name of Sadafumi Uchiyama, who is currently the Garden Curator at the Portland Japanese Gardens.

Lesson learned: don’t ignore late 70′s modern, with a great design sense and quality finishes, they can make very warm, pleasant homes.

P.S. I also suggested that they make the furnishing negotiable since they have so many great pieces that make the house even more fascinating.

Click on map below to view RMLS listing:

SW contemporary modern home

Photos used with permission of listing broker.

Verner Panton chairs manufactured by Herman Miller in September, 1974, in vibrant orange molded plastic.

Danish Modern Living Room Set

convertible sofa bed by Hans Wegner (not sure how long that sale was going)

The other I day I was out and about picking up flyers from the printers, there were no parking spaces in the usual vicinity, so I had to park a couple of blocks away. I jumped out of the car and saw a small a-frame reader board that said “mid-century modern furniture” and had an arrow pointing up.  I looked up and saw a door to a narrow staircase, so I decided to pop in to see what they had.  What I expected to walk into was a 1,500 – 2,000 sq. ft. space with a couple of overpriced pieces that were more intended for an e-bay sale. What I walked into, after the couple of flights of stairs, was an 8,000 sq ft warehouse packed full (not uncomfortably) of amazing Danish mid century modern home furniture in great/excellent condition. Rooms full of Eames chairs, mid century credenzas, sofas, it goes on for quite a while (and so could I). I was not completely shocked by the pricing, it was what I expect to see this type of furnishing in this type of  condition, and when I was there they were having a 20% off of everything sale.  I met one of the owners and they told me they had been there for awhile but are only open Fri. – Sun. (they actually do a lot of their business on-line), check their site for hours and stop by if you can, it is breathtaking.

Look Modern is located at:

800 SE Clay

Portland, OR 97214

Here is a sneak peek at my holiday wish list!

More about Rejuvenation and what they do:

• Rejuvenation Inc.

The showroom is located at:

1100 Southeast Grand Avenue

Portland, OR 97214

The Bubble Light Calendar

Howard Miller Clock Company Advertisement

I am not paid to endorse this product, I just really like it.

Other Modern Home Posts:

• Mid Century Modern Homes
• Rummer Mid Century Modern Home-Portland Oregon
• Janus Home – Vintage Modern Furniture