Mid-century Modernism
Our new home was built in 1956 and extensively remodeled this year in a style consistent with the modernist architectural and design ideas that were prevalent when the house was new.
A new home
On July 29th, we moved from a 1930 brick Tudor (complete with an unusual "barrel" ceiling in the living room) to a home built in 1956. Besides adding 50% more square feet (room for Lina and a media room), we moved from the relatively haphazard ('20s, '30s, '40s intermixed) Salmon Bay part of Ballard (in North Seattle) to a "mid-century" development where nearly all the homes were built in the '50s.
Anyone who knows Stephanie and me knows we are (er, were) among the least likely candidates to move to a development. In fact, when we were first house hunting, Lee Whalen (our real estate agent extraordinaire, not "Wailin' Lee Whalen" of The Sleepless Knights jazz band) asked, "Have you considered Olympic Manor?" We both immediately said no, we hadn't and that "We don't like '50s houses." I, especially, didn't like the "flat brick" look that many of the Seattle houses built in the '50s have. Of course, it turned out Lee was right.
It all started with an offer we made on a '40s house in Sunset Hill (on which we were outbid by two other buyers). The things we liked about that house again led Lee to think that we might like '50s houses after all, and eventually we did look at a house in "The Manor." And we liked it. We didn't love it, though, and thought we'd have to do a lot of work on it. We made an offer that we thought was fair (especially considering it still had oil heat, needed a new kitchen and there was known asbestos in the kitchen floor); the sellers wouldn't even counter-offer. But there was this other house on 23rd that Stephanie spotted being remodeled (she recognized the telltale port-a-potty, or, as they call them around here for some twisted reason, "honey bucket"). When we were looking at comps for the first offer in the Manor, we came across the same house because it had sold back in March. The "before" pictures in the comp listing were, well, not exactly our cup of tea. Blue carpet (Stephanie hates blue--and doesn't think much of carpet), an original (but painted-over) kitchen and other signs of long inhabitance by the same people meant there'd be a lot of work to get it where we'd want it. But it had sold cheaply enough that maybe even with the remodel that it was undergoing, we'd be able to buy it.
Stephanie drove past it every day on her way home from work and reported on the progress ("You should have seen what they pulled out of the garage today!"). She religiously surfed the real estate agency websites and could tell you (she told me) which ones were always first to post pictures (I think it was John L. Scott) and which were the last to pull down sold properties (Lake Realty). We knew they were getting close when they hung the "flying saucer" lamp in the dining area. Then, on a fateful Saturday, it was finally listed. We were able to see the house that afternoon, and decided to make an offer. It was everything we wanted (well, Stephanie would have liked a walk-in closet) and more. The remodel was great and very much in the "mid-century modernist" style, about which we knew virtually nothing before, but of which we are now fans. It turned out that Lee was right--we do like '50s houses--they are much more practical for modern living than smaller, older homes (the post-war economy enabled people to start accumulating "things", especially including modern conveniences such as appliances and vacuum cleaners, so kitchens and closets are roomier. Entertainment spaces had become important (Stephanie also bought me a copy of the Patio Daddy-O cookbook), and we like that aspect, too.
We quickly put together an offer and by Tuesday it had been accepted. The sale closed July 29th and we moved in that weekend.
As you can see in the pictures above, we have made furnishing choices that are consistent with the simple, clean, modern look of a mid-century home. We've also done this without spending a fortune. We have spent way too much time in that purveyor of inexpensive (sometimes cheap) modern furnishing: IKEA. But we've also bargain hunted at local shops like Collective and the Kasala outlet. Our one splurge was a genuine Noguchi table from Design Within Reach (the copy at Kasala was a poor imitation).
Shane 2005.09.12Oh, and the name? When we viewed the house, the agent had decorated in a modern style and had "casually" left a copy of Atomic Ranch magazine on the coffee table. It stuck. Shane 2005.09.12