MCM Zenith Console Manual

Last fall I scored a super awesome mid century Zenith stereo console. Since then I received a lot of great feedback and even stories from others around the country that have found the same piece. Recently a few requests have been floating around for a manual. Luckily the original one for our unit is still tucked in the album niche and now it's here for anyone who needs it. The full PDF can now be found here, cheers!

Thrift Store Score - Homecrest Siesta Chaise

The other night I got a text from my mother that went something like: "Stopped by our Goodwill today, they had a wire chaise like your outdoor chair set." She was referring to our collection of Homecrest wire chairs in our back yard. After an anxious phone call later, she agreed to stop by the next day, and by that evening we had our long hunted Homecrest Siesta chaise and our next furniture restoration project. I knew just the spot in our solarium for it to reside.

I don't know how hard these are to find, but I've been looking for over 5 years for one to fill in our collection. Beyond looking killer, this chair is SUPER comfortable, I'm talking 'did I just fall asleep for a couple hours?' comfy. Like our other Homecrest chairs, this one swivels has an adjustable spring loaded mechanism, ours is seized with paint. Sandblasting, priming and powdercoating will be required before we endeavour in some custom made covers. Fabric is already on my mind, how sweet would this look in some Girard Millerstripe?

Time to RSVP Your Miller Residence Tour

photo courtesy of IMA

Sometimes, it has been said, the best things in life come in threes. In 1953, the combination of Eero Saarinen, Dan Kiley, and Alexander Girard created one of the finest examples of residential modernism, the Miller House. Debuting for public touring starting May 10, the house will be available to the public after several years of meticulous care by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. There is no doubt the house, interiors, and its surrounding gardens represent the epitome of Mid Century Modernism at its best.

photo courtesy of IMA

I was fortunate enough to tour the house last spring along with other bloggers on the now legendary Columbus blogger tour. From the geometric landscape to the sunken conversation pit to the atomic awesome thoroughness of the house, there's no doubt a tour will rock you to your modern soul. If you're local, it's less than 2 hours away, there are no excuses. CF3 is currently setting up their group tour set for mid July. For more info, be sure to visit the Columbus Indiana website for more info and to book a scheduled tour now.

photo courtesy of IMA

Thrift Store Score - Art Glass & Beyond

One of the great things about collecting is the surprise finds that lead down collection roads you had never noticed. One of the roads we've recently discovered is the world of modern art glass. It's one of those things that are surprising in how little you actually know about all things modern. I've always been a fan of Chihuly, had been familiar with Blenko, but until recently have come to know names such as Murano, Fenton, and Viking.
I could say it all started with the piece to the left, my recent $4 thrift store score, but it really goes back to another thrift store score of a nice large Polish Art Glass piece found almost 2 years ago. This 8" Turquoise bowl sat lonely on the bottom shelf for weeks, I walked by it multiple times, referred Wendy to stop by and look, then finally without warning, it jumped off the shelf into my hand. I mean how can you resist a hefty colorful piece?

After the thrift purchase and some online research I was hooked, we needed to build our collection some so we headed up to Waynesville Antique Mall (be sure to check them out on Facebook) and purchased a few more pieces. I was shocked at the variety and selection we found of modern art glass there. This gray vase stands as the anomaly to our small collection.

Another Waynesville Antique Mall purchase. The glass with the bubbles makes me a little bubbley myself.

Green is our default house color, we had to make sure to keep with the rhyme scheme. This too was purchased at Waynesville Antique Mall.

And last but not least is the latest entrant into the collection. I think this piece might be real Murano, I've understood that the gold flecking was a trademark move by Murano makers. That with the spiraling air bubbles leave no doubt in the craftsmanship and work that went into this little piece. This was our lone purchase at the 20th Century Show this year. Be sure to check out some more photos from the show on our Facebook Page.

20th Century Cincinnati - Day 1

Checking in live from the CF3 table, this year's show is packed to gills with modernists. Being next to the entry, I am witnessing a steady stream of purchases going out the front door. I wanted to highlight some of the local vendors representing Cincinnati. To the left CF3's modest table.
Susan Rissover from Cincinnati Modern has a plethora of modern properties for sale.

The Fisks from Mainly Art never disappoint, how many Eames chairs can you fit in one booth?

Design Smith Gallery's booth.

The guys from Atomic Style Home have an amazing Jere-esque wall sculpture headlining their booth this year.

If you need to add to your art collection, there's no shortage of Charley Harper work. Be sure to stop by the Harper Art Studio booth and grab a Ford Times print before they are all gone.

20th Century Cincinnati 2011

If you're starting to sweat with cabin fever, the snow is starting to melt, and your itch for modern eye candy has grown to its brink, finally, it's time to get your modern on at the 20th Century Cincinnati show this weekend. Being one of the largest modernism shows in the region, it's guaranteed not to disappoint. A lot of modernists are traveling from out of town for the weekend. Yours truly will be stationed at the CF3 table both Saturday and Sunday morning, make sure to stop by to see all the great events CF3 has planned for the year. Also be sure to tune in to the facebook event page to let us know if you're planning to attend. In the meantime, you can reminisce about some of the extra-curricular events from last year here and here.