Mad for Midcentury

Tags for Mad for Midcentury: mid-century midcentury modern austin 1950s

A mid-century home blog from Austin, TX.

Mid-Century is Hot in Austin

Authors: Justin Clemens


Three mid-century neighborhoods in Austin got name dropped by RedFin in their 2013 Hottest Neighborhoods list. Of course, if you've been reading this blog, you already know that those are hot spots for finding your own slice of mid-century. However, after making the list they might be too hot to buy.

Here's what RedFin...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

Easy World Map Mural for a Travel Nursery

Authors: Justin Clemens


We love the painted world map wall mural in our travel-themed nursery. But it was admittedly a pretty large effort to get it all painted. Between outlining with small brushes, letting it dry and filling in with bigger brushes and painting it all twice to make it look even, the world map mural took over three...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

Mid-Century Modern Color Trends

Authors: Justin Clemens

The first time I heard the name Doty Horn was in this episode of Off Book.


Doty was the Director of Color and Design at Benjamin Moore for seven years but has since moved on to open her own color forecasting and color marketing company, ColorVoyant. Two years ago she had some interesting things to say about...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

List of Great Architects

Authors: Justin Clemens


Here's a fun little film with, The ABCs of Architects. It's nice to see some mid-century staples like Niemeyer and Wright make the list.

In case the letters go by too quickly, here's the full list:

Alvar AAlto :: Säynätsalo Town Hall :: Finland
Luis Barragán :: Satellite Towers :: Mexico City
Santiago Calatrava :: Lyon...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

Mid-Century American of Martinsville Hotel Furniture

Authors: Justin Clemens

About once a week or so, someone will email me a question about mid-century furniture. And more often than not it's about pricing mid-century furniture. But it's not every day someone emails and says, "I am dealing with the estate that owns the Park Avenue Motel in Herrin, IL. This is a 20+ room complex built in the late 50s...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

VW Bus Fire Truck Wagon for Kids

Authors: Justin Clemens


Not too long ago I wrote about a VW bus wagon that I happened to see at a local park. I was too busy drooling over the VW wagon to ask the important questions like, "Where can I buy one?" Luckily the person who made the wagon happened to stop by Mad for Mid-Century. And that person is Dan Coulbury of Coulbury Design, a...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

Taubmans Mid-Century Paint Ad

Authors: Justin Clemens


I'm falling in love with vintage ads by Taubmans paint. First there was the Taubmans Revelite Festival Pink paint ad and now this one, which has more copy than any other paint ad I've ever seen (and I know a few things about copywriting). I'm still amazed that paint companies advertised so heavily in black and...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

Mid-Century Modern Christmas Decorations at JCP

Authors: Justin Clemens

I think our tree looks great with our mid-century modern star tree topper, but every now and then I wonder what a glass finial would look like on top. Our Modern Mess has me asking the question again with their find of mid-century modern christmas decorations on clearance at JCPenney.

There are a few glass finials and a box...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

Mid-Century House Paint Colors from House Garden

Authors: Justin Clemens


The September 1948 cover of House & Garden has a pretty outstanding collection of mid-century colors for painting. 

The list of their mid-century paint colors includes: geranium red, sweet pink, stone gray, kingfisher blue, purple heather, sprout green, citron yellow, brick, avocado green,...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury

A Vintage Travel Poster Gift

Authors: Justin Clemens

My family came down to Austin for a holiday visit and along with all the presents that were wrapped up in pretty packages, my mom handed me a garbage bag and said, "We found these in grandpa's basement and I thought you'd want them." I didn't know whether to be excited or scared. Turns out excited was the correct...

Read more at Mad for Midcentury