From the hand of God

  Anybody need a chandelier? Looks like a church in Staunton Illinois has sadly decided to "upgrade" their lighting. If only I had high ceilings.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/fuo/3602766738.html

Ding Dong

 Today is a glorious day. Why you ask? The answer is simple, I have a working door bell. No longer will I suffer the tyranny of wondering when my frinds have arrived or where my delivery food is. Today I am a free man!

 All thanks to a little NOS (new old stock) found on eBay. It's even a Nutone just like the rest of the doorbell system.

It's not a perfect fit, but I like how well it matches the diamond pattern on the doors.

Let there be light

 Round these parts, weekends mean project time. This weekend was no exception, in fact I got a lot of things accomplished. Most of which have nothing to do with my mid century house, so I'll skip those bits and show you all something of interest. My new(old) kitchen pull down light. 

 As covered in a previous post, many wonderful lighting fixtures exist in my house. Everywhere there are things that not only supply light but also some serious character to my surroundings. The only place that was lacking was the kitchen dining area. At some point years ago a disgusting, bland, chandelier was put in. Nothing about it matched the house. I can only hope it was a quick fix for something that stopped woking. 

 Being on a budget I decided I would for now pass on my dream of owning a Sputnik lamp and see what else awaits me on the pickers heaven of eBay. Low and behold with in an hour of searching I found the perfect piece. 

 Like a wood and golden rocket ship this marvel now hovers above my kitchen table. There are lights on the top and bottom. They can be on all at once or separately. I tried googling the tags on the light but Ive come up with diddle squat. Only that the company “Imperialites” who made it also made a bunch of other lights. Thanks internet. Oh well, all I care is it looks awesome and feels like it belongs in the house. 

Tomorrow Today

I'm sitting here wondering where to start. I'm not a writer by trade. This doesn't come naturally. I'm an animator, tell me you need some pretty shapes moving around on a screen to make your long-winded scientific study seem interesting and Ill have it done lickity-split. Ask me to write said long winded scientific study and you will find me with with ten pages of doodles and nothing written past my name and a title. 

It makes one wonder why I would stumble down the strange and foreign path of blogging. Personally, I blame it on my house. It’s one of those “love at first sight” cliches. I'm pretty much obsessed with the place and I want to share all its weird and wonderful details with everyone. For now I’ll spare you the needless description of how I came to live in my house and move on to the import part. The house itself. 

Listing Photo

The house is almost completely original, unmolested over the ages, save for the addition of carpet in the family room and linoleum over the kitchen floor. Beautifully maintained birch wood paneling adorns many of the walls, and gold fleck Formica counter tops stretch across the oversized eat-in kitchen. No beige or granite in site. It’s a thing of beauty.

I have affectionally dubbed this place “The Home of Tomorrow.” Besides being a big sci-fi dork, when I first went to look at the place I noticed a small round plate under the address marker. It’s of an adorable nuclear family holding hands in front of a house with the words ‘Gold Medallion Home, Live Better Electrically’ emblazoned on it. I’m pretty sure I made the decision to buy the place right then. I’m a sucker for the retro future tech and that medallion is a big screaming icon to such. In order for my house to earn the coveted gold medallion— considered the apex of modern living —it had to be a completely electric house. Including clothes washer and dryer, waste disposal, refrigerator and all-electric heating. The heating is one of the more interesting aspects of the place. It has radiant heat in the ceiling. Yes, the ceiling. Before looking at the place I had never heard of such modern marvels of living. Let me tell you, I feel spoiled now. It’s individually controlled, room by room. I don't turn it up unless I’m going to be in there. It’s also not a dry heat since its not heating the air. No more static shocks, no more running a humidifier all winter. I love it. It also doesn't make any noise. So no turing the TV volume up when the furnace kicks on. After seeing my first winter electric bill I can safely say it costs roughly the same as a normal electric furnace.

Radiant heat thermostat.

The above mentioned medallion.

My unusual ceiling heat is just one of the many incredible details that can be found In my 1960 brick ranch time capsule house. Check back occasionally and see what mischief occurs while I attempt to live in 
“The Home of Tomorrow!”