Retro Renovation» accessories, hardware

DIY midcentury modern mailbox post and address sign — Gabe explains how

pam kueber — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:50:27 +0000

The crowning glories of Gabe and Amanda’s 1954 midcentury marvelous house may well be those groovalicious mid mod mailbox, mailbox post and address name sign. Gabe did most of the work on these pieces himself, so I asked him if he could tell us how he made it and he quickly responded:

Sure! The lamp post was here already but.. 7 years ago I worked at a sign shop and learned how to make sandblasted 3- dimentional signs out of high density urethane… “Sign Foam” …

I still have access to the materials a couple friends with the software set up. essentially you design your sign on the computer then your design is computer cut (or hand cut) onto a thin adhesive backed rubber…you stick it to the piece of H.D.U. you have already cut to the desired shape and primed.. you peel away the part of the design that you want the sand to blast away. Then carefully sandblast , peel away the rubber, sand, primer again then paint to match your house or whatever your design dictates…

I found the mailbox at its original location, one county over… I asked the owner, “If I buy you a new mailbox and put it up for you, can I have your old one?” He said, “Sure.” So I went to Lowes, bought him a box, went back and finished the job. I sent the old box to a friend’s auto body shop to smooth it out and patch the rust… so after much delliberation about the design of the mailbox stand… I drew it out ‘to scale’ on a huge piece of paper. Next I found the right size square steel tubing to match the design. Then, with some help from my Dad, who is a retired welder and metal fabricator… We got it all welded together and the rest was just my priming painting, installing my little cut out, brushed gold diamonds. Then putting it in the ground and attaching the completed mailbox. I can make these signs for others, privately out of my home.. It’s another one of my art interests lol.. sign posts too.. but mine is the only diamond one I’ll ever do! The angles were such a pain!!!

Notice on the pics, more diamonds inside the house (brushed alum.) and…

…big diamond accents I made out of cypress then painted and added to the exterior with the brushed gold center pieces… just like the mailbox stand…

Thank you, Gabe — your attention to detail is amazing. And, I always love doing post posts tee hee. Yes, readers: Repeat your principal (principle?) shapes throughout your house. The Retro Decorating Gods will be pleased. xoxo

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Vintage spelled-out house numbers — New Old Stock galore

pam kueber — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:55:13 +0000

It’s amazing how much New Old Stock continues to come out of old stores, basements, attics, closets, junk drawers. Remember the big New York Times story about Retro Renovation last fall? “New old stock is golden,” and “…surfing the blog is like visiting a time-warp Home Depot.” Yup: That’s my goal! Today in the RR depot: Script house numbers — but check first that these are approved in your town; some towns ban them… some pastel sinks… and homey needlepoint. Once you’re into the seller’s listing, there’s generally even more. DOUBLE ALERT: Dig the one at the very end — that seller has oodles of stock, all kinds of numbers!

Tip to using the ebay carousel: To go to a particular item, click on its photo (NOT on the ebay logo) — then, click on the lime green “View and Bid” box, which will take you to ebay. Disclosure: When you buy anything from these ebay carousels or after you click into ebay here, it nets me a teensy commission.

Also, thanks to seller iwaslookin4that, for giving me permission to feature the listing photo.

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Retro Renovation Breaking News: New midcentury modern Samba exterior door hardware from Rejuvenation

pam kueber — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:37:58 +0000

You read it here first: On Monday Feb. 13 Rejuvenation will be officially launching their new Samba doorset escutcheon. But I saws the catalog posting Friday, jumped on it and posted the first photos last night. This morning, I got these fullsize photos from the PR department, along with some additional info. According to Rejuv, the Samba is a reproduction of a doorset introduced by the Weiser Company in the latter half of the 1960s. Then, it was simply named “Modern Escutcheon.” About the design, Rejuv says, “It spotlights the dynamic dance between dramatic mid-’60s sophistication and the clean simplicity of Mid-Century Modern design.” I would call it brutalist.

Overnight I also asked Rejuvenation industrial designer Tim Wetzel for his thoughts:

This is one we really had a hard time figuring out. I disgree with Bo’s Brutalism tag, but you can be the judge. Brutalism is one of those terms that sends most people (self included) off to Google for a definition. I found this site that seems to explain Brutalism well: http://criticundertheinfluence.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/brutalism-the-word-itself-and-what-we-mean-when-we-say-it/ [Note from Pam, here is my story on Brutalist Furniture: http://retrorenovation.com/2010/10/13/brutalist-design-furniture-from-lane/]

To me Samba is all about decoration for decoration’s sake, which is 180 degrees opposite of the concepts of Brutalism. But what the Samba style is seems really tough to pin down. Maybe there is some vaguely Polynesian reference. Maybe it was just a crazy fun doodle that we are over-thinking. We still have the package it came in, but there is no clue on that as to the style – it was labeled simply “Modern”. One thing for sure- it is striking, unusual and beyond the motifs typically seen on fancy door sets.

It will be interesting to see if your readers have a name for this style, or if they can point to other items with a similar motif.

Continue on for big honkin’ photos of all the finishes — and a lovely room shot.

“At a height of 16in., the Samba comes with the Schlage Orbit locking set and everything you need for a door with a 2-3/8in. or 2-3/4in. backset, plus an optional matching deadbolt.” It comes in three finishes — polished brass, polished chromes, and brushed chrome. Looks like it is $280. If that fazes you, you can occasionally find these vintage, but be sure they fit. See this story for some additonal examples of fabulous door escutcheons found via this blog, now mostly sold.

The first reader who finds me a photo with an authentic vintage one of these wins my everlasting admiration and if I get my act together, one of my vintage Fuller Brush salesman spatulas. Link: Samba doorset from Rejuvenation.

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