“In my heart I want to be a minimalist with my decor — but there are just too many fun things that are a joy to have around — it’s tough.”
Ted — who is a collector of all things retro — and his main squeeze Stella recently let me take a virtual tour of their amazing mid century home. Ted met Stella after she read a local newspaper article about Ted’s previous retro home then decided to write Ted a letter. He responded, the rest is history — and you can bet their together-house is retro-dreamy. Their place aims for authenticity to a tee: vintage magazines on the end tables, and there isn’t a flat screen TV in the house. Oh and did we mention — there’s a vintage appliance and electronics museum of sorts in the basement. Walking into Ted and Stella’s house is like taking a big beautiful step back in time.
S0 what’s Ted’s story and how did he become such a collector? He writes:
I am a collector first and foremost — I have a regular day job, but reselling the modern stuff is a great way to support my own collecting habit. I am a musician and I do carpentry — furniture restoration, and custom modern style hardscape/landscape installations on the side.
I am seldom at rest. Also design and build a lot of modern inspired sculpture – tables and lamps. (Currently working on a series of very interesting large scale floor lamps that use re-purposed vintage 50’s metal lamp cones and saucers that I have amassed from years of thrifting.)
When I was 15, I was at an antique mall with my Mom and Aunt. I spotted a pair of atomic 50’s lamps — it was the 80’s and they were like $250 — that was expensive !! I rode my bike back there a few days later and bought them with my grass cutting money. I could neither explain nor control the desire to have them. When I brought them home, my mom said, “Why are you buying lamps?? We have lamps all over the house!! and you are 15 — you don’t need lamps!!” I still have them and they still make me really happy every time I look at them.
Now my Mom’s and Aunt’s houses have been totally transformed into retro palaces as well — the bug is catchy 🙂
I was collecting this stuff long before all of the articles — TV shows etc. (actually before the Internet was in people’s homes, I guess)
In my heart I want to be a minimalist with my decor — but there are just too many fun things that are a joy to have around — it’s tough.
The house was an architect-designed home that looked really modern on the outside but awful and compartmentalized on the interior with early American fixtures. I got the keys at the settlement and immediately started ripping all of the walls down. I have done a great deal to it, including building the addition on the back myself…(with the help of my Dad and a friend).
What a gorgeous house and interior! I asked Ted about this photos with the awesome Predicta TV set. He said:
That Predicta set is a reissue by Telstar. I could not stomach having a new TV out ruining the decor. They make a great set in the old style with modern guts. I actually do have almost all of the real Predicta models as well.
I got rid of the microwave as well for the same reason. I even have to leave old magazines laying out instead of new ones.
Pam wrote about those Predicta reissues in her post Back in 50s TV land with Predicta — it is great to see one out in the wild — in a mid century home.
Ted, you and Stella have an amazing house — every little detail has a story. For example, I love that you have a juke box in your kitchen — definitely not the sort of “kitchen appliance” you see every day.
The main level of the house is like a carefully curated showroom. Ted is both a self proclaimed retro loving minimalist and collector. I can imagine him, constantly editing the decor and accessories in his home as if it were a work of art — additions and subtractions constantly being made — only the artist knows when it is truly finished…. but then, the beauty part of a house interior is that you can keep playing with it… forever, right?
Ted’s amazing basement full of vintage appliances
It is when you get to the basement of Ted and Stella’s house that Ted’s true collector self becomes apparent. Just around the corner from this framed vintage Nutone advertisement lies a truly awesome sight — what Ted refers to as “the appliance room.”
There they are — lined up in pretty rows — shiny vintage appliances.
It isn’t often that you find a gem of a house with a mini museum in the basement — could Ted possibly have more plans for these beautiful appliances? He replied:
Since I was a kid I have wanted to build a retro town… not like a lot of people do with overdone diners and cutouts of Elvis and James Dean… but something more on the Macabre side — like a 50’s Stephen King ghost town — where everything looks authentic and worn… like it was left one day and forgotten. I am planning on putting up a big barn and building a street scene/movie set kinda town inside… I have been gathering things for years — big signs off buildings — 50’s cars – vintage mannequins — the works!
I will have store fronts — with window displays — (of course and appliance shop) cars parked by meters — traffic lights — gas station parts — diner parts — etc.
Kinda nuts — I know — but you gotta follow your dream sometimes. Have to do it all on a shoe string budget as well.
Ted — I think I speak for most of us when I say — as soon as you get your retro ghost town built and set up, let us know. I’d gladly pay the price of admission to come and check out your collection of vintage stuff — which you would likely have arranged meticulously.
A huge thanks goes out to Ted and Stella for allowing us a peek into their fascinating home and collection and to photographer Veronica Hamburger for giving us permission to use her photos.
Joe Felice says
OH.. . and the Kelvinator, Coldspot and original Frigidaire! Ah, what memories. . . And I remember how cool the washers were because they back-lit or under-lit panels. Were those fluorescent light bulbs they used? Does anyone remember if the Sylvania halo-light TV used fluorescent tubes? That would have been VERY avant-garde for the ’50s, no?
Joe Felice says
OMG! I can’t stand it! It’s easy to be minimalist when one has genuine artifacts. Only a few are needed to impart the impression of genuine. Obviously Ted, like Cullen, has a gift of putting things together to achieve just the right look. (Although Cullen is far from a minimalist! LOL)
Ah, yes, the green picture tube! Opthalmologists believed the green hue was better for the eyes. Since I had several eye problems, we got a Hoffman. There were also other myths: Sitting too close or watching in the dark would ruin your eyes, and watching for too long would cause headaches. Now, we know the latter just creates societal dysfunction. LOL
Does anyone else remember the plastic static-cling sheets we put over the tube so we could trace drawings on them with crayons? On Saturday mornings, there was a show on which they drew on the “inside” of the tube, and with the static-cling sheets, we could trace their moves and create our own “art!”
Diane in CO says
Winky-Dink is what I remember. You had to send in for the plastic screen cover. They would have a cartoon story going on and the kids at home would have to, say, draw the bridge in so the character could get across a river or something like that. I loved that show.
We never had the send-for screen so we’d just draw on our t.v. Mom, needless to say, was not happy. 🙂
Dianne K says
Wowwee!!!All of the stuff in this couple’s home reminds me of the house I grew up in as a child of the 60’s.It is nice to see there are cool folks who still adore vintage EVERYTHING.This house is awesome,or shall I say groovy???
cherie Coolidge says
Thank you so much for sharing your home with us. What a treat. It took me back to my childhood.
Mary Elizabeth says
Hi, Ted and Stella,
What a beautiful house. Thank you for sharing. Love all the collections, especially the Catherineholm lotus enamelware, which I had a whole set of in my 1960s kitchen.
Why no microwave? The Amana Radar Range came out in the 1960s, so a microwave is not inconsistent with mid-century decor. Wonder if there is unused stock around or whether it is possible to have someone put new parts in the old case?
Scarlett Rhoades says
All I can say is…. WOWZERS!!!! I stumbled across this blog/post while I was doing some “virtual window shopping” and Ted & Stella’s mid-century modern home is fantastically RAD!!! I loved al the true to mod design style, the colors, and the “bonus” mid-century basement showroom. Ted’s idea of a mid-century modern ghost town is sooooo cool…. LOVE IT and I would totally visit for an awesome (and admittedly kinda bizarre!!) vacation!! Thanks for the great design and inspiration to keep searching for authenticy to the mid-century design as I redecorate, reinvent and rejuvenate my dwelling into an atomic show piece!!
Dino says
Wow, incredible house! I openly sobbed when I saw your basement, wish mine looked like that, instead of an episode of Hoarders!
jimmy says
Dude, that is just too much!
Ted and Stella says
Wow – just wanted to thank everyone for their comments!
We sincerely appreciate them all and glad that we could share on this
great site!
It’s like having a little retro enthusiast “support group”.
When I start doing the building of the town – I plan on documenting the whole thing – maybe starting a blog or site where folks can follow the progress… should be pretty fun!
-Ted
philq says
looks like a 1957 Plymouth, 1955 Olds “88” and 1955 Cadillac
Ted and Stella says
Good eyes on the cars – correct on all!
There are a whole bunch more stashed away (with equally “beautiful patina”) – waiting to be parked along the streets of the retro ghost town.