Blogger Haus Exchange

Turn of the century Thonet and Hudson's Bay chairs available in the shop

In a given day I can generate about a billion new business and creative ideas.  Most of them are crazy, and it's impossible to follow through with very many.  But I know an idea is really worth pursuing when it sticks with me week after week, month after month, and instead of beginning to sound totally absurd or far-fetched, it starts sounding better and better.

This is one of those ideas.  A blogger home exchange resource!

If I know anything about bloggers it's that they love to travel, they love to explore one another's homes, and they're very particular about their physical environment.  What is missing in the vacation exchange and rental market is an opportunity for these likeminded design-oriented folks to find one another and make their homes available for vacation swaps!

Not only will the blogger-to-blogger format ensure that you'll be staying in a really cool place, but there's an added layer of trust and protection built in, too.  You're able to verify via their blog archives that the person and their environment are a good match for you, that you feel comfortable with them, that their descriptions and photos of the home are accurate, etc..
And there's little chance that an established blogger would risk their reputation by running off with your silverware (or plastic spork collection?) or trashing your house!

Basic ground rules:

It's free to use!

No commercial vacation rentals.  This is for blogger-to-blogger home exchange only and is not to be used for financial gain.

Please have an active blog or similar web-presence (tumblr, Wordpress, website, etc.) that has been established for a minimum of six months and provides at least some information about yourself, your home, neighborhood, etc.

Submit the following information if you would like your house listed.  Let me know in the comments section if you think other things should be included on the list!

-Clear pictures of the interior and exterior living spaces and the immediate neighborhood (blur out addresses and street names-these shouldn't be provided until you trust the person you're working with and have a concrete swap agreement, and are within about a week of arrival!)

-List locations where you would be willing to stay, or are you open?

-Your contact email

-Links to your website, blog, and/or other media that will tell us more about you and your home

-Approximate dates your house might be available (summertime only, long weekends, flexible, etc.)

-Do you have pets and will they need to stay?

-Will you allow pets?  What kind/size?

-Would you allow (or is the house appropriate for) children?  Do you have children and will the house be equipped for visiting children (i.e., could carseat, crib, stroller, or any other items be made available?)

-Number and types of beds/bedrooms/bathrooms

-Is a car necessary to get around?  If so, are you open to swapping cars?

-Describe your neighborhood-are there restaurants/activities in walking distance, are you near trails, the beach, or some point of interest, etc.

-Any unique attributes you'd like to share (i.e., we have an organic garden, a huge vinyl collection you're welcome to use, an amazing espresso machine, hobos living in our basement, a creepy doll collection in every room, whatever).

I'll feature each submission in its own blog post, and it will also appear on a dedicated permanent link on my blog sidebar where others can find and contact you.

Please forward this post to any of your friends and colleagues that might be interested!

SUBMISSIONS CAN BE SENT TO MODERNHAUS@GMAIL.COM

I can answer questions in the comment section below-since others might have the same question it would be helpful to make the answer visible to everyone.

So, what do you think?  Would you take advantage of this resource??  What blogger's home would you most like to stay at?  Maybe, just maybe, I can get them to participate!




 

Feet Leave the Ground

Sorry the Haus has been so quiet!  
There's the usual intense internal dialogue going about some major things...I've been a real Thinker Thinkerton over here, but have felt much more private lately.  Weird, huh?


At the end of the day yesterday, after Pizza Port-ing and butterfly sightings at the beach, we pulled over at a quiet spot so the boys could surf.  There wasn't much surf to speak of, but their skinny, flu-weakened arms couldn't have handled much anyhow.

Every time I look at Sage now, I think of the word akimbo.  He's all lines and angles and I think to myself, "Arms akimbo!"

I watched him running towards the water yesterday, and for a brief moment as he jumped over a pile of seaweed, he was airborne.
I thought, that's how you know you're happy; when your feet leave the ground.

I used to love to open a book when they surfed, but I don't do that anymore (and yes, I do plan to join them!)

I watch, and I soak it up.  Remember in the beginning when you would watch them breathe?  You do it at the end, too.



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CHAIR TOWN {leather, linen, chrome, wool, and sling!)

Have you noticed that vintage stuff travels in packs?  Some weeks I'm up to my armpits in lamp after beautiful lamp.  Some weeks everything is marble.  This week, the vintage world is trying to tell me to take it easy...by sending me chairs.

I have a pair of these chrome beauties.  Yesterday I designed and sewed up the blue felted wool sling to sleek them up.  The previous upholstery was a huge, thick padded affair done in mauve (or "private parts pink" as I like to call it) RV fabric.  Now they are lithe and sexy, like chrome and wool ballerinas!

I'm not joking-these are SO comfortable!  I am thinking of designing a narrow built-in pillow at the top.  What do you think?

Because they're slings, they don't look deep enough until you sit in them.  Kind of sculptural, no?  I have to iron those suckers, but I couldn't wait to show you!!

This heathered blue wool is my new favorite fabric.  Like soft focus lighting, it makes everything else around it look gorgeous!  It looks SO GOOD with my "trick, it's not a Beni Ourain it's from Pottery Barn" rug.

I also ran like the wind a few days ago to pick up these handsome chrome chairs.

The upholstery has that great, streamlined Mid Century version of tufting.  The color is caramel with a hint of orange?  But not TOO orange.  I understand everything better when put into food terms.  How 'bout you?

These suckers are HEAVY.  Neat-o, thick chrome frames.  I'm thinking Milo Baughman (pronounced Bowman if you're new to the game, Boffman if you're in-the-know, and Boggman if you're a retarded estate sale lady).

I have to verify this, though.  Seriously Baughman, you designed so many chairs.  Help a girl out-make a master list?!

Speaking of Boggman, did you know DWR is reproducing his recliner?  For $2800???  For a less-well-made repro??

Do people buy these things?  I can't imagine why, with beautifully restored originals going for half that!  Now that I mention it, I have one that I'll be listing this evening.  What a coincidence!

This is documented Milo Baughman, but a very unusual piece.  It took me weeks to authenticate because, well, there is like one other one out there.  The arms are really wide, sculptural, solid walnut, and the upholstery is much more substantial than on the more common version.  It's been profesh redone (meaning, not by me) in a nubby off-white material that makes you fall asleep when you touch it, and the mechanics have been cleaned, oiled, and checked for smooth reclinability.  Mmmhmmm,  that's a word.

Furthermore, there is this chair:

It looks like Paul McCobb, but "looks like" is as far as I got in the authentication process.

I had it rebuilt and re-done in a heavy, charcoal grey linen.  It is brand new, but better.  Because it is brand new old, which means it will last for 300 more years.

It pairs well with a sheepskin and an ethnic pillow.  Probably any ethnicity will do.

Bleached out-looking because Instagram, y'all.

So, one may ask, "Where can I get all these fine sitting devices?"

Well, only the off-white Baughman/Bowman/Boggman recliner will be in the shop tonight.

The others will probably be listed soon, but you can also email (modernhaus@gmail.com), text, Tweet (modernhaus), or Intsagram (modernhaus) message me if you just can't wait.

You probably want to get your hands on my creations now, before I totally blow up.  I'm already super-big in Upstate New York, the gateway to design fame as we all know.

Over and out.

Shop Updates and Blogger Protest

Allow me first to register my discontent with the new Blogger format.  I don't recognize ANYTHING.  It took me half an hour to click on the right symbol to compose a new post.  I feel like I woke up and found my family replaced by strangers and I'm like, "Where the heck did my family go?" and the strangers are like, "We are your family, you're the crazy one."  And then Rod Serling voice-overs me going nuts and being taken away in a 1965 Chevy Valiant police car.

In case you're a kid, that's a Twilight Zone reference.

Speaking of 1965, the shop will be full of great pieces this evening.  And as soon as I re-learn everything I thought I knew about Blogger, these photos will be larger!

Observe:

1940s Paul Frankl Machine Age x-pull dresser in ebonized, cerused oak

Rare Milo Baughman recliner, refinished

Swedish Ystad-Metall Brass Candleholders

Rare Upsala-Ekeby vase by Mari Simmulson

Gold plated Mid Century BMF Nagel (?) candleholder

Mid Century studio pottery with orange lava glaze

Vintage Queen-size "Rainier National Park" Pendleton blanket

Unusual and very vintage Hudson's Bay 4 point blanket in heather blue and olive green

Pair Mid Century butterfly chairs with new black covers

Pair Art Deco Italian marble bookends

Some of these are available now with fixed pricing, and the rest will be available this evening in auction format.  

On that subject, do you prefer fixed prices or auctions?  People are always asking me to set fixed prices, but my listings are usually only successful in auction format!  Conundrum!

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