Lego Mid-Century Modern Home Set

When I was drooling over Lego Ferris Bueller house, I listed off a few modern home Lego sets that are available (since you can't actually build the Ferris Bueller house unless you're a Lego genius). But they might be a little pricey (and hard to build) for your typical toddler.

As I was walking the aisles of my local big box store, I noticed that the standard Lego family house set has a nice mid-century modern look to it. It might not be Fallingwater, but, much like the mid-century homes people actually live in, it's a good second place.

Jens Risom's Pretty Fab Pre-Fab Home

I love seeing inside furniture designers' homes. How they use their own furniture to fill the space, the pieces they select and where they place them. This peek inside Jens Risom's island retreat is a wonderful look inside a warm, wonderful mid-century home.

Ferris Bueller House in Lego

AFOL person etzel87 recently built the Ferris Bueller house out of Lego bricks. (AFOL stands for Adult Fans of Lego.) It's actually Cameron Frye's house and not Ferris Bueller's house, but nobody remembers that Ferris actually lived in a large, boring, white suburban home.

etzel87 captured a single moment in film so perfectly that you'd think it was an actual LEGO set. Sadly, it's not. So unless you're a LEGO master, you probably won't be able to recreate it. But there are sets for the Farnsworth House, Villa Savoye and multiple Frank Lloyd Wright homes, like Fallingwater, the Imperial Hotel and the Robie House. So you can at least get close.

Paramount Mid-Century X-Mas Tree Topper

Back when we were making our final decision on our mid-century modern tree topper, one of the star tree toppers that I loved was the white and red Paramount Tree-Top Star. I could never find one to actually buy, so it was never a serious contender.

Well, it must be Christmas in July because I found one at the last estate sale I went to. It's not in perfect condition, so it probably won't make it to the top of the tree, but it'll look good hanging in the front window.

Vintage Light Up Star Tree Topper

The other thing I purchased at the last estate sale I went to was this vintage gold star tree topper. We already have a mid-century style tree topper, but this one is definitely more authentic and will look better next to our mid-century glass ornaments.

Streamline Moderne and Mid-Century Modern

There's a style mid-century buildings that I refer to as Miami midcentury: big windows, round corners and lots of curves, stucco and doors with porthole windows. I call it Miami midcentury because I tend to see it when I'm visiting little beach towns, places along the coast or quant little dinners on vacation (and because I love alliteration). 

Turns out that style is actually called streamline moderne, and that it has more to do with art deco than anything midcentury. Although, it's probably more in the middle than an either/or proposition; it's the type of architecture that seems to perfectly bridge those two eras.

Mid-Century Modern Furniture at Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen

There are plenty reasons to visit Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen if you're ever in Paris: mid-century travel brochures, a Futuro house, mid-century furniture, more mid-century furniture and mid-century modern furniture. If you do go, plan of spending a least a few hours there. We spent about four hours looking and shopping and didn't even scratch the surface. My guess is if you wanted to do the whole thing, it would take days.

Here are the last of my photo collection from Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen:

Mid-Century Modern Furniture in Paris

Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen is a huge flea market made up of a collection of smaller flea markets. We spent most of our time in Marché Paul Bert, Marché Serpette and Marché Dauphine. If you're looking for mid-century furniture, Marché Paul Bert is the place to go. Marché Dauphine is where we bought souvenirs that we could fit in our suitcase; it has a lot of smaller vintage items I don't think you could find anywhere else in Paris.

Most of these photos come from Marché Paul Bert:

More Mid-Century Furniture from Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen

The Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen is both and indoor and outdoor flea market. The nicer stuff seems to be inside, although the stuff outside is still amazing. Here are some more of the finds at Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen.

Mid-Century Furniture in Paris, France

I've mentioned Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen a few times because of the Futuro House there and the mid-century travel brochures that can be found there, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. We spent a whole morning walking the market and enjoying all the beautiful mid-century furniture. That is, until we became so angry about not being able to bring any of it home. At one point I had to say, "I can't look at this amazing furniture anymore; there's no way we can ship it home and no way I can find anything like it back in the States."

This is just the first few minutes at Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen. There are more photos to come. Also, some of the photos were taken quickly/on the sly because at one point my wife whispered into my ear, "People are starting to notice the photos and you're not getting the friendliest of looks."