Mid-Century Neighborhoods in Austin: Brentwood

Brentwood, Austin TX
Brentwood completes the triangle of mid-century Austin neighborhoods in northwest Austin - the others being Crestview and Allendale. Move to Austin has the best simple breakdown of the area that I've read:

Crestview has the oldest homes, built in the 1940-50s, and are the smallest of this area (but to me, have the most charm). Brentwood was built next in the 1950s and 60s, and the homes are a little bit bigger. Allendale came next, in the 1960s and 70s, and has the largest floorplans.

Brentwood is home to many unofficial Austin landmarks: Dart Bowl (try the enchiladas), Threadgill's (Janis Jopli's old stomping ground), the Wall of Welcome (120 feet of welcome) and Burnet Road (shops, eats and chicken shit bingo). There are a variety of home styles in Brentwood. Classic mid-century style homes are pretty easy to come by, as are bungalows and modern homes.

The Brentwood Neighborhood Association has a pretty on-the-mark description of the neighborhood:

Brentwood is now a trendy and popular area that is home to gorgeous tree-lined streets and established homes. Many of the homes are bungalow style homes, normally one story, and have a low to medium pitched roof and simple, rectangular shapes. Many were originally two bedrooms and were purchased by GIs who wanted to start families following WWII. The combination of original residents who never left the 'hood and a growing number of young professsionals have built a strong community which fits perfectly with the style of Austin.

History
The area that's now called Brentwood was once cotton farm in the rural part of north Austin. Austin purchased the farm and annexed most of Brentwood in 1946. The remaining parts of the neighborhood, including Brentwood Park, were annexed in 1951, which is also the year Brentwood Elementary School opened.

Housing Data From the 2000 census
Total housing units: 4,157
Homes built between 1940 and 1959: 1,962 (47.2%)
Median housing value: $171,600
Median mortgage: $1,300
Household population: 7,128
Average household size: 1.8
Average family size: 2.68
Owner-occupied housing: 41.7%
Renter-occupied housing: 58.3%
Median age: 35.2

Resources
Brentwood Neighborhood Association

Mid-Century Austin Estate Sale: 9524-A Quail Court

If the pictures are any indication, this should be an Austin estate sale that any mid-century enthusiast should stop at.

Here are the details:
9524-A Quail Court'
Austin, TX 78758
March 4: 10am-2pm
March 5: 9am-3pm

New Mid-Century Austin Look

If you don't read this blog in your preferred RSS reader you may notice a few changes: a new banner and color scheme. I'm making some minor edits to the blog that may lead to some more changes in the future. From what I can tell, everything is working fine and I didn't break anything - but if you see something that looks weird, out of place or broken, please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.

And for those of you reading this in a reader, hop on over to the home page if you want to see what I'm talking about.

Real Simple Kitchen Remodel

Because I'm obsessed with my future kitchen remodel right now, I'm a little obsessed with other people's kitchen remodels. I really like this Real Simple real-life kitchen makeover.

It includes something that I fell in love with while I was looking for something else entirely different: Schoolhouse Electric hand-painted, modern light fixtures.

On a related note: If anyone knows what to call, or where to find, those multi-colored pendant light fixtures that you see in greasy-spoon diners, retro bars and old-school bowling alleys, please let me know. The kind that look like this light

and this light

had a baby. Kind of like this one, but more monotone and retro (and not ugly)

My Google ninja skills are letting me down and I can't find them anywhere.

Done: Fix leaky shower head in master bath

It wasn't actually the shower head that was leaky, it was where the hose met the wall for the handheld unit. There was a gap between the connector pipe coming out of the wall and the connector piece on the hose. Every time you tried to turn on the handheld shower head (which has a hook on the wall so it functions like a normal shower head), you'd get sprayed in the midsection too. It wasn't the worst thing, but it made it difficult to soap up and properly shower. Up till now our solution was to just use the overhead rain shower instead.

I knew the fix would take a little research and a little creativity, and in the end that creativity took the form of putty: epoxy putty. A bit of putty to fill the gap and make sure the water goes where it should and things are all set. I took my first shower with the putty in place and everything held and is functioning.