VW Bus Fire Truck Wagon for Kids

Not too long ago I wrote about a VW bus wagon that I happened to see at a local park. I was too busy drooling over the VW wagon to ask the important questions like, "Where can I buy one?" Luckily the person who made the wagon happened to stop by Mad for Mid-Century. And that person is Dan Coulbury of Coulbury Design, a custom furniture company in Austin.

Dan made a second VW bus kids wagon for his daughter for Christmas, which is an amazing Christmas present. This time the VW bus wagon was also a fire truck, which is adorable.

Sadly, Dan doesn't sell these VW bus wagons. At least not yet. He said if there was enough interest he might start making them for people other than his super lucky kids. So if you're interested, get in touch with Coulbury Design. And then your kid might just be the coolest kid on the block.

Taubmans Mid-Century Paint Ad

I'm falling in love with vintage ads by Taubmans paint. First there was the Taubmans Revelite Festival Pink paint ad and now this one, which has more copy than any other paint ad I've ever seen (and I know a few things about copywriting). I'm still amazed that paint companies advertised so heavily in black and white media, but I guess that's what all the content tries to make up for.

Mid-Century Modern Christmas Decorations at JCP

I think our tree looks great with our mid-century modern star tree topper, but every now and then I wonder what a glass finial would look like on top. Our Modern Mess has me asking the question again with their find of mid-century modern christmas decorations on clearance at JCPenney.

There are a few glass finials and a box of glass ornaments still available online.

It's hard to argue with the price, so I might just have to pick one up and see what it looks like on top of the tree.

Mid-Century House Paint Colors from House & Garden

The September 1948 cover of House & Garden has a pretty outstanding collection of mid-century colors for painting. 

The list of their mid-century paint colors includes: geranium red, sweet pink, stone gray, kingfisher blue, purple heather, sprout green, citron yellow, brick, avocado green, French blue, sandalwood  bright navy, quartz pink, charcoal purple, mustard, forest green, copper, madera, parchment, bracken green, flame and willow.

I'm a fan of the stone gray and kingfisher together, but perhaps I'm a little biased.

A Vintage Travel Poster Gift

My family came down to Austin for a holiday visit and along with all the presents that were wrapped up in pretty packages, my mom handed me a garbage bag and said, "We found these in grandpa's basement and I thought you'd want them." I didn't know whether to be excited or scared. Turns out excited was the correct response.

In the bag was a half dozen or so rolled up posters, mainly vintage travel posters. Sadly the years had not been kind to them. Most of the posters were ripped to the point that you couldn't save them and the paper had become so fragile that just unrolling them ripped them more.

But there was one poster that survived in almost perfect condition, and it was the best one in my opinion.

I did all the research I could, but I can't track down much information about this particular travel poster. It's obviously an American Airlines poster promoting their Los Angeles destination, but I can't find the artist who did the original water colors and I can't find a signature anywhere on the poster. 

The Smithsonian has this poster in their collection and they have it listed as an "orphaned work," which is a rather romantic way of saying, "We don't know who made it." Their rather bland description of this vintage travel poster is:

Multicolor print of a watercolor advertising service to Los Angeles. Reproduction of two images, separated by a white bar containing the text “LOS ANGELES” in a blue sans-serif font and the smaller blue text "American Airlines" with the AA logo. The top illustration portrays a Los Angeles city scene, while the bottom illustration shows a Los Angeles bay lined with boats and houses on the hillside.

There's also a San Francisco version of this poster, I'm assuming by the same artist, but again, it's listed as orphaned.

But now this orphaned work has a home. I'm going to get our new vintage Los Angeles poster framed and find a place to hang it in our travel-themed nursery.