Mid-Century Lane Furniture, Sculptra Series?

An interesting ad popped up on Austin's craigslist. The lister claimed this mid-century cedar chest was a "Vintage Lane Cedar Chest from their Sculptra Series."

While I think it's a case of mistaken furniture names, one can understand someone mistaking this for a Broyhill Sculptra piece, I still wonder what mid-century Lane Furniture line this is actually from.

There isn't a cedar chest listed in the original Broyhill Sculptra brochure or original Sculptra price list, so it's definitely not a Broyhill Scupltra piece. (Plus the handles are similar, but not exact.)

But the similarities to Broyhill Sculptra are uncanny – the square motif, the cat-eye handles – and I wonder which series came first.

Does anyone recognize this vintage cedar chest or know what Land Furniture line it's from? I can't find any proof that a Lane Furniture Sculptra line ever existed.

Mid-Century Modern Kids' Books: Charley Harper ABCs, 123s and Colors

There's a set of three mid-century modern kids' books by Charley Harper which would make a great shower gift for anyone.

Charley Harper's ABCs

Charley Harper's 123s

And Charley Harper's Colors

We have them all and they're great for younger readers. For us, they were a little hard to actually teach off of because the kid kept getting distracted by the images instead of focusing on the letters and numbers (who could blame 'em), but they're great when they're just starting out.

Also, be sure to get the current printing, with the proper apostrophe usage (read: not the versions we have/the versions above).

Mid-Century Artist: George Keller

I'm still a little obsessed with the Character-Culture-Citizenship Guides. One of my favorites is poster number 2, Courage.

The artist is George J. Keller. He was the chairman of the fine arts department at Bloomsburg University, which makes sense since most of the Character-Culture-Citizenship Guides where designed by teachers.

But George Keller's life got a little more interesting after he stopped teaching. He became a wild animal trainer.

Keller had a big cat show at Disneyland called, "Feline Fantastics," which was rebranded as "Jungle Killers" after poor attendance. The new name didn't help and the act was eventually canceled. 

Source

George then took his act on the road performing at Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey's Circus, and other touring circuses.

It makes his Character-Culture-Citizenship Guides poster all the more interesting. The animal is actually the one showing courage in the poster and clearly Keller had a love of animals. And a good amount of courage himself.

Done: New Lights in Dining Room

We had our new dining room lights installed. And by new dining room lights, I mean our vintage Moe Light Honeycomb ceiling lights.

Before we had one light and one fire alarm with an ugly plastic ceiling medallion covering up a light box. 

The light wasn't the worst

But we definitely wanted to get rid of the fire alarm in the middle of the room.

And that's where our Moe Light Honeycomb ceiling lights come in.

They look great up close

And far away.

When they're on they're nice and bright and have a lovely orange glow on the sides

And when they're off, they look just as good.

Plus, because they're close to the ceiling they actually make the room feel a lot taller, which is nice bonus.

Mid-Century Austin Barber Shop

I was out for a stroll around the neighborhood and remembered we needed milk. I walked to the nearby strip mall where our grocery store is but because I was coming from a different direction, I happened on something new.

A mid-century barber shop oddly tucked into the middle of a strip mall.

This particular strip mall was probably built in the '50s and from the looks of things this old school barber shop was an original tenant. All the other tenants have sadly been replaced with cell phone stores and the like.

I love the mid-century look of the place and I'm thinking about getting a cut there, but I'm a little scared. I kid you not, the two haircuts advertised were a flattop and a fade. It's almost too perfect really.

Looks like they do shoeshines too. If I find out they do straight razor shaves too, I'm just going to start hanging out here.