Mid-Century Modern in San Diego

KPBS, San Diego's public broadcast station, has a show called San Diego Historic Places. And that show recently did an episode called Mid-Century Modern.

An architecture style that was born in the 1940s is alive and thriving in San Diego. We'll show you some great homes of the mid-century modern era.

It's worth the watch.

Shining Carpet Doormat

My Shining carpet doormat idea might actually become reality thanks to Mid2Mod. Vecco's Buzzed stencil looks a lot like the pattern in the Shining carpet. A little orange, brown and red colorant and you're there. Now I just have to decide how badly I want a Shining doormat. I kind of just want to buy my doormat and be done with it.

On the other hand, their Diamond Bling stencil looks a lot like a certain logo that I'm rather fond of.

Moby's LA Architecture Blog

If you know Moby, you know him for his musical career. I've seen him live a few times and went to both Area Festivals. So you could call me a fan. And now I'm a fan of his new project, a blog about LA architecture. It's definitely a mid-century blog worth checking out.

Mid-Century Modern Kitchen Lights

I've mentioned Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. before, but this video gives some nice insight into the company. I'm still trying to figure out how to work some of their overhead light shades into our future kitchen remodel. They're just so pretty.

Patrick Rylands Bath Toys

If you're lucky enough to live across the pond and have a little one, you should check out these reissues of Patrick Rylands bath toys.

The fish and bird toys are from a group of toys by Patrick Rylands, which won the Duke of Edinburgh's Design Award in 1970. Rylands trained as a ceramicist at the Royal College of Art, and his love of sculptural forms combined with his interest in plastics technology led him to design smooth rounded plastic toys which were very easy for small children to handle.

The packaging is pretty nice too.

If you live in the States and still really want them, you can still order them, but shipping is twice as much as the toy. Hopefully there will be an American distributor soon.