More News From the 21st Century

Here is another view of my new Home of the 21^st Century. This view shows off the swag leg desk and the back of the coconut chair. These items came from France and Son in New York. They are considered to be reproductions since Herman Miller sells licensed versions. But furniture is a utilitarian item and as such does not generally qualify for patent or copyright protection. The best part for me was that the coconut chair came in orange wool. Herman Miller only offers black leather. While most of my furniture was made in the USA alas, these two pieces came from China.

The low credenza next to the desk is also from Modernica. It is almost a one-of-a-kind (a near match is in the dining area). Modernica had just started offering these Case Study Units with a spray booth painted finish. A different style was on display in the store window. I took it to a new level by adding the fiberglass sliding doors and then mixing and matching one ocean (blue) and one mustard (gold) door. Not only is the look very mid-century, but the colors just happen to be the colors from vintage Disneyland stationary.

Above the credenza is a metal wall sculpture. That is the only new wall art in the room. It came from Bed Bath and Beyond and it was on the discount rack. It seems that here in the 21^st Century boomerang metal sculptures aren’t so popular. All the better for me. Now mine has become more rare.

Oh, and yes, for those of you with a sharp eye, that is a Jim Beam Jeannie bottle on the desk. Just another little mid-century touch in the 21^st Century.

P.S. I've got links to all of these retailers both here and at the bottom of the page. Start shopping and make your dreams come true.

Home of the 21st Century

It’s not often that I get a chance to art direct for myself, but relocation back to the greater Los Angeles area made it happen. This is my new apartment filled with new furniture. I’d been living like a nomad for the past several years, staying in hotels mostly, so I’d rid myself of all of my old furnishing.

When it was time to start over my first thought was Danish modern. It is modern, but still somewhat traditional. I didn’t want to go too far out. Problem was I couldn’t find any entire suites of matching furniture. I’d find a sofa that was nice, but no coffee or side tables that matched.

Then I went back to the old Monsanto house of the future for inspiration. The 1957 interior furnishing were light and airy and still classically modern. A few pieces were easily identifiable such as the George Nelson coconut chair and swag leg desk as well as the Eames fiberglass chairs with the Eiffel tower base. But what to do about a sofa?

I really liked the look of the low custom designed sofa from the House of the Future, but I never expected to find such a thing. Then I came upon Modernica and found almost everything that I needed made in a Los Angeles factory. They had a daybed that closely resembled the House of the Future sofa, but it was more practical for my purposes because it could double as a bed for houseguests (no more heavy sofa beds for me). The best part was that they had a number of matching pieces for a lamp table and a coffee table. They even had a whole bedroom suite.

As if this weren’t enough, they also had the molded fiberglass chairs. It was a one-stop shop.

Well almost. I had to shop around for a few other pieces that they didn’t make. The dining room table in the picture came from Jules Seltzer and it’s called a Setu table made by Herman Miller.

The rugs come from At Home in the Valley and the style is called Hudson 2666f, not an easy one to find. The rugs are made in the USA and they are perfect for my Home of the 21^st Century.

P.S. I've got links to all of these retailers both here and at the bottom of the page. Start shopping and make your dreams come true.

More House of the Future

Here's an exterior view for the House of the Future. I posted a similar view before but this time I've added some topography. Planting comes next although I can't say when that might happen. Again, the model was created entirely in SketchUp. That's no easy task when rolling slopes are involved.

Monsanto House Interior

Some time ago I created a SketchUp model of the Monsanto House of the Future. Well now I've added some interior elements to the model home--including a model family. Oh, and Walt has dropped by to welcome the family to this fantastic home.

I still have much more work left to do to this model, but who doesn't like seeing a work in progress?

The Thrill of it All

I thought that I had posted this image some time ago, but I guess not. This is the exterior of the house used in the 1963 Doris Day James Garner comedy "The Thrill of it All." Doris is an overachieving housewife with too much time on her hands and Garner is her doctor husband who wants to keep his wife at home. When Doris finds herself the star of soap commercials her fame is too much for Garner. The films most memorable moment comes when Garner drives his sports car through the carport only to end up in a swimming pool, courtesy of the soap company.

For this film a new front door was relocated to the side of the house, the the lower level windows were modernized and the wing over the carport was added.

The house was originally built for the Deanna Durbin film "Nice Girl?" in 1941. In the film her father was known as Professor Dana, so the official name of the house is the Dana house.

For the television series "Desperate Housewives" this became the home of Lynette Scavo, with a few modification such as a garage door covering the carport.

Space Station Terra

Here is a model that I created in SketchUp. It is the Disney version of Wernher von Braun's Space Station One. The same design was also used in the original 1955 Rocket to the Moon ride in Tomorrowland. For the Disneyland ride the station was dubbed Space Station Terra.

According to the ride narration Space Station Terra was constructed way back in 1964 and had been in orbit for 22 years. The 1955 version of Tomorrowland was supposed to represent the future year of 1986, the same year that Halley's comet was due to make its next near pass of the Earth. The station was to orbit 1,075 miles over our planet and travel at the speed of 16,000 MPH.

The SketchUp model is scaled to meet the space stations 200 foot diameter. It would have rotated so that centrifugal force could create an artificial gravity inside. A crew of 50 men (sorry, no women in space) would have walked on the inside of the outer rim with their heads pointing up toward the center hub. The three large spokes are elevator shafts.

Making More Dreams

So I haven’t been updating my blog like I should have been. I’ve been pretty busy over the last (oops) years. I can’t believe it’s been that long. And I’d like to report everything that I’ve been working on since. Unfortunately, everything I work on is Top Secret.

I’ve spent most of this time working on a project for Disney’s Shanghai Disneyland. The park has been announced so I can tell that much. That’s it. Two and a half years of work and nothing to show—until it opens. I’ve worked on projects for other big players, mostly planned for foreign countries, but again there is nothing I can tell.

So now, with a little free time, I’m posting some of my personal work. This is the stuff that I do for fun. Hidden behind the ‘Top Secret’ label is Space Station S-1. You’ll have to wait to learn more about it, but I can tell you this much—it has nothing to do with my theme park work. The foreign locations I’ve mentioned are all on this planet.