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Collection by Erika Heet

Midcentury Renovations We Love

While some midcentury gems merely need a spruce up, others require a complete overhaul. Here are 5 that have gained new life, inside and out.

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An architectural designer and an artist harnessed the collective power of their design firm to remake a dilapidated mid-century gem into a hillside perch for their family.
An architectural designer and an artist harnessed the collective power of their design firm to remake a dilapidated mid-century gem into a hillside perch for their family.
A bank of cabinets was replaced with a wall of glass, flooding the main hall with natural light and opening it to the courtyard. The vintage number 2 was salvaged from a theater marquee.
A bank of cabinets was replaced with a wall of glass, flooding the main hall with natural light and opening it to the courtyard. The vintage number 2 was salvaged from a theater marquee.
New doors and windows and a simplified palette lend the master bedroom—which retains the lines of the original mid-century modern house—a calm, unfussy elegance.
New doors and windows and a simplified palette lend the master bedroom—which retains the lines of the original mid-century modern house—a calm, unfussy elegance.
Eero Saarinen’s legendary Miller House is not your average home, this modern gem was generously donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2011. The dining room centers around a custom Saarinen-designed marble-and-terrazzo table ringed by Tulip chairs. Overhead is a Venini chandelier. Photo by: Leslie Williamson
Eero Saarinen’s legendary Miller House is not your average home, this modern gem was generously donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2011. The dining room centers around a custom Saarinen-designed marble-and-terrazzo table ringed by Tulip chairs. Overhead is a Venini chandelier. Photo by: Leslie Williamson
A mosaic tile wall softens the laboratory-like effect of the glossy kitchen cabinets.
A mosaic tile wall softens the laboratory-like effect of the glossy kitchen cabinets.
When Jennifer and Mattias Segerholt decided to move to Portland after five years in Los Angeles, a shared climate-based trepidation shaped their real estate search.
When Jennifer and Mattias Segerholt decided to move to Portland after five years in Los Angeles, a shared climate-based trepidation shaped their real estate search.
After searching for the perfect plot of land on which to build their dream home, a couple instead opted to purchase a "Rummer" home -- a typical example of a low-key midcentury modernist house constructed by a local developer, Robert Rummer, in the 1960s. The five-bedroom, 2,400-square-foot post-and-beam house was strongly reminiscent of California Eichlers, and exemplified the couple’s ideal layout, but was in serious need of a major renovation. The revamp maintained the great expanses of glass, wide-open interiors, and indoor-outdoor living, and added new white concrete floors installed, fixed the radiant heating, updated the kitchen and bathrooms, and new landscaping.
After searching for the perfect plot of land on which to build their dream home, a couple instead opted to purchase a "Rummer" home -- a typical example of a low-key midcentury modernist house constructed by a local developer, Robert Rummer, in the 1960s. The five-bedroom, 2,400-square-foot post-and-beam house was strongly reminiscent of California Eichlers, and exemplified the couple’s ideal layout, but was in serious need of a major renovation. The revamp maintained the great expanses of glass, wide-open interiors, and indoor-outdoor living, and added new white concrete floors installed, fixed the radiant heating, updated the kitchen and bathrooms, and new landscaping.
The beanbag chairs and outdoor sofa and chairs are from West Elm and the Case Study Museum Bench is from Modernica.
The beanbag chairs and outdoor sofa and chairs are from West Elm and the Case Study Museum Bench is from Modernica.
See for Yourself After painting the sitting room room Kendall Charcoal from Benjamin Moore’s Aura line, Neely wanted a sculptural element that would show up against the dark hue. So he assembled his white Algues set, designed by the Bouroullec brothers for Vitra, on the wall behind the sofa with pillow by Judy Ross. “Though the Bouroullec piece is manufactured in mass quantities, you can create your own take on it,” he says. “It looks great no matter how you place it. I think of it almost like an inkblot—the randomness is part of its beauty.”
See for Yourself After painting the sitting room room Kendall Charcoal from Benjamin Moore’s Aura line, Neely wanted a sculptural element that would show up against the dark hue. So he assembled his white Algues set, designed by the Bouroullec brothers for Vitra, on the wall behind the sofa with pillow by Judy Ross. “Though the Bouroullec piece is manufactured in mass quantities, you can create your own take on it,” he says. “It looks great no matter how you place it. I think of it almost like an inkblot—the randomness is part of its beauty.”