Modern Austin

Posts filed under 'Other'

Erwin House in the Statesman

Today’s Statesman has a feature on the Erwins and their journey from remodel to proprietors of Crestview Doors.

Includes a small photo gallery of before and after pictures.

3 comments October 14th, 2007

Tidbits

I know I have written about Crestview Doors before but they have a new site up with much more info and examples of the great doors they offer. Check it out (and buy): Crestview Doors Website.

Last week I talked with a writer for the Statesman about what is mid-century modernism largely in context of the Erwins, their home, and the Crestview Doors business that grew out of it all. Right as we were starting our conversation, I had a minor emergency flare up at work so I hope my admiration for my fellow Grover Avenue neighbors came through the background of chaos. I tried to talk about MCM in the context of local history rather than more generic reference points. Not sure I totally succeeded there in providing a coherent back drop. Need to work on my talking points :-)

I am happy to report I own my first sofa since 2001. Hard to believe it has been so long. After less than fruitful combing of craigslist, my eye was caught by this Gus* Design sofa that is clearly inspired by classic Knoll Designs:
gus modern sofa

I acquired it from the very helpful people of IF+D. Go visit them and support the local design shops.

Through the IF+D site, I came across Fiesterra Studio and this incredible steel sculpture that invokes coral reefs:

3 comments September 24th, 2007

I received this email today:

Not only do we have a McMansion backlash, we also have a McModern backlash. If you are in support of diversity in central Austin, please attend the Central Austin Neighborhood Plan meeting : Thur Sept 13th at Sanctuary (Beverly Hall) 2600 Exposition Blvd at 6:30p. Everyone (including people who don’t live in Central Austin but would like to) can attend. They are drafting a vision and goals for a neighborhood plan. If enough people are in favor of “preserving character” then they might adopt stricter controls and limit diversity. If enough people favor diversity, then we will be able to see more modern style homes in central Austin.

Add comment September 12th, 2007

back.

Got into Austin over the weekend. Dealing with all the moving things one has to. I took a quick tour through the MLS and the active listings that I just saw didn’t turn up much except re-prices or updates on homes already listed. Either some stuff came and went in the past week or it is slow on the modern front.

If you happen to come across a house you think belongs on the site, let me know (click on contact on the right side of the page).

Add comment September 4th, 2007

Modern Austin turned 2 years old on Friday. Not bad for something started on a whim.

While Modern Austin is currently driven mostly by For Sale postings, it actually was started with a different purpose in mind. I had moved to Austin a few months prior and was spending parts of my weekend driving around learning the area (I had never stepped foot in Austin until moving there). The first weekend while driving through Barton Hills I happened upon what I now know to be Stengers and my interest in the local modern history was sparked.

Modern Austin was to be a catalog of my explorations of the city and the history. As I learned more and met more fellow enthusiast and professionals I saw this interest and passion around modern and green design in the area and I thought that there was a greater need for resources, archival of history and just general information. That is the direction I wanted to take Modern Austin in. I still do.

The past 18 months have found me not in Austin, however, but in DC due to job related forces. While it hasn’t dampened in my desire, location and a demanding position in a startup has certainly drawn my attention elsewhere and it has been hard enough just keeping up with the for sale listings. Happily at least the location part is about to change as we return to Austin at the end of this month.

Some stats on how Modern Austin has grown:

Page views in the month of Sept 2005: 936
Page views in the month of July 2007: 55,309

Unique visitors in the month of Sept 2005: 54
Unique visitors in the month of July 2007: 7,080

This is a testament to readers of Modern Austin, and the community of interest, as I have never advertised this site or done much in the way of promotion. Thank you for all your support.

6 comments August 19th, 2007

Update.

Been a bit quiet lately. I’ve only checked out listings about twice a week now and just haven’t been seeing much except some lack luster new “modern” builds which I rather not post.

I know of a few upcoming….

1 comment August 17th, 2007

OOO

I’ll be away for the next 10 days or so. At the beach, no cell phone, no email, minimum electronics, and so Modern Austin.

Work has been keeping me under so I looked at the MLS today for the first time since last weekend. A word to the wise, when working for a start-up be careful taking over a department on an “interim” basis, or at least substitute months when it was for weeks in any timeline. Anyhow, nothing jumped out at me. Either it is a very thin on listings this week or all the good places were gone in a flash.

Add comment June 22nd, 2007