THE MID CEYLON-TURY AT HOME, PT. 2: BREEZE BLOCKS

One of the most prominent features of mid century Sri Lankan architecture is the use of breeze blocks, or concrete masonry blocks that allow for airflow. These were used to make outer walls that formed a barrier for the home but allowed breezes to cool the home in the tropical heat.

During the 1950s and '60s, Sri Lankan breeze blocks came in wonderful "atomic" style patterns that are both striking and beautiful even today. Like these, from one of the outer walls of our brother-in-law's home in the Colombo suburbs:

This "starburst" pattern was very popular in '50s Ceylon, when this home was built. Today, you can see a motor mechanics' shop courtyard on the other side of the wall. It goes to show that everywhere in the world, nothing quite said "1950s" like the starburst!


Another popular mid century breeze block came in a sort of "inverted diamond" pattern, like this one found in my great-aunt's home along the southern coast of Sri Lanka. This breeze block wall was built on the side of a more old-fashioned, colonial-style home, so you can see both the traditional architecture of 19th-early 20th century Ceylon right next the modernist wall! I found this fascinating: 

Seeing all the beautiful breeze block patterns made me long for a wall made of them in our own home in California! If we have a home in Sri Lanka one day, it will definitely be a must. These mid century walls brought back so many memories of my childhood, when they were everywhere! What a shame you don't see them in Sri Lankan homes built these days.

THE MID CEYLON-TURY ... LITTLE DETAILS

I just loved seeing all the little mid century details in Sri Lankan homes! They were everywhere, like little whispers from the past. 

Here, the hexagon-shaped metal window grills in my sister-in-law's home. These are invaluable for letting the breezes in while keeping intruders out:

Details from an adorable mid century-print tablecloth that used to belong to my mother-in-law:

A "hairpin" balcony on a storefront near my sister-in-law's home (I remember so many of these from my childhood): 

I also loved the striking circular tilework on the walls of a house near the place we stayed during our holiday: 

There were so many other amazing mid century details we saw everywhere. Alas, I just couldn't get photos of them (traveling with a toddler doesn't allow for many photo-ops, unfortunately). But next time we go to Sri Lanka I'm determined to take those pics. Can't wait to share them, but until then I have a lot more mid century goodness to show you in the days to come.  :-)

THE MID CEYLON-TURY AT HOME, PT. 1

Unlike Americans, Sri Lankans tend to hold on to antiques passed down from family or friends. Thus, it's not uncommon to see modern homes with 19th century furniture! There are no thrift stores or charity shops in Sri Lanka, probably because people never donate their possessions for public sale. They may pass them on to family or donate them to their local Buddhist temple instead.

However, in the 20th century people began to build their own homes when they got married and started families, and needed new furniture because the old family furniture remained with their parents. Or the old furniture may have not survived the passage of time. Hence, you can find a lot of mid century homes with matching furniture from that era. 

One such house is the ancestral home of my husband's brother-in-law, who inherited his parents' 1950s furniture because he was their only child. I was thrilled to see these pieces because they were built of solid wood in a wonderful '50s style!

Here, their living room set, recently reupholstered. In contrast is the traditional brass oil lamp that stands at the entrances of many Sri Lankan homes. 

The sofa and loveseat are arranged around the television, and in this pic you can better see the curving "atomic" lines of the chairs:

 Another view of the armchair:

My favorite chairs from their home are these graceful canework chairs at the front entrance. Note too the mid century style geometric metal grills on the windows. These were present in most houses to keep out intruders. This home, especially, is right on the very busy main road so that's a needed precaution.

Seeing this home brought back many fond memories of my grandfather's 1950s home, where I grew up, and made me realize why I'm so obsessed with mid century decor! It's a great example of how well-built and beautiful (not to mention stylish!) Sri Lankan furniture from that era was ... and still is!

THE MID CEYLON-TURY AROUND THE CITY ... PT. 2

You can't talk about mid century architecture in Sri Lanka without mentioning the magnificent Sri Lanka Planeterium in the heart of Colombo, the beautiful and lovely colonial neighborhood of Cinnamon Gardens, or Colombo 7. I'm very fond of this area because it's where I was born and grew up! The Planetarium was one of my all-time favorite sights when I was a little girl, and it remains so to this day.

It was built in 1965, and was designed by architect Pani Tennakoon. The inspiration for the innovative and elegant structure was the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool, England.

Although we passed the Planetarium almost every day during our stay in Sri Lanka, I was not able to take photos, so these are ones I found online. 

Here's the entrance to the Planetarium building:

A closer look at the triangular structure and the walkway around it:

 The view from the triangles!

 The little "moat"-like waterway around the structure:

The Planetarium is to undergo major renovations in 2015, and I'm really excited to see how that will turn out! I can't wait to take our son to visit this amazing place, and hope he will love it as much as I did at his age.

THE MID CEYLON-TURY AROUND THE CITY, PT. 1

Traveling around Colombo, the former capitol of Sri Lanka (and also its biggest city), you can see what a vibrant, modern and exciting metropolis it is. But it's also a historical place, known to travelers for thousands of years. If you explore the far-reaching neighborhoods of Colombo, you can see all kinds of historical sites and architecture, from places of worship (Buddhist and Hindu temples, Muslim mosques and Christian churches) to the canals built by the Dutch in the 16th century, as well as quite a few British colonial era buildings.

You can also see a lot of amazing mid century architecture throughout Colombo and its suburbs, from government buildings to private homes. I wanted to get pictures of these buildings, but it was not easy to stop for photo breaks when traveling with a rambunctious toddler! However, I did manage to capture (and find) some. On our next trip to Sri Lanka I'm going to try and get many more pics of Sri Lanka's mid century architectural heritage, but for now here are some of the images I captured (or found).

First, the walls of St. Anthony's nursery school in Borella, Colombo's largest suburb. This little school was established in 1942 as part of the ministries of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in Sri Lanka:

I took these photos from a moving car, so my apologies for the not-so-good images

Here's a photo from the school's Facebook page, where you can see the beautiful curving mid century architecture behind the staff: 

I hope we can see more of this school on our next trip!

THE TREE

When I was growing up in our family home in California, there was a beautiful old tree in the front garden, right outside my window. I loved watching the change of seasons played out in its leaves, and the little birds who built nests in its branches. It was there when we moved into the house in the early 80s, and since it was so old we thought it must have been around since the house was built in 1947.

Sadly, a couple of years ago it just died, and came crashing down in a bad winter storm:

My mother paid a neighbor to cut it down. I wanted to save it, so I asked for it to be sawed into stumps that we could use in our own home, one day (we had not bought our house at that time).

Since I don't have any DIY experience, I looked online for tutorials for making a tree stump into a side table. I found the best one here, on The Art of Doing Stuff blog. It was wonderful: very detailed and didn't look too hard!

First, we let the stump dry out for over a year in the hot summer sun. Then, we pried off the bark with a prybar:

With the bark off, it looked like this:

Then we sanded it with an electric sander. You can do this by hand, but since our stump had so many bumps we just didn't have the time to do that.

When sanded, it looked like this:

Then, we decided to fill in a big gash running down the stump with wood filler. We could have left it alone, but worried about bugs coming out of it one day. I wasn't thrilled with the filled-in effect, but in the end it wasn't too bad:

Even though it was a pale shade of filler, it still stood out a bit:

Then, we sanded down the filled-in gaps:

Afterwards, it looked like this:

Then, we sealed the entire stump with several coats of Minwax "Polyshades", or stain-and-polyurethane in one can. This took over a week since you have to let the stain dry out for at least a day before applying another coat.

Finally, we decided to paint the top since the filler was so prominent there. First, a coat of primer:

 

Followed by some leftover paint, and voila, here's the finished tree stump (side without the gash):

And here's the side with the filled-in gash. Though it's visible, it doesn't look bad:

 

It stands next to our mid-century rocking armchair: 

I adore this little stump table, and am so thankful that the tree that stood outside my window will now be with us forever. It's more than a piece of furniture -- it's an old friend.

THE MIDCEYLON-TURY: FURNITURE FROM THE PAST

Now and then you can find fascinating examples of the mid-century influence on Sri Lankan furniture. I grew up surrounded by this in my grandfather's home, but by the 1990s it had pretty much disappeared, to be replaced by ornate, heavy furniture in the antique and "British colonial" style.

But that didn't happen everywhere. In my grandfather's home, for instance, there were chairs like these in the front area, where guests sat when they came to visit:

I almost teared-up when I saw this photo on the OkayArt website because it brought back so many memories! Reminds me why I so love all things mid-century: I'm trying to recreate the look of the lively, happy place where I grew up.

You can get a similar look with these "Kennedy" chairs from Thrive Furniture:

We're saving up to get a pair of them! :-)

Many Sri Lankan homes also had chairs like these (and still do): 

As you can see in the above photos, cane seats were very popular. Cane is a traditional Sri Lankan material that's durable and easy to care for in the humid, tropical environment.

Without the cane they're similar to these "Arnold" chairs from Joybird Furniture:

The mid century influence could also be found in Sri Lankan school furniture when I was growing up, like in these old wood and metal chairs:

These were the kinds of chairs in my schoolroom! Nowadays this look has become quite trendy here in the U.S., with reproductions sold in stores and online, like this "Kyoto" chair by Dot & Bo:

I was very close to my grandfather, and his home was my favorite place to be in Sri Lanka. He passed away in 2007 and his house was sold off, but I cherish my memories of it to this day. And I'm trying to recreate the look and feel of it in our own home here in California. I think that's what makes it such a happy place, as people who come into our home always say. I know it would make my grandfather proud!

THE MID CEYLON-TURY: BUTTERFLY CHAIRS

BKF or "butterfly" chairs were first designed and manufactured in Argentina in 1938. They were inspired by late 19th century military furniture, which was used in wartime and needed to be both stable and portable.

This design has been popular since the time it was made. Here's an authentic mid-century version from an auction site: 

And here's a modern version sold today on CB2:

These chairs are still made in Sri Lanka! I saw one recently in a Sri Lankan family home here in the Sacramento area: the husband had brought the chair all the way from Sri Lanka! Like many butterfly chairs from there, it had an intricate cultural design tooled into the leather, as in this one found at the store NaomiPainting on Etsy:

You can also find plain ones like this at Laksala, the official State gift and souvenir store of Sri Lanka:

I love seeing interpretations of mid century designs from Sri Lanka (and all over South Asia): it's so inspiring!

MOTHER'S DAY 2014

Hope everyone had a most wonderful Mother's Day, whether you're a mother or not, whether you're close to your mother or not, whether your mother is here with you or passed on, I truly hope that your day was happy and fulfilling. I believe all women who nurture children and play positive roles in their lives are in a way "mothers" of those children. 

I feel lucky to be have been born to my mother, who I truly think is one of the greatest mothers ever. She sacrificed so much for us, and my only hope, wish and prayer is that I am born to her in every life to come!

Here she is, a brand new mother (I'm her first child), in a groovy graphic-print dress that looked to be a staple in the wardrobes of women all around the world ... at least, if this picture's any indication, lol! Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Ammi!

I also found some beautiful vintage gifts for her! One was this collectible Mother's Day porcelain plate from 1972, the year I was born!

She went crazy over it! The design is painted in 24 karat gold, and the ladies at the shop where I found it also loved the fact that it was the year my mother became a mother -- it's like the plate was meant for us!

I also found this lovely little vintage magnet, which we gave as a gift from our son, her first grandchild.

My mother love decorative magnets, and this one has hooks for things like keys, which she's always misplacing lol! She loved this little gift too.

Our son caught that stomach "bug" that's been going around this weekend, and although he was much better today, everyone's Mother's Day plans had to be postponed (our grandmother's passing was also a factor in that). So we'll go out to celebrate probably at the end of the week. 

Despite all that, ours was a lovely happy memorable day, and I'm so very grateful for that!

MY GRANDMOTHER: IN MEMORIAM

Last Saturday we got the saddest news from Sri Lanka: my grandmother, who helped raise us and who looked after us while my mother went to America (and then brought us to her over a year later), passed away in her sleep. My aunt and her family were looking after her, and my mother even got to go and visit her for a couple of weeks right before she died. She was in pain, so no-one wanted her to suffer. But it was still a huge blow for us all.

I now have no living grandparents, and my mother has no living parents. But cliched as this may sound, as Buddhists we believe that they are still looking after us, and depending on our karma we will meet again in another life. 

But for now I'm in this life. And I want my grandma.

Here we are, three generations of women - my mother, me (at around one month old) and my grandmother:

I will miss her for as long as I live.

THE MIDCEYLON-TURY: VINTAGE SRI LANKAN TV ADS!

Look what I found: a series of vintage Sri Lankan TV ads on Youtube! They're from the '80s and '90s, but what's interesting is how mid-century furniture styles were still popular those days -- you can see this in the Arpico ad around 3:34 on the video timer. Well worth checking out!

The furniture on the ad was made for the masses and affordable, so not "high end" in any way. Which is funny when you consider how trendy and pricey things like hairpin leg tables and Saarinen-style furniture are today, here in the U.S.

Sri Lanka has not caught up with today's mid-century mania yet. Decor trends hit Sri Lanka veeeery slowly, so it'll be fascinating to see if these styles will ever come back over there!

NEW KITCHEN PICS COMING SOON!

Hey friends ...
Sorry I haven't posted pics of the newly-renovated kitchen. Promise to post them soon! 

We had to start using the kitchen as soon as it was done, lol! So I have to clean it and make it a bit more sparkly for photos. 

KITCHEN DETAILS

It wasn't easy finding retro-inspired accents for our retro-inspired kitchen. Especially on a tight budget! We didn't want to spend loads of money on things like lights, fans, etc. I wish we could have found real vintage fixtures at thrift stores, but that just didn't happen.

Nevertheless, searching long and hard got us some amazing deals like these!

The Star backplate from Rejuvenation was so quintessentially '50s! We used it as small drawer and cabinet pulls: 

Also from Rejuvenation, the "Astron" pendant light is mid-century inspired and adorable over the sink (ours is the green but you can get lots of other combinations):

The fan was hard to find because the cute vintage-look ones were really pricey -- $300 for a fan??? I don't think so. Finally we got this one, the "Middleton" from Home Depot. The white color blends into the ceiling, and at least the "schoolhouse" lampshade is a genuine vintage style:

I'm glad we didn't spend loads of money on small things, but still got great style! No-one should have to shell out half the price of a new stove on a lamp or fan, know what I mean? And nowadays you really don't have to.