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The fifth wall
Stand in a 1958 ranch and look up: beams, planking, warm wood doing quiet work overhead. Stand in a new apartment and look up: flat drywall, a smoke detector, and if you are unlucky, a boob light. Designers call the ceiling the fifth wall, and mid-century builders treated it as the best one. Post-and-beam houses left their bones exposed because the bones were the ornament, which is the whole movement in one sentence. Bjorn’s new guide covers getting that rhythm back with faux beams: a weekend project now, not a framing job, from the $119 budget route to the full plank-and-beam Eichler treatment. Your room has five walls. Four of them are probably fine. Read The Fifth Wall.
Five finds
- Kingfun 80” Chenille Sofa, about $400. A real three-seater with a solid wood frame at a price where most competitors ship a loveseat and call it a sofa. From our sofas under $1,000 list.
- Qiqiong 32” Gold Sunburst Mirror, about $60. Anchors a whole wall and reflects more light than mirrors twice the price; the spokes feel solid, not flimsy. From our mirror guide.
- Mid-Century Modern: Interiors, Furniture, Design Details by Bradley Quinn. If you buy one book about the movement, this is the one, and it is heavy enough to hold down your coasters. From our coffee table book list.
- Logan Arc Floor Lamp, about $139. The Grasshopper lamp for the rest of us: weighted base, dimmable warm LED, and it does not tip when the dog walks into it. From our floor lamp roundup.
- Walker Edison 2-Drawer Solid Wood Nightstand, about $170. Solid pine, walnut stain, brass hardware, and drawers that close with a satisfying weight instead of a hollow rattle. From our nightstand guide.
One fix
Put your living room light on a dimmer. A basic rotary dimmer runs about $12 at any hardware store and swaps in fifteen minutes with the breaker off. If you rent or would rather not touch wiring, a plug-in lamp dimmer does the same job for a floor lamp. Overhead light at 40 percent is a different room. The full case is in our dimmer guide.
Subscriber bonus: your printable 7-Point Mid-Century Authentication Checklist, the one-page version of our authentication guide. Take it to your next estate sale.
See you next Sunday.
Bjorn