Moving on

My son-in-law will soon be closing the doors of Mid2Mod for good. The decision was bittersweet, but he has decided it's time to move on. He will be pursuing a career in real estate...hoping to specialize in mid-century homes eventually.

A sincere thank you goes out to all the customers and all the readers of this blog who have so faithfully supported and encouraged his endeavor. Even though the store will be gone, I will continue the blog. Taking us full circle, here are some of my favorite photos from the first store on Exposition.

Almost ready

Opening day

Blenko, Blendo and the ol' shag rug

The green plush Pearsall sofa we called Oscar the Couch
(and a photobomb by the shag rug again)

Richard Schultz daybed for Knoll

Braun stereo by Herbert Hirsch

Otagiri Mercantile coffee set

Jo Niemeyer signed prints

10Best

We learned yesterday that our store made the USA Today's 10Best list for shopping spots in the Deep Ellum district of Dallas.  Here's what Dallas Local Expert Ilene Jacobs had to say:


Joe and Jennifer Eggleston's boutique furniture store is a treasure trove for retrophiles looking to turn their pad into a celebration of mid-century interiors style. The shop features the crème de la crème of vintage furniture, all refurbished and sold at a fraction of their retail price. Highlights include a mint condition 1957 Eames RAR rocker for $750 and a pair of iconic scoop chairs by Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggin at $2,200. But it's not only vintage furnishings you'll find here. As the name suggests, Mid2Mod also offers modern mid-century style furniture and accessories by the Toronto-based design company Gus Modern. If money is tight, hold out for one of Mid2Mod's liquidation sales, sometimes offering up to 75% off on items. A recent clearance had JL Moller's teak Danish dining chairs going for only $100 a piece.

We are excited about receiving this honor, and we're pleased that the resurgence of Deep Ellum as an important shopping venue is gaining so much attention in the media.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for a major announcement about the new direction our family business will be taking.

Mid2Mod re-opens!!!

The last time I posted about the store was in late September, and we had just begun the move back to Deep Ellum. Life takes some strange twists and turns, and sometimes all you can do is roll with it. In our case, progress on the store came to a temporary halt when my SIL's older brother Tony was involved in an extremely serious motorcycle accident several weeks ago.

We're happy to say, though, that after a very close call, Tony is home and on the mend. We're also happy to tell you that the new store is finally open for business. We still carry fantastic vintage and new modern furniture and accessories, but we also now stock a variety of small modernist items, including housewares, jewelry, toys, books and more!

Over the next week or so, we will be focusing on getting our permanent signage up, putting some art on the wall, and adding the new products to our website. I will be featuring our new products on the blog soon. Till then, take a peek at our new digs.

Location:

2932 Main Street #104

Dallas, TX 75226

(972) 913-6094

Hours:

Tues-Fri - 11-6

Saturday - 12-5

The move back to Deep Ellum

A recent article on the D Magazine site begins:

Sometimes simple ideas are the best ones. It’s not a path that Dallas often follows. But there are some developers who are beginning to see that maybe the best way to make Dallas a great city is by tweaking what we already have.

If you read my post yesterday about our opening a new store, you'll realize that, on a personal level, those words describe our thinking about moving back to Deep Ellum. What we had there was simple and good. All we're going to do in the new store is tweak that a little.

Interestingly and not coincidentally, the D Magazine article is about the boom Deep Ellum is poised to experience. Developer Scott Rohrman bought up 27 buildings and 13 parking lots in the area and is in the process of transforming the neighborhood. His plan is to create a pedestrian-friendly urban destination that will attract locals and visitors alike..,one that respects the history and the 100-year-old architecture of the neighborhood.

Deep Ellum was developed in the late 1880s as one of the first commercial districts for African Americans and European immigrants. The neighborhood still boasts a number of historically significant buildings, one of which was designed by William Sydney Pittman, Texas's first black architect and the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington. 

However, Deep Ellum was best known as a hotspot for jazz and blues, hosting musicians the likes of 

Blind Lemon Jefferson, Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter, Texas Bill Day and Bessie Smith. From 1920 till 1950 cafes and nightclubs dotted every block of the area.

By 1956, the neighborhood began to suffer. Streetcar service ended, as many people had cars and had headed to the suburbs. By 1969, a large section of the area was obliterated by Central Expressway, and Deep Ellum was in serious decline.

A group of young artists and musicians moved into Deep Ellum in the 1980s and 1990s, and in 2009, a light rail station connected the area with downtown, bringing even more visitors back to the neighborhood. Now, Rohrman's project promises to give Deep Ellum a chance to experience its best days yet.

And Mid2Mod is going to be right in the middle of it.

From dmagazine.com and deepellumfoundation.org

Harlem Theater - Deep Ellum
dallastxlofts.com

vodamagazine.com

Proposed pedestrian alley through old radiator factory
dmagazine.com

Proposed outdoor seating
dmagazine.com

razedinmilwaukee.com

Same song, second verse

Some things never change.

My SIL, daughter and I started Mid2Mod as an antique mall booth in early 2010 but decided after about six months that the mall scene wasn't for us. We figured that meant giving up being vintage furniture sellers too, so we spent two grueling days selling off all our inventory in a garage sale. We hadn't even finished counting the money from the sale when my SIL turned to us and said, "Tell the truth. Don't you miss it already?"

Within a few weeks, my SIL had quit his job, leased our first storefront, and we were open for business. The store grew...and then it grew some more.

With the move to the Design District, we began to sell almost exclusively to designers and other dealers, and while that allowed for high-end sales, Mid2Mod had grown into a business, rather than an adventure. Selling to people who were excited about finding the perfect pieces for their own homes had been a lot more fun.

For a year or so, my SIL had been kicking around an idea for a different type of store...a modern lifestyle store, rather than a furniture store. He envisioned offering modern housewares, accessories, clothing, and books, in addition to vintage modern and new modern furnishings.

However, that would entail moving the store back to an area with more foot traffic, so it seemed easier for him to devote his time and energy to buying vintage modern furniture and selling by appointment instead of having a traditional store. Relaxed pace, nice trips, no set schedule...sounds good, right?

You'd think so, but after closing the store, it only took one big picking trip to Colorado and a return truckload of great pieces before he called me on the phone and said, "OK, maybe I'm crazy...but tell the truth. Don't you miss it already?" And, just like the last time, I admitted that I did.

Having a brick and mortar store can be addicting, and sometimes you simply can’t get it out of your system. This time, though, we think we've come up with the perfect solution…a store that my SIL will operate on Wednesday through Friday, giving him ample time for long distance buying trips...an employee to run the store on Saturdays and Sundays, allowing more family time...and sales by appointment the rest of the week.

We’re excited to announce our plans to open Mid2Mod: A Modern Boutique in the next few weeks. We’ll be back in Deep Ellum, just a few doors down from our previous location there. The space has been leased, and we’re in the process of painting walls, installing fixtures, selecting vintage modern pieces to showcase, and choosing the perfect vendors for a great variety of modern products.

Hot damn, we're having fun again!

Back to historic Deep Ellum

Future home of Mid2Mod

On the Road

Taking a cue from Jack Kerouac...minus the poetry and the debauchery...Mid2Mod is entering another phase. Starting today we're getting ready to take to the road.

Locally, our focus will now be on buying and selling by appointment only. High-end items will be sold via the major auction houses, and Mid2Mod's online presence will be expanded, making more buying trips possible. Also in the plans is more participation in modernism shows across the country...something we couldn't easily do while operating a brick-and-mortar store.

Over the past year, we have seen an increase in national and international sales, and we have begun to locate more "Rago or Wright auction-quality" items, so we plan to follow those avenues and see where they lead. At the same time, we have been concerned about the fact that many of our original customers have been priced out of the loop, so we've made a decision to lower prices by eliminating the overhead of a retail space.

For the time being, we're operating out of 147 Manufacturing Street in Dallas while we negotiate for the perfect warehouse space. In the meantime, we have a series of huge Saturday sales planned. See the website for our already-reduced prices, and check back often, because the site will soon be redesigned. We think you're going to like what you see!

Florence Knoll two-seater sofa
Was $3250 - Now $1500

Pair of walnut nightstands by Edward Wormley for Dunbar
Was $1950 - Now $800

Sheaf of Wheat coffee table with travertine top
Was $1250 - Now $550

Lounge chair by T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings
Was $1750 - Now $550

Brutalist style credenza/dresser
Was $2500 - Now $500

Doria chandelier
Was $2200 - Now $750

Shuffle and flow

As pieces are sold at the store and new pieces are moved in, things get shuffled around. Eventually, things start to look a little disorganized, and a complete resetting of the floor is necessary to restore the flow of traffic and to create a pleasing aesthetic.

This is no small feat that usually involves moving every single piece of furniture in the store. It's an exhausting job generally taking 6-8 hours of heavy lifting...and a lot of merchandising savvy.

Here are a few of the latest shots of the store after a recent rearranging.

FedEx Small Business Grant

FedEx annually offers $50,000 in Small Business grants. The one business is awarded $25,000, four receive $5000, and five receive $1000. This year my SIL has applied.

You can help him become one of the 100 finalists by clicking here and voting for Mid2Mod and sharing the link on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Voting will end at 11:59 p.m. on February 23. You can vote once per day through the deadline.

In the store: New floor layout

My daughter and SIL completely rearrange the floor of the store once a month. Here is the result of their working deep into the night last Saturday, while Grandsons #1 and #2 and I had a special party at Grammo's little house.

These floor-setting nights usually end around 1 a.m. and result in somewhat dark photos, but I'm always too impatient to see what they've done to wait till the sun comes up again and the store is flooded with light.

D Home magazine: Treasure Hunt at Mid2Mod

The store has been featured a couple of times lately in D Home magazine, this time with a full-page spread in the November/December edition.

You've seen close-ups of all these pieces of furniture in other posts, so I'll give you a good look at the great guy I usually refer to as "my SIL." Here's Joe, the one who deserves the credit for growing the business from its humble beginnings in Expo Park to the beautiful retail space it is today in the Dallas Design District. 

Joe Eggleston, my son-in-law and owner of Mid2Mod

More Modtober pricing

Yesterday I showed you items included in our Modtober sale. My SIL was in a particularly ghoulish mood, as he is wont to be in October, so he brutally slashed more prices. Here are additional items that are frighteningly marked down:

Mash Studios PCH credenza / media unit
Reg. $2200 - SALE $1200

Gus*Modern Plank table and bench
Reg. $1575 - SALE $850

Gus*Modern Jane sofa
Reg. $2000 - SALE $1300

Bend counter stool
Reg. $495 - SALE $250

Featured: 360 West

The store was given a full page in the September issue of 360 West magazine that came out on the newsstands on August 26. If you'd like to read the article online, click on the link above, then click Thumbs. You'll find us on page 59.  Thanks to Babs Rodriguez for a great write-up!

Just look away

Did I mention I have a fear of heights? Well, I do...and these photos my SIL posted on Facebook haven't helped one bit. Last week I was at the store when he was hanging a light, and, as usual, the experience was harrowing. Admittedly, it was a small light that was easily carried up a ladder, but that did very little to allay my anxiety. I noticed a gigantic Sciolari chandelier on the floor awaiting installation and made a mental note not to be there when it went up.

Whenever he climbs a ladder while I'm at the store, I go into full-blown phobia mode: knot in stomach, heart in throat and creepy-crawly feeling on the backs of my legs. He's up and down, leaning and stretching, balancing on the top rung in all sorts of precarious positions. Despite his assurances that he's OSHA-compliant and that it's only my vantage point and my propensity for melodrama causing the distress, I keep repeating, "OMG, I can't look. I really can't look," to which he responds, "Then don't. Just look away." After putting up with a few rounds of my hand wringing and squealing like a little girl for him to be careful, he invariably asks me to hand him something, requiring me to A) grope my way in his general direction, my eyes covered with one hand and a pair of pliers held out to him with the other or B) look.

A couple of days ago, he hung the massive Sciolari. He had said it would probably be a two-man job, although I thought four sounded much better. Rather than wait for help, however, he decided to do it alone, without so much as a mother-in-law there to call 911 when he plummeted to the concrete floor. The captions below are his.

One man. One Sciolari. Fight!

Man wins.

If I had been writing the captions, they would have said "Perilously tall ladder. Terrified woman. Faint." and "My grandsons still have a father."