For today, strap in while Max shares his vintage villain origin story, his favorite features of a time capsule house, and makes such a convincing case for bringing back wall to wall carpet that I kind of end up sold.
I want you to tell me if he’s persuaded you, too!
I know you’ll love today’s chat because I loved recording it. And I know that you, like me, love little more than nerding out over details with a fellow mid-century superfan.
Also, he’s getting back into the business of design advice. So if you need some assistance in re-crafting a perfect MCM time capsule of your own … shoot him a DM!
In Today’s Episode You’ll Hear:
- Which house(s) Max loves most.
- Why wall to wall carpet is going to make a comeback.
- How to find and tour great time capsule homes.
Listen Now On
And be sure to check out all of Max’s listings on Instagram! Then follow, like and share. Here are a few of my absolute favorites:
The Ashton, Illinois time capsule Max mentioned…
And some truly remarkable feats of mid-century-ness…
Resources
- Follow Max on ALL THE SOCIALS – Insta, tiktok and YouTube
- Want us to create your mid-century master plan? Apply here to get on my calendar for a Discovery Call!
- Need some targeted home advice? Schedule a 30-minute Zoom consult with me. We’ll dig into an issue or do a comprehensive mid century house audit.
- Get Ready to Remodel, my course that teaches you to DIY a great plan for your mid mod remodel!
And you can always…
- Join us in the Facebook Community for Mid Mod Remodel
- Find me on Instagram:@midmodmidwest
- Find the podcast on Instagram: @midmodremodelpodcast
Read the Full Episode Transcript
Della Hansmann 00:00
If you are not already a huge fan of the Instagram account, homes with Max, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you that you’ve been doing your algorithm wrong. Let’s fix it when you have a minute, bop on over and follow him to check out the extravaganza of video home tours.
Della Hansmann 00:15
But for now, strap in while Max shares his vintage villain origin story, his favorite features of a time capsule house, and makes such a convincing case for bringing back wall to wall carpet that I kind of end up sold. I want you to tell me if he’s persuaded you too, I know you’ll love today’s chat, because I loved recording it, and I know that you, like me, love little more than nerding out over details with a fellow mid-century fan.
Della Hansmann 00:41
Hey there. Welcome back to mid mod remodel. This is the show about updating MCM homes, helping you match a mid-century home to your modern life. I’m your host, della Hansmann, architect and mid-century ranch enthusiast. You’re listening to Episode 2311.
Della Hansmann 00:54
I really don’t want to waste any time before we get into this episode, but I will say that over on YouTube, I’ve been recording a series of the details that strike an architect’s eye. This is not unrelated to the conversation that Max and I are going to have today. So I’ve already covered how to make choices for updating or replacing mid-century cabinets if you have to, how to add lighting to a mid-century home properly, and the metals that are most appropriate for your mid-century home.
Della Hansmann 01:21
I’m going to go on to talk about the hardware and handle types and shapes that work well. To talk about details that can improve the mid-century nature of your front door area. Give yourself a little exterior upgrade colors that are right for mid-century homes. So if you’ve got a question about the details that make up what drives the design the mid-century ness of your update.
Della Hansmann 01:43
If there’s something you’re struggling with right now, reach out and let me know, because I’m on a roll with this series, and I’d love to make relevant content. The other thing I need to say before we get started is that you can find homes with Max on Instagram, and that’s just your best place to go. But the show notes for this episode, with a transcript of the persuasive case for wall to wall carpeting will be at mid mod dash midwest.com/ 2311 so you can also go find all of Max’s information there. And yeah, let’s just dive on in. You’re gonna like this one.
Della Hansmann 02:15
Here I am with Max, and I’m so excited to get to get some of your insight into being inside of great mid-century homes. And welcome to the show.
Homes with Max 02:25
Hi. I’m so glad to be here.
Della Hansmann 02:28
All right. Well, I think a wonderful jumping off point, from my perspective, is always to kind of find out what someone’s vintage villain origin story is. So like, what, what was the beginning? Was? Was your Instagram channel the beginning for you, or were you already looking around? Or where did you start?
Homes with Max 02:43
The Instagram channel was the only way it could have possibly ended. But it started early in childhood. I was brought along to estate sales almost every weekend, so already early exposure to homes, and you can only imagine the kind of homes I was seeing. I’m 30, so this is like 20 years ago, so many original mid-centuries, and even homes from the 30s and 40s with their original furnishings. It really brought up a love for that, for that with me. I also was raised on Turner Classic Movies, so that I’ve also just had a weird thing for furniture my whole life. I wanted to have my I think it was my ninth birthday party at the Marshall Field’s furniture section. And my parents had to be like, maybe not.
Della Hansmann 03:29
But that means you are exactly my kind of nerd, and I love it. Yes, did you ever get to throw a party in the furniture section later?
Homes with Max 03:36
That is actually, I’ve been thinking about that so much lately. I think that’s gonna be 31. Everybody get ready.
Della Hansmann 03:44
That’s an invite I would be excited to get, actually. So okay, so estate sales as a kid, when you were a kid, did you, I mean, did you fully appreciate them from what they were, or was it just the air you were breathing and you were kind of just along for the ride? When did you become obsessed?
Homes with Max 04:01
I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed, genuinely, like I was always so I’m one of our I my mom collects a lot of old embroidery stuff, and I always remember that I found, which I now find very interesting. As a kid, I found that so incredibly boring. So I would go off and wander all through the house while she was going through very meticulously, through all these napkins.
Della Hansmann 04:25
for a specific topic of thing,
Homes with Max 04:27
Yeah, and I wanted to see the whole thing, and I got much more interested in the house and the things themselves. And now I’m not that I have money. I love it, but, yeah.
Della Hansmann 04:36
Well, estate sales are so much fun for that, because they are a little bit exploded, of course, because things are the object for sale, but you do usually find them in really Time Capsule houses. And you get to just poke around into the all of the you know, people don’t have an estate sale quality life unless they have a very specific kind of house.
Homes with Max 04:54
You get to know the people too. And I’m incredibly nosy. I love I have so many boxes of old pictures of people whose estate sales I’ve gone to that I’ve fallen in love with.
Della Hansmann 05:05
Yeah, you know, that’s funny, because I’ve been tempted by things like that. I was just in an architectural salvage shop in Des Moines as I was there for a site visit with a client before the end of the year, and I got so tempted by this just random daguerreotype picture of like a woman reading to two little girls. It’s like, I think I want this in my house. And in the end, I didn’t take ahead of broken frame. I was foolish and low blood sugar, but I didn’t bring it home because I was like, no, these aren’t my relatives. What is this?
Homes with Max 05:35
No broken frame will stop me, and frequently it should.
Della Hansmann 05:39
But you know, I think I’m learning an opposite lesson from that, because what my feeling of regret from three months ago tells me that the next time I encounter a photo like that, I should take it home with me.
Homes with Max 05:49
So that’s the spirit. They’re just relatives you haven’t met yet. Hi.
Della Hansmann 05:54
There you go. Yeah. Well, all right, so you’ve always been into it, but at some point you went from person who likes mid-century old things to person who has an Instagram account that people love to watch. Yes, what made you start?
Homes with Max 06:10
Well, I was studying architecture, actually in France for a few years, and I graduated. I have my master’s. I was ready to go out into the world, and the architecture firms of Chicago responded to me with what I will characterize as aggressive disinterest.
Homes with Max 06:29
So I had so much free time on my hands, and a lot of that was spent scrolling through Zillow, and I think I could sense that my friends and family were getting sick of all the listings I was showing them, and so I had to.
Homes with Max 06:45
So I started putting them on Instagram, and if I look back at the old videos, oh my, the audio quality is just awful, and I am talking for like two minutes straight about one thing, my style has changed a lot, but I clearly needed an outlet, and I’m still shocked to this day that people were interested in that so well.
Della Hansmann 07:08
A shame on the firms of our of Chicago for not I agree. Shame on them all I might. I worked at a firm in Chicago for three years while my sister was in med school and we were roommates. And I love this city, but it’s looking back. I love the city itself, but it’s not my flavor of architecture firm.
Della Hansmann 07:25
And what I did was wander away and start my own thing, which also, incidentally began with an Instagram account I was obsessed with the mid-century ranch neighborhoods I was walking through in Madison and just sort of taking pictures of them and putting them online for I don’t know everyone around me was bored with hearing about it. This seems exactly and lo and behold. I mean, I think I started that 2017 about and now this is all I do all day. So great things may be ahead of you with this.
Homes with Max 07:53
Fingers crossed.
Della Hansmann 07:55
Certainly, I find that Instagram has been a wonderful place to just find your fellow vintage weirdos who are excited, want to know about it, and are always good people. In my experience,
Homes with Max 08:07
I’ve met so many cool people through this, people who own houses that they’re preserving time capsules, the real estate agents who show them. And I just made a lot of friends.
Della Hansmann 08:20
Oh, that’s delightful. So I think I was my I was going to be asking you, since I see other houses on your account that are not necessarily mid-century , what do you have feelings about mid-century ? But you already spoiled for me, the mid-century is your favorite. Tell me a little bit more about how you actually how is it that you go about finding a house, choosing to put it on your account? What draws you to a place in the first place?
Homes with Max 08:42
Well, as I say to this day, I still have a lot of free time that I spend going through Zillow. And I will find a target, and I will scroll down, find the listing agent, and then I will harass them by phone. Oh my gosh. Ask very politely, can I please see your listing? And at first I think I had a very low success rate. As my account has grown, I am happy to say, like, I get, I get to go into pretty much any place I want to, which is the dream of any nosy person.
Della Hansmann 09:09
Now, you say who you are, and they’re like, yes, please come put this house online for us. Do you need to do a quick turn around? Well, I don’t know what your process is, but do they find that they can, like, actually sell, move a house because you have featured it on your page.
Homes with Max 09:22
I have this makes me sound bad, but I have only one house that I have can say I truly successfully saved, and it is my proudest achievement, the own I actually met up with the owner very recently. They found the house through a video I made, and knew they had to have it.
Homes with Max 09:39
And then had me over. They’re preserving the whole thing, and they’re keeping it in the family. It makes me so incredibly happy. Saw the house. It is just, if any house deserved to be saved, it’s that one.
Della Hansmann 09:51
Oh, amazing.
Homes with Max 09:52
Very Betty Crocker-ish.
Della Hansmann 09:54
Well, hopefully that story can happen more and more often, but I do love this in. And for getting inside of places, I’m feeling like this is another place where I should just take inspiration from you, because I am aggressively introverted and I don’t like to talk to strangers. I only do it through my screens, but, but I want to get inside of houses, so I think maybe this is one of the questions I was going to ask you.
Della Hansmann 10:22
And I said this out loud to Rebecca, my wonderful operations manager, I wanted to find out how you get inside of old houses. And she was like, you mean legally? And I was like, Yes, I mean legally. I don’t mean I break into houses, but, like, what? What do you go about? Do you typically just go through real estate listings? Do you ever just knock on someone’s door? Sort of, What’s your philosophy?
Homes with Max 10:38
I have left a post it note on someone’s door before, which has been successful.
Della Hansmann 10:45
I did once mail a series of letters to addresses of houses that I liked, ooh,
Homes with Max 10:49
Old school. I like it.
Della Hansmann 10:51
This was, well, it was a few years ago, but yeah, also, I didn’t have to go up and touch their front door until they said hello.
Homes with Max 10:57
I am. I am both introverted, but I have no problem like, for the sake of the house, I will do it.
Della Hansmann 11:04
Yeah, well, and this is maybe again, something I want to take away. But I love, I love that you’ve gotten this opportunity to go into so many different places. Do you have favorites? Do you have places that stick with you long after you’ve been in them?
Homes with Max 11:17
I get made fun of all the time by my commenters who supposedly like me that I call every single house my favorite, okay, fair and there is a time and a place where it is completely true. I do have one that stands out as a favorite, which is one that we just recently lost.
Homes with Max 11:36
It’s the Robert Rasmussen house in Lake Forest, which there is a great write up by the listing agent who did it, Lou Zucaro. It’s such an interesting story. Student of Frank Lloyd Wright, built this gorgeous, curvy house in Lake Forest. It’s in the middle of the most normal suburb you could imagine.
Della Hansmann 11:53
Oh, gorgeous.
Homes with Max 11:53
And it’s just beautiful, and it came with all the original furniture too. Oh, it’s going to be so shady, but to the person who bought it, because I was so excited, because they talked me like, Oh, we’re gonna restore most of it. We’re keeping it all. We just need to make the bathroom a little more accessible. It’s like, Okay, fair enough. Like, and then they very proudly sent me the pictures. Are they? Like, hey, we’d love to have you back. We finished restoring the house. Come over. And I was like, Oh, can I see some pictures? And it was so, oh, I hope they don’t, I’d hope they don’t listen, because it was so bad I honestly gasped. Or like, like, if I came over and did a video, you would be pilloried by the internet. I can’t do that to you. I’m sorry.
Della Hansmann 12:37
That’s so sad. They don’t understand, or if their sense of mid-century taste is just,
Homes with Max 12:45
Yeah, and that’s why I need to be like you. You are out there fixing, fixing up these mid-century homes. You know,
Della Hansmann 12:53
my, my goal really is to save my, my, my big dream is to save every mid-century house in America from a bad remodel. Because I just think every time someone comes in and destroys what was original in a house and pays no intent. You know, we have to make changes. Things need maintenance updates. People need a new layout. But if we take what was the original sort of design DNA of the house and just completely ignore it, we have time stamp the house, and we’ve made a replaceable, sort of fast fashion remodel that has to be replaced again and again and again, and it’s just filling up our landfills with junk and it it’s such a loss, because not, you know, not every house has character. There are a lot of houses that have been built since 1985 that have no character.
Homes with Max 13:40
Oooh, we’re gonna have to fight on that one.
Della Hansmann 13:42
Well, okay, fair enough, but, but I just think, I mean, I do sort of special. I like all, I like all the historical areas of house, and I like any house that, like, really leads, stays in its lane and leans in but, but I just think the materials of the mid-century era and the design ethos of, like, simple, playful, cleanable, fun materials, like, yeah, there’s just so much to lose, and it’s really sad when somebody just
Homes with Max 14:07
And it’s such an experimental era too, you know. I feel like that’s something we’ve really lost in in residential design right now. You know, it’s and we’re gonna miss it when it’s gone.
Della Hansmann 14:20
Yes, yeah. There’s some of this is no getting back. Yeah. The Time Capsule features appliances. I mean, it’s wild to me too how many times people will say, Yeah, you know, we do want to change everything. Probably this oven that’s embedded in a brick, sort of the back of the hearth core, but it still works. Like, if it still works, maybe, maybe we keep that, I will tell you for free, a modern oven you buy today will last you like 10 years at best, not 75 so.
Homes with Max 14:52
I want to fight against people’s knee jerk reaction that you need to replace these things. A lot of these things are working just fine and are. If not better than modern things.
Della Hansmann 15:02
They might need cleaning. They might need restoration. But, you know, this comes up a lot. I think I just last week’s podcast, I was talking about the fact that when you talk to the wrong person, they will, with a very straight face, tell you that whatever you have in your house can’t be repaired, that it has to be replaced. If you show a broken original mid-century window to a window company person, they’ll say what you need is a new window. But actually, if you talk to a glazier, you’ll find out you just needed to replace the glass and reglaze the window.
Homes with Max 15:32
Who would have. I just listened. I’m fangirling a little bit. I just listened to your episode of I’m forgetting his name. It was the first season of the episode of this season with the window hanger.
Della Hansmann 15:41
Scott Sidler, yes.
Homes with Max 15:42
Who would have thought talking about vintage windows would be that interesting. I hear that all the time in my comment section, and I think I’ve just in the back of my mind, accepted, oh yeah, if a window is broken, there’s nothing you can do. Yes, there is.
Della Hansmann 15:57
Yeah. Well, please. He has a great Instagram account. Point them to the Craftsman the Craftsman blog, and I think his Instagram handle is the Craftsman blog, and that he’s got resources, he’s got classes, he’s got all the supplies you need. He has a list of installers in your area or repair guys in your area. So yes, you don’t have to throw out all your old windows. And I think you’ll find, well, back me up when you go into a time capsule house. One of the things that makes it charming is that it has original doors, original windows, fixtures.
Homes with Max 16:25
It does.
Homes with Max 16:26
There’s no bigger turn off than a white are those called PVC windows? No, that’s not the norm. But you know what? I mean?
Della Hansmann 16:33
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And because it’s vinyl, it’s white for it, like there’s no painting it. There’s no changing it. It’s chunkier than the sort of slimness of a wood or an aluminum window.
Homes with Max 16:45
I’m saying this as I gaze at my own sad white vinyl window.
Della Hansmann 16:50
Same the house that I bought had had a lot of its original Mitch, the drift. Just in fact, I bought it for these doors. I love these slab doors, but the previous owner had, I’m sure, felt very responsible if they took the advice of a local energy company or a local window contractor that knocked on his door and replaced all the windows in the house with vinyl.
Homes with Max 17:16
Never trust a window salesman, that’s what I always say.
Della Hansmann 17:19
So okay, yeah, so you go into a house, do you what’s your criteria for picking does it have to be a time capsule? Does it just need to be interesting? How much of it has to be original?
Homes with Max 17:29
I am softening my criteria. I used to be a very strict purist, like, no, I need to have all the appliances, all the bathrooms. I have now found so much joy in seeing fixer uppers. I just posted a fixer upper today in Wilmette, and I’ve been really enjoying that lately too. So like, I’ll go for anything.
Della Hansmann 17:30
Fair. Well, that’s I think there’s a lot of potential in a house. I mean, in my business, I find probably maybe, like a 3030, 30 mix of houses that are actual time capsules, houses that have like, an 80s or a 90s remodel in them, and that’s something that’s just been, like, really aggressively flipped recently. And there’s a silver lining to all of it. If we’ve got time capsule features to work with, then we have a template for the materials that we should be using in the house as we make any change. We’re just referring back to that as our guide. If the house was sort of partially rebuttal, then we’ve got maybe some original features, basement, the least loved bathroom, you know, something like that. And if everything has been wiped clean, then we get to start over, but we get we can go back and rebuild the time capsule house, if we try really hard.
Homes with Max 18:38
What’s more inspiring than a blank canvas.
Della Hansmann 18:42
I do as a designer, and you probably feel the same that a completely blank page is sort of overwhelming, having some one thing,
Homes with Max 18:51
actually one thing. And like, like this house I’m using the example of the house I just toured last week that I posted today, there’s one amazing staircase, and it has the original breeze block screen. It’s floating. It’s beautiful. And everything else around it is painted this very 80s beige, pink. But I’ve gotten pretty good as I’ve toured these houses, at peeling back the layers and like, I can see what this is. I can see what this can be. Like that to me, is enough like I can, I can work with that.
Della Hansmann 19:22
And I think learning to see the potential is really important. I feel like I’m just name checking on my own recent podcast interviews. But I was just talking with my past client, Michelle Crampton, recently, about her house and how when I saw it, I was like, Oh my God, this house is amazing. It’s got such good bones, whereas I think the reason that it was on the market in the first place was everybody else looked at it was like, this house is not a winner. It has a really terrible 90s remodel in it. Who wants that? And I was like, yes, but the location, but the windows, but the orientation, model, the structure, yeah, it’s all there. I can work with this and so, yeah, lurking underneath the bad paint jobs and finding a feature staircase. I mean, that’s something that somebody, hopefully the right person, is going to find that house and take the staircases
Homes with Max 20:06
It’s already under contract, which always fills me with equal parts dread and hope like fingers crossed. I really wanted to go, well,
Della Hansmann 20:16
we can try to be optimists. I
Homes with Max 20:18
do try.
Della Hansmann 20:21
I feel nervous when I see a for sale sign in front of an untouched house in my neighborhood. I was like, Oh, God, here comes the vinyl siding.
Homes with Max 20:29
But that’s why I have to win the lottery. That way I can just save them all myself.
Della Hansmann 20:31
Right? If you could snap your fingers and change one thing, what I haven’t changed, I haven’t changed? I don’t know. I might spend it on preserving mid-century houses. I really might. So okay, I was, I mean, you spend a lot of time inside of Time Capsule houses. Is it, what are the kinds of features that you light up the most for? Is it just that they’re cohesive across the house itself, or are there specific things?
Homes with Max 21:02
I love to see a breadboard. That’s something I think every kitchen should have, and it’s the same. They stopped being standard. I and those built in blenders. I usually I truly do, like gasp when I see one. I love an accordion door, or a sliding door, a pocket door. And if I can get one that has original drapery. I know that sounds lame, but like that is so rare to find one that has the original pleated curtains or everything you know.
Della Hansmann 21:31
And if they’re in anything like reasonable shape, it’s quite expensive to source new pinch plate curtains today, so if they could be cleaned, and even frankly, if you just keep that mountings, it’s, it’s worth thinking about.
Homes with Max 21:46
That’s one of the things that I loved about that house I just toured. It had all of its original Knoll curtains.
Della Hansmann 21:52
Oh, wow. Well, there you go and again. Like fabrics also aren’t meant to last forever. That said, I think one of the things I love most about mid-century things is often how many natural materials are involved. But I think we get into mid-century fabrics. We’re getting into the magic of polyester and barely bomb proof upholstery fabrics that you find. So yeah, especially when you’re hunting for vintage furniture.
Homes with Max 22:18
Miracles of science.
Della Hansmann 22:20
This, this chair has, it’s got some sun fading. But I thought I would, I thought I would recover it when I got it.
Homes with Max 22:27
But I think we might be chair twins. Oh yeah. I think we definitely might be that looks very I can only see a little corner of it, but it looks very similar to the one I have in my dining room. Got the it’s got, oh, Close, but no cigar. But it’s beautiful.
Della Hansmann 22:41
Wooden leg detail. I love it so much. I got this from I’m gonna blank on their name. It’s a lovely vintage antique shop that’s up in Appleton, Wisconsin, and they are such nice folks. Think they have me recently switched from having a storefront to being appointment only, but they are finders of great things. I’ll put the link to their name in the show notes when I go look it up after this. But yeah, so do you get to source a lot of interesting things for your own life? You say we might we’re chair fraternal twins here.
Homes with Max 23:13
Yes, I do.
Della Hansmann 23:14
Do you ever find things in the house as you tour and somehow get someone to let you take them? Is that a thing that can happen?
Homes with Max 23:21
I have tried twice and failed twice, unfortunately, but I came really I feel like I came pretty close. So maybe next time,
Della Hansmann 23:30
keep trying. That’s what that story tells me.
Homes with Max 23:33
I want to I want souvenirs from all these places. I really do.
Della Hansmann 23:37
Yeah, yeah, the memory of it is part of it. But, yeah, it’s only part. So what does actually this is an interesting question I ask people sometimes. When I think of it, is, what does mid-century mean to you? Do you have a year bracket that you put around it? What’s your sort of definitional?
Homes with Max 23:56
Everybody wants to have an opinion about this. I call a lot. I’m very generous with my mid-century definition, I’ll go like 1945 to 19 like 80 frankly, which I know is a stretch, but I think it counts. You know, it’s that time when natural materials were prioritized, which I think pretty much died out in the late 70s to early 80s.
Della Hansmann 24:19
Yeah, that’s interesting way to think about it. Yeah, because I find that I will, I will blur the boundary for myself and when I’m when I’m picking clients, I typically, I only work with people who have a house built in the mid-century years. And I basically say, yeah, 19 four post war, all the way up to late 70s, is an easy yes. I find that the structure underneath the wall starts to change pretty dramatically in the mid 70s, and we’ll get into instead of stick frame rafters. Now we have trusses and the ceiling that makes it harder for me to make, well, in some ways easier. In some it’s harder for me to know what’s happening behind the walls, and sometimes it’s easier to move around interior walls. But, the emphasis on natural materials as a basic design ethos is a really interesting blanket term for or blanket definitional quality for mid-century.
Homes with Max 25:09
It is interesting, but also a little bit inaccurate, because there are some artificial mid centuries that I adore.
Della Hansmann 25:15
Yeah, oh, the burl wood wall art, which is just plastic and, yeah, no, there’s some wonderful mid-century kitsch that’s completely artificial. I love that mix of natural and space age materials that gives you so it’s so casual. I think today we think of mid-century if you wanted to, if you think about what goes into atomic ranch magazine, or if you think about like an architect designed mid-century home, it feels so unattainably high end. And to do a good restoration on it is extremely expensive to source the kind of big wood panel, lovely wood grain, that kind of materials. But in the in the immediate century, years, it didn’t necessarily mean high end at all. It was just what everybody had. And that’s I think there are ways to throw back to think about plywood as a finished material and stuff like that.
Homes with Max 26:02
And I really admire that. It makes me think about the Eames and all the case study houses, all these things were meant to be accessible. There’s one that’s still on the market, which is my life’s goal to save. Hopefully someone listens to this and buys it in Ashton, Illinois. It is just like that. They the owner made all the furniture, the entire house out of very accessible materials, including a lot of plywood as finished material.
Della Hansmann 26:29
Oh, gorgeous, yes.
Homes with Max 26:31
And it’s all owner made by an amateur architect. And that’s what I love about MCM. So many of these houses I cover aren’t made by big, notable architects that have a history, there are owner created, they are essentially improvised.
Della Hansmann 26:45
or even if they’re contracted.
Homes with Max 26:46
Improvised is so not the word, but
Della Hansmann 26:48
They’re just some guy. Well, actually, this is interesting. I don’t know if you’ve encountered the sort of land use and contractor mechanics. I think there were more tracked developments in the Greater Chicago area in the mid-century years. But in Madison, where I’m located, there really weren’t. So neighborhoods got developed one lot at a time, and it would just be a bunch of different like jobbing contractors who would buy a lot, sort of front the materials to build a house on it, sell it, use the money to do another one. And as they grew they started to do like two or three or four houses a year. But it was very much one off. So you can actually trace the original builders and see how their design ideas kind of grew over time. But it’s very like there wasn’t an architect. It was this guy had a cool idea, and then he tried it again, and he tried it again.
Homes with Max 27:32
Even within those ecosystems of tract homes, though, one of the things I’m just describing basically an essay I wrote in college forever ago, but I studied the variation within like this very homogenous system, like Levittown, or the alterations that people did throughout that time are so interesting to me. It individualizes them.
Della Hansmann 27:55
Yeah, well, we’re very much meant to be your starter house, not that you would move from, but that you would add on to. You would finish the attic, you would finish the basement, you would put on an addition out to the backyard, and then they go from being a monolith to being somewhat or very individualized,
Homes with Max 28:12
Houses are such static objects. Nowadays, it’s disappointing.
Della Hansmann 28:16
I think that’s true. You know, this is actually, I don’t talk about it this way, but I think about the master plan. Probably process. The way that I work with homeowners is we’re not necessarily designing an entire remodel. You have to do it once. We’re thinking about what you do this year, what you do next year, and what’s your 10 year goal that you’re not preventing from happening with what you do now. But that’s very aligned with the sort of mid-century ethos of a house as something that grows with your family and that you kind of budget for changes over time, they were probably more into the DIY of it all. But I have a lot of clients who come to me with a house that, like their dad, hand built all of the built ins in the house. And so we’re like, well, we can’t change that. We’ll find a way to solve your problem somewhere else, because this is staying and then we’ll expand beyond it somewhere else and refer back to it as a material palette. What causes in college, you were already thinking about Levitt houses. That’s great. Oh yeah,
Homes with Max 29:10
I was, I was on track. I like, I love design in general. I love learning about it, talking about it. And I see that’s why I don’t really have styles that I dislike, if I’m being honest, like I can find something that, if I understand the ethos behind it, I’ll appreciate it.
Della Hansmann 29:32
Yeah. I mean, I do too. And I think people sometimes think I hate all styles, but mid-century , because it’s all but I don’t. I just, I just have niche down into one little thing. That’s what I speak to the internet about all day, every day, but, but I think, yeah, the mark of a well designed building or anything, to me, is that it’s clean, that it’s pure, that it is what it is. So I spend a lot of time telling people to avoid Shaker Cabinet Doors like the plague. But if you’ve got a cottage go ahead.
Homes with Max 30:02
A lid for every pot. That’s the most reluctant compliment I’ve ever given.
Della Hansmann 30:10
Yes, but in a modern update to a mid-century house, please no. No Shaker Doors.
Homes with Max 30:14
Oh, no more shakers. And I have a controversial one,
Della Hansmann 30:17
okay?
Homes with Max 30:17
I think we need to bring back wall to wall carpeting. I am so tired of seeing hardwood in restored mid centuries bring back colorful wall to wall.
Della Hansmann 30:28
alright, Say more. Keep talking.
Homes with Max 30:30
So I think the softness and essence of a mid-century room comes from its carpet. And so frequently I am seeing people replace it with genuinely nice hardwood, frequently wide plank, which don’t get me started on that.
Della Hansmann 30:44
No, no, yeah, that’s wrong especially, yeah, an engineered wide plank that’s only four feet long,
Homes with Max 30:49
And the room immediately loses so much of its character and softness through that process. Like I see people in all these videos I make, like, well, first thing I’m removing is the orange carpet. And I think, how dare you?
Della Hansmann 31:03
Well, okay. So personally. Personally, I don’t like fluorescent lights and I don’t like carpets, and I find them to be icky, but I will that’s like a sensory thing, maybe as much as anything. But I will say there’s a lot, there’s a lot of style, there’s a lot of personality in a carpet. I’ve definitely walked through vintage houses with clients where the carpet, you know, also bring back carpet, if we can bring back cool carpet, yes, carpet with an interesting texture, like trimmed into it. My grandparents house had slab concrete floors over which they had laid. What was the color? I think that they actually had to replace it. They had shag rugs throughout their entire living area, like deep pile. And my grandmother was never seen outside of her high heels either. I don’t know how she survived that house, but they had to replace the carpet after they’d done some work in the slab in the 90s, maybe, and they found the one source in the entire Greater Milwaukee area that was going to sell them bittersweet shag carpet, because they had to replace exactly what had been there.
Homes with Max 32:11
Hard to find.
Della Hansmann 32:12
I do have a fondness for that. My personal compromise is area rugs, but I will say I’m a bit of a snob, because I have, I have a pre 1945 house myself, which has original hardwoods that I was able to restore, that we’re living underneath the kind of bland, boring, not my favorite color of green, wall to wall, carpet that was just protecting them forever for my benefit. But not everybody does. If this is a fun fact, you might not know, the war industry switched from making plastics into war munitions to making plastics into wall to wall nylon carpet for mass market in 1945 so I did not know that year 1919 4519 5454 so if your mid-century house is built After 54 the odds are much greater that it has just subfloor and carpet as its original finished floor material. But if it’s before that, it has the narrow oak strip, because that was like the default builder grade carpet, a builder grade floor material before that time. So I can
Homes with Max 33:14
kind of do that. I think it’s it that is worth preserving. I should clear
Della Hansmann 33:19
if you’ve got subfloor and you’re wondering what to put on it. I gosh, okay, come for me in the comments. Mid-century ,
Homes with Max 33:27
I always tell people, come for me in the comments, I have even defended bathroom carpet. I think it feels glamourous to me.
Della Hansmann 33:34
That’s a lot.
Homes with Max 33:36
That’s a hill I’m willing to die on all alone.
Della Hansmann 33:39
Okay, all right, fine. I’m gonna, I’m gonna give you that to stand up by yourself. But I will say, if your question is between, if you’re looking at a budget, and your question is, Should I go with like a modern, engineered, faux oak floor, as you say, wide plank, short units or carpet? Do a fun color of carpet.
Homes with Max 34:00
I agree, a fun color of carpet.
Della Hansmann 34:02
Okay, you heard it here first.
Homes with Max 34:04
Oh, my God, a convert.
Della Hansmann 34:06
All right, yeah, you know what? If you just hit me with that at the beginning conversation, I probably would have been like, no, but I can see it. I can see it, all right,
Homes with Max 34:15
I think that’s the next thing. I think carpets about to come back.
Della Hansmann 34:18
Well, people do like it.
Homes with Max 34:19
I think carpet is coming back. Wallpapers already back.
Della Hansmann 34:23
Yeah, wallpaper is a fun one, and it’s to me, it’s great because it’s such a personal choice. You choose a wallpaper for yourself, and that is what I would love to see everybody do. I feel like we’re so trapped in this idea of, like, resale value and making choices for your house, for like, who the hypothetical next person will be.
Homes with Max 34:40
And there will never be a hypothetical next person. I am dying in this apartment.
Della Hansmann 34:46
Right? You don’t even know that that person exists. So I think, make your choices for yourself. If the next person doesn’t like them, they can change them, that’s the law, but maybe they’ll pick your house for the cool personal choices that you made.
Homes with Max 34:58
I know a lot of people who have.
Della Hansmann 35:00
Mm, hmm, right? Because some people like to build a really cool assembly of details, and some people just like to say, hey, that and move into it. Yeah, wallpaper. You don’t have to sell me on anything else. What are your controversial vintage looks?
Homes with Max 35:14
Oh, I don’t think most of these will be controversial with you, because you match my freak on a lot of these things. Pink bathrooms, I adore. Oh, the concept of a rumpus room I would really love to see make a comeback.
Della Hansmann 35:32
Yeah, that’s a good one.
Homes with Max 35:34
You know, we don’t do nearly enough day drinking in our homes. I think we all should go back to the basement bar concept. That is something I don’t I’m sure you’re in Wisconsin, right? So you are in the basement bar capital of the World.
Della Hansmann 35:47
Oh yeah, we still all have our basement bars here. That’s people don’t.
Homes with Max 35:51
They are becoming a rarity in the Chicagoland area.
Della Hansmann 35:54
That’s a shame.
Della Hansmann 35:55
Okay, I know, I know that Wisconsin is a state. I just saw a social media thing that was like, it looks like there’s one county in Wisconsin that doesn’t have only alcoholics in it, but that’s a lake, and that is true. And so drink, drinking in moderation, folks, but it’s such a lovely social activity. Yeah, the basement bar is a wonderful thing.
Homes with Max 36:15
I love the idea of, like, bringing all your friends into your slightly kitschy, themed basement bar.
Della Hansmann 36:21
Right with your Pickwick pine paneling or maybe your faux wood panel.
Homes with Max 36:26
There we go, wood paneling. The next one, I love wood paneling, even the fake kind. I like when there’s a, like, a statement grain or it’s going in chevrons.
Della Hansmann 36:38
Yes, that’s, I mean, I think my personal taste is a little bit more minimalist than maybe the full mid-century kitsch, but I can appreciate it. I can appreciate it.
Homes with Max 36:48
And I am right there in the exact Venn diagram between like kitsch and like, I don’t know the right word, but like mid-century sleek minimalism. Like, bring it on, just in the middle
Della Hansmann 37:01
well, and it’s, again, it’s like it’s leaning in when you see a room that is so completely bought in, you just want to come in with mid-century vintage furniture and just like every decor item, and treat it like your grandparents house.
Homes with Max 37:16
There’s a concept I read about forever ago. It applies about a men’s fashion magazine called sprezzatura, where you have to have something just slight, one thing slightly off in your outfit to be truly tasteful. And I really agree with that in home interiors, too. Like, I think everyone needs one slightly tacky thing in their room, or else it’s vulgar.
Della Hansmann 37:37
You know, that’s actually a really interesting way to think about for people, especially who have who have a house that’s been aggressively flipped and they’re trying to bring back mid-century features, I think leaning to the kitchen is a good way to not completely, perhaps, if that’s not your taste, but like, if everything is just like a beautifully, minimally restored wood grain piece of furniture and like the most tasteful atomic wall and clock you can imagine, like, how about, like, a 1960s beer sign.
Homes with Max 38:05
Throw in one Margaret Keane painting. Have a little fun with it.
Della Hansmann 38:10
Cruel work, Elvis something. Yeah, and your, your local vintage store has got you there so you can find it.
Homes with Max 38:17
Frankly, you could even go to your goodwill.
Della Hansmann 38:20
Yeah, actually, and that’s the word, you’ll get it for much less, yes. So your true vintage hunter is not looking at some place that’s already been curated for them. They’re just like out scavenging. I love garage sales.
Homes with Max 38:32
Yeah, you know what’s been forever. Have you ever gone to, like, a really good hoarder estate sale?
Della Hansmann 38:38
No, I don’t go to enough estate sales. And you’re also making me feel like I have I’m failing in my life goals here.
Homes with Max 38:43
I need you to get into the estates like you would have the time of your I have a feeling maybe I’m wrong,
Della Hansmann 38:48
but I’ve enjoyed everyone I’ve ever been to. I get overwhelmed because I feel like I’m supposed to be looking for things and like elbowing my way towards something where somebody else chooses it, but I’m basically just looking at the buildings. I treat them like, I treat them like an opportunity to go trespass in someone’s house and see what it’s like on the inside.
Homes with Max 39:13
Me too. And with the added benefit that I might be able to snatch a few good things, I also get into a very competitive spirit that I enjoy a little bit like. I like the feeling of like a pop up sale where I’m a little bit elbowing an old lady to get to the plates, but politely.
Della Hansmann 39:20
The only thing I’ve ever successfully brought home from estate sales is out of season Christmas stuff. Because, like, in the middle of the summer.
Della Hansmann 39:32
I love the Christmas section.
Della Hansmann 39:36
Everybody will there’ll be, like, an entire I have, yeah, actually, I have quite an accumulation of vintage Christmas stuff, because I’ll go to summer estate sales or garage sales or something, and there’s a whole tent of, like, someone’s Christmas Extravaganza, and everybody else is like, whatever, it’s summertime, and also that stuff’s tacky. And I’m like, hold my beer. So yeah, the like, tarnished metal balls and the little Santa figurines.
Homes with Max 39:55
I have a purely second hand Christmas ornament collection. I love it.
Della Hansmann 39:59
Who needs anything else?
Della Hansmann 40:01
Well, I have a very I got things and painted them yellow, not vintage things, modern tat, and painted it yellow because I have, I have a theme, by the way.
Homes with Max 40:11
I’m not sure if this will make into the video part. I love your matching earrings and nails. That is so cool. I love it. I never see a yellow nail.
Della Hansmann 40:21
I have a theme, and I stick to just deep cut. My sister has developed an obsession with doing her own nails in the pandemic, and the company that she likes made one yellow once and then discontinued it. And I have, I purchased, like, 12 bottles of it, and it’s my favorite.
Homes with Max 40:37
I love that. So you have the last of the supply.
Della Hansmann 40:40
I have the last of the Golden afternoon color and yeah, here it is, right here. I tend to do my nails when I’m answering emails in the mornings. Um, I love a theme. I have yellow throw a pillows. I have yellow earrings. I Yeah, the color of my business is yellow.
Homes with Max 40:57
You have to have a signature color. I have my orange phone and microphone.
Della Hansmann 41:02
Oh, I love it, yeah. Well, that’s mine. Easy. Everybody should have a favorite color. Having your weird preferences feels very aligned with the mid-century era. And I think that, yeah, people get afraid to go too hard to pick their preferences, to lean into what they love. And yet, all of the houses that we love the most, all of the like, oh my god, that Zillow house, the places that you want to go to are so specific. They’re so the owner’s entire personality in a house. And is that what we all aspire to, really?
Homes with Max 41:36
Truly, I would love for some future nosy person to want to rummage through my things, I can think of no higher compliment.
Della Hansmann 41:44
Yes, you want. You know, it’s like you can’t take it with you, but you can leave it all at a really great estate sale. And maybe that’s the goal of every vintage loving person.
Homes with Max 41:53
Oh, man, put that on a bumper sticker.
Della Hansmann 41:55
Here we go. Yeah. Well, what advice do you have for people who are hunting for a time capsule house, or who are trying to turn the house that they have into more of a time capsule?
Homes with Max 42:08
Those are two different questions. Well, as Pope said right now, lean in, don’t be afraid. And I do think that the main thing really is just embrace the ethos of the era, even if you’re not getting exact mid-century replica pieces, think like the people in that era were. We are forward facing, we are optimistic. We are making a statement on this house that we will be in for a while and not afraid to experiment.
Della Hansmann 42:37
That’s a really interesting thing. And I wonder if this is actually, this is new for me, but I wonder if part of the appeal of I think our generation, I’m using a large bubble. I know I’m a little older than you, but our generation loving mid-century things. And what was so exciting about the mid-century era was that most of my clients tell me that they’re, look they’re, they’re, they’re thinking about this as their forever home. They want to stay here forever, whereas I feel like in my childhood, and you might have experienced this too, the idea was kind of moving from one house to another. And Americans change jobs a lot. We change cities a lot. That’s true, but like the idea of a starter home and then a bigger house and then a bigger house and then a retirement house. But I think in the mid-century era, people did not intend to move out of the house that they started with. And I don’t think art if we can become homeowners. I don’t think we have any ambitions to bop around either. I think we want to find a place and make it ours. So maybe that’s something we have in common with them.
Homes with Max 43:35
Yeah, I’m even doing I’m a renter, and I’m doing that. I am digging my roots deep. I am putting up wallpaper. I’m going to be here a while. I might as well make myself comfortable.
Della Hansmann 43:45
Personalizing every space. Well, this is the sign of a designer, is that you want to do right by your physical location. So speaking of that, actually, you talked a little bit at the beginning about how you have a background in design. You have a background in architecture, and that’s something that you want to do again. What’s your ideal version of getting to manifest your design vision on the world?
Homes with Max 44:05
Well, as I said, I just recently turned 30, and I think that’s when I had my realization like, Oh, I really miss the process of being an architecture school and having these problems to solve. And I also identify this issue of there are a diminishing number of these time capsule houses that I love. The supply of cool houses is being repleted, and if anything, I have a duty to do my bit in building it back up a bit. So I would, I don’t even know what form that will take it. I would love to, like I said, just solve problems. I I’m thinking of using my social media sort of a backdoor into the design world.
Della Hansmann 44:44
Well, do you find that people reach out and ask you questions about their own house already?
Homes with Max 44:50
Well, I have actually had one person who asked me to consult on their kitchen renovation, and it was a very minor thing, but. Was the most fun that I have had in years. Those genuinely, we figured out a way to reuse some mid-century cabinets and stuff. And it was, it was a micro budget thing, but, you know, it made a huge difference, and I would love to, I don’t even need to design a whole house. I will. I’m willing to design your bathroom, your closet, your coffee table arrangement, like I just want to get back into the design world.
Della Hansmann 45:28
I realize I love that. And I think that when we have a design background, it’s easy to take it for granted. It’s easy to think, oh, yeah, well, I would just do this, this and this, or have a knee jerk reaction to something when a problem is presented to you. But for a lot of people, their skill sets are elsewhere. They’re good at their tax paperwork. Lord knows, I don’t like that part. I find that a challenge other things. And so I think that there’s a really, there’s a missing point. This isn’t a country that really values design help. I think Europe is much better at understanding the value of design, but I do think that people don’t know how to name it. They don’t know that they need a designer, but they do know that they don’t know what to do with the problems of their house. And a lot of people who want to love mid-century are baffled by they called a contractor, and everything they saw in the lookbook was white shaker cabinets, and they’re like, I guess I have to do. I have to. And so for someone like you to come in and say, No, I think we you can keep this. You can preserve this, move this one over here, that is such a gift that you can give them. And also that is a professional skill that should be compensated. Be clear, it
Homes with Max 46:38
just like we were talking about how you and I have both kind of developed an eye to look at these poorly renovated MCMs and see what could be. You know, I want to, I want to help with that too. I feel like I can give that eye, lend that eye to some people,
Della Hansmann 46:55
absolutely well. I mean, no, you have a niche interest, you have a lot of lived experience, and you have a honed expertise in this particular type of house, and also you’ve got a design background which not everybody that just appreciates mid-century has. So maybe the opportunity is still in front of you to sort of use your platform to offer advice.
Homes with Max 47:20
I think so I really do you know, I’ve already dipped my toe in a little. I even did my I did my own bathroom recently, which a renter friendly version.
Della Hansmann 47:31
But that is actually also, that’s not to tell you your niche, but if you are looking to help people who are asking for questions I get. I get so many questions that I don’t have the capacity to help answer of people who don’t have, they don’t own their property, but they want to make changes. So what can you do with change? Can you do furniture? Can you put in removal built ins? These are actually things I did. I think you probably done the same. I did these in renting spaces that I had. I attached things to the wall in a removable way, and, you know, put it back when I needed to, but like, complex built ins in the closet, and
Homes with Max 48:05
I’m currently in the process of stashing away my landlord’s vertical blinds so that I can preserve them because I can’t get rid
Della Hansmann 48:13
of, yeah, absolutely. I think my biggest move was in the apartment I shared with my sister in Chicago. So many Chicago apartments have a dining room. And we were like, We don’t need a two bedroom place if we have a dining room. So we installed a wall in the former French door opening between the dining room and the living room, and then we re hung a closet door on the door opening to the dining room, so she had a door. And we basically just turned a one bedroom place into a two bedroom. We had it all set up so we could remove it all was like six holes that need to be refilled. Fact, when the landlord came to re rental to someone else, we were like, we hadn’t quite gotten around to taking it down yet. And we’re like, we will, we will, we promise. And he was like, actually, no, leave it. The next person said they like it.
Homes with Max 48:55
Yeah, really. What a compliment. That’s what I’m hoping my landlord will do too.
Della Hansmann 49:00
I painted it all back to renter white, which hurt a little bit but, but that was it. We left the dividers. We left it as a two bedroom when we found a one bedroom. So, but I wasn’t at that point. I was not a mid-century obsessive yet, and I think helping people figure out how to bring Time Capsule appropriate charm to there in Chicago, it might be a 20s apartment. Do you want to do that? But, yeah, I hope
Homes with Max 49:29
that’s something that I am currently doing in my own I love the intersection of mid-century with other architectural styles. That’s sort of a sub genre of house that is really fascinating.
Della Hansmann 49:39
Well, I think it’s appealing to someone from a design background to think about sort of a modernist intervention into a house from a different era. And you know, mid-century is the core of American modernism, arguably. So, yeah, that’s a fun way to sort of put it in. Plus a lot of older homes have like a mid-century Time Capsule kitchen that is the kitchen that would have been for. In a mid-century house next door, but it’s in a 1920s farmhouse.
Homes with Max 50:04
Another house that I’ve toured that I loved was a 1880s Victorian that had been completely done up in the 70s. It felt so Mary Tyler Moore like and it’s such an interesting collision of shag carpet and also these thick Victorian moldings, in a way that I actually I think that contradiction is really beautiful and interesting. And I like, again, that feeling of SPEs, of Torah, like
Della Hansmann 50:31
a little somehow, I’ve heard this described in, I want to say, God, is this a concept I encountered as a middle schooler who was getting into decorative beading. I’ve always been into weird little crafts, and there was this concept that I encountered of a trouble bead. So you do a whole color palette for a piece, but you should put one in that’s completely inappropriate, and that’s your sort of I’m not pretending to be perfect. This is reality. I love a problem. Hang on to that. I really like that.
Homes with Max 51:01
It’s a very fun word to say too. Just phonetically, absolutely
Della Hansmann 51:05
well, Italian is fun in general. Well, that’s, that’s a broad generalization, but that is, that’s a really good one. So okay, well, we should, I always think these are going to be briefer, and then we just get into chatting. Is there anything else you want to make sure people know about loving mid-century houses. Advice for getting into time capsules. Advice for your own time capsule house.
Homes with Max 51:26
My advice, do not be afraid to ask the realtors. A lot of them, a lot of them are, me not gonna lie. But a solid 51% of them are also like, down to like, let you to let you see a cool house. I’ve met some such nice ones, like Luz Zucarro in Chicago, who has shown me around all of his old listings. He’s so enthusiastic about it. And now I have a new friend to geek out, geek out about a MCM with like you. So don’t be afraid to ask. Also, I’d say, Don’t be afraid of the old. Not everything needs not everything needs to be replaced. Avoid the knee jerk reaction. And call me if you have any mid-century questions, because I’m desperate for design work, so I’ll help you. I’ll be your guy, lovely
Della Hansmann 52:14
well, and call you absolutely. Call any anyone, if you’re getting pushy advice from anyone in the world that’s telling if your realtor is telling you, if your realtor is wrong and telling you, or if your contractor is telling you got to tear all this out and start over. No, no. Call Max, Max will tell you not to. Call me I’ll help you with a master plan. But yeah, find, find people who like mid-century as much as you do, or whatever your vintage preference as. You know, I was gonna use that as a wrap up question, but I have another question, because you said realtors, and I have been consistently shocked, and I have not been as comprehensive as you, but I’ve been consistently shocked by how many people, if I go in my neighborhood and like an open house day, how many Realtors don’t call the house they’re showing mid-century . Don’t big it up as a vintage time capsule. House. I try to hide
Homes with Max 53:05
they try to hide it.
Della Hansmann 53:07
They’re like, yeah, it needs a lot of work. It’s kind of shabby and like, it’s a time capsule. It’s amazing. You should tell everybody, but they don’t. They personally don’t like it, so they just don’t
Homes with Max 53:20
see it just from a sales perspective, why would you not try to make it sound as good as it could possibly sound, right?
Della Hansmann 53:27
Okay, so maybe this is another niche thing that I want to like. I just want to connect people who are selling a mid-century house with the kind of realtor that gets it in the hopes that it can then be passed forward to somebody that also gets it. That seems so rare, but do you find that in Chicago, the people that are letting into the letting in these houses? Do they? Do they know what
Homes with Max 53:45
they have? Yeah, I’ve built a small network of them. At this point I have, I have about four or five realtors who are as passionate about these homes as I am who want to work with me, like, let’s see if we can find a buyer for this that’ll appreciate it. And that’s something that I’ve learned just from the page. Not just with real estate agents, there are a lot more people who appreciate these homes than I Yes, than I thought. You know, we’re not nearly as neat. That’s the
Della Hansmann 54:10
argument too. For every like Grumpy uncle that comes over and says, Well, you’ll never sell that house. Well, that’s his opinion, but there are a bunch of people that do. I have 314,000
Homes with Max 54:21
things that disagree.
Della Hansmann 54:23
Like so hopefully you can continue to use your powers for good and awesome and connect these houses with the right people and also provide your design insight to them.
Homes with Max 54:33
I hope so. Yes, let’s hope
Della Hansmann 54:35
for more happy ending stories like that. Please.
Homes with Max 54:37
I’ve had to my stress levels. Can’t handle it.
Della Hansmann 54:41
I know, I know. I have consistently. I have a walking round I do with my dog every day through the neighborhood, and I have had to, like, alter it over the years because a house that I passed has been, like, violently attacked by vinyl siding, and I just can’t look at it anymore. It’s too hard. So.
Homes with Max 55:01
That’s where you and I differ. I am so much more toxic where I want to look at it and I want to be mad, like.
Della Hansmann 55:07
You just want to give it a dirty look every day.
Homes with Max 55:10
I watched so much HGTV as, like a younger person, just to be mad at the TV, like.
Della Hansmann 55:16
That’s a good reason to do it. Oh my gosh, I can’t. It makes me so sad. It just Yeah, well, we can do both things. We can be frustrated about it. We can spread our frustration in the world. And we can also, hopefully, just like, inspire more people to know that vintage is cool and you don’t have to ruin it. No one asked you to do that.
Homes with Max 55:37
Although, caution, if you do, I have come to find that flippers are very vengeful people. I have a sub genre of my content. I’m talking so much. Tell me when to stop. A sub genre of my content has become like flipper shaming, for lack of a better term, I’m nice about it. I genuinely am. I’m very charitable towards them, and they will inevitably find me and like, get mad at me in my DMs, the flippers of the world, there are not good people.
Della Hansmann 56:08
They think they’re justified. Well, I, you’re braver than I am, because I have, I have, I have a lot of thoughts and opinions, which I will say in the general but I’ve never really been able to, like, bring myself to, like, put up an image and be like, well, this is all wrong.
Homes with Max 56:24
I wish I could prevent myself. That would be fantastic.
Della Hansmann 56:27
My friends all know that, but I don’t put it on my Instagram account. I talk about it on the podcast, and I don’t use pictures, but I you know what? Those flippers can just be wrong. They can just be wrong. I’m sorry I hurt their feelings, but they are wrong and you’re right. So that’s where we can leave it.
Homes with Max 56:45
Yes, perfect.
Della Hansmann 56:49
Oh my gosh. Well, this is so much fun!
Homes with Max 56:51
Yes, it was so nice meeting you.
Della Hansmann 56:55
So have we? Have we successfully persuaded anyone that wall to wall carpet is a good idea, or did you already love your wall to wall carpet? And you were sort of looking at me askance every time I said, How about hardwood della you can pry my cozy foot friendly wall to wall carpet for my cold, dead hands. That was your attitude one way or another. I’d love to hear about it.
Della Hansmann 57:16
You can find me and Max on Instagram and tell us about it. And if that doesn’t work, shoot me an email. I would love to know your opinion. Find the transcript links to Max’s account and everything else you need at mid mod, dash, midwest.com/ 2311.
Della Hansmann 57:29
And I will catch you next time with an interview with my dear friend from ginkgo leaf studio, Jim Drzewiecki, talking to you about how to prepare your mid-century landscape for spring, plus a whole lot more. See you then.