At Home in a Mid-Century Modern
Local couple, Scott and Ashlee Hill have an eye for Mid-Century Modern style.First inspired to collect furniture with the clean lines and minimalistic design, the couple’s hobby has now blossomed into a passion for renovating their 1949 home in the Clegern neighborhood in Southeast Edmond. Ashlee shared details about their design journey with Outlook Magazine.
How did your Mid-Century Modern style develop?
Our style has developed over our last 10 years of marriage. My husband studied Graphic Design in college and learned a lot about Mid-Century style through art and design history. When we first got married, we had a hobby of looking for cheap Mid-Century furniture. After we moved to Colorado and won a multi-state apartment decorating contest, mostly from our use of the Mid-Century furniture we had, our hobby grew from collecting to renovating. We continue to draw inspiration for our own home from following a group of other “Modders” through Okie Mod Squad (a group on Facebook) and enjoy taking their annual Mid-Century home tour, which showcases other Mid-Century style homes in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas.
Do your decorating and architecture ideas constantly evolve?
Yes, and I hope that continues. As time goes on, we have thought it might be fun to move from Mid-Century style to a more Spanish Modern home incorporating different textures, tiles and colors to fit into one space.
What are popular Mid-Century Modern trends?
Right now, I think Mid-Century has become a very popular trend. You can now find Mid-Century style pieces at big stores like West Elm, Crate and Barrel, and Target. What drew us to this particular style were the clean lines in the design and minimalism behind it. While aspects of the Mid-Century design will be trends that come and go, for us, we find this style to be timeless.
Do you decorate other homes?
We only focus on decorating our own. I draw a lot of inspiration for our own home from online, but I also love to refer to one of our good friends, Sherree Chamberlain (@sherreejane), who designs interiors through her own company Chamberlain Interior, and now owns another beautiful Mid- Centurypropertynearby. I also love being inspired by one of our local Edmond shops, The Gathered Home Shop (@gatheredhomeshop), and the work Gena has done through that space.
Was your home originally a Mid-Century Modern structure or did you renovate?
Our home was originally built in 1949 for a couple. The home’s architects won an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects for its forward-thinking design. The house was designed before modern HVAC systems were in place, and to cope with the hot, dry summers in Oklahoma, the architects borrowed a ventilation principle from the structure of a teepee. Cool, outside air came in windows and flowed out in a chimney fashion through the central cupola, which is now a closed skylight. Since then, central HVAC was added and the space was altered in the 90s and early 2000s. It still reflects its original design in the large windows, skylights, and interesting lines inside the home, but it has also unfortunately lost some of its original identity. We hope to restore, renovate and draw out its Mid-Century aspects more as time goes on.
What are the reactions to your unique home?
We love the space, and honestly, it gets quite a bit of attention. We often see people driving by and slowing down because the home is pretty unique and in a surprising area of town. We just had a woman recently who stopped my husband while he was outside and asked if we would be willing to sell. The answer is “not yet,” in case you were wondering.
Is it complete, or are you still updating?
We are still wanting to do more updating. When we first walked through the house, we had looked at about twelve other houses throughout Edmond and Oklahoma City. I stopped my husband while we were inside and said this is the one. A lot of our family thought we might be crazy to have such a vision for an old house, but they love what we have done to the space so far and it has a really bright and peaceful energy to it. Over the next few years, we hope to have a chance to do more. Our dream for this space is ongoing for sure.
