I'm sitting here wondering where to start. I'm not a writer by trade. This doesn't come naturally. I'm an animator, tell me you need some pretty shapes moving around on a screen to make your long-winded scientific study seem interesting and Ill have it done lickity-split. Ask me to write said long winded scientific study and you will find me with with ten pages of doodles and nothing written past my name and a title.
It makes one wonder why I would stumble down the strange and foreign path of blogging. Personally, I blame it on my house. It’s one of those “love at first sight” cliches. I'm pretty much obsessed with the place and I want to share all its weird and wonderful details with everyone. For now I’ll spare you the needless description of how I came to live in my house and move on to the import part. The house itself.
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| Listing Photo |
The house is almost completely original, unmolested over the ages, save for the addition of carpet in the family room and linoleum over the kitchen floor. Beautifully maintained birch wood paneling adorns many of the walls, and gold fleck Formica counter tops stretch across the oversized eat-in kitchen. No beige or granite in site. It’s a thing of beauty.
I have affectionally dubbed this place “The Home of Tomorrow.” Besides being a big sci-fi dork, when I first went to look at the place I noticed a small round plate under the address marker. It’s of an adorable nuclear family holding hands in front of a house with the words ‘Gold Medallion Home, Live Better Electrically’ emblazoned on it. I’m pretty sure I made the decision to buy the place right then. I’m a sucker for the retro future tech and that medallion is a big screaming icon to such. In order for my house to earn the coveted gold medallion— considered the apex of modern living —it had to be a completely electric house. Including clothes washer and dryer, waste disposal, refrigerator and all-electric heating. The heating is one of the more interesting aspects of the place. It has radiant heat in the ceiling. Yes, the ceiling. Before looking at the place I had never heard of such modern marvels of living. Let me tell you, I feel spoiled now. It’s individually controlled, room by room. I don't turn it up unless I’m going to be in there. It’s also not a dry heat since its not heating the air. No more static shocks, no more running a humidifier all winter. I love it. It also doesn't make any noise. So no turing the TV volume up when the furnace kicks on. After seeing my first winter electric bill I can safely say it costs roughly the same as a normal electric furnace.
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| Radiant heat thermostat. |
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| The above mentioned medallion. |
My unusual ceiling heat is just one of the many incredible details that can be found In my 1960 brick ranch time capsule house. Check back occasionally and see what mischief occurs while I attempt to live in
“The Home of Tomorrow!”
Not sure if you did some Internet searching about that medallion. My job is to find things on the Internet:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.smecc.org/live_better_electrically_medallion_home.htm
I hit publish too quickly... looking over that site, it's awesome that Reagan is one of the pitch people. Also, the lighted valance over your window. I have similar ones in my living room - I pulled down all of the fluorescent lights and replaced the ballasts, converting them from T12 bulbs to much better T8 bulb...they are less watts, don't buzz, and don't flicker. Since you did some light sockets, replacing a ballast would be doable.
DeleteYou should totally try and track down the doorbell, though.
Ya I've done a lot of research into the LBE thing. Its pretty interesting stuff really. Once I got home from first seeing the house I started an obsessive google search. I'm keeping an eye out for a doorbell, big metal sign and really anything else with the logo. I'm really hopping to find one of the guide books in an estate sale around here.
DeleteI did see that you have similar window lighting, very cool. On my long term list is switching them out with LEDs. My set doesn't hum currently so I'm fine for now. The only time they bother me is when I try and watch a movie in 3D. The flicker from the bulbs is noticeable with my active shutter glasses.
I did a lot of research on lighting because I originally was going to go the LED route too. My living room has a cathedral ceiling so I have to have a lot of lumens to light it - difficult to do effectively with LEDs, even the super-dense and bright ones. Swapping the ballast for a T8 cost me $20 plus the bulb. They make an LED "fluorescent bulb" that just fits into the socket (you cut out the ballast and direct wire the sockets) but it was $60+ for a single bulb - way too pricey.
DeleteYou could totally get away with LEDs since your ceiling is flat. I found these lights on Amazon and used them under the bar and the fireplace downstairs. They would probably work really well for your application and be very inexpensive. You get the reel (5 meters, $16) and the power brick driver. (another $12): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Q907EW/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
One caveat about the LEDs though - make sure when installed you can't see the LED lights themselves. They are such a concentrated brightness they will very quickly cause eyestrain, even across the room.
I have a similar house number placard on the front of my house. Have you found any suitable LEDs to replace the illumination there?
ReplyDeleteI haven't. I actually can't even find regular bulbs for it. The bulbs I pulled out had clearly not been changed in a long long time. The model number written on the bulbs doesn't seem to exist anymore. Doesn't come up in any searches. My current plan is to forgo the house current wiring and put in a solar cell and led set up.
DeleteThe bulbs are available at Radio Shack, #1487. Or try the website for the company that still makes the lighted units, Everlite at www.everlite.us. It is the Heritage series, they are still made.
ReplyDeleteFunny you mention that, I just ordered some led based bulbs off amazon. If they work I will post on here about them. this is what I ordered: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009PNPI0U/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
DeleteI just bought a home here in Arkansas. It is a Gold Medallion home. I have only been able to find limited information about this home. I do not think that these homes were very common in this area of Southern Arkansas.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome news Anon. Congrats on the new house. I commend you on your choice haha. If you peruse ebay old "live better electrically" pamphlets show up. Usually pricy but thats been the best source of info I have found. The hard part is details vary from state to state depending on how the local electric company handled things.
DeleteHey guys, I work for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and these houses just came to our attention. I am working researching the programs impact in Arkansas. I looked at house today with a medallion in Wiener, AR. I would love to know where other houses are so we can start mapping them.
ReplyDeleteSupper awesome that you are doing that. My house is in St. Charles Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. There are a number of gold medallion houses scattered around the town. There was a boom of modest size houses in the late 50's early 60's here.
Delete--Robert