I Brake for Breeze Blocks

Last summer, I spent a long weekend in Los Angeles with my graphic designer sister, Victoria. We attended Dwell on Design, and toured a few modern homes. We also had the awesome opportunity to see the Eames House in Pacific Palisades and meet Eames Demetrios, the grandson of Ray & Charles, which was certainly the highlight of the trip for me. I am very much wishing I could attend this year, but the stars did not align, which is okay - I'll try to make it back in 2016 for sure.

I was in the process of putting my business plan together for True Home Restorations, and figuring out what my next career steps would look like after (semi) retiring from my wedding planning & design business I opened in 2007. I knew I wanted to use breeze blocks in my branding somehow...thankfully, my sister was on board.

A few months later, I spent another weekend with my sister, this time in her hometown of Chicago. We explored the southside midcentury community of Pill Hill. It was during that trip I came up with a silly saying, "I Brake for Breeze Blocks" that I thought would be dorkishly hilarious on a bumper sticker.

You can read about our own breeze block project we hope to do at Mid Mod Mich this summer on this post from last fall.

Anyway, I was so excited when Victoria sent me some ideas, and a couple of weeks later, a box of bumper stickers arrived at my doorstep. I posted the photo (upper right hand corner) on my personal instagram account and the next week started sending them to friends who requested them. It has been SO fun seeing them pop up on social media - who knew people would love them as much as I did?

I haven't yet defaced my own car's bumper, but plan to in the near future - a huge step for me, as I'm not a bumper sticker fan in general. I suppose I will make an exception for my own!

Keep braking for breeze blocks, my midcentury loving friends! And, if you'd like a sticker yourself, please let me know!

The WANT List | Breeze Blocks

Breeze blocks, aka decorative concrete blocks, were used throughout home & garden design in the 50's and 60's for various reasons. Mostly, it seems, to provide privacy like a fence, but the ability to allow air to pass through. While I think many people see exterior examples, I've also seen some examples of interior use as well on home tours and photos.

Since our home is currently a/c free, but has many large windows, we were hoping to add a breeze block wall outside our floor-to-ceiling windows in our master bedroom. Currently, we have pinch-pleat drapes, which work fine to filter the sunshine from the East in the morning, however, they are a bit "fussy" for my personal decorating taste and I'd like the window "naked". If at all possible, I'd prefer to combat the sunshine from the exterior.

In Palm Springs many of the homes have their original breeze block walls. Here's a great example (above) of a private area on the front of a home made possible with breeze blocks. Right here in West Michigan there are plenty of great examples. One of the larger, decorative walls located downtown Grand Rapids is very popular with photographers - I've seen many family & wedding photos taken in this location; it provides a stellar backdrop.

But, what's a retro-loving gal to do when she'd like to add one to her home, but cannot get the blocks locally? Retro Renovation put together a list in 2010, and much to my surprise, there was a Michigan vendor on there. I called them up last spring, and unfortunately, they had just gotten rid of the inventory they had, because it was just sitting there, collecting dust. Wah-wah; I may have cried.

So, the search continues. My dream is that someone locally will get rid of theirs and offer it up "for free" on Craigslist if I come haul it away myself.

The search continues! And if anyone has a resource for me, I'd love to know. Greg & I are even willing to make an out-of-state drive to pick this stuff up!