A Napa Mid-Century Architecture Tour

I was surprised and extremely excited to learn that the theme for this year's 22nd Annual Holiday CandleLight Tour presented by Napa County Landmarks & the Napa County Historical Society will be "Mad Men Meets The Valley." This self-led tour will highlight Monticello Park, a mid-century modern neighborhood in Napa. Accoding to the organizers Napa's Monticello Park contains "large and lovingly maintained mid-century homes" that "demonstrate the beautiful and innovative design features of post-war architecture and landscape design."

I've only lived in Napa 7 months so I'm still getting to know the area but I've been surprised by the number of beautiful mid-century buildings, houses and neighborhoods I've come across so far. One of the many reason's we moved here was because we loved the area but we continue to be surprised by Napa's diverse neighborhoods. From the lovingly preserved Victorians, to the California modern ranch homes, Napa is easily one of the state's most beautiful small cities and it contains some of of the most wonderful examples of California architecture that I've ever seen.

I'm currently researching my own neighborhood in Napa, which was called "Napa Rancho" at one time. It contains many cute and modest ranch homes and more modern houses as well that I plan to share photos of soon. Our own home seems to be a sort of hybird between the two types of houses we're surrounded by. Needless to say, I was thrilled to discover that there are other mid-century neighborhoods in Napa that I hadn't heard of yet as well as other mid-century enthusiasts who are obviously interested in preserving and maintaining their period homes. I had a great time at The Sacramento Mid-Century Home Tour back in June and although the Napa event seems to be much smaller in scale, I hope it will generate a lot of interest in Napa's mid-century architecture.

The Napa Mid-Century Holiday CandleLight Tour takes place on Saturday, December 11th from 3pm-6pm and starts at the Hay Barn Gallery at Gordon Huether Studio, 1821 Monticello Road. For more information please visit the Napa County Landmarks site or the Napa County Historical Society site where you can purchase tickets online.

Early Holiday Shopping

Took some time out this weekend to enjoy the 60th Annual Thrift Shop Christmas Bazaar in Napa and picked up some cute vintage Christmas decorations for our home. We found some more elves to add to our growing collection, including a very large one that's animated and plays music. He still works pretty good but could use a good cleaning. We also picked up a cute gold deer and some really pretty tear drop style ornaments. The money generated at the Thrift Shop Christmas Bazaar goes to non-profit organizations including the local chapters of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. You can find more information about this yearly event in a recent story published in our local paper online: Shoppers flock to Christmas Bazaar


Last week we also picked up this amazing solid walnut Kent-Coffey cabinet/dresser for just $85 at a local Goodwill store. It was part of the companies "Town House" line that I believe was originally created sometime between 1962-1966. Kent-Coffey was an American furniture company based in North Carolina and they were competitive with Broyhill. A lot of the companies furniture lines shared a similar style. I absolutely love it and I've seen similar pieces selling on Craigslist for as much as $550 so I think we got a great deal on it. It's in wonderful shape with just some minor scuffing and signs of age but overall it's still a really nice piece. We're not sure what we're going to do with it. We've talked about trying to put together an entire Kent-Coffey bedroom or just using it as a cabinet in the living room for now and maybe even a media stand. It's really beautiful and has incredible lines, the original handles, a beautiful tone and dovetail joints. The picture below doesn't flatter the piece very well. It needs to be really cleaned and but we're still deep in the middle of renovations. You'll also notice that our cat Maximilian decided to run past just as I was taking the picture.