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When Father’s Day rolls around, Dads can be hard to buy for, and even more difficult to create a DIY gift for. This year, I have you covered though, with a list of 22 DIY gift ideas for dear old Dad. Whether your father is interested in golf, technology, music, the outdoors, or even beer, there is something on this DIY gift list for pretty much every Dad in the book.
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I’ve been thinking about Heidi Gardner a lot lately. The Saturday Night Live alum just announced she’d be stepping down ahead of the show’s 51st season, and while I’m so sad I won’t see her on my screen every Saturday night, I’m more curious to know if I’ll ever be able to get more glimpses of her absolutely astounding mid-century modern home in Kansas City, Missouri.
Gardner opened up her home toArchitectural Digest, and I’m genuinely obsessed with it. “This house is both a Kansas City labor of love and a New York labor of love, which is kind of like me, my two favorite places in the world,” Gardner said in the YouTube video. For the design build, she worked with Cicada Company in Kansas City, and for the interior design, she chose the New York-based Madeline Hudson Interiors.
“It was really important to me to keep the vibes that I originally saw when I walked in this house with the wood walls and the stone,” Gardner says. “I was like, ‘I’m in the Boogie Nights house.’” (This is one of my all-time favorite movies, and she is spot-on with the reference.)
Why Heidi Gardner’s MCM Home Is a True Gem
It is both my opinion and the pro opinion that all new owners of MCM homes should approach renovation with the idea of keeping those OG vibes, says Ashley Kendrick of Ashley Kendrick Real Estate in Kansas City. “[An MCM home] is a piece of art; it’s an artifact,” she explains. “And I think knowing what belongs in that house to preserve is key.”
MCM homes are “the emotional buy here,” especially when they are redone well. “There’s a limited supply of them in Kansas City, so you get a lot of people willing to pay, I would say, more than market value.” Kendrick says that MCM homes in the Kansas City area can range from $400,000 to upwards of several million dollars.
There’s a good reason that homebuyers are willing to stretch their budgets for MCM homes. “Architecturally, they’re their own animal,” Kendrick says. She notes the wood and stone elements give these homes a “warm Japanese feel.” She cites Don Drummond as one of the key architects who brought MCM to Kansas City; Bob Wendt, David Runnels, and Bruce Goff are among other noted MCM pioneers in the area.
Unless an MCM home has been recently updated, buyers can expect to pay more — sometimes a lot more — for energy-efficient enhancements. Andrew Bash of Sage Sotheby’s International in Kansas City says that the original homes were constructed with single-pane windows. And because MCM homes have no lack of natural light pouring in, it’s a hefty investment to replace the many windows and glass doors.
But don’t dare call an MCM a money pit. “I would liken them to a really nice, amazing sports car that you’re going to probably have to tweak to keep running, as opposed to it just being super efficient right out of the gate,” Bash says.
The Features I’m Most Obsessed with in Gardner’s MCM Home
My favorite things about the home? The over-the-top touches (her disco-ball range hood is beyond cool) and how much original features were preserved. Gardner and her design teams kept much of the wood accents in the home, including the wood paneled walls.
Some might want to tear down wood panel walls in just about any other type of home, but in an MCM home, you’ll actually want more of them. In fact, most of the walls in the home feature light wood, with two notable exceptions: the gorgeous stone fireplace and an office/media room decorated in Gucci wallpaper. “It’s not reasonably priced,” Gardner admits, although she is thrilled with her splurge.
Gardner actually calls this wallpapered room a “snug,” which is a new-to-me term. But I got the vibe as soon as I saw it. It’s a luxurious yet comfortable retreat where she can write, hang with her cats — seriously, she also splurged on the most incredible cat tree you’ll ever see — and even host tailgating parties. (She’s a huge Chiefs and Royals fan.) There are two glass doors that open to the outside, offering easy access to the barbecue and smoker on game days.
If you saw Gardner’s incredible backyard and pool without knowing that she lived in Kansas City, it would be very easy to assume she purchased a home in Palm Springs. It’s amazing to see that it’s possible to blend a coastal vibe into the Midwest. But indoor/outdoor living is one of the hallmarks of MCM homes, no matter the location, although the Kansas City climate allows plenty of time to enjoy it. “[The weather] is amazing from March through November,” Kendrick says.
Many Kansas City homes have pools, some of which were added during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people relocated back to the area, according to Kendrick. Unlike other geographical areas where pools might detract value from the home, pools add value to Kansas City homes, especially with that extended swim season.
As much as I adore my Cape Cod-style house, my new goal in life is to own an MCM home. And while I’m sad to see that Gardner won’t be returning for Season 51 of Saturday Night Live, I can’t help but be glad that it’s a great opportunity for her to spend more time in her glorious new digs.
Name: Cass Goulding, husband, and two Saint Berdoodles Location: Ontario, Canada Type of home: House Size: 1500 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, owned
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Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: My husband and I moved cities for architecture. We found a gray on gray painted 1960 architectural build that we fell in love with (for the entryway and commercial-sized windows in the living room). It has a ton of potential that will take years to renovate, but we love the house as-is, too.
The first year, we took seven days to paint the exterior with a brush and rollers. The flat roof helped with painting the upper parts (my husband did it because I don’t love heights). We painted the house “Undersea blue” and the door is “Splendor gold.”
We have redone the 60-year-old roof, replaced the broken garage, replaced the windows and doors in the living room, replaced the 1980s air conditioner and the 25-year-old furnace, and upgraded a 100-amp electrical panel to a 200 amp. We’ve put our own spin on mid-century modern lighting and painted the vintage bathroom to accentuate the aqua tub and fun floor tiles.
One of the first things we tried adding were the pops of color blocks on the living room walls. I discovered my love of the color orange and we got a funky retro rug. Since I’m mid-century and my husband is modern, we have a lot of retro rather than vintage, but we do have a Danish teak dining table.
We share our happy home with our two dogs. Chris and I both love design and I dream of being an interior decorator professionally someday.
Once upon a time I was supposed to be an illustrator and also painted colorful acrylic paintings. The painting hanging in our entryway is an original of mine and is an interpretation of a photograph Chris took in Dubai. This creative side really spiraled our decor when we moved here. If you can believe it, our last house was fifty shades of gray.
We love the colorful nature of our decor, it really makes me happy. We also love eclectic art and have several retro-surrealist prints that embrace vintage people placed in sci-fi/space collages.
During the pandemic, I also became a plant mom and have since collected about 19 plants. My husband loves cacti and we have many minis as well as a previously loved four-foot beast. If you can believe it, the plants all have names too, including a monstera plant named Natalie Portman.
We enjoy what we design, the key is we must have fun. We’re not design genre purists and buy things that bring us joy.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Mid-century modern, colorful, fun, happy
What is your favorite room and why? The living room is our favorite space. It gets so much light that we installed automated blinds to cut down on the heat in the summer. Almost all of the plants live in there because of the sun.
I’m also an avid TV and movie watcher so I spend a ton of time in there. One of my favorite movies is “Moonrise Kingdom” by Wes Anderson, and I think the room kind of has a similar vibe.
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? The last thing I purchased was a vintage decanter for our mini bar in the living room. I bought it to store my non-alcoholic bourbon because I struggle with the lid like a toddler (I made sure it was glass and didn’t have lead). It’s tall and pretty and reflects the light of the Christmas tree in the winter beautifully.
Any advice for creating a home you love? Have fun. I can’t emphasize that enough. Life is too short to decorate your home for anyone but yourself. You’re living in it and it needs to make you happy. If that’s white and neutral that’s great, but ours is colorful and out there (kind of a good description for me too).
Sometimes a property crush grows on you, and sometimes it’s simply love at first sight. Take a look inside this mid-century modern Austin home and try not to get instant heart eyes. Just picture spending an afternoon in the living room, situated in a cozy but stylish reading chair nestled next to the ceiling-height bank of windows. Thanks to the shelves built into the adjacent stone wall, your decor can meld into the architecture itself.
When it’s time to make dinner, pad across the cork floor into the sunshine-dappled kitchen, where saturated sky blue cabinets pop against the wood walls. In case this room is simply too cute to leave, you can take a seat right at the breakfast bar. Or if you’re in the more for a more formal dinner, you can take it over to the dining area underneath a Noguchi-style light fixture.
As if it hadn’t made enough of a statement, the home amps up the drama in the bathroom by covering it almost completely in glossy black tiles. Dim the lights and hang some eucalyptus by the showerhead for a truly immersive shower. Then, don a vintage robe and enjoy the 1950s splendor that is your home.
Are you on the house hunt, or just the type of person who loves browsing real estate listings, even when you’re not in the market for a new home? Property Crush is a column where we feature actual real estate listings that get the Apartment Therapy seal of approval in regards to style (we haven’t done home inspections or anything, so don’t sue us). Know of a great house on the market? Email the listing to repitches@apartmenttherapy.com.
Everybody knows that first impressions are everything, and that’s true for our homes too. If the front of your house doesn’t look great, people will assume the inside doesn’t either. To get you inspired to spruce up your home’s curb appeal, here’s an epic roundup of gorgeous exteriors organized by style.
Molly Madfis
