How ‘You’ Is Your Eichler?

For many people, their Eichler is more than their home. It's a collectable work of art.

People who feel this way, not surprisingly, are often artists themselves, or at least creatives who like to make a mark on their personal surroundings.

Well, go ahead. Follow the lead of the late Matt Kahn, a famed designer, Stanford professor, a man who furnished interiors of Eichler model homes and even taught art appreciation to Joe Eichler's staff.

Matt, who lived in an Eichler on the Stanford campus for more than 50 years, famously called Eichler homes "insistently permissive." He also put it like this: "You must, in an Eichler home, expand and express yourself."

Certainly there are classic ways to furnish your Eichler, from the 'fill‐it‐with‐masterpieces‐from‐the‐mid‐century‐modern‐repertoire' to the 'oh‐heck‐let's‐just‐bring‐in‐some‐soft‐and‐comfy‐sofas‐and‐easy‐chairs‐and‐hang‐family‐photos‐and‐Uncle‐Fred's‐oil‐paintings.'

That works. But how about bringing in some drama and wit, maybe by playing up or playing with such Eichler themes as openness, nature, contrasts between light and dark, and modernism itself?

"We like light," one Mountain View homeowner told the Eichler Network, as she showed us through her home, which had several added skylights. This love for light is a common sentiment.

Eichlers are all about the play of light throughout the day, with sunlight flowing in through walls of glass and through the atrium, the brightness contrasting with the warmth of wood paneling and wooden beams.

Some of the loveliest lighting effects in Eichlers can be obtained by simply leaving the homes alone. But colored‐glass panels (Matt Kahn used these in his own home), recessed lighting behind plants or other furnishings, and clever placement of furnishings or objets d'art to catch sunlight or moonlight through skylights or windows can all add drama.

Curtains and screens can be used to filter light to create varied effects. A few years back visitors to the San Mateo Highlands 'Eichler Home Tour' could enjoy this effect when visiting Joe's all‐steel X‐100 home there, where a scrim‐like curtain walled off a bedroom from the main living area.

To play up their homes' modernist heritage, many owners go beyond Eames chairs to enjoy such retro, mid‐century themes as Space Age or Tiki—generally and wisely in small doses. We have yet to find an Eichler given over entirely either to outer space or Polynesia; fortunately the themes get along well with other more sedate looks from the period.

We've seen quite a few Eichlers that bring in iconic objects that evoke the playfulness of the 1950s and '60s, including jukeboxes and pinball machines. Not only do these decorate a home, but they also function as centers of activity. A rock 'n' roll party, anyone?

Lamps, whether freestanding, tabletop, or descending from the ceiling, are an easy way to add personality to a room. The standard Eichler globe lamp sets the standard.

But how about a globe lamp that, unlike the original, is transparent rather than translucent? We spotted one of these at a San Mateo Highlands tour back in 2017, a master globe holding within itself a series of smaller Edison lights.

And lights aren't the only things that can dangle from ceilings. Consider a mobile, either Calder‐style or not.

Traditional décor can work well in an Eichler, including wing‐backed easy chairs and tufted ottomans. In fact, you see them both furnishing types in Eichlers whose owners, for some reason, seem to wish they were living in another sort of house.

But you also see them in Eichlers whose owners clearly enjoy the modern aspects of their homes, often people who have preserved the original, warm wood‐paneled walls. In cases like this, what we see in the use of traditional furniture are brave and bold statements that indicate the owners may love the architecture, but won't let it boss them around?

Not every modern home has to be filled with Eames and Jens Rissom furnishings to proclaim its modernity.

We've seen Eichlers look great that employ Arts and Crafts furnishing from the 1900s and 'teens, and those that evoke the related 1920s and '30s modernistic styles of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne.

Not surprisingly, blending these earlier styles with West Coast modernism can feel right, since these earlier styles fed into the sensibilities of mid‐century architects.

Then there are the small things that can add up quickly in establishing an individual's sense of aesthetic ownership, including retro collectables and handmade artworks.

Even when cool tchotchkes are displayed with as little organization as you may find in a thrift store, they can still look cool and say something about the homeowners.

Are they showing off James Bond and 'I Spy' toys, pottery from Italy circa 1953, or Bauerware? When displayed with some flair, these items can come across as works of art.

And let's step outside for a moment, where, for the past decade or so, Eichler‐shaped 'Little Free Libraries' and mid‐century modern‐style mailboxes have been revealing homeowners' tastes to the passing world. One of the greatest mailboxes we've seen in front of an Eichler was in the shape of a swan.

It's your house, after all. You might as well show some personality.