About Mid-Century Style Magazine

In 2005, this blog began as a “Meanwhile Back at the Ranch” a houseblog chronicling our adventures in renovating a 1950’s blonde brick ranch in central Denver, Colorado. Back then (before Mad Men, gasp!) there wasn’t as much information out there about the look and feel of mid-century homes and so we tried to pull information together for the rest of the Mid-Century fanatics out there. You’ll find our older posts are full of photos of our house, family and renovation dramas, but I’ve left up the ones I thought there might be some good content in. Most of the remodeling and home improvement posts are in these older posts.

As time marched along this blog morphed into it’s current state as a magazine about all things Mid-Century with an emphasis on preservation and recreation of lost styles and passions from the the 1950’s and 1960’s. We try to bring you current events on preservation of commercial as well as residential buildings in danger and we hope to educate people on preserving and not destroying your homes historical value.

As we traveled the country, we  discovered an often overlooked part of Mid-Century Preservation and that was Mid-Century Motels (before they were made popular by Schitt’s Creek!)  

These are fabulous “Mom and Pop” motels across the country – some of which have been lovingly preserved or restored and play host to fabulous affordable lodging. What we found is that most of these establishments have little or no advertising budget and so don’t get the promotion they deserve to weary travelers.

So, we created “Mid-Century Motels” in 2013 and started featuring  articles and reviews about these establishments here on Mid-Century Style. 

Fast forward to 2023 and we have re-launched Mid-Century Motels as RetroRoadtrip – so we can include all of our favorite cool retro places to stay! Go Check it out! 

We still have our podcast – “This Mod Life” on our wish list, so watch for it – maybe I’ll get enough time and work on it soon! 

Mary-Frances O'Dea

Mary-Frances is a Mid-Century Enthusiast and Fiber artist.   Her articles have been featured in national publications and she  has been maintaining her original blogs since 2004. She runs a successful website development business at www.apricitymarketing.com.