At Just Modern this season, you’ll find two quirky accents can boost curb appeal and light up the back patio. Modbox and Modfire’s SolFire are set to style modern pads in front and back.
Creator Greg Kelly designed his retro Modbox after a fruitless hunt for an attractive mailbox to complement his home’s midcentury look. "That was my ‘aha!’ moment," he says. "So I started searching mailbox patents, old Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs, and past issues of magazines."
This chipper mail collector, based on a similar Sears catalog darling from 1961 (priced then under $7), has swiftly solved a common problem: Awesome midcentury home, banal mailbox. Now, ubiquitous and boring miniature Quonset huts can be swapped out in a matter of moments.
While Sears called its two-tone model a "contemporary rural mailbox," Modbox is billed as a midcentury modern cubby, crafted of powder-coated heavy-gauge steel. It salutes the neighbors in a hue from the original Eichler Exterior Accent Colors and features a jauntily angled post.
A turquoise Modbox greeted guests outside the Christopher Kennedy Compound during Modernism Week 2015. Just Modern also stocks sunflower and pumpkin.
Out back, ride the gourmet s’mores trend into another tasty season with the spiffy yellow Solfire by Modfire. A spirited open fire pit with a cutout champagne-bubble design, the Solfire ignites entertaining bravado by mounting the flames on a pedestal. Weenie roasters rejoice.
Fabricated of steel, the two-foot-wide dandy throws sculptural shadows and fires up on propane or natural gas. Just add fire glass or smooth river rocks around the outer ring and break open those fancy flavored marshmallows.
Both Modbox and Solfire are made in the USA.
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