We finally made the pilgrimage to the modern mecca of design in Columbus Indiana to see the Miller House. It has long been on the ‘visit’ list, and we finally got around to a quick overnight road trip. We wanted to get some design inspiration for updating the living room, injecting some color without making it too much of a modern mid-century maximalism [ahem Jonathan Adler-esque). We thought the Miller House was the perfect home to help us out.
We equipped ourselves with a few tour maps to help guide our tour: 1] Curbed did a great map and story in Sept 2019, and does a great job with building descriptions; 2] ArchDaily also did a nice job with a map and editing down the buildings to visit Jun 201, but it lacks descriptions.
For the Miller House Tour, we booked well in advance to get tickets, as the tour is popular and limited in availability. The bonus of going during COVID there were 50% fewer people on the tour than normal, so there was plenty of room to socially distance, and less people you needed to dodge in your photos. MCM Daily by DC Hillier has a great write up and photos that you should check out, along with Leslie Williamson via Dwell.
The Miller House – it has to be seen to really grasp this beautiful property – the gardens were much larger than expected.
And then there was more garden to admire ….. we missed the pool – it was already closed for the winter.
We also booked an overnight stay at ‘The Inn at Irwin Gardens’, it was easy to book online, and came with breakfast in the morning included with the room rate. This private home and gardens was converted into an Inn in 2009, and much of the charm has been preserved and maintained to the original 1910 remodel, with some furniture pre-dated to the original build in 1864. It gained a lot of screen time in the movie ‘Columbus’ (2017).
The overnight trip was a little too quick, and because it was a weekend and during a global pandemic – many locations were not available for interior tours. None-the-less we enjoyed our visit.
The Frost House 