Let’s help Eartha Kitsch win the Kozy Shack contest – it’s Super Easy to vote

I’m taking the last blast of summer Labor Day weekend off (gasp! yes!) If you land here anyway — be sure to vote for reader Eartha Kitsch to win the Kozy Shack contest:

–> Click here to Vote Daily through Sept. 15 — it just take 10 seconds (no registration required).

Why am I supporting Eartha aka Kelly? See her fabulous knotty pine kitschen! And she has a pink bathroom, too. And — I love to see us flex our Retro Renovation Community Muscle in support of fellow readers just like we helped Leslie & Aaron get win #1 midcentury house in Los Angeles. :)


Quinnipiac Terrace, New Haven, Connecticut, 1942

1942 — Quinnipiac Terrace, New Haven, Connecticut. What an absolutely gorgeous photo… a picture perfect life moment, don’t you think? This photo makes me So Happy. Heck yeah there is more →

75 sets of MIB NOS ceramic towel bars, soap dishes & toilet paper holders, in 7 vintage colors

Vintage bathroom towel bars, soap dishes, toothbrush and toilet paper holders — here is quite a stash: 75 sets of mint-in-box new-old-stock bathroom accessory sets that had been boarded up in a garage attic for decades — and were rescued out the the 2nd story window. If you’re planning a bathroom renovation and need a vintage color for your ceramic accessories, this just-uncovered inventory might be the treasure just for you. Read on for the story on how they were lost — and found. Heck yeah there is more →

Linen laminate from Arborite

The most popular laminate design in mid century America? Boomerang Formica? Nope, guess again. According to materials expert Grace Jeffers, the most popular design was actually linen. You know what I’m talking about — that kind of tight-to-medium-weave with nubblies stuff. I had it both my bathrooms with vanities. In pistachio green = absolutely iconic. Now, it’s great to add this new laminate to our Retro Renovation laminate countertop arsenal: A close-enough proxy to vintage linen laminate, three shades of Hemp, from Arborite. Heck yeah there is more →

Citra Solv art contest grand prize winner: Our own Mel Bushner

Congratulations to our Mel Bushner, our collage artist laureate / creator of our famous Love The House You’re In collages: She created a new work for CitraSolv’s “Freedom of Expression” contest — and won Grand Prize. I love collage, so know about CitraSolv — it’s a cleaner that, in its concentrated form, can be used to create wonderful effects on substrates (old National Geographics, in particular, I was told.) The contest asked artists to create an original work of art using Citra Solv that conveyed their pride, optimism and hope for our country. Here is Mel wrote about her work, submitted with her winning entry: Heck yeah there is more →

Graceland: Mid century homes open to the public

Our series on historic, mid-century homes open to the public continues.

Continuing on the hunt for retro inspired Historic Homes you can visit I was reminded of Elvis Presley’s Graceland, located in Memphis, Tennessee. Of course I’d heard about this 14 acre white columned estate before, but I never could have imagined the lavishness (if that’s what you want to call it) in which Elvis decorated it. The American Colonial style mansion was originally built in 1939 for Grace Toot, heiress of a successful printing firm. Elvis bought the home in ‘57. He enjoyed the privacy and security Graceland offered — plus, for only $100,000 it was hard to pass up.  Elvis immediately began extensive renovations on the 23 rooms in the house & its surrounding grounds. He added the musical inspired wrought iron gate, a fieldstone wall to match the tan limestone on the home, racquetball court, swimming pool & the infamous jungle room. Finally, he designed & developed the meditation gardens — Elvis’ preferred reflection place — where his twin brother Jesse, parents and grandmother are buried. Heck yeah there is more →

Joe and Nikki’s retro wedding at the Doo Wop Museum, Wildwood, NJ — 27 photos

Three years into the blog, and it’s fun to see the houses bought and projects finished — but it’s even more fun to see the weddings and, the babies (and the puppies and kittens.) Joe and Nikki are longtime readers… and when they tied the knot, they did it in enviable retro style. I asked Joe if he’d like immortalize the event online, and he was game. He gives us a complete report: Heck yeah there is more →

Ceratile Stardust pattern tiles in Amy’s 1962 bathroom: Oh my!

Can you contain your envy, Retro Renovators? I can’t. After the post showcasing the gorgeous vintage Ceratile samples this week, Amy wrote, all excited:

WOW!!! So glad to see this here. I live in Houston as well and our home was a custom build in 1962. The hall bath has the Stardust tile. I NEVER thought I’d be able to find any info on it. Such a great find!!!

And there’s more… Wait til you read the story of her house, and see more  closeups of this tile. Heck yeah there is more →

Mid century lighting at Amy’s replicated with Rejuvenation’s Jantzen light

The original, mid century ceiling fixture (above) in Amy’s house has a pretty darn good match in Rejuvenation’s Jantzen lighting fixture (left). Amy’s 1962 light looks to me to extend about 12″ from the ceiling. You can customize the Jantzen starting with a 12″ drop — all the way to 200″ drop. The Jantzen also can made with your choice of 12 different finishes. To get Amy’s, I’d say brushed brass (shown in ‘branded’ R) is the way to go. Note: The Rejuvenation light holds three bulbs, which is a lot of light, but this is a fixture that provides “semi-indirect” illumination — meaning it is going to provide a wash of light for the whole room. But  look, the light is pointing *up*, so if your goal is to get a lot of light onto the kitchen or dining room table, you might want to consider another fixture with that specific goal in mind. Jantzen light, $475 at Rejuvenation.

Eat Pray Retro Renovate

Over on her blog Home is A Four Letter Word, writer Gillian Drummond has been doing a series on mid century bathrooms, which will culminate in a big story in her newspaper, The Arizona Daily Star, on Sunday. In her blog post this week, “Penny Pinching with the Stars,” she talks about how living with the home you have, rather than defaulting to a gut-job, can save a lot of money. And, she marvels that Julia Roberts is a declared frugalista, too, who sews her kids’ clothes.
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Of course, when I saw the blog post’s tag: 1950 bathrooms > Julia Roberts > Pam Kueber >retrorenovation.com, I just had to capture it for infinity and beyond. Oh, and did I mention that Gillian mentions a “goddess” in the story — and that it’s errr, me, not Julia? I have to admit, that made my day. Month. Year. :)

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