Do you have ideas… questions… suggestions… wants… and needs… that you’d like me to research and write about this year?
Add your Comment — and I’ll work on it.
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Thanks for your offer to help the search for the 2000 sq.ft. ranch pam! 3-4 bdrms/2-1/2 bath, super mud room and large living room (not “great” room)
Oh, and on Bewitched I noticed a red geranium on the window sill of the kitchen from a living room shot! You’ve really got me searching. I look forward to a great retro year.
Like many others, I love the how-to’s that you can’t get anywhere else. I don’t have any salvageable real linoleum, but I read the “how I saved our linoleum” post with rabid interest.
I also like anything that helps us figure out how our 1955 home ought to look. Short of breaking into the octegenarian neighbors’ untouched time capsules, you’re my only hope.
I LOVE this blog and am so glad I found it! I did a search on the Madmen kitchen and stumbled upon it.
We downsized into a 1952 story-and-a-half bungalow that had only one owner and nothing had been updated since the kitchen (1963). It needs quite a bit of updating, and since I love mid-century modern, this blog is helping me get ideas and resources for hardware, etc. It’s also motivating to see there are many other people who are into the period!
I’d like to see period landscaping (as others have mentioned) as that’s one of the projects we will be tackling come spring. I love lots of pictures as well.
FYI I have a gray tile bathroom, a knotty pine upstairs (our master bedroom), a knotty pine finished basement (thinking tiki louge, here) and a kitchen that was very custom for 1963 (nutone built-in food center, Philco “galaxie” double electric oven).
THANKS FOR THE BLOG!
Welcome, Jeanne, and thank you for such nice comments! I’ll email you some time in the future – we want to see pics of your place. However, I’m overloaded with reader pics I haven’t run yet…I’m particularly into running more knotty pine this year. So get your digi-cam ready, girl. And don’t hesitate to let me know if I can help with any specific wants/needs that come up. Oh, where do you live?
I would be happy to take some pictures soon. I wasn’t really a fan of knotty pine but am trying to embrace it.
It’s a work in progress. I think I have some good ideas, though. I live in Dearborn, Michigan.
I would like to see more of this website! Just found you today, and instantly added you to my blogroll, and I had to write a quick post about it. I really dig this place! So, after I finish my leisurely stroll through Retro Renovation, I’ll let you know what I want to see more of. That should be sometime in early March. Thanks for the great resource.
Hi Pam
I am totally infatuated with vintage stoves, refrigerators, chest freezers, dishwashers, washers and dryers…you name it! Any info on vintage appliances would be awesome!
Also – I can’t get enough of readers ‘before and after’ pictures…the more the better.
Thanks so much for all your hard work – your website is my renovating bible!
Tammy
I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy your website. I found it by accident when I was looking for aqua appliances. I grew up in several houses that had aqua appliances in the kitchen. Although my tastes are very traditional (French antiques and ovrstuffed, skirted sofas and chairs), I am also very fond of a lot of styles from the 50s and 60s. I grew up during that period.
I love what you and some of the readers have done in restoring the mid century modern look.
I would love to see more before and after pictures, more furniture pictures, and more home plans and renditions from that era.
Keep up the good work! I look forward to more interesting posts!
Retrocat – welcome!!!
Retropink57, welcome and thank you for all your comments! I’ll be workin’ on it!
More ’40s.
I’m living in a very small home built in 1961 for my family. It is a work in progress, it’s full of this and that collection. The only renovation of any kind that altered the look was wall to wall carpet in the late ’70s, and Armstrong vinyl over the kitchen and bath floors. The three bedrooms and laundry room have the original brown over white speckled terrazzo. I’m going to have a $3.50 period appropriate hanging saucer fixture put in the dining area, and an upgrade wall light fixture in the green fixture/white tile bath. Our builder was Mackle Brothers of General Developement. A lot of homes here have been “improved” (destroyed beyond recognition) and about ten have been leveled. From about 1958 to 1962, the largest two homes of the model series were slightly larger than 1100 square feet. All later models became larger and more deluxe.
Ok, what I’d like to see added are console stereos and sound systems of the mid century period, as this makes up a large part of my collection. Also wall treatment, I like knotty pine and that neat looking grooved wall board some of these little houses had. Also built in ovens, cooktops, and Frigidaire, GE products of the ’50s. Love this site!
Welcome, astrosonical! Where do you live? Your home sounds just wonderful!
Thanks Pam! This is the River Park section of Port St. Lucie Florida. My section, as well as the later ones, were built for retirees, early on, a few of them had children, as did my family. I have always loved this house, it has quite a way to go before it can touch some of the eye-popping homes the other folks have shown, but the basic framework is here. I love period furnishings mostly of the ’50s and ’60s, also kitchens and baths with their original fittings. I have few really neat ’50s things, and also have a great love of ultra modern table lamps. I inherited one with a matchstick shade, that complements my Stromberg Carlson console with a matchstick grill. Please, add lamps and light fixtures to my open thread requests.
I’ve just stumbled across this site and I’m absolutely delighted to see other like-minded people. Thank you, Pam!!
I plan to renovate my parents’ postwar (circa 1947) Victory home later this year, mainly to increase its energy efficiency. I feel that these houses haven’t gotten a lot of respect, and that’s a shame because I think they represent an important part of our history.
Due to some extensive 1970s renovations, not a lot of the original fixtures remain in the kitchen and main floor bathroom. However, I see some great ideas here to bring back the home’s original spirit. I’d like to see more examples of late 1940’s decor on your blog. Keep up the great work!
Welcome, Carleton Heights Girl. I’m definitely focused on ensuring that I keep covering the 40s. In fact: Come back tomorrow for some good stuff (if I say so myself.)
Thanks, Pam! Looking forward to it.
Hi Pam! I’m always progressively retro – fitting my place here in Australia, and I am up to a point where I am seeking ideas on mid century art work. Rather than using advertising prints of the time, which seems to be popular, I’d like to create a more authentic feel in my art work choice. Can you give some guidance on piece that would be appropriate for a family/sunroom and a kitchen area? One of the problems I have encountered with mid century pieces is that the scale of the works are too small for the size of my walls, given that the room dimensions now days seem much larger.
Thanks for the opportunity to chime in.
Xxx Super Kawaii Mama xxX
super kawaii mama, welcome to our retro renovation community, it’s great to hear from another australian reader! i have noted your question – and will noodle it and plan a post. i am very interested in this issue, actually!
Pam, I know your web real estate is limited, but I think the “Join the Fun” section showing the latest reader comments could be expanded. With the site getting so many new people commenting, we often miss new comments.
I would like to echo Super Kawaii Mama’s request to see what kind of art choices people have made to complement their mid-century furnishings & homes. I am lucky in that my dad is an abstract painter (and a damn talented one, if I may brag on him!), and I have quite a few of his pieces in my home.
Some are actually authentic mid-century paintings in that he created them in the 1950s and 1960s; others are representative of his later and current work.
I also enjoy using every day items as art, but I would love to find additional sources for paintings, prints and drawings from the mid-20th Century. Obviously, I tend to lean toward the abstract, but I have an appreciation for all styles.
Mid Mod Pam 01.02.09 at 2:30 pm
PugFreek, Can you help me out with scouring for retro-Australia posts? Send me recommendations and I’ll be happy to do more. Did I ever say: I think I was meant to be born an Australian!
I dont think you did say that!Retroppo, and I will look out for
Australain stuff!And I would also like to see more Kitch, unusal stuff!Oh i forgot the Australain count is now 3!
Who is the third, PugFreek?
Isn’t it Super Kawaii Mama (above), PugFreek and Retroppo?? The Australians, that is!
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