You are here: Home / 2009 / Archives for March 2009

“Cooking Up a Retro Revival” in Eugene and Portland, Oregon

Posted by: • March 18, 2009

emily-karen-bijan-eugene-home-show

The Lane County Home Show in Eugene, Oregon, was a terrific experience. Despite being jet-lagged and overdosed on a particularly luscious brownie sundae (my Saturday night excitement), it was absolutely exhilarating to talk about midcentury modest homes…the audiences at my talks were fantastic and clearly so considerate of doing nice things with their homes…and the staff of the show – Karen (center), Emily (left), Bijan (right), along with Helen, Jaye – everyone – made me feel so at home, and were topnotch professionals who ran a great show.

dsc_0139

On Monday, I returned to Portland where I spent the day touring Rejuvenation (including Satellite Modern)’s factory and store. That’s Tim Wetzel, Industrial Designer – and a Retro Renovation regular (left), along with Bo Sullivan, Historian, who led me and Portland reader Elvis aka Jane on a TERRIFIC tour. Oh yes — I was joined by Elvis aka Jane! That evening I met with members of the Portland MidCentury Modern League for dinner and a talk at Country Bill’s restaurant on Woodstock. A wicked fun day all around!

blue-cat-at-the-rejuvenation-store-portland

I’ll have lots of coverage over the next several days about my visit to Eugene and Portland.

To start, here is a link to the Eugene Register-Guard story about my talks: “Cooking Up a Retro Revival.”

How to organize spices

Posted by: • March 17, 2009

mountaineers

Should you organize your spices with a vintage spice rack – or another way? To be sure, this antique spice rack the Three Mountaineers is absolutely charming. Find these on ebay. We use lots of spices at my house, though — and I like our organization method even better… Heck yeah there is more →

More wacky and wonderful bedrooms from the Madonna Inn

Posted by: • March 16, 2009

old-mill-room-madonna-in

In my initial post about the Madonna Inn – the iconic 50s motel in St. Luis Obispo, Calif. – I showed five viva Las Vegas rooms. Today – some simply wonderful, kitschy rooms that throw in waterwheels, Flintstones fever, and lots of horsing around. Above is the “Old Mill Room” – I love its coral, chartreuse and teal mashup of color, not to mention the hot pink miniature mills. Now who thought of that?

Let’s always remember to: Not take ourselves too seriously with this decorating stuff… Click through for six more great vintage style bedrooms.

Heck yeah there is more →

Capel braided rugs suit 50s and 60s style perfectly – a Retro Renovation re-run

Posted by: • March 15, 2009

capel-hearthside-rug.jpgI have two of these braided Capel rugs, and I love them. They are very durable, versatile and affordable — and fit my 1951 colonial ranch home’s decor just fine. Remember, in the 1940s 50s and 60s homes were a mix and match…inside and out…of ranch, Cape and colonial style.  If your house is not all high-style Eichler modern – it could probably do will well with a warm dose of colonial underfoot.  These rugs come in all wool, which is really nice… chenille styles that last forever… and fiber mixes that may be better for your damp basement. As I said, I have two Capel braided rugs and at different points have had them in the dining room, living room, bedrooms, the basement — they really are  extremely versatile. And, there are zillions of style/color choices at Capel’s website.

This post originally ran Nov. 17, 2007


Original Eichler paint colors for your ranch or contemporary home

Posted by: • March 14, 2009

body-paint-colors-for-your-ranch-home

Are you looking forward to repainting your midcentury ranch or contemporary home once the weather warms up? I recently connected with the nice folks at The Eichler Network, and saw that they have identified a palette of original exterior paint colors and accents used on Eichler homes, which were built from the late 1940s through the early 1970s. Heck yeah there is more →

In praise of vintage Daystrom dinettes

Posted by: • March 13, 2009

1953-daystrom-dinette

1953-daystrom-dinetteThese days I am quite in love with cozy vintage dinettes — like this 1953 Daystrom model. Daystrom, along with Arvin, seem to have been the two really big names in dinettes back in the day – and both seem to have disappeared from the screen altogether today.

This lovely green dinette – amidst the aqua-pistachio kitchen with its wood and white and wallpaper – has the feel of the coziest place in the world, don’t you think?

On my retro radar: A wonderful pink, vintage Borg bathroom scale

Posted by: • March 13, 2009

vintage-pink-borg-scale

Sometimes I wonder about ebay. That fun little slideshow widget now seems broken, and I have a bunch of fun stuff to show off! Alas. But I really want to showcase this wonderful pink, vintage Borg bathroom scale – listed by CogswellRetro – none other than our “Atomic Bowlers” Dave and Laura. I understand they are trying to clean out their excess. They have lots of fun stuff. LOVE this scale! Great lines, and it looks to be in great shape. Remember, though, readers – NEVER ever stand on these things! :)

Cindy updates her 50s bathroom vanity, tile floor and shower

Posted by: • March 12, 2009

cindys-updated-vanity

Last week we looked at Cindy’s beautiful Holyoke, Mass., home – photos I took last summer. Today – we get to see the updates that she made to her bathroom vanity and tile floor and shower over the winter – she replaced the laminate on the bathroom vanity in a lighter ‘beigewood” shade, and also retiled her floor and shower stall. Cindy’s updates are incredibly well done – she has a great eye for detail and I know that she labored over each little decision…. Great inspiration and ideas, I am sure, to many retro renovators looking for a way to update their tired bathroom vanities, in particular.

Heck yeah there is more →

« Previous Page
Next Page »