2009 May — Retro Renovation

Open thread: Your favorite Retro Roadtrips?

Posted by: pam kueber • May 19, 2009

1941-cessna-car-of-the-air-crop SUMMERTIME IS ON ITS WAY — and research from AAA says that in this economy, we’ll be taking a lot of road trips. Although…maybe not in our vintage 1941 Cessna Family Car of the Air (see post below). Over the past year we’ve spotlighted some cool places to visit:

The Madonna Inn, in San Luis Obispo, California.
The Villa Basque in Vernon, outside LA.
Wigwam City in Cave City, Kentucky.
The Wilson House in Temple, Texas.
And the vintage pink GE kitchen at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Got more? Share them via a Comment and starting tomorrow I’ll start featuring Retro Roadtrip destinations based on your input.

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The 1941 Cessna Family Car of the Air

Posted by: pam kueber • May 19, 2009

1941-cessna-flying-car-of-the-air

It’s a bird… it’s a plane… no, it’s Mrs. America in her flying car. Seems that in 1941-1942 Cessna had a plan to build the Cessna Family Car of the Air after the war ended. Wonder what happened… guess the Flubber didn’t work out after all.

1941-cessna-ad

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10 reasons I’m glad I don’t live in the 50s: A Retro Renovation re-run

Posted by: Pam Kueber • May 17, 2009

WHEN YOU DO A BLOG LIKE THIS, people can jump to the conclusion that you want to actually live back in those “good ole days”. This couldn’t be farther from the truth in my case. I just like the design and believe in understanding and working with a house’s original design before you arbitrarily gut it…don’t read any more into it. In fact, here are my top-10 reasons that I’m very happy, thank you very much, to be living in 2009. Heck yeah there is more →

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Sumac Sue and her Gardenside way of life – a Retro Renovation re-run

Posted by: Pam Kueber • May 16, 2009

The post about Madison Sarah and her hunt for a 50s or 60s home drew lots of comments, including a lovely note from Sumac Sue, aka Judi, of Lexington, Kentucky. Her comments were really moving, so I asked her if I could make a post out of them – and asked if she could send pictures to go with. She kindly did, and even added some more info at my request. A long post – but well worth the time to read and think about. Sumac Sue is a former newspaper reporter – so the girl can turn a phrase! Maybe other readers have similar stories about their neighborhoods that they would like to share? Send in your stories and your “walking tour” photos and I’d be happy to make this a regular feature. Thank you, Judi (Sumac Sue), for getting this started! Heck yeah there is more →

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Porcelain mosaic floor tile in lots of colors

Posted by: pam kueber • May 15, 2009

mosaic-tile-blue I HAD OTHER MORE LIGHT-HEARTED PLANS for today’s post, but with Cathy looking for retro color floor tiles, I am featuring yet another tile resource that I came across recently. This unglazed porcelain mosaic tile, the Lyric collection from mosaictile.com, comes in a variety of colors and would be appropriate for bathroom floors including showers. There are 32 colors in all to choose from. Meanwhile, click through for a mini-gallery of some of my favorite pastels — and avocado green, too! Heck yeah there is more →

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Porcelain bathroom tile in a rainbow of colors & styles from American Universal

Posted by: pam kueber • May 14, 2009

octagon-and-dot-tile

EXCITING NEWS: We have a newly discovered resource for porcelain ceramic floor and wall tiles: American Universal Corp. I love their website — it’s easy to make your own octagon-and-dot combinations, for example. Like my peach, raspberry and grey floor tile combination above — what do you think? Heck yeah there is more →

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Vintage telephone holder-memo pad

Posted by: pam kueber • May 14, 2009

telephone-wall-memo-holder-vintage Isn’t this wonderful? A vintage memo pad that also holds your wallhung telephone (Although I am confused at how the telephone actually still would work with the receive off the hook…) $28 over at moddities.etsy.com.

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Meet Garth and Martha: Intrepid retro renovators in Dallas

Posted by: pam kueber • May 13, 2009

midcentury home renovators from Dallas

READERS GARTH AND MARTHA gave me so much information about their renovation project that I’ve split it into two posts. In this first one, Garth tells us about how they were not…no, they were not(!)…going to tackle another fixer upper when they moved from Maryland back to Dallas in November. Of course… they found a fabulous 1950 home and the rest…well, they’re now five months into their new, five-year project. In the second post, below, Garth details the saga to restore vintage Crosley metal kitchen cabinets. Heck yeah there is more →

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