HAPPY SUMMER SUNDAY, everyone. Here’s a little reminder to take a moment today and celebrate the teeny tiniest little details in your home. These vintage plastic bellflower curtain pulls must have been pulled up and down a million times since they were first installed. You can see how the oils on the Mrs.’ fingertips have left their mark. I find them amazingly beautiful. Maybe it’s the small stuff that is the most important of all. Thanks to flickr friend fancymefoxy for seeing this detail, and capturing it to share. You can see her entire photostream by clicking directly on the photo.
Retro Accents
Kitchens – Countertops

A reader wrote to ask how to bring the luster back to her vintage laminate countertops. Paste wax, maybe? To get the answer, I turned to expert Grace Jeffers. She is the writer, design historian and materials expert responsible for restoration of the Ralph Sr. and Sunny Wilson House – including its gorgeous Mondrian-style kitchen, [...]

“…Eliminates the final telltale sign of laminate – the brown line.” I am a big believer in the idea that the most significant design shifts tend to come from technological breakthroughs. The advance of laminate kitchen countertops — replacing linoleum and wood in most kitchens in the 1950s — came as a result of the [...]

If you are looking for retro-style laminate for a kitchen or bathroom countertop, you have some blinding research ahead of you. Unless there is a home-run-out-of-the-park solution — like the boomerangs, crackle ice or dogbone still available — it’s going to be a hunt-peck-and-forage to find something that’s “close enough” to original laminates from the [...]

Seems like I’m starting the week off with the spotlight on RESOURCES! I was checking out Formica’s site recently – and saw these two new laminates. They both have a nice retro groove, underscored by their names, Atomic Orange and Atomic Turf. Back in the postwar era, there were a number of laminates that had [...]

I spotted this vintage salesman’s sample showing different styles of metal edging for a kitchen countertop, and it reminded me that I wanted to do a story showcasing some other varieties beyond the stainless steel edging that I used for my kitchen. First off, thanks to Hard to Find House Parts for letting me share [...]
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Renovate Safe! Get informed about the environmental & safety issues in your vintage home. #1 RULE: Consult with pros. More info: EPA asbestos website ... EPA lead website ... Consumer Reports safety blog ... U.S.F.A. – electrical fire safety.




A mint-in-box vintage stove finds its home sweet home in Lawrence Bill’s knotty pine kitchen
900 pieces of vintage Weslock mid century kitchen cabinet pulls 














Love your photostream! Your attention to detail is exquisite. You also have the same faucet fixtures in your pink bath as I do in my blue/grey bath. Thanks for sharing.
Cute, cute, cute! But definately not allowed in todays regulations (kids could choke etc….how’s about telling the kids to NOT play with them!).
Anyhoo…cute, cute, cute!
Thanks for the safety tip, Nina462. Please note, readers!
I remember those curtain pulls. Never realized it until now how much I miss those little details.
Wow! I grew up with pretty much these exact pulls, and had forgotten all about them!
Hard to forget the off-gold-quasi-bronze embossed-pattern ‘fiberglas’ draperies from Sears that had the temerity never to rot, fade or wear out in over 30 years’ time, though!
Wow, thank you for that memory jog! I remember these on every window in my parents’ house but had not thought about them in years! I just love them!
Hello,
Aaahh memories. We had those pulls and they were cracked with plastic little pieces breaking off. Lord knows when they went in, I am just recounting my memories of them in the 70′s and 80′s till and as curtains got replaced.
Robert
Great pulls. Love the curtain fabric. What type is it, do you think?
Jean
How pretty,why are things not made with style & function anymore??? I love this site of like minded people.When you finnally have to replace things its hard to find anything comparable!!Love everyones storys& pics!!Thank you Pam!Im looking right now for a stove top& electric can opener(my 1963) sunbeam just stopped working!!But its to cool looking to take down!We have drape pulls like this too ,but there more bell shaped.