Products and ideas to remodel your mid century home in authentic vintage style
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home design inspiration… thrifty finds… and a generous
community of people passionate about their vintage and
postwar homes – “modern” and “modest” alike.
I'm Pam Kueber, your mid mod mad guide. Read more
Vintage Vera — Vera Neumann — is just the best. Etsy had a lovely round up of vintage Vera scarves yesterday, one more delicious than the rest. I recently bough one with little houses on it, to wear to my home show appearances for good luck. Etsy story here. Scarf above from etsy seller smartvintage.
Vintage Vera on eBay, too:
Following up on Monday’s exciting post about the Arpa USA palette of solid-color laminates, let’s take a look at how to use this material to recreate this 1959 Ma Bell kitchen. It would be oh-so-easy! Elements include: Laminate cabinetry using Arpa’s “Jardin” colorway. Cabinet pulls: Rejuvenation’s new midcentury “sharp arch”, in satin chrome Countertops are [...]
This week I heard from Jeff, who uses vintage speckled laminate for his banjo finger boards. I just think that is so cool… you know I am part Kentuckian. P.S. Can someone tell me how to get the accent mark over the ‘e’, as in lame’ … as I am dying to write lame’ laminate? [...]
Here is another set of products from the past — still available today — with a fascinating history: ‘Memphis’ style laminates designed in 1978 by Ettore Sottsass, “the greatest Italian designer of the last half century.” These laminates are still offered by Abet Laminati. This is not necessarily a name familiar U.S. consumers, but Abet [...]
The new crop of laminates suitable for mid-century kitchen countertops continues. Reader Jon gets snaps for spotting this new “Motion” series of laminate from Pionite. Jon writes: Hi Pam, First, I love the site. I’ve been reading it since December when I purchased my teeny tiny 1946 house (originally a summer home) on the shore [...]
How is this one, Retro Renovation readers? I recently scored a full box of est. 1960-65 era GE Textolite laminate samples, absolute mint condition unused. This is the first bunch — the others aren’t so over-the-top FABULOUS, but still are great gauges of what to look for. OMG. What else do I need to say. [...]
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These scarves can be framed for wall art. I have also used them as you would hang a decorative piece of stained glass. Of course wearing them is good too, but I am not a scarf person.
I just realized that I have a Vera Neumann scarf that I’ve been wearing as a belt! It’s a long narrow one with stripes in three shades of blue and it matches a pair of blue cargo pants I have. I guess I should treat it with more respect!
I love Vera scarves! There’s always so many colors and designs to choose from!!
I have several Vera linen dishtowels, which I use on a daily basis. You can usually find several Vera items on ebay at a time. The dishtowels will frequently still have the tags on them. They are usually bid up because a lot of people collect them, but they’re still a reasonably priced collectible compared to some things, like ceramics or Texas ware.
Labor Day weekend I found my second Vera table cloth ($4) – in fall colors .. so it will go on the table soon! Her textiles have such great flair.
I’ve always loved Vera’s fabric designs-such a free,crisp,spontaneous & lively style. my mom bought some of her bedsheets ; we slept on them for years, and when they got kind of worn out in the middle we cut them up and made shirts and dresses and slacks out of the parts that weren’t so worn. I love her splashy, colorful style.