I spent not one — but two — days this weekend at a fabulous estate sale in Adams, Mass. I’m really busy with work right now, so don’t have a lot of time to post, but I wanted to start getting photos from the house (and my finds) online. This is a 1952 Geneva kitchen. It was the second, upstairs kitchen in the house. As far as I could tell, it was virtually unused – absolutely pristine.
This is a shot from the dining room, looking through the butler’s pantry toward the downstairs kitchen. You can see Geneva’s also in the butler’s pantry. But the downstairs kitchen was renovated in the 70s, so there were melamine cabinets there…plain white, nothing eye-popping. However, look at this fabulous vinyl-tile floor. Seriously wonderful.
Gold metallic-Asian inspired 70s wallpaper in the (Victorian) dining room. You know I love this paper. Beyond words.
The downstairs master bathroom / dressing room was expansive — a dream bathroom. . Notice the tiled-in nooks just above the vanity top – a very nice feature. That’s a big mirror looking at the closet opposite. The sinks are avocado. The floors are a small multicolored mosaic of white, avocado and harvest gold tiles. This bathroom was incredible.
On the walls were 4×4 harvest gold American Olean tiles, each designed to look like three smaller, longer, rectangular tiles (see image below, as well). Interestingly, I have about 5 big boxes of this very same tile that I picked up at the Re-Store last year. There were Hall-Mack Towelscopes on both ends of the vanity. Just beyond the door on the right is the separate toilet — that’s a Danish Modern light fixture on the wall, I have some close ups coming. Oh, and to the left of the Towelscope … look up… and you can see the can lights kind of sticking out of the ceiling about an inch… satin chrome or maybe brushed aluminum finish. It was a wonderful detail. Oh yeah – wallpapered ceiling. If you have a house built after, say, 1965, I’d say you must think seriously about wallpapering your ceilings.
Oh — a gorgeous vintage Frigidaire in the upstairs kitchen.
It is going to take me like, five days, to get through all the photos from this house. And then I will start on WHAT I BOUGHT. I was so enthralled, I spent 3 hours at the house on Saturday, then I drove back on Sunday to go through it again. The house was an inspiration.
The kitchen is a dream!!! The floors, the counters, the cabinets… all make me swoon. Thank God someone didn’t decide to update it in the 80′s. This is a work of art!
How utterly incredible ! Can’t wait to see more photos!
Maryann
What a house!
Please take me with you on your next outing so that I can provide minute-to-minute commentary.
I would like to point out that it seems the brick-like flooring in the pantry actually picks up the gingham on the walls!
That upstairs kitchen is soooo pretty! My 1949 kitchen was cheaply remodeled in the 80s (I’m guessing) and I wish I knew what it originally looked like. These posts are great! Thank you for sharing.
This may be the first time I’ve ever used OMG in a comment… oh oh oh that Geneva kitchen with the half-round cabinet! I am licking my monitor…
Can hardly wait for the full report! Maybe there will be pecky cypress
…Maggie
LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!! Espesh the Floors in the Untouched 50′s Kitchen! Cant wait to see more Pam!
amazing.
Postscript: I always thought that the vintage ad pictures that show up to the right of the current post were in arbitrary rotation — but the one I see now opposite the Geneva kitchen photo on this post (1953 Kitchenmaid “Television Kitchen”) is so similar to the Geneva featured, with an identical stainless steel wall oven (is that a Chambers?) that I’m now wondering if you can control those photo inserts, Pam.
Guess I should refresh the page a couple times and see if it changes.
Magnarama, the rotation is out of my control…
Also – that half round cabinet: There’s a little push button above the cabinet pull to actually open the half-round door. I’ve never seen that before. These things were HIGH END – fabulous.
Oh, yes, what a house. Dream City! Can’t wait to see what you bought there, and the rest of the photos. Congrats on some sure-to-be-terrific finds.
*SCREAMS* LOOK AT THAT LINOLEUM in the upstairs kitchen!
What a find! I love the floors. My basement has that stripey-thing going on in it, too. That seems like a lot of extra work for the installers. Nice touch! And that FRIDGE looks like NEW!!
Wow! what a find, I would have spent a couple days there, too. How nicely kept! Can’t wait to see what I am sure are fabulous finds!
Wow, everything is top shelf! A home obviously loved. How cool is that?
I’m breathless!
whoa..that does look/feel like a time capsule. I would have walked through the entire home in mouth-gaping awe. Thanks so much for sharing! Can’t wait to see what you bought..
Wow! The upstairs kitchen is so amazing, from the dynamic flooring pattern, to that great rounded cabinet. It looks like something out of a 1950′s design magazine. I dearly hope that the next owners appreciate it for what it is! It would be a travesty to tear it out.
I’m having heard palpitations just looking at this! Those floors, those cabinets! Thanks for documenting this- hope who ever gets the house loves it like we all do!
Do the stripes on the kitchen floor actually line up with the reverse stripes in the adjacent room? It looks like it in the top picture, and if that is so this is my favorite kitchen of all time. Attention to the details slays me!
Yes, Virginia, the floor reverses. I’ll aim for more photos tomorrow.
Where do you find these estate sales! I also live in Mass. and would have definitely drove the 2 hours to Adams to see this house!
Wow, we are all agreed, that kitchen is fantastic! My first thought was that I’d splash in some wonderful color.
I have a really silly question for Pam and others: where do you see notices of these estate sales? Are they posted in the newspaper, or do you find out via an auction site? I never know when/where to see finds like this!
This is AMAZING. Wish I could have seen it myself!
As a Realtor, I noticed in one particular town that every house I showed had two kitchens. I just recently learned that it was common for Italian families to have a “show” kitchen and a working kitchen…kinda like the formal livingroom reserved only for guests.
I think wallpapering ceilings were in style before 1965. I have a memory of being woken by my parent’s hysterical laughter, and creeping downstairs to see what was up. I was about 4 so this would have been 1957ish. They were trying to wall paper the ceiling of the living room and making a disaster of it. They eventually gave up, but I loved watching them laugh so hard.
DREAMY kitchen!!! Sigh… The only thing I’d do is paint the walls pink and put up some barkcloth cafe curtains! ;O) The floors are the best!
No way!! THIS is the estate sale I sent you to? I should have gotten on a plane. Time to send my cabinet pulls, babe.
H
Wow, I can’t believe it survived all this time.
Yes that is a Chambers built in oven, and on the other wall is a full Chambers stove! Those are the best stoves in the world!
They weigh about 500 lbs so if this an up stairs kitchen……
(who has 2 kitchens anyway?)
Mark, I assure you, I have close-ups of the Chambers’ upstairs. And, there’s a different model downstairs. Stay tuned, you won’t be disappointed…
Hi Pam!
Looking to do a pretty simply “retro renovation”….my question may be silly as I’m a bit of a beginner, but I want to cover a plain, 3 by 4.3 foot table in red vinyl and am wondering if you have any tips on the applications…glue? Staple gun? Ever done this before?
Hi Abby, this is not a DIY site as this is not my area of expertise. There are probably lots of other good resources for this on the internet, or you could even talk to the folks at your local hardware of big box hardware story, sometimes they can be very very helpful. Good luck!
Hi, Pam. I’m very inspired! I have been looking into buying, renovating and reselling houses, and i always have a mind to save whatever can be saved. I never know if buyers would understand a 1960s bathroom being brought back to life instead of torn out and replaced with the drab and junky bathroom fixtures of today. Your site has bolstered me to go with my instincts and save what can be saved, both for cost efficiancy and style preservation.
Thanks for being fantastic.
brilliant! those floors are incredible and the little bathroom counter nooks? love them!
Wow, the quarter round cabinet and chrome edge shelves in that kitchen: Awesome.
May I ask where you bought the gold metallic Asian-inspired wallpaper??
It looks wonderful!
Brea, this is a “time capsule” house — a house I visited at an estate sale. The sellers gave me permission to take photos and feature them on the blog. All the wallpaper was installed some time in the past.