Remember Bronwyn and Greg? They finished the updates to their 1950s kitchen earlier this year, and Bronwyn sent me photos. 
This is a compact, galley-style kitchen — a style that I know many readers share. Bronwyn and Greg kept the original cabinets and a rockin’ O’Keefe and Merritt stove that came with the place. They added new, retro-style appliances, Formica Skylark countertops, a backsplash and above — the Dishmaster M2000 faucet. In fact, it was Bronwyn who first told me about The Dishmaster. Heck yeah there is more →
Bronwyn and Greg’s retro renovation kitchen
Posted by: • November 13, 2009
How to care for your metal kitchen cabinets – circa 1960 instructions
Posted by: • November 12, 2009
Reader Erika Rae found these instructions about how to clean St. Charles steel kitchen cabinets, enameled right inside of one of her cabinet doors. I presume these instructions still hold. Errr, umm, does anyone know where to get St. Charles Cleaner & Polish? Heck yeah there is more →
Alexander Girard bedding and shower curtains at Urban Outfitters
Posted by: • November 11, 2009
Urban Outfitters features bedding, shower curtains, cloth curtains and wall art, all based on archival designs by Alexander Girard. I particularly like the shower curtains, and they are now on sale from $20-$25. The quilts — which also have matching shams — are pretty groovy, too. Urban Outfitters – Alexander Girard.
First spotted by SparklyThings.
Painted MDF kitchen cabinets: Another great choice for a retro renovation
Posted by: • November 10, 2009
Maribeth’s kitchen points to another excellent idea for retro styled kitchen cabinets: Have your kitchen cabinets built out of MDF, then paint them. Heck yeah there is more →
Maribeth’s 21st century Brady Bunch ranch house
Posted by: • November 9, 2009
Meet Maribeth, her darling daughter — and their 1977 contemporary / ranch house in Tennessee. Maribeth has seized the opportunity and given this house, an original time capsule, a fresh dose of 21st century flair. And yes, avocado appliances! Not only did Maribeth embrace them, she engineered a neighborhood swap to get a matching vintage dishwasher, too. Maribeth writes:
Dear Pam,
I have finally finished my 70′s (1977) ranch house renovation…. Heck yeah there is more →
On “kitsch”, “camp” and Susan Sontag
Posted by: • November 8, 2009
This is a RetroRenovation rerun originally published Nov. 9, 2008.
10. Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It’s not a lamp, but a “lamp”; not a woman, but a “woman.” To perceive Camp in objects and persons is to understand Being-as-Playing-a-Role. It is the farthest extension, in sensibility, of the metaphor of life as theater.
- Susan Sontag, Notes on “Camp”, 1964
Dan the Man at the Houston Architecture Info Forum recently linked to RetroRenovation.com with the following comment:
Here’s a neat blog on mid-century residential design. It tends towards the kitsch, but it recommends many resources and materials for appropriate renovations…
While I am truly grateful for the reco, I found myself reacting harshly at being called “kitsch” and the disparaging connotation. Hmmm. So what is kitsch…and should I care at being lumped in? I went over to Wikipedia to study etymology…
Doug’s Decorators, North Adams, Mass.
Posted by: • November 8, 2009
I don’t know what I was thinking, I did not buy these playing cards at the time capsule estate sale. This is just the kind of thing that I love almost the best.
Merry MIB Madness
Posted by: • November 7, 2009
Some fun stuff in here: Check out the Sexton Genie Bottles, very cool — but line ‘em up, that’s the way to display them! I also spotted a MIB vintage Sears medicine cabinet with lights…vintage Ethan Allen fabric…a Moe Sputnik light (!)…and first up, 7 double rolls of metallic Birge wallpaper. For a foyer perhaps…
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