Julia Baum captures the “vibrant display of personality” in cookie-cutter tract houses — 50 years later

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Take a neighborhood full of cookie-cutter tract houses …  let their owners fuss with them … and 50 years later photographer Julia Baum finds that they have been “transformed from modest white cubes into a vibrant display of personality and present a rebellion against conformity….human individuality cannot be contained. Inevitably it shines through even the most average facade.” I love her study, which demonstrates again that their is so much to love about our jewel box mid-century homes. No matter how small, the opportunity is there to make them our own.  Read more about Julia’s project and see her slide show of 13 same-yet-different homes here.

Our 70th brand of vintage steel kitchen cabinets: Anemone Kitchen Furnishings

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Retro-anthropologist Pam here. I spotted my 70th brand of vintage steel kitchen cabinets: Anemone Kitchen Furnishings, a lower price point brand from English Rose. You can read more about it, and see the complete 1955 ad, over on the Forum.

14 time capsule wallpapers & floors

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More photos from the weekend’s fabulous time capsule house estate sale — today focusing on floors and walls. To start — this typical 50s slate porch or foyer flooring. I adore this type of flooring, and it is still available today at a reasonable cost, because it’s so old-fashioned. Heck yeah there is more →

More mint-in-box merry: Bubble-o-Bill Bubble Hat


With Christmas coming I am on the hunt for mint-in-box items that, under your tree, will set the mood for… 1964. In this bunch — notice the two great bucket purse kits. And when have you ever seen a Bubble-o-Bill Bubble Hat. There also is an Easy Bake Oven. My mom and dad would not let me have one of those. No batteries allowed in our house, it would have bankrupted us. I was so deprived, woe is me.

1952 time capsule kitchen…70s time capsule bathroom…and more

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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. Heck yeah there is more →

Merry Mint-in-Box Madness

Vintage MIB Nutone alert — however, make sure you know what you’re doing before installing this old stuff. There’s also vintage Vera and Lilly Pulitzer, a lovely Syroco alarm clock, some great 70s metallic walllpaper, and the first Moss lamp I’ve shown on the blog.

The Royal Barry Wills Cape Home

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Guest post today from Dave Stuhlsatz, architect with Royal Barry Wills Associates, and my main contact there for all things RBW. I am very pleased that Dave will contribute an occasional article on mid-century architecture, design and related issues. – Pam

The Royal Barry Wills Cape Home
By Dave Stuhlsatz, Royal Barry Wills Associates

The time seems appropriate to revisit Cape Cod House design as it was promoted by a pioneer of their twentieth century revival, Boston architect Royal Barry Wills. When Wills started out in his architecture career he established himself designing English Tudor inspired homes in suburban towns around Boston like Newton and Brookline. But, it was his rigorous examination and subsequent success with the Cape and Colonial Revival homes that cemented his reputation as one of the most influential residential architects in America. Heck yeah there is more →

Terrazzo tiles in 19 color ways and 3 sizes from Daltile

daltile-terrazzo-tile-19-colorsDaltile snuck these in on me: Authentic terrazzo tiles. Terrazzo is a wonderful authentic retro product for mid-century renovations — and this is the first product of its kind that I have seen.  To be sure, buying terrazzo tiles is gonna be a lot easier than trying to find someone to lay a complete (albeit seamless) terrazzo floor. These terrazzo tiles  are available in 19 color ways, as either 12″-, 16″-, or 24″-squares. The 24″ squares are almost an inch thick. Heck yeah there is more →