Chris and Angela wrote to me a few months ago, excited because they were about to close on a beautiful 1964 mid-century modern home in Wisconsin. Well, the deal went through successfully, and now this cute-overload couple is happily playing house in their stunning, designer-built house — a time capsule with mint-condition original lighting, Nutone, basement bar and heavens to betsy: two flocked wallpapers. (Can you live with that? tee hee.)
Before I launch Chris, let me explain that when he originally wrote, the couple was concerned about the sunset tan bathroom — didn’t quite know what to do with it even though they are “designer types.” I pointed them to a photo of one of my bathrooms, in which I used Home Depot “rose beige” tiles, and suggested something akin to the mint green, aqua and brown combination I used for wallpaper, linens and accessories. You can see how they picked up and ran with the suggestion in their bathroom design experiment to date.
So here’s the story and all the awesome 1964 time capsule eye candy. Chris writes:
Hi Pam,
My wife and I were lucky enough to just purchase this beautiful 1964 home. Our house is an original one of a kind. The original owners we bought the house from designed the floor plan and many of the details were constructed by the owner himself. Beautiful features, fixtures, stonework.
We are not finished decorating any of this yet, but had to share now since it will be a while until it’s finished. These are all just items we already had that we’re using until we find better suited ones, along with nice drapes.
The chocolate & mint accessories in the bathroom will work once we find ones we like, thanks for the color tip!
As you can see, right now we’re experimenting with chocolate, green and cyan.
The bathroom is nearly as-new with hardly any wear (they used the similar but smaller blue bathroom which will be undergoing restoration shortly). About the only non-original item is the faucet.
Note long sliding medicine cabinet under the mirror with an electrical outlet inside. Slanted cabinets. Also we have the NuTone 3-in-1 heater, light and fan.
Needless to say, this room will stay as-is forever. We need to find a chair appropriate for the dressing area,
and I need to clean that floor grout. Pretty easy restoration, I’d say!
Next up is our main hall with what we call
our “UFO” light fixture
And our cozy fireplace room that we’ve accessorized temporarily with some Danish Modern influences.
We love our dotted light fixtures here, too. NuTone built-in doorbell here, too. This room’s flooring is an interesting laminate that is clear with laminate chips in it that looks like pebbles in water. Unfortunately there is a lot of damage, so will need to be replaced eventually.
Entry tile. Pink/green, though camera flash brings out the
color. It’s more subdued. [Pam adds: I like the look of that wallpaper, too.]
Last up is our basement 1960′s paneled family room. We are starting to furnish and accessorize this room now in all oranges and greens. Need to find some orange barstools!
Oh, and can’t forget a couple samples of our flocked bedroom wallpaper, one orange… [Pam adds: I couldn't resist putting these images in super-size. Blow your mind, mon!]
…one blue.
Great site, it’s our favorite… keep up the good work!
Chris & Angela, near Milwaukee, WI
Thank you, Chris and Angela, for doing this great archiving of your home and for sharing it with us. Fantastic house — and you two sound like you are the perfect caretakers. I can’t wait to see what else you do with it, over time. xoxo
Bonus quiz:
I LOVE the wood divider in their fireplace room. Somebody really loved this house and took care of it!
I think all the built in display space alone would have sold me on this house. All the details are great. I’m glad this place went to people that appreciate and embrace its history and not want to ‘update’ it. Congratulations and many happy years in your new home!
Love the pottery! i recognize lots of Haeger pieces – and they are displayed well. Thanks for sharing this.
Oh, what a beautiful home! The built-ins next to and across from the fireplace are superb! And that bathroom is dreamy…………..Show us the kitchen, too! and drapes, when you do them…..Love your house!!
Love your home! Thanks for sharing the pics!
Wow, what a great home. I especially like the angles on the bathroom vanity, how the bottom is cut more narrow and the top looks like it is jutting up to meet you. Great design.
The bathroom is fantastic, as is the rest of the house! As BungalowBILL said, I’m glad this place was sold to mid mod caretakers. It looks like the original owners took very good care of the place.
I have that identical tile in my bath. My only problem is that mine is accented throughout with a deep maroon. I have no idea what color to paint above, other than white. I’m considering a gray. The floor is the same as yours, as well. My family, at one point, wholesaled ceramic tile and I can say with confidence that my tilework is a beautiful, quality job. These tiles are thick, well-laid, heavily glazed and virtually indestructible after 60 years of use.
Wow, what a fabulous house! I’d love to see photos of the kitchen. Please share more!
Kami — how about: Wallpaper that is very similar to Chris and Angela’s — a soft beige and white graphic print. Then, add art work that picks up both the beige and the maroon. Beige textured shower curtain – maybe you can find one with a simple line of maroon in it. Layer both beige and maroon towels.
I think that with maroon being such a strong color, you want to keep the room two-tone only…don’t “overdo” the maroon… but recognize it.
One other thought: Make sure you have awesome shiny light fixtures, cabinet pulls, faucets and soap dishes — “bathroom bling”
I love the slanted cabinets in the bathroom, along with that ultra-cool UFO light! Congrats on your beautiful home! What fun!
Wow, what a great house. We live in Madison, WI and have found that you can find some great condition 50′s homes in Milwaukee and Madison. They were very well built and many well taken care of. Chris and Angela what a great find and I love how you are decorating it. If you want connect with me on my blog http://vintagelivin.blogspot.com and let me know what you are looking for. We are all around WI, Madison, and northern IL looking for things. Congrats on a beautiful home.
I am so jealous! Thank you both for saving this gem.
Hello, this is Chris, co-owner of this house. Thanks for all the kind comments so far, glad you like. Yes, the house was very well cared-for and is in mostly extremely nice condition. We are preserving everything that can be preserved, and the few areas that have water or time damage we are either outright restoring, or tastefully blending in our own style (not “updating” per se). Our goal with either is to preserve the character and charm of the house and certainly not have that jarring hodgepodge of eras that so many end up with when they “update” a house.
The living room and adjacent dining room also have hardwood floors (to match all the bedrooms and hall) which we will be exposing next. The dining room has one wall of good-condition woven wallpaper. The living room has one wall that matches, but is too time-damaged to save.
All the light fixtures in the house (save three) are original and are keepers.
The kitchen has some nice original features including the salt-and-pepper countertops, but is one of the few areas that has been somewhat updated here and there over the years. It’s probably the least noteworthy room in the house, and we have set it aside until last to better decide how to proceed.
We are just as in love with our large yard, which is very mature and cared-for with many perennial gardens, well-planned tree placement, and grille built-in to the chimney mirroring the fireplace. The exterior is off-white brick. We’re looking forward to adding our personal touch outside in the spring.
Pam, the wallpaper in the entryway was unfortunately one of the few damaged areas and is our current project being reconstructed.
After we finish more of the house, we will certainly send in photos of the progress for another possible feature when there is enough done to share.
Thanks again to Pam for the best and most inspirational & motivational blog/site on the internet, and for taking the time to share our story and photos with you all. And thanks again for the accessory color suggestions on that main bath… it was quite perplexing to us at first!
- Chris & Angie
By the way, we spent no less than 19 months looking for a house. Literally 100′s if not 1000′s of houses we went through and rejected. We stepped into this house quite randomly (not in the area we were looking in), and didn’t say a word to each other when we left aside from “call the Realtor”. Accepted offer 4 days after listing!
Chris,
We understand the journey you were on to find your house. We moved back to WI in 2003 and have been looking for just the right house since then. We finally found one almost 6 years to the date of moving back. We became expert at combing the MLS and could tell you a lot about a house just from the outside picture. We have seen remuddles, bad updates, houses that were probably very cool in their time and the owners stripped every bit of mcm out of them. We’ve look as far as OKC, Indy, most of WI and even into IL. We do love looking at 50/60′s houses so I have to say it was alot of fun along the way. There are so many great houses out there but usually only one or two that are “it”. I am glad you found your dream house. Hopefully it was worth the journey.
At my wife’s urging (her photography is better than mine), and if Pam approves of me doing this, here is a link to some different photos, including some of the current state of the kitchen. Comments, thoughts, ideas are welcome:
http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv8/Mirage1972/1964House-Dec/1964House-Angie/
You can’t really see it in these photos, but the light coming from the slots in the sides of the kitchen light fixture look like mini-sunshine rays. We’ve seen this whimsical subtlety on lots of MCM homes.
Rebecca, it was definitely worth it to have a house that we don’t just like, but truly love. Your camping trailer is a gem! And your fantastic Christmas collection… amazing!
Chris, are you insane? (no offense intended haha.) Your kitchen is AWESOME! The wood matches the rest of the house… the wallpaper is fantabulous…I adore the floor (check for asbestos content so you know what you are dealing with)…Maybe figure out how to refresh some of the aging finish and then, revert to vintage appliances and you are rockin’! Hey, yes, Angie did catch the light well. I might swap out some of the pics on the blog at some point, for the record.
Chris,
Thanks so much for the kind words.
I would love to start up a WI MCM group. Pam has a link to a blog for Atomic Indy and they always look like they are having so much fun. There are so many cool houses and folks in WI I am hoping we can do something. Maybe if we do something we can get Pam to make a visit our way. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink Pam. =-)
Hey, Rebecca — I’m all for “Retro Renovation Meet-Ups”. Go for it! And I’ll for sure try to come!
Rebecca, I’m sure we’d be up for that if anything starts up, or if you want to discuss starting something. You can click on my name in this post to contact me via our (very) fledgling retro site that pales in comparison to this site, but will likely offer a somewhat male perspective on all this
Chris, that sounds great. I am heading out the door right now but will look at your site and reach out to you.
Pam, glad to her you might be up for it.
LOL, yeah, we’ll see, like I said, we’re doing the kitchen last to see how to best fit it into the house, no decisions have been made yet. The wallpaper really is unreal… you can tell these people were (and still are) fun. The cabinets are homemade by the original owner and are nicely done. We have been advised that the flooring is indeed asbestos.
Yes, my wife scolded me for sending in my sub-par photos
Swap whatever you’d like, no problem with me!
Side-note, our fireplace room color looks grey in the photos, but it’s really not, it’s a subtle warm beige/tan that matches the warmish fireplace mortar color.
I will stop spamming the comments now, thanks again!
Chris and Angela: ‘Thought that I was fortunate to find so many original features in the home that we bought in May of 2008 … I believe yours tops the cake!
I notice that you built-in oven seems narrow. Mine is only 23″ inches wide (outside), and because I don’t want to do anything with my original 1961 cabinets, it will stay that way. I does, however, limit the size of pans, etc. that can be used.
You have a treasure. Lucky for folks like us to have Pam’s wonderful site to guide us and help us defend our love of MCM!!
Chris and Angela!
What a great house! I feel so much joy from Pam’s blog, and go almost crazy happy when I see houses that are close to me! I’m in LaCrosse, and our houses have many similarities! I’m all for Rebecca’s idea of getting a WI version of Baz’s atomic parties in our area! Count me IN. You need to know that your post came up perfectly for a bathroom “re-re-model” in our home. We have a 1957 redwood ranch that I absolutely LOVE. The bummer is that the 2nd owner (we are the 3rd owners) “updated” the bathroom and kitchen in the early ’90′s. (The 2 rooms that I would really like to see original!) In October, I was so sad about the menards bathroom that I decided to post all the wall fixtures and bathroom vanity and sink on craigslist. Much to my husband’s shock, it sold almost immediately. And, um… it still sits, almost gutted (but useable), as we wait for floor tiles to arrive. We ordered the “block random” from Daltile on November 23rd, and are told that they “should” be in on January 29th!! (What the?!) But, it is the same pattern as your bathroom, offered in only one color- almond- but we’ll take it. AND- I found a cabinet maker that understood me – and has planned a cabinet that is basically the design of the one in your house. I’m so excited to be able to show him your photograph, so he gets it just right!
I keep bugging Pam with pleas for HELP with these two rooms. I want to get them right the first time…
I agree with Pam that the kitchen looks fab! That wallpaper is awesome. Once you get some different appliances, it will probably look like it was originally.
I am over caffienated, and could go on and on, but I’ll try to hold back. You’ll definitely be hearing more from me! I’m so excited for the 2 of you!
Kersten
so sorry Kersten – i have your emails — but it sounds like you’re doing fine and now, the retro decorating gods have sent you chris and angela’s bathroom for further guidance! BTW, regarding your emails — i think i would try to keep both sinks – even if it means less counter space — a very good thing for longterm marital happiness…! okay, i’ll try to pull your stuff together tonight / tomorrow…
Chris and Angela–what a great house! You two have already highlighted it nicely, and I can’t wait to see what you do with the damaged areas.
I was especially interested in the laminate in the fireplace room area. Have you been able to find anything with that same effect, or are you going to go with a different look? I always loved that “pebbles in water” effect, like looking through marbles, when I was a kid.
Best of luck with every step from here!
P.S. That flooring looks like terrazzo, but in a laminate sheet form?
Caryn, I’m not sure how similar to terrazzo it is, but it’s laminate sheets, yes. We have not decided what to replace it with, but it’s a shame there’s so much damage from prior carpet installation and wear. I put some close-up photos of it in the photobucket gallery, but the photos don’t really show the depth as much as in real life:
http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv8/Mirage1972/1964House-Dec/1964House-Angie/
Kersten, sounds like we already have a good start to a MCM/RR meet-up in WI! If you need better photos, measurements, etc of our bathroom cabinetry, contact me via contact form on my website and I can get you whatever you need.
Chris’ website is retrostyleroundup.com. Chris, I didn’t realize you had a blog or I would have included it with the post!
Also, re flooring replacement — I think the first place I would look is Fritztile, they have ‘embedded’ stuff.
Chris–
Congrats on your beautiful Mod home – Enjoy the restoration!
WONDERFUL house! You know, I also think the kitchen is beautiful. I love the cabinets. The only thing that stands out to me is the little piece of woodwork over the sink. I have one of those in my little 1947 cape cod house and it fits in, but I think your house is more streamlined mid century. I would probably take that off, it doesn’t seem to “go”. Others may disagree with me though. Just my opinion!
oh! and the floor of course.
I would take away the things that have been added that look “country” like the little towel rack added on the side of the cabinet.
I could live with that kitchen as-is, too! Sure, the black appliances look a little foreign, but you get used to it eventually?
NICE HOUSE! Even the kitchen-I’m all in with Pam on that one!
Congrats folks on such a great find..truly I am envious.
Dave
Lovely! I love all the built-ins and would love to see a closeup of what seems to be cubbies across from the bar in the basement. What a great find!
Maryanna, I have put a photo of the built-ins and another overall basement family room photo in the album for you. The original owner built the cubbies and curved bar surrounds out of the paneling. That’s some of our art glass collection in the cubbies… we need to add some directional lighting onto them if we leave them there.
http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv8/Mirage1972/1964House-Dec/1964House-Angie/
Nice to see other views on our kitchen, thank you. We need to think on it for a few months, but I agree with what’s been said here. We would like more counterspace, but like the oven placement, so it’s going to take living with it more to figure it out. It’s also a very small oven.
Lovely house. I have the same bathroom floor tiles (in blue) and I think the same bathroom wood cabinets.
Since someone mentioned a WI and Indy retro meet up…I’d like to join one in MI. (Oh heck, IN, WI, MI…all the same state, just have the borders).
Chris – that is a really awesome house, love all of it! As for the kitchen, in my opinion, the only thing I would do is to get rid of the modern, haha, appliances, and I definitely see a set of either stainless (to go w/ the sink), or COPPERTONE! Western Holly wall oven and cooktop. Western Holly’s had porthole windows in their wall ovens and stoves, and some of their wall ovens even had a rotisserie.
I think the niches in the basement wall are my favorite! But it’s hard to pick, you have such a great house. Congratulations on the find!
Tami, I think you have hit the nail on the head: Coppertone brown… or in a pinch, harvest gold appliances. I am sure Chris & Angie could find some up there in Wisconsin!
Love, love, love!
In case anyone needs this: This is a GREAT website for searching multiple cities/states on Craigslist. I just used it to search “vintage oven” in Wisconsin, and voila – a gorgeous coppertone wall oven and matching hood, plus a white cooktop is listed for $20! It is in the Wausau listing.
Happy Hunting
http://www.searchtempest.com/
Chris & Angela – I forgot to mention, that hallway photo brought back great memories for me. My house growing up, built in 1953, had a really nice long hall with a hardwood floor. My sister and I would sneak the furniture polish out and spray down the floor a little and then we would back way up in the living room at the far end and run as fast as we could. Of course, we would have our socks on and as soon as we left the living room rug we would slide all the way down the hallway – finally crashing into the closet door at the end of it!!!
My mom would get SOOO mad, because after we did that a few times, you could hardly stand up on the hardwood since it would be so slick from the polish – she never really appreciated our help “cleaning”!
What a gem! And so refreshing to see that you plan to keep it that way.
Rebecca and Kersten,
Love the notion of multiple Crash Party cities. I’m in the process of building atomiccrashparty.com where we can list and share all the events around the country. Several other cities are already on board. Want to play?
Hit me up: bazmcm [at] gmail [dot] com
Cheers,
-Baz
Yowza! What a great place. There is much to cherish…but for today I will choose your slanted bathroom cabinet (so cool!) and your family room/orange crush bar! I can just imagine having “drambuie on the rocks” while listening to Joan Baez…have fun in your new treasure!
Chris and Angela- Wow. We have the exact same bathroom floor tile, and the exact same wall tiles in the master bathroom of our 1963 colonial. The tub is in an alcove and the wall tiles go up the full length of the alcove walls and cover the ceiling in the alcove area. Our sink is oval, same color as wall tiles. The doors and cabinetry are original but more “colonial” in style (6 panel). Can you give me info on the wallpaper used in your bathroom?
Oh wow. See these are the houses I see on the HGTV shows and everyone is turning their noses up and saying words like…gut…and tear-down… and the ever popular – We’ll redo it in stainless.
Makes me wanna cry.
Loving this house! wow
Tracy
It makes me happy to read about all of these young couples who are loving and caring for their great mid-century houses. This is a great house. Nicely furnished and so comfy and warm looking, which is good because it sure looks frosty outside!
Hi James, sorry, I don’t know anything about the wallpaper. It was there when we moved in.
Our other bathroom looks very much like this, but is about half the size and has blue floor tiles like these, white salt-and-pepper wall tiles, and tiled shower with diagonally-placed ceiling tiles.
(Shower is identical to this one except for soap dish placement):
http://retrorenovation.com/2009/05/12/a-1964-blue-bathroom-with-built-in-hall-mack-nutone-textolite-more/
Unfortunately, the vanity, sink, mirror, and lighting was replaced in probably the ’80s, but I found a mint powder blue ’50s/’60s Kohler sink with chrome legs (Kohler is appropriate for Wisconsin) already, and looking for the rest. Re-Store had the matching stool, but it was sold. This bathroom will be a stunner once it’s restored as well.
Seriously, SERIOUSLY jealous of your house. I guess before my life is over, I’ll have to move to Wisconsin, Michigan or wherever these cool houses seem to reign supreme. California is a “tear down” state – none of these houses really haven’t been touched.
That bathroom is without a doubt one of the coolest I’ve ever seen.
Barbara
Angie and Chris! Your place looks spectacular!!! Great photos, and we love how you left much of the vintage detail that makes your place a real charmer. Great job guys!!
Love that spacey ceiling light! Congrats on your house, you’ll have a lot of fun with it!
Amazing house. I’m so glad you’re preserving its character. Plus you can really imagine a scene from Mad Men happening in your home!!
What an absolutely gorgeous home!!! Great job.
OMG, my bathroom is the same color (I had no idea that color had a name), we have the slanted cabinets, same exact closet doors, and a Nutone stove hood. Our ranch was built in 1960.
You guys have such a beautiful home. It is nice to see that others besides myself appreciate the beauty of such a Time Capsule as yours.
Thank you ever so much for sharing with all of us out here in Retro Land.
JT
Our fireplace looks very similar to yours. Same stones and ours also goes all the way to the ceiling. We also have a 1964 ranch outside of Milwaukee.
Chris and Angie,
This is a very nice write up about your house. You two are hard workers, and have been doing a great job. I must admit I love seeing it in person, and getting your email photo updates. It is a very fitting house for my very cool artistic friends.
AWESOME find! I love the ufo light fixture. And the cabinets in the bathroom, how hey slant out-too cool!
Wow! This home is SO my style! I love that bathroom, the slanted bathroom cabinets and the horizontal sliding medicine cabinet are awesome! And, even though you mentioned it is laminate, from the photos your living room floor looks like terrazzo.
This is just totally awesome! I love all the woodwork. Whenever my wife and I see a place like this we always say, “super swanky” and we mean in the most wonderful way. And that is what your place is, super swanky!
Must. Have.
I dig that you’re both loving on this retro hip home. I will always love certain design elements from this ultra swanky era, but I am not sure I would want to totally immerse myself in that style. I can’t believe I like that bathroom – wall paper and all! I will always find the beige and pink color palette with pops of metallic quite pleasing. That atomic hall light fixture is awesome too. I adore that groovy white hanging bulb lamp too. My warm sentiment for the sixties stop with faux wood wall panelling. Nothing could induce me to like that particular look. Too bad you live across the country, I have some mid-century modern pieces that deserve folks like you who will truly cherish them!