Tracy wants our ideas on how to perk up her knotty pine kitchen. What do you think, Retro Renovation Squad? Tracy writes:
Hi Pam! My husband and I bought a 1962 ranch house in Nashville about 3 years ago and I’ve been wanting to somehow “update” the kitchen but still keep the mid-century feel. It’s a knotty pine kitchen with aqua formica countertops and a sort of aqua, peach, and ivory speckled linoleum floor. Everything is in really good shape and functional and the layout works for us. The thing we’re having some discussion about is the knotty pine on the walls and cabinets. I’m not a huge fan of it. I mean, I like it, but I just don’t like so much of it. Honestly, I’m not really sure what direction to go with it. I was wondering if you or your readers could make some suggestions of things we could do to kind of brighten the room up without changing the character, which we appreciate and love.
Thanks,
Tracy
Tracy, you may be new and not quite know it yet, but we are generally nutty for knotty in these here parts. So be forewarned. See this post about Eartha Kitsch’s knotty pine kitchen. And, you might like this story on “heart pine” — the expensive stuff, which I tend to believe you have in your kitchen, given it still looks so great.
In our email back-and-forth to get prepared for this post, I ask Tracy some more questions. First, with the pics, she says:
Yay! Thanks! Here are some pics. The area with the microwave/cart/mess of rubbermaid storage containers is the bane of my existence. Storage is an issue for us in the kitchen and we want to get some sort of behind-doors storage instead of that open microwave cart with all the pet food/crap thrown in the bottom. And the red/green/clear rubbermaid containers are for recycling, but we need to figure out another solution for the recycling/garbage that is functional and sort of funky and visually pleasing at the same time. The ceiling fan hasn’t worked since we moved in – the light is broken on it, so lighting will have to be addressed as well. Thanks again!
Then, I ask her to tell us more about how she and her husband (as yet unnamed, along with the doggie) got into the house. Ahhh! Ford is involved again. They should sponsor my blog. She writes:
Sure…we live in Nashville and bought our house about 3 years ago after an EXTENSIVE house search. We were looking for over a year before we found the house actually. In the beginning of our search, our agent was taking us to newer subdivisions, I guess because that’s what most people she works with want, but we didn’t really care for any of the newer homes. They all seemed the same….didn’t have any character or any sort of story to tell. Then we stumbled on this neighborhood called Charlotte Park and totally fell in love with it. All of the houses are mid-century ranch homes, built in the early to mid 60s for employees of the now defunct Ford Auto glass plant. Ford built a plant here in 1956 to provide glass windshields and windows for their cars and our neighborhood, Charlotte Park, grew up around it for employees of the glass plant. I believe that Ford even provided some money to help build some of the homes. The streets are all named after Ford products….Cougar Drive, Edsel Drive, Thunderbird Ave. and, our personal favorite, Mercomatic Drive. Our street is called River Rouge Dr., named after the original Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn Michigan. Anyway, we love the story of this neighborhood, we love the people, and we love the homes. We particularly love our home – it’s not too big (we love the “not-so-big” home ideas), it’s solidly built, and it has a lot of character and just feels warm, if that makes any sense! We knew it was perfect for us as soon as we saw it.
So, gentle readers… whatcha got for Tracy?
Jeanne says
I love it! It is overwhelming, though. I’m dealing with the same thing in my upstairs master bedroom, which is all knotty pine.
I think some good suggestions have been made. More light and reflective materials like a chrome dinette set. A large painted armoire, shelving unit or one of those chrome restaurant shelving units might break up the knotty pine on that wall. I love the aqua counter! Maybe an aqua/cream Marmoleum/VCT tile checkerboard floor might add more color and interest. Also, one open cabinet with an aqua painted interior to show off some of your dishes? Or painted white to show off some colorful Fiestaware?
Yea for Ford-related neighborhoods! I live in Dearborn. 🙂
Jeane
Caffeinated Katie says
I’ve been on the fence about knotty pine for a while, but that kitchen could totally turn me! Have you considered removing the knotty pine backsplash and putting in some funky tile? If you’re on a budget, consider your local ReStore for good deals. The one here in Atlanta always has amazing vintage wall tile from different warehouses cleaning out their stock.
gab18481 says
Awesome kitchen-it has great bones. I love the stove and rounded peninsula. Have you thought about adding some under-cabinet lighting? That might warm up the wood a bit. I would stay away from putting any more wood (stained) accessories in there. Consider some painted pieces or a chrome legged vintage kitchen table-something to play off the color of those cool counter tops. Also, I would find some cute curtains and a few houseplants/flowers. Those are just my humble suggestions, though. All in all, a fab kitchen.
Kathy Eykamp says
We have a 1900s Foursquare and when we first moved in the kitchen had been remodeled in knotty pine. It was not in the style of our house so when we remolded we took it all out and (gasp) threw it in a dumpster! At the time I had no idea it was retro and would have loved to give it to someone who would have appreciated it. I recently came across a 1951 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Remodeling Ideas in our attic (yea!). It has black and white pictures of kitchens, it looks like the ones done in knotty pine have a lot of white or papered walls. Also the appliances are all white which I think would help “lighten” the room. If you would like me to scan the pictures and post them let me know. I don’t know if it will help but it might give you some ideas!
RoadrunnerNM says
First off, get A LOT more lighting in there! Usually people have too little light in their houses, knotty pine or not. Take what you consider normal and add under-cabinet lighting, an extra lamp in a corner or the ceiling over the bar.
Kelly says
Wow…Wow…Wow! Tracy, your kitchen is beautiful! I actually shrieked when I saw the first picture of it. Everything is in such beautiful condition – the wood on your cabinets looks magnificent and I absolutely love your counter tops, stove hood and floor. That’s the kind of stuff that a lot of us dream of moving in to find. I’m one of those knotty pine nuts that Pam spoke about so I can’t give any advice that would in any way make those cabinets go away or be covered up. I hope that you can lean towards embracing them. They really are a treasure.
The only thing that sticks out to me is the ceiling fan but you already mentioned addressing that. We also had an issue with recycling in our kitchen. If you’re like us, you have the large carts that go out to the street for recycling? Instead of trying to keep much of the recyclables inside of the kitchen, we’ve decided to make more trips out to the outside cart in order to not let the recyclables take over. I took large, old plastic and metal picnic baskets and lined them with plastic storage container bottoms to keep things clean. These have become an attractive and functional way to keep our recyclables under wraps around here.
I’m wondering if you might be able to find a large old antique wardrobe or armoire that would go with your kitchen to put along that wall. You could put shelves in it and have great storage where things can go behind doors so that they won’t frustrate you having to look at them. Another idea is to get a long but narrow table on the cheap and put a skirt along the bottom of it to hide your bins under.
If you like collecting pretty dishes and the like, you can always take some of the upper doors off and store them. You can then use these open shelves to display colorful items that will help break up the wood for you. Knotty pine is a beautiful backdrop to dishes. That’s what we did and it made all of the difference in the world. You could also put some cute vintage drapes on that window in a happy color to take the eye off of some of the wood. If you only have one window to dress, Etsy and eBay are great resources for vintage drapes ( I think that cafe curtains would look amazing on your window).
Your house is beautiful and I love your neighborhood. I hope that you didn’t get affected by the flood over your way. I know that you’re close to the river. Please keep us updated with what you decide to do about your kitchen. Believe me when I say that a lot of folks (myself included) think that you’ve found yourself a true jewel there. : ) And three cheers to you and your hubby for looking for and owning one of the lovely, vintage Nashville homes. As you know, they’re hard to come by as more and more areas are McMansion-ing it up. I wish you many happy years there!
Uncle Atom says
Being a big fan of old Fords and Mercurys, I would love to live in that neighborhood. You’ve got a great look already. Love that stove! But you’re right about that storage issue with the microwave cart and recycling bins. Can you put the recycling bins outside that sliding glass door area? Maybe put the microwave on the counter? Do you have any closets close to the kitchen that could be used as a pantry for stuff you don’t use daily? Or maybe try the refrigerator where the cart and bins are, and perhaps convert that nook where you have the fridge to more storage? Good luck!
Elizabeth Mary says
Tracy,
Love the house and kitchen. One little suggestion I have that will help brighten it up a bit is to put more under cabinet lighting in. I see there is some over the stove so I would add it under the cupboards too. I did that in my 1946 kitchen and it helps immenseley. And, I much prefer it to pot lights which had been suggest by a lighting designer. Plus there was no need to put holes in the ceiling.
And, for the wall where you want storage, here is a wild idea — could you take down the paneling that is there and use it to make the storage unit? Maybe put in an entire wall of floor to ceiling cabinets designed to function just as you want? Some closed up for the pet food and recycling things, and some open for microwave and other things you want easy access to?
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Elizabeth Mary
tailfin says
LOVE your house, Tracy! It makes me long for Nashville. I grew up less than 15 minutes away from Charlotte Park off of West End & have ALWAYS loved the Ford street names in that neighborhood. Starliner is one of my favorite names. I grew up with friends on Marauder Drive. That neighborhood is great and so convenient to everything.
Your exterior & kitchen are both so very Nashville looking, especially with the knotty pine — although like you, I agree that so much knotty pine can feel overwhelming. But unfortunately, I can’t immediately think of a way to downplay it. I just wanted to comment on the house and the neighborhood. Your oven and hood are beautiful, as are the awesome aqua countertop & floor design.
Tracy says
Thanks! Starliner is one of my favorite names here too. It’s one street over from us. It’s funny….UPS sometimes delivers our packages to the corresponding house number on Starliner instead of River Rouge! The man who lives there is nice enough to bring us our packages when he gets them though.
Donna Mooney says
I love how it looks in the dining room, and your light fixture over the dining table is to die for! Where did you get that? You can’t really paint the backsplash in the kitchen without painting that entire wall too, which would extend into the dining room. That might be an option, but I would leave the knotty pine in the cabinets if you did that. The other option would be to paint the cabinets only, but leave the backsplash and soffit knotty pine. If you did this, get a painted cabinet to match for all the doggie stuff and recycling. As much as I hate the idea of painting it, I think you can get away with it as long as you leave some of it the way it is. Another idea may be to get a white dining room table and chairs, and make sure all the accessories in the kitchen are white. It would lighten things up.
Tracy says
Hi Donna – sorry I missed your question earlier. I got that light from Overstock.com a couple years ago. There was an 80s looking chandelier there when we moved in. Thanks for the ideas!! 🙂