It’s time again to enter to win ”Love the House You’re In” custom collage by Mel Kolstad. Her latest creation — for last month’s winner, Stacey — is above. Isn’t it amazing…? Imagine what she could do with your house — it’s easy peasy to enter….
To enter this month’s contest, leave a Comment answering the question:
What color paint (or wallpaper design) is on your kitchen walls right now? Optional: Are you happy with it? Please read all the rules here before entering, they all apply.
Just like last month — this contest rewards regular readers, because I’m only leaving it open for 48 hours. I’ll pick a winner on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, here is what Mel had to say about her latest creation:
Look at this little gem of a house! When Stacey sent me the photos, I knew instantly how I was going to create the collage. The house and the surroundings have a very “ecclesiastical” feel to them – that’s the only way I can describe it. There is just something so peaceful about this place, which is why I used the calming greens and browns to highlight the house, along with the “overcast” sky. The tiny stones were a wonderful challenge to recreate, too! So there you have it. I don’t want to play favorites but this house was REALLY REALLY fun to do!
Thank you, Ms. Mel. You can experience more of Mel’s world at her blog: Ephemeraology
We have our winners in our “Love The House You’re In” collage contest 
Entries closed on this month’s “Love the House You’re In” collage 
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My house, built in 1956-57, is all original. My intent was to gut/modernize the kitchen but now I’m in love. It has pale yellow St Charles cabinets, stainless steel and turquoise formica counters and turquoise GE appliances – including the “Combination” wall refrigerator! The walls were painted yellow to match the cabinets. It took about three years to locate the wallpaper for my kitchen/pantry. I knew what I wanted – an “Ivy” pattern – but the colors were always wrong! I finally found one printed in a turquoise leaf pattern with a yellowish “shadow” under the foliage. It matches so well, many people think it is “custom”!
Oh Phil – I’m so glad you embraced your original kitchen – would love to see photos!!!
Tami
Currently it’s a buttery yellow that I’m debating on changing. Over the years it’s been several shades of yellow or white, as well as having 4 different wallpaper adventures. Our house is a 1964 tri-level and the kitchen is land-locked – meaning all natural light comes from adjoining rooms. The goal is to keep the walls light colored – but I haven’t found the perfect shade – yet!
Our kitchen has yet to be tackled, so it still has the design scheme of the previous owners: walls painted bumble-bee yellow. We like yellow for a kitchen, but not in combination with dark green granite countertops and a black stove.
We dream of taking it back in time with retro-style cabinets and wooden countertops.
Right now they’re beige. “Beejshe” as my grandfather used to refer to it when referring to my grandmother’s preference of dressing in all beige all the time.
We’re in the planning stages for our kitchen, and very well might be there for quite a while given the six-month bathroom update we’re not quite finished with (rotted subfloor that led to an unplanned-for total gut). Need to regroup and save $$. So everyday, my kitchen plan changes, and in a way I’m glad I’m getting some time to really think this through.
I’m in a Techbuilt 1957 midcentury modern house that we just moved into in August. I’m what you call a reluctant suburban, who moved hanger by hanger from the city to the burbs. I can honestly say that this house is the main thing that made the move okay. I never even set foot in the house before we put the offer in and the papers were signed. I drove by it and saw pics, but that’s it. But wall of windows and high ceilings was all I needed to see…
Kitchen: It’s a galley, which would be a deal breaker for most people moving to the burbs. And it has everything original except the fridge, another deal breaker for most. Luckily, I’m not much of a cook, so uber efficient galley suits me just fine.
Yellow boomerang countertops (in pretty scuffed up condition), jenn air double oven and cooktop (which still work great), and what look like very period wood cabinets, but in very rough shape. 80s linoleum floor that’s in rough shape. Exposed brick wall. And pocket doors (love those). The sheetrock walls WERE aqua (to match the boomerangs), and out of pure ignorance I had them painted the neutral as a temporary fix before we moved in. I hadn’t discovered your site yet. But I promise they will not stay that way!
Plan now is to paint cabinets avocado using the rustoleum product you had posted on your site. No sanding, very appealing. Then replace the floor with avocado marmoleum and coutertops with a TBD color formica. Wall color TBD, but probably a shade from the Shermin Williams suburban modern line, which I just used with great results in the bathroom update.
Now all we need is $$ and TIME.
I know this is a long post to basically say that we have lame non-period walls in our kitchen, but it’s also to let you know what a religious reader I’ve become and to thank you for all the invaluable advice and guidance as we embrace our midcentury mod home ownership. You’re on a first-name basis with my brother-in-law, our contractor on the bathroom project. Basically, he’ll come to me with a question and I’ll say, well Pam says… And he says okay, we do it, and it comes out great.
I love my kitchen colors right now. Walls are a cool green, cabinets grey, counters and apliences black and purpley-sorta trim! Oh! And my amazing find – mauve cast-iron sink!
They’re white. Probably a mid-70′s redo of the kitchen in our 1963 California ranch. Some of the original cabinets were hung in the garage but not salvageable. The kitchen is on the list of things to change, but first comes a new roof.
Alisa
My kitchen walls are an old “tile board” type of material and painted a creamy yellow. My old home was once a restraunt for about 15 years. I uninstalled a huge vent-a-hood system and added a period stove. I can’t wait to “redo” the kitchen entirely with metal cabinets that are in storage! Thanks for the super, great site and constant information!
Like so many other Retro Renovation readers, we’re holding off on the kitchen till we get a few other details right. As a result, it’s currently sporting the paint the previous owners used to sell the place: Two off-white walls and a white ceiling.
Just two painted walls? Yes, because the other two feature white wallpaper with tiny faded apples. It’s hideous, and not in that way we mid-century fans love.
It’s horrible, especially when you take the off-white vinyl floor into account because it features these strange multicolored dots. Two floors and three subfloors under that is the original linoleum whose multicolored dots are charming instead of looking like someone ate confetti and then threw it up. Appetizing kitchen.
The piece de resistance? A past owner hopped onto the neighborhood bandwagon in the 1970s and covered the then-gorgeous original beige Youngstown metal cabinets with dark, woodgrain Contac paper — many, many layers of it. Many.
It’s going to be a serious undertaking, so we sort of avoid the kitchen right now, and instead choose to profess our love to the hardwood floors and other things we adore in the rest of the house.
Our kitchen walls are covered in textured wallpaper that is painted a vibrant, bright medium-dark blue – almost purple – and I LOVE them!
What color paint (or wallpaper design) is on your kitchen walls right now?
we have peach plaid wallpaper, but that’s only the beginning. the backsplash area is the same peach plaid, but with a vegetables and kitchen utensils print on it. due to some wall-health issues there are trim areas in a grey-green paint as well, which is a more recent addition.
Optional: Are you happy with it?
that depends a great deal on which “you” you are referring to. i *adore* it! it matches the house so well, and i love how ridiculous it is. my other half is not quite so keen, to say the least. and everyone who has seen it has *some* opinion on it…usually leaning to her side.
We are moving April 8th and our kitchen is PINK!
This contest was posted just as we were celebrating 34 years in our house. A few years after we moved in we remodeled the kitchen that was about 45 years old at the time. We couldn’t save the yellow ceramic tiles and ended up with Z-brick on one wall. The other walls are painted china white. We have tried other colors over the years but have always come back to this.
Our kitchen walls are green – called Ryegrass (BEHR paints) which looks so beautiful against the amber-honey wood window trim and baseboards. We have white Genevas and a medium brown quartz counter – sorry, I’ve always wanted a solid surface, which I feel may help ‘save the cabinets’ when another owner comes along (once they drag me out of here). The walls are ready for their 4×4 white tile backsplash with green mosaic liners. I’m so happy with the way it’s all turning out! Every time I look at it I know it was the best thing we could have done with the kitchen.
walls are lemon yellow…not so happy with the entire kitchen yet…want to redo but with all other projects am low on the $$$…..sigh
The kitchen walls are avocado green and we love it!
The kitchen in our 55 yr old hip-roof ranch is painted in Valspar Belle Grove Light Amber~semigloss..It has a soffitt around the whole thing and that as well as the ceiling are all painted the same! It’s a beautiful warm yellow and I carried that into the dining area (which used to be divided from “kitchen” by a peninsula type counter; which had to be removed. The kitchen & eating area are now tiled in brick like vinyl..The dining area formerly was carpeted like the living room. So we kind of opened it up and transformed it that way. Ugly white cabinets; I rue the day I decided on white..The dining area and (also the living room and hallway) are painted the same (Belle Grove Light Amber) but in Satin finish. The kitchen has a coffee theme with vintage coffee cans, cups and repro vintage coffee poster!
Dear Pam,
I would love to have a collage of my groovy little round house! From the front it has been described as the mushroom house, the cement yurt, and the flying saucer. A really fun outside the box kind of home.
I think it looks like a yellow vase with giant pine trees coming out of the middle, and whimsical flower petals scattered across the front grass lawn….the cement steps playfully curve from the sidewalk up to doorstep instead of straight to the round curved door.
I can’t wait to get some curved retro furniture to sit in front of the fireplace soon!
My kitchen walls are a bright lemony yellow. I painted them this color last summer as a birthday gift to myself.
I chose the color at Home Depot one day. I wandered past the Martha Stewart paint chip display and one of the yellows jumped out at me. I picked up the chip and looked at the back to see what colors it would coordinate with. One of the colors was a lovely soft jade-y seafoam-y green…the exact same color as my kitchen’s counters. It was fate…kismet. I decided that instant that my kitchen walls simply HAD to be that color.
The counters are not the originals but almost everything else in the kitchen is. The house was built in 1957. I think the pastel green counters and bright yellow walls really “go” with the house’s retro vibe. I love my kitchen walls!
red red red..a passion for life..bold enough to live it..no regrets..
As I am currently living with my mom at her house (which I grew up in) and taking care of her (she has late-mid stage Alzheimer’s), I guess I’ll have to use her wallpaper in her kitchen. This is the only wallpaper that I can remember being in her house. It is a beige background and in the foreground the colors are blue, green and brown. The blue, green and brown are worked into groupings of kitchen items like copper bowls, spoons, bread, fruit, vegetables, squashes, salt and pepper shakers, lettuce, grapes, bottles, etc. There are way too many things to name but this is a representative list of some of the things on the wallpaper. You would think that, listening to this list, it would be gross – but it is not. It is tastefully done and is a great complement to the overall look of her kitchen. The cabinets are a natural, knotty pine and are also original to our small but lovely kitchen. I think that the overall look is great and we like it so much that it hasn’t been changed in 50 years.
My walls are a silver gray – my backsplash is 70′s faux brick, which I painted a bright apple green. The kitchen cafe curtains, counter accents and wall art are predominantly lime and apple greens. Cabinets are a dark 70′s finish, which is now 21st century espresso with stainless chevron hardware (a lucky find). Countertops are original 70′s (and earlier) formica – a white with a delicate green veining. Floors are a medium/light oak laminate to contrast the other woods (espresso bistro table & cabinetry). Found some neat matching geometric sink mat & runner in browns, grays, and white which really bring the flooring back a few decades. Pure white porcelain dinnerware – white appliances – white porcelain sink with oversized stainless commercial hardware. I love it!
Paneling (walnut veneer?) from a 1959 renovation of a 1953ish home.
My walls are “Cornhusk”, a nice light green with a yellow tinge. I quite like it! It goes well with all the honey coloured wood and fake butcher board counter a la 1983. Can’t wait to redo it in turquoise and pink!!!!! Then I’m gonna find me some really sweet old wallpaper, with geraniums!