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Built-in cutting boards and trivets that protect your kitchen countertop, 1970s style

Posted by: • March 4, 2011

built-in-trivet-and-cutting-board-for-kitchen-countertop

These are sure a blast from the past: Glass combination trivets and cutting boards that are installed directly into your kitchen countertop. Yes: with metal rim aka Hudee ring.  I think that these built-in cutting boards were all the rage in the 1970s, because there was one in our 1975 countertop, to the left of the sink. Heck yeah there is more →

18 sizes of metal rims for kitchen and bathroom sinks — hudee ring supplier found!

Posted by: • March 3, 2011

metal ring for 1950s kitchen and bathroom sinks

I am so excited! We have found a supplier for replacement metal “hudee rings” — those metal rims that go around the edge of vintage kitchen and bathroom sinks. Vance Industries offers these stainless steel sink rims in at least 18 sizes — 17 rectangles, one round, and they say to “contact us for oblong sizes.”  Finding replacement hudee rings has been a longstanding want and need of Retro Renovators. Heck yeah there is more →

Hello, Chicago! Retro Renovation and Save the Pink Bathrooms in the news

Posted by: • March 2, 2011

pam-kueber-in-the-chicago-tribuneMy “Drill, Baby, Drill” photo (which I affectionally and apolitically call it) made its first appearance in major media this weekend, when the Chicago Tribune featured a nice story about Retro Renovation and Save the Pink Bathrooms in its Sunday Real Estate section. I did the interview with writer Mary Umberger several weeks ago. Imagine this scene: Me, Friday 3 p.m., exhausted yet having just downed a double latte, holed up in my computer cave alone all week – and yo, here was someone on the phone all interested in pink bathrooms and other mid century ilk.  Heck yeah there is more →

7 places to buy vintage wallpaper — from 80 cents to $200 per roll

Posted by: • March 1, 2011

vintage wallpaper lotto

I am the world’s number #1 fan of vintage wallpaper for midcentury homes. I think it is wonderful to warm up a foyer… it’s great in a guest bath… and for the kitchen: Yes! Honestly, once you start with the wallpaper, it’s kind of hard to stop. You know how you can’t be “just a little bit pregnant”? Similarly, it’s difficult to add “just a little bit of wallpaper.”  There are several spendy ”go-to” places to buy vintage wallpaper in the U.S. I’ll list them here. But in this “Retro Renovation 101″ post, I also will share how I found some of my gorgeous wallpapers for as little as $1.25 a double roll. Heck yeah there is more →

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