Buckle up, readers. Here is one of the most beautiful, glowy, dreamy vintage kitchens yet, and the story is still unfolding. This 1956 kitchen — with top-of-the-line St. Charles steel cabinets, in a soft gray with aquamarine countertops — first appeared on our metal kitchen cabinet buy/sell Forum (now defunct). Bonnie listed the cabinets for sale. She recently bought this house — a gorgeous c. 1900 Southern Victorian near Nashville — and she is going to create a 1900s-era kitchen for it. Within days of the listing, reader Pam snapped them up, with plans to put them into a house she recently purchased. Stunned by these beautiful photographs, I got permission to feature them from real estate agent Starling Davis and from Showcase Photographers. I also was connected to the original owner — Mrs. Starling Davis, mother of the real estate agent — who lived in this home for 50 years, from 1956 until a few years ago — and who, with her husband, had the kitchen designed and installed.
Mrs. Davis told me that when her family bought the house, it was a shambles. They renovated the entire home, including putting these grey St. Charles cabinets, aqua countertops, and turquoise stove into the kitchen. She said that her husband is the one who knew about St. Charles. He asked to put these in. The wallpaper and flooring as shown, is original. Mrs. Davis says the gray has a “touch of pink” in it. The cabinets are in perfect shape, except for a small gash in one place.
The side-by-side refrigerator, Mrs. Davis says, came later. She believes it was the first modern side-by-side available. Her husband bought it as a surprise — and he had it painted soft gray to match the cabinets before installing it.
Please, readers: No woe-is-me’s that Bonnie is not keeping the kitchen (I will expeditiously edit/delete such comments). I totally understand her desire to create a period-authentic 1900s kitchen. We are so happy she chose to list the cabinets on our Forum — and that an RR reader, Pam, snapped them up! Good retro karma! Thank you, Bonnie!
All the photos above are of the kitchen and the adjacent breakfast room. What else can I say? Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. Now, the four stunning bathrooms also installed in 1956:
This ivory-yellow bathroom, with its ivory colored fixtures, was Mrs. Davis’ bathroom. I marveled with her about how “glowy” this room was — she credits the wallpaper. Exquisite taste. This takes my breath away. I’ll even take it over Mamie pink. Gasp! Yes!
An angle on the vanity. Louver doors are good and righteous things. Mrs. Davis says, “We took good care of everything.” Well, yes, you did!
Beige tile, Mrs. Davis says. Notice how they did the shower entry — they tiled up three tiles before mounting the shower door. Louver doors again on the vanity. Hexes on the floors, as in the ladie’s bath and the blue bath coming up. Mrs. Davis says the fixtures are Crane. In her bathroom, though, they are American-Standard.
Blue bathroom. There Is Nothing Wrong About Tiling Your Bathroom Countertop. Wallpaper = yes. Peek into the hall to see the louver closet doors. I am going to do a follow-up story on this room alone, there are numerous design secrets within that Mrs. Davis told me about.
Even though the foreground of this photo reads blue, this is a very soft green tile, Mrs. Davis says. With a pink sink (remember Nora’s time capsule pink and blue bathroom?) Metallic wallpaper…. towel rings with bows on top… a little tile-in nook shelf above the vanity… a door with applied trim…. and teensy mosaic tiles — on the floor. This is the most amazing house ever.
Thanks again to Mrs. Starling Davis for talking to me about this house… to realtor Starling Davis, to Dan Raper of Showcase Photographers for permission to feature the photos, and to reader Bonnie and Pam, for helping with this story. Guess what? More to come.
Joe Felice says
We did have appliances painted back in the ’50s & ’60s. In fact, Denver Buick had a big business doing that here in Colorado. They would pick up your appliance, take it apart, paint it just like a car (including the baking booth), put it back together and deliver it back to you. We knew lots of folks that had it done. And yes, you’re right, back then, we didn’t just throw things away simply because we didn’t like them any more. Since they were made in the god-ol’ U S of A to last, it was worth it to refinish & re-purpose them.
Brenda says
As a designer, I applaud her for renovating her new house. As wonderful as all of these items are, they are probably as out of place in a 1900 house as brand new granite is in our beloved mid-century moderns. Thank you for recognizing their value to others and passing them along rather than sending to the landfill – they are wonderful items!
Mara says
I don’t blame her at all for wanting the right period style in her home. I’m glad that she saved the cabinets, though. It’s all beautiful–and so clean! Makes me feel guilty my house isn’t tidier. 🙂
natasha says
that kitchen is gorgeous!! i can not wait to have a 1950s kitchen in my dream home one day! I love the turquoise
A. W. Richards says
It’s a shame modern linoleum doesn’t have that awesome atomic streakyness that the old asphalt-asbestos tile had. Armstrong VCT tile comes close, but it still doesn’t quite have the look. Glad to see the cabinetry is going to be saved though.
pam kueber says
See my Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze, it’s a fantastic proxy: https://retrorenovation.com/2011/11/07/azrock-cortina-autumn-haze-flooring-in-four-kitchens-any-more-of-you-out-there/ … Congoleum also has some designs, different colors, thinner. I think that you can replicate the look in rubber tile, too.
Nancy H. says
http://www.windermere.com/listing/WA/Seattle/5185-S-Spencer-St-98118/12652612?refer=map
I went to this open house yesterday and loved it! A 1956 swanky, HUGE home in Seattle’s Seward Park neighborhood. The new owners will get to keep the hanging chairs in the living room. The agent said that the kitchen cabinet colors are original, along with the GORGEOUS linoleum. Fun, fun house!
Eileen says
AMAZING kitchen!!! I love it top to bottom. What kind of linoleum floor is that?
The bathrooms are just as exquisite! I will use as a guide for my new 1930’s cottage I just purchased.
Keep up the good work Pam:)
Thanks again!
pam kueber says
The flooring is original to 1956. I did not ask about it specifically. Nothing today as strikingly similar, that I know of…
Echo Hanson says
that is by far the most breathtaking kitchen I have ever seen in my life…
Nicki says
Agree completely!
Retrosandie says
The house is gorgeous and it will be interesting to see what Bonnie does with it. I hope we get to see all of the “after” photos!! 🙂
Zoe says
I do struggle with these sorts of decisions — I’m sure the “final” house will be drop-dead gorgeous. In my own house, I couldn’t find anyone local who was willing to tile the counter to match the existing 4×4 wall tiles (very very pale beige; looks off-white until you put off-white next to it), and I couldn’t find tiles to match, either. So I went with marble — which would have been completely out of place in 1965 when the addition was added, but *not* completely out of place in 1940, when the original house was built. So I’m having to choose in my remodeling whether to go with the 1940s cottage-style roots of the original house, or the 1960s mid-century modest roots of the addition. It’s been a hard decision to make but I think I am going to go backwards in time on the kitchen and the “kids” bathroom, as well, rather than trying to shoe-horn in a 1960s kitchen and bathroom into the original 1940s footprint.
Have to say, though, if my bathrooms were as perfect as the ones in this house, I would really struggle — just due to the environmental aspects of throwing away all of those pristine building materials. I try to save everything I can just so I don’t have to throw anything in a dump (paint is a wonderful thing!), so I guess if the majority of the fixtures etc. can be re-used, I might be able to do it with a clear conscience. But it would be darned hard!