Hop into the DeLorean and buckle up, because here’s one of our most retro-fabulous design dream houses yet: Nancy’s pool house — all new, from the ground up — but designed to looked like it’s always been there, since, say, 1955. The kitchen, above, is just the start. This family gathering space also includes a great room and bathroom… it’s sparkling with vintage furniture… and it taps a number of the new, retro-style products researched and spotlighted here on Retro Renovation. What’s most impressive, though, is how Nancy has woven the entire design together in such a happy, harmonious way. Clearly, she has great eye — along with the love for and the courage to embrace color, color, and more color. 15 more photos, activate the flux capacitor –>
Now this is what I call a “great room.” Look at all that wonderful space — and more importantly — how Nancy filled it up. As you can start to see, the architectural style of the pool house is decidedly midcentury modern. It echoes the design of the main house. We’ll show you exterior photos at noon today.
Nancy set out to add a pool and accompanying pool house to her property about two years ago. She was intent on making sure the new building did not look like an afterthought. Above: Her beautiful coral-orange metal kitchen cabinets are topped off with some of the last surviving stock of aqua boomerang laminate and wrapped with shiny metal edging.
I asked Nancy a few questions about some of the choices she made in her pool house:
One of Nancy’s inspiration photos — a vintage Youngstown kitchen illustration, from Pam’s collection
Q. How did you choose the color palette for your pool house?
Orange has really been growing on me. Pam had a retro Youngstown kitchen catalog posted one day, and I fell in love with the orange/teal mix of image #9. We live on the Chesapeake Bay, and I thought the colors would be great for this 50′s pool house!
Q. I noticed your dishwasher front matches the cabinets — did you have the cabinets custom painted that lovely coral color as well as the dishwasher front?
I copied the kitchen from the post and then a local auto body shop stripped and matched the color from the printout.
Q. What is your favorite part of your pool house? (If you can pick!)
You know, I can’t say a particular part is my favorite. It just all came together as a “little 50′s gift box”, and I enjoy it as a whole. There is nothing serious about it. My goal was 50′s and fun.
Q. What was the most challenging part of your remodel?
Well, we are transplanted Native Texans living on the Eastern Shore. We learned that things didn’t happen on our schedule but on Eastern Shore Time. Also, Kris our builder was great about trying to make all of my 50′s things fit. I bought all these Youngstown cabinets at Community Forklift & then trying to make them fit in our space. He wasn’t familiar with a Dishmaster, but I told him that was essential. Of course a drawer had to be shortened for the Nutone Center…The 50′s bathroom wallpaper had to be used where it would get less wear since it was paper and couldn’t get wet… But, I guess when you take on a project like this, the biggest challenge is being true to the 50′s (or as close as you can) and really trying to bring out the essence of the time period.
Nancy added:
This project would not have been possible without Pam! I can’t tell you how valuable the blog is! There is information there that you don’t even know is there. How do you always know when we need to finish off cabinets, choose a flooring…? It seemed as the project went along, the posts would be one step ahead of me, and I took notes on all of them!! We have just walked our daughter down the aisle (or yard) from the pool house (where we spent all day getting ready for the wedding)! That is a great start to the many memories our family will make in this very happy place!
Wow, Nancy, this entire space is such a wonderful accomplishment — your family must have been giddy. You’ve done your homework and it shows — big time. Thank you so much for inviting us into your pool house — so inspiring!
Resource list for Nancy’s retro pool house interior design:
- Kitchen faucet: Dishmaster
- Refrigerator: Big Chill
- Laminate: Formica boomerang in aqua, now discontinued
- Counter top edging: New York Metal
- Kitchen cabinets: Vintage Youngstown, salvaged from Community Forklift, stripped and repainted by auto body shop
- Kitchen pendant lighting above sink: Astron Tri from Rejuvenation
- Kitchen globe light: Rejuvenation Sfera 16
- Nutone food center: craigslist
- Kitchen curtains: Goodwill
- Bathroom curtains: made from Nancy’s barkcloth collection
- Living room curtains: new fabric-can’t remember but think Etsy
- Paint colors: We made the colors up as we went-teal color from over sink light, bathroom color to match toilet…
- Fan: CasaBlanca – Community Forklift
- Toilet and sink: Toilet: Standard; Sink: Maddock (made of Durock), both from Community Forklift (Edmonston, Md)
- Bathroom sink faucet: Mississippi faucets by Strom Plumbing/Sign of the Crab
- Bathroom wallpaper: vintage paper I bought for a previous home (ebay)
- Bathroom tile: Crisp Linen Dal tile (left over from the yellow bathroom redo)
- Fish Plates: vintage Vera (love her!) found on Ebay
- Fish glasses: vintage Ebay
- Exterior lights: (they are an almost identical match to those on the main house from 1957) Primelite Manufacturing Corp. Cat #4670
- Bar stools: Frederick Weinberg
- Vintage furniture and collectibles: as you might imagine, not a lot of mid century modern furniture on the Eastern Shore of Md. But, I would like to say Adam Henderson of Dead 50′s Modern in Lewes Beach, Delaware is incredible!!! He has a shop in the Antique Mall in Lewes, Delaware. This is his facebook page.
- Pink plastic flower arrangement: Everything Vintage Co., Toano, VA & on Facebook
- Orange lockers: Community Forklift stripped & painted with auto paint (color from child’s orange construction paper)
- Chest: $35 from resale store, stripped & painted same colors as island (don’t know if you can tell but each side of the island is a different color (teal, orange, yellow, & the side facing cabinets is a Youngstown cabinet the same color as others)
- The rug came from ebay (affiliate link in widget below). It’s new, from the U.K., shipping costs were a bit painful to the U.S., but Nancy said it came tout suite:
This isn’t Nancy’s first time Retro Renovation — she’s a longtime fan and reader, one of Pam’s first pen pals. 
Wow Nancy congratulations on acheiving a beautiful dream project what a blissful way to spend summer
LOVE IT! I’d also love to know where she picked up the flamingo throw rug??
deb- It took me about a second to decide on the rug when I spotted it on Ebay!! I love it-very fun! Also, our floor is stained concrete & wanted to make sure we had plenty of rugs (to dry feet) coming from the pool!!
Wow—what a visual feast to go with my morning coffee!! I LOVE all the fabulous colors, and the obvious attention to every detail. Ditto Deb’s comment on that incredible flamingo rug! An amazing place, it would be impossible not to feel instantly happy upon walking through the door.
Just awesome!! Love the color combo of the orange with the teal! Congrats on an amazing space. So, when is the RR party?
This pool house is just fabulous! I love the curtains, the cabinets, the wallpaper, the colors – Oh, I just love it all! And WOW, that kitchen faucet! Was the wedding reception in the yard? If so, what a great idea too!
I would love to sit on one of those fabulous barstools and sip a cherry phosphate, in my bobby sox and pop-beads.
What you accomplished, Nancy, is not easy — and it is, well, just spectacular! Thanks Nancy and Pam.
I am absolutely drooling! Thanks so much for the inspiration to start the week!!!
I am reading this on a rainy, dark morning. The kind of day where you have to have all the lights on in the house….
What a joy to see the pictures of this happy, happy poolhouse!
I’m smiling!
Wow! I love it! Glad to see fellow mid-atlantic retro fans! I also spot the vintage tuppermade by tupperware bath container – I have the 3 piece set – my Mommom wasn’t using them – so I am!
I managed to get the 3 piece set also! The largest one I use for towels outside & the middle size is for trash! They are great!
Awesome! I use my big one for extra towells too! I keep brand new towells that I have gotten as gifts or bought and not used yet in it. The middle one Mommom did use for a trash can, but it’s bigger than I need for my bathroom, so I use it to hold all my rolls of wrapping paper.
The one you have pictured I have used for toilet paper storage or to keep the toilet brush and holder hidden.
They are awesome and better yet to have 1958 stamped right into the handle! What an amazing home you have!
Perfection
Absolutely gorgeous. I love the kitchen curtains and the bathroom wallpaper (and every other detail!). What a perfect, comfortable space. When can I move in?
That’s exactly what I thought Jeanne! Or at least rent it for a weekend…
Hi Nancy,
What an amazing space and accomplishment. It looks like it was dropped out of the sky into your yard from 1950. Curious what the timeline was as far as start to finish? I love how you wrapped the boomerang laminate up the wall to the cabinets. My kitchen backsplash is done that way and it was very common in the 50′s!!
Any chance of getting a list of suppliers for some of the great products in the pool house. I’m particularly interested in the bathroom medicine cabinet?
Thanks for the great inspiration and a smile on my face on this gloomy Monday morning in Massachusettes, John aka AtomicHipster.
Kate is working with Nancy on a resource list. We will add that as soon as we can!
Thanks Pam,
I figured it might be in the works.
Happily,John aka AtomicHipster
Thank you John. The medicine cabinet was a find at Community Forklift (don’t have a brand-sorry).
John- This seemed to be one of those projects that just kept on giving. Discussions w/ architect began Labor Day 2010 & as my husband said, project was completed day of our daughter’s wedding Sept 15, 2012.
Oh my goodness gracious, Happy Monday Morning Eye Candy!! Fabulous, absolutely fabulous! Is most of that furniture vintage as well (particularly the living room) or did you find reproduction stuff? Regardless, I am so impressed with all of the vintage materials you worked in. AND a pool house, with a pool, on the Chesapeake Bay?? My new favorite retro color is green … with envy!
And my Texan husband noticed the print of the map of Texas right out of the gate!
Wow, I love love love!! You’ve got almost the same color scheme in your kitchen as me, coral cabinets, my walls are a bit more turquoise and my 3rd color is lime green as opposed to your yellow, but nonetheless, it was almost like looking at my kitchen. I love lots of color and you certainly delivered on your house, it makes me happy to just look at it. And I’m totally in lust with your bathroom wallpaper!!
I like it all so much I can’t even pick my favorite thing, though I’m leaning toward the cabinet/backsplash combo. Amazing attention to detail — you’d never know that wasn’t a time-capsule 1950s pool house. It’s so cheerful.
Could you share the maker/brand of the fun fish plates on the kitchen shelves on the resource list?
I am in love! This is so inspiring, as we are starting to think about a “from-the-ground-up” kitchen (doing a little reworking of the layout of the main part of our house, which would include turning our current kids’ playroom into a kitchen and reusing our current kitchen as a dining area). Thanks for the photos and story — love it!
I am so head over heels in love with this pool house! Last week my husband and I snagged a 1950s/60s turquoise blue vinyl sectional sofa an attached w/mosaic top corner table off of craigslist and I’ve been gathering inspiration pieces, photos & paint chips to help me design our living room around it (we love it that much). I had been gravitating toward a coral/yellow/turquoise/red combo but it wasn’t until now that I could actually see just how fabulous it really can be! THANK YOU for sharing! I’m so excited to start our makeover now!
Absolutely Awesome, Everything!!
Amazing! What a dream house.
Wow, how depressing!!! I’ll explain – this place is so colorful, so happy and so fun that I now have to re-examine my own lot in decorating life. I’m feeling pretty boring as compared to Nancy. I have to come to terms with my definite lack of bold color, my lack of open-ness (and obsessive need for “wall space”)…….etc. LOL. What a fabulous, fabulous space!
Great job Nancy – and very inspiring to the less adventuresome!
Hi, just thought I’d mention that Fiestaware has a new color called Flamigo! It would look great in your place!
Yes, Kate did a story on this new color! –> http://retrorenovation.com/2012/07/05/fiesta-dinnerwares-newest-color-flamingo-plus-made-in-usa/
They would be perfect! But, since the floors are concrete I went with
Confetti Speckled Melmac Melamine Dishes Orange and Turquoise & Confetti Speckled Melmac School Cafeteria Lunch Trays. People are funny- they really enjoy using the old trays-says it brings back good memories!
Stunning. Looking at the pictures made me smile bigly.
I think this is my all time favorite!!!
Is it weird that I just keep staring at all the pictures? It’s just so pretty. And I can’t get over the exterior either. It fits so perfectly with the house and it just amazing. I love it when people try to stick to the style and integrity of their homes when remodeling. Congrats on a job well done!
Now, I have to stop staring at the photos and get back to work. Ha.
Absolutely fantastic! I love every single thing. (But is it weird that what I’m most excited to see is the Fisher Price toy garage?)
Now that’s a FUN poolhouse! So easy and comfortable. And from what I see on the window sill, somebody in Nancy’s family must be a University of Texas graduate like me!
Hook um Horns! Bill & I both graduated from UT!
My idea of a grown-up playhouse. What a fun project!
Yes, that’s perfect: Nancy’s retro pool house playhouse!
I like that! Couldn’t have said it better myself!
This might be the most beautiful retro dwelling that I’ve ever seen – that exists in the present!! Thank you so much for sharing!
It looks like a Fisher Price dollhouse. The colors just “pop”. Especially the aqua, yellow, and orange cabinet.
If I bring my vintage Fisher Price house and schoolhouse can I come over and play?
Loads of fun colors and things…orange is a happy color…and, I miss the Howard Johnsons…they hold a nice place in my memory.
Also, anyone else notice the Ethan Allen commercials for COLOR furniture..bright limes, turquoises, yellow? I’ve always been about color and I sure hope it means a change and away from the drabness of contemporary (which reminds me of Archie Bunker’s depressing house and “The effect of gamma rays on man in the moon marigolds” movie…which I watched today after 40 yrs and it still depressed me…ugh…very good movie, but just sadly depressing.
But, thanks for the burst of color!
Nancy
Your remodel is awesome! Your coral cabinets are amazing and beautiful. I also have Youngstown kitchen cabinets but they have been painted over many times and we need to have them stripped and repainted. How did they strip them? Sand, beads or soda? Could you please discuss?
Awesome bathroom too! LOVE the wallpaper!
I’m just . . . flabbergasted. Putting aside the face that I could easily and happily LIVE in the pool house, it’s impossible to pick a favorite thing. Each item I look at makes me squeal “Oh, I want THAT!”
I forgot to mention the Campbell Soup cans! When I read the article yesterday, one of the first things that popped (no pun intended) out at me in the stove close-up were the Warhol-esque soup cans that Kate wrote about recently. Nice touch! Those, and the Catherineholm Lotus pot on the stove.
I collect those pieces too. They’re very iconic to me; my modern-loving mother had Catherineholm when I was growing up. (Those, and a Nelson platform bench, tangerine sectional sofa and pale turquoise walls!)
The curtain fabric is from The Craveyard – http://www.craveyard.com
She has some great retro stuff!
Next to the white stove in some pictures is a yellow thing. What is that? Is it a dish drying rack?
Robert
Yes, that actually came with the main house. So, is a dish rack from the 50′s.
How neat, and just the right place for it.
Hi Nancy,
Wow! Great job! Sure brings back memories–we had orange cabinets in our finished basement back in the 60s. I think Don Draper would feel right at home!
Question–there looks to be an air conditioner or other HVAC unit high on the wall of the living room. If that’s correct, could you please tell me what kind it is? I’m doing an addition to my house and can’t decide what type of heating/air to use.
Thanks, and congrats on a fabulous job!
The top photo just makes me happy, period. Wonderful.
What a happy space to have, even in a main house; just beckons and makes you want to spend time there. I wonder if it would create the same feeling for a person who didn’t actually live at the time. Orange and aqua–Who knew? Yellow & aqua were standards, as were yellow & orange, but I just never thought of all 3 together, but it sure does work! Not sure about the red fridge, tho. Doesn’t Big Chill have an orange one? Or yellow. Some of the stuff in the main room is more ’60s, but hey–the ’50s just morphed into the ’60s, so it works, too. Love the flamingo rug. I just imagined how good it would look in front of my Turner flamingo mirror. And the bathroom curtains are the bomb! The best part: I did recognize many of the components from the site and from my own shopping! It almost makes me feel like I am a part of it all. I’ll bet Nancy had a blast shopping for the furnishings & accents. For me, looking for (and finding) those things is half the fun, and makes the entire process more personal, and therefore, more meaningful
I also never thought of using laminate for the backsplash. I know that was done back then. I, too used the Formica Aqua Boomerang (for my breakfast bar & dining table) with metal edging, but chose glass tiles for 2 walls and imitation copper panels from Outwater (online) behind the stove. Readers should check out the catalog. There are a lot of things for us to use in our retro decor.
And just think, Nancy, new space with instant memories and appeal that just pulls you back to the time when . . . Many times, amid today’s hatefulness, contention, anger and hurry-up offense, I keep praying for someone to wake me up and tell me it’s 1955 again, and that this is all a bad dream. This wanting to go back in time is exactly what propels me to create the memories in my own space. To me, it’s just good-feeling feng shui. Sometimes, I can almost feel the Siamese cats and the poodle underfoot, then I recall the happy times with family, and a nostalgic wave washes over my being. I suspect, like me, many of my fellow devotees feel like their souls are stuck in the ’50s. Couldn’t be any better. Thanks, Nancy (and Pam for sharing)!
I don’t know what to say other than I think I’ve fallen in love with this home.
(Thanks to Nancy for sharing, though!)
Love the bold colors! I wish I were that brave. I am very curious about the tulip dining table, usually I just seem them round and under 48″ or oval and over 72″ and this one looks smaller, is it? I would love one 60″ long, any info? Thanks for sharing.
Hello,
My husband and I are very passionate about midcentury design and absolutely fell in love with your fantastic pool house!
We are looking to set up a mid-century themed photo shoot in the near future and this house and its design is exactly what we’re looking for! Is there any way you could provide us with your contact information (preferably email) as we’d like to get in touch with you to discuss.
Thanks!!!
Thank you,
Miki & Brandon