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postwar homes – “modern” and “modest” alike.
I'm Pam Kueber, your mid mod mad guide. Read more
If you live in or near Cincinnati, get your modern bootie over to the Architectural Foundation tonight for a must-see slide show and discussion by local modern enthusiast and kitchen-rescuer Chuck Lohre. In 2010, when he heard that the famous, all-Formica kitchen in the famous, 1960 Corbett house was going to be remodeled, he made [...]
Midcentury modern houses galore in Salt Lake City… Serene, uncongested neighborhoods that read, to me, like the Southern California utopia of the 1960s: Oh my gosh, who knew? I was recently in Salt Lake City for a blogging conference and arrived a day early to take up real estate agent Mony Ty’s gracious offer of a [...]
All across DIY-land, you see crafty 2012 folk making things out of vintage suitcases: end tables (remember Laura’s?), dog beds and recently I saw wall shelves. But our grandparents were already well ahead when it came to innovating with suitcase conversions. LoOk: Here is a true, vintage tall dresser made from suitcases — which converts [...]
No matter how old I get, inside I will always be an awkward teenage girl, giggling at toilet jokes and oh my gosh, yes, at Lagardo Tackett egghead condom holders, also known as ‘stash containers’. When I saw my first egghead, I was all over the intertubes researching Lagardo Tackett and these witty treasures, which seem [...]
The time has come, I need to come to grips: I am a “vintage hoarder.” No: Not an old woman who hoards everything, although that day may be looming. Yes: A collector who has an extremely difficult time walking away from intriguing vintage — often “useless” — items, of all sorts, that must be rescued. [...]
… Novelty is a concept of commerce, not an aesthetic concept… Eva Zeisel, an iconic designer whose ceramic dinnerware and giftware was part of transforming design in midcentury America, died on Dec. 30, 2011. What an amazing woman. She lived to just past 105 — and worked throughout. I have been spending time immersing myself [...]
Many thanks to reader Dana Kay for spotting this 1955 time capsule house in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What is that material on the wall of the living room adjacent to the kitchen — the material also on the kitchen cabinet???
A conversation with Emily Morrow Director of Color, Style and Design, Residential Carpet and Hard Surfaces, Shaw Floors Is wall-to-wall carpet “authentic” and appropriate for midcentury homes? You bet! Consider this data, provided by Emily Morrow, Shaw Floors’ director of Color, Style and Design for Residential Carpet and Hard Surfaces: In 1951 — as the post-World [...]
UPDATE (Oct 2011): Click over to –> this story to get an update on all three sources for boomerang laminate. Where to find a retro Formica countertop for a red, black and white kitchen? Pamela recently wrote to ask: Hi! I bought a home a couple of years ago … it’s a 10-year-old FL ranch, [...]
I’ve written before about mixing countertop surfaces in your 40s 50s or 60s kitchen. But I recently came across these great photos and thought they would be very helpful. The photos show: How to lower cabinetry to create a place to roll out your pie dough (of course). Put a slab of marble here — [...]
I have been on a tear, of late, researching laminates. Considering how Greige and Granite-y 99% of what’s out there is, I want to provide Retro Renovators with the broadest researched selection possible of designs that have a more historical, retro appeal. After I learned that Formica’s butcher block laminate has been in production since [...]
How is this one, Retro Renovation readers? I recently scored a full box of est. 1960-65 era GE Textolite laminate samples, absolute mint condition unused. This is the first bunch — the others aren’t so over-the-top FABULOUS, but still are great gauges of what to look for. OMG. What else do I need to say. [...]
More today from the Wilsonart laminate history archives. In the 60s, laminate colors got, at one end of the spectrum richer and earthier – and at the other end, pop-art bold. Some of the defining trends from the period, this article says: Color TV was introduced in 1965, bringing us closer in touch with design [...]
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