By the Decade

Moe honeycomb lighting: The full line, from a 1968 catalog, plus 4 hilarious room shots

Posted by: pam kueber • October 4, 2011

I just scored a 1968 Moe Lighting catalog, and it is 102 pages of sheer beauty. Peoples: If you are not keeping your eyes open and wallets stocked with just a little extra something for the most fabuloso vintage lighting that you can get your hands on, well, then, I feel bad. Because there is [...]

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Decorating a 1960s kitchen — 21 photos with even more ideas from 1962 kitchens

Posted by: pam kueber • September 12, 2011

The best way to get ideas to decorate or remodel your mid century kitchens is to — go back the experts who designed them back in the day. My reference library continues to grow weekly — and today, I’ve pulled 21 kitchens — with 21 photos from 1962 — to examine for ideas and inspiration [...]

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1950s interior design and decorating style — 7 major trends

Posted by: pam kueber • September 8, 2011

When it comes to studying interior design in the 1950s, the ideas captured in this 1957 Chevy ad certainly are memorable: A rainbow of eye-popping pastels, design that is long and low and angles and flourishes that suggest speed and even, flight. But just like today, there wasn’t just “one” look in the 1950s — there [...]

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1953 Crane kitchen cabinets — 26 photos — complete catalog

Posted by: pam kueber • July 8, 2011

eight colors of vintage crane kitchen sinks

Crane is one of our all-time favorite brands for their beautiful and very desirable bathroom sinks — the Crane Criterion comes immediately to mind, and we’ve seen NOS Crane Marcia’s, too. But back in the day, Crane also made steel kitchen cabinets and porcelain drainboard sinks. This catalog shows their designs from 1953 … Click [...]

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1960s starburst-white and orange laminate kitchen

Posted by: pam kueber • June 9, 2011

Here is a kitchen style that we have not seen featured on the blog before, as I recall. It’s a kitchen with cabinets made from two contrasting colors or designs of laminate. In this case: A starburst white laminate is the “field” color — and yo, a Brady Bunch orange is added to the Revco [...]

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Pretty darn excellent Marimekko bed and bath sale at Crate & Barrel

Posted by: pam kueber • June 2, 2011

If you’ve been holding out for great prices on vintage Marimekko designs for your bedroom or bathroom, go take a look at the Marimekko on sale at Crate & Barrel. The sheets above are the Samovaari design originally created by Maija Isola in 1970. It’s available in a variety of colors for towels, sheets, duvets and shower curtains, at great prices (for [...]

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Satin Glide steel bathroom vanities, 1963

Posted by: pam kueber • May 16, 2011

Now here is some serous vintage bathroom porn: Satin Glide bathroom vanities, medicine cabinets, shelving – and even a Relaxion Unit to compete with Hall-Mack – all from a 1963 brochure. We see these metal vanities occasionally — I do not know if they really held up well to the humidity in a bathroom. We also see slanted [...]

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Wood-Mode kitchens from 1961 — Slide show of 15 photos

Posted by: pam kueber • May 15, 2011

Let’s hear it for well-made, wood kitchens in mid-century homes. There’s virtually no name bigger in wood cabinetry than Wood-Mode. Their website says they have been in business about 60 years — that puts their start right in the heart of the postwar boom.

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Kitchens – Countertops
Another first for the blog and our Retro Renovation journey: Last night I spotted vintage Geneva steel kitchen cabinets in a Target commercial. Don’t they look fantastic! Continue on for the close-up and more play-by-play commentary —>

“…Eliminates the final telltale sign of laminate – the brown line.” I am a big believer in the idea that the most significant design shifts tend to come from technological breakthroughs. The advance of laminate kitchen countertops — replacing linoleum and wood in most kitchens in the 1950s — came as a result of the [...]

Update: Almost all of these designs are now discontinued. See my up-to-date stories on all retro laminates here: Kitchen/Countertops Category. UPDATE (Oct 2011): Click over to –> this story to get an update on all three sources for boomerang laminate. The countertops I removed from the two vanities in my 1951 bathrooms were [...]

Arborite has two new laminates in their 2011-2012 collection that just popped onto my radar. I haven’t seen these as actual samples yet — I’ll order them this week. Meanwhile, I wanted to put them out there, because I know that many Retro Renovators have been left kind of up a creek since Formica discontinued [...]

Many thanks to Whitney, who just tipped me that Wilsonart has introduced 11 new colors of boomerang laminate. There now are a total of 14 colorways — the most of any manufacturer. I am quite liking the “butterscotch” above — looks like you could use this in a kitchen with yellow kitchen cabinets. There is [...]

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