From the category archives:
This week’s vintage Hall-Mack miniseries concludes with 18 special accessories found in my 1962 catalog. Above: The Tow’lescope (I have two MIB) and the even more rare Extendo-Bar, which I have never seen in real life. Heck yeah there is more…
{ 12 comments }
This is the last of the three Hall-Mack 1962 bathroom accessories lines: The Metropolitan. This was the budget line – and I think that it was also very very popular. Click on the image once, it opens in a new window, then once again from there – it will get quite large so that you can see the detail. Sorry I can’t do a longer post today — family is visiting so it’s a three-ring circus.
{ 3 comments }
There’s more to come in my series of vintage Hall-Mack bathroom hardware. But a pause here for some bathroom illustrations featured in the 1962 catalog. There are some really great ideas in these six mid-century bathrooms. Above: One of our favorite sink and vanity base combos, the American-Standard introduced in 1959. I think a reader just wrote to tell me that he or she had the sink in just this color. It’s terrific. And what about that fabulous toilet. Heck yeah there is more…
{ 13 comments }
HALL-MACK’S CORONADO line of bathroom accessories seems to be marketed for a long time. It is also featured prominently in this 1962 catalog, and it’s also the main line in my other catalog 1956. The line certainly seems prototypical of the postwar era — I see the shape of the end-pieces for the toilet paper and towels, in particular, everywhere. Heck yeah there is more…
{ 7 comments }
I recently nabbed a 1962 Hall-Mack bathroom accessories catalog. Seems that there were three principal lines of chrome soap dishes, towel bars, robe hooks and the like: Coronado – likely most popular; Metropolitan – budget line; and Aristocrome — the top-of-the-line suite. Today, I’ll show you the Aristocrome line. Heck yeah there is more…
{ 6 comments }
DIG THESE 1961 MIDCENTURY PENDANT LIGHTS from Progress. Which one do you like the best? VOTE now. Heck yeah there is more…
{ 31 comments }
THE ESTATE SALE on Saturday was wonderful. A very classic, brick Cape Cod home, single owner, great quality. Loved. The only things changed out were the kitchen appliances and floor. Above: Vintage “linen laminate” from the kitchen countertop. Grace Jeffers, the historian who restored the Wilson House, told me that linen patterns were the #1 most popular of the postwar era. Yes, even more so than the gold sparkle speckles we all love so much. At the left: That’s me with the first shot of a reader favorite, the Hall-Mack revolving disappearing toothbrush holder. Click on through for 11 more photos. Heck yeah there is more…
{ 18 comments }
IT’S TIME FOR ANOTHER INSTALLMENT of a vintage Armstrong interior from my large collection of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc. advertising comps. This one: a small, very efficiently designed 1954 yellow kitchen. And the cabinet style shows that authentic retro doesn’t have to be all radius-edge slabs — this is an important reference / proof for even me! 
Heck yeah there is more…
{ 5 comments }
WHY DID SOFAS GET SO BIG? I do not know. But you have to admit these supersized sofas are statement-makers. And that’s before we even get to — upholstery. This 1972 wonder belongs to Lynne’s Lens, a flickr friend. She bought it 10 years ago from a house with purple shag carpet and Peter Max wallpaper. It had two more pieces that made it *too big* for her house and she gave them to a friend. Mr. Retro Renovation loves this sofa. Read on — you’ll like the next one, too, I promise… Heck yeah there is more…
{ 13 comments }
I‘M FASCINATED by the midcentury midwest furniture companies. I have this suspicion they were more interested in quality than transient styling. Willett was based in Indiana, and they made some really nice stuff. With real wood. My guy Royal Barry Wills also designed a line of furniture for them…. This Willett ad is from 1952…the 40s period was coming to an end…recall, 1953 started The Fifties. Can’t you just imagine how proud a family was when they bought this furniture? The sofa — it’s such a classic. And it was not cheap: $495. That’s $4,014 today!
{ 9 comments }
Welcome to RetroRenovation.com -- your daily dose of mid century renovation resources... design inspiration... fun finds... and a growing community of people all interested in restoring, preserving and cherishing their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s homes.
