Those of you in modern homes, remember to consider a Mondrian-style kitchen if you need to renovate. This one – from Steven’s 1957 Alcoa Aluminum house in Rochester, N.Y. — is original. Well, the part in the foreground is. He needed to replace the cabinets and backsplash along the back wall, and did so in complementary style. The original Mondrians are laminate-over-wood. In the back, Steven combined black-painted wood base cabinets, and blue-painted vintage steel wall cabinets. If you have trouble choosing a color — hey, what a solution. Click on the photo above to see Steven’s entire house, on his flickr photo stream. And click here to see my other posts showing Mondrian kitchens.

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Steven, Michael and the pup is Bobby.

Rochester Steven has completed some drop dead gorgeous updates to his 1957 Alcoa Aluminum house, and shares the details and images. This is the third story on these late-1950s “demonstration” houses. We first featured a time capsule for sale in Wisconsin. I think that’s how Steven found this blog, and we featured his house in New York state, along with the home’s original brochure, just a few weeks later. There were only 23 of these houses built — and Steven, Michael and Bobby are amazing caretakers. This house will knock you off your chair — it’s worthy of Architectural Digest.

Pam, There are three areas that we have addressed in the past several months:

1. Restored the house back to the original color of purple(the front anyway, have to work on the back next spring). It was painted brown some years ago, most likely due to the unsightly fading over the years of the purple that we have seen on a couple other Alcoa houses. We removed one of the aluminum panel pieces from the garage and retrieved the color from the un-weathered side of it.

2. Partially restored the kitchen. When the kitchen was gutted and remodeled years ago the upper metal cabinets were installed in the storage area of the garage. We had them painted the light blue that you see now at an auto shop and reinstalled them. I think that the Auto Body painting worked out great. Especially when it is metal. It was a bit of a pain to cart them all over there!!! Since we only had the original upper cabinets we went with some simple black faced cabinets to complete the lower ones with white Corian for for the counter.  We also reconfigured the layout of the kitchen to more reflect the original kitchen in the brochure. The bottom cabinets are made out of wood with black lacquer paint and aluminum pulls… they were purchased at IKEA and are quite inexpensive. The tiles are new tiles with a vintage feel and were purchased locally. We selected the color of both the back splash tiles and the cabinets so that they relate nicely to the multi-colored ["Mondrian"-style] cabinets [shown just below] that face the family room

(The “Mondrian” cabinets are original to the house. I believe that all of the Aloca houses that were built had these unless another option was specified. They are wood with Formica facing.)

3. Family Room/lounge area has been furnished with many great finds from local shops and online. Still somewhat of a work in progress……….

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After the post on where to find shelf edging, California Kathy wrote to show some in action. This is wonderful stuff for open shelves, glass cupboards, and as Kathy shows — for showing off collections of vintage bowls and dinnerware:

Hi Pam, California Kathy here. Just wanted to show you the upper portion of my kitchen china hutch with its shelf edging. I scored it on eBay a while ago and couldn’t be happier with how it looks! We’ve been doing a few things to our 1949 Calinfornia ranch kitchen and I’ll send you some pics as soon as we finish up a couple more easy things. Course the “easy” things are the ones that take the longest sometimes! Thanks for all you do! – Kathy

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Berry of My Life In Sequins contributed the 1,000th photo to our flickr Save The Pink Bathrooms pool. She titled one of her photo, “new apartment.” I asked her for the story and she wrote:

Hi Pam! My apartment building was built in the 50’s and everything has been kept exactly like it was back then. They have 3 different bathroom tile colors — pink, blue and seafoam green. When I found out I was getting a pink bathroom I was pretty excited. It’s so silly that it puts a smile on my face every time I walk in! Taking pictures in there makes me giggle, so the pictures tend out to be upbeat and catch me at my girliest. – Berry

Berry’s blog says that she loves Ikea, zombies, and music. I am getting her address so that I can send her a little prize for her 1,000th photo in the pool. Hmmm, what shall I find in my humongous stash o’ retro for her? Stay tuned. Thank you, Berry!

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Carrie writes:

Pam,

I was wondering if you have ever done any research on Shelf Edging and if so where could I get some.  I don’t think that I ever mentioned that the previous owner had placed shelf edging in the linen closet and also in certain cabinets in the kitchen.  Since I have lived in my house for almost a year now the shelf edging is starting to tear and I would like to have some more on hand when I am ready to put more up.  

.

Any information that you have would be greatly appreciated.  Always remember that you are doing a wonderful job in making Retro Renovation what is has become.  I appreciate more and more the smalls details of my house that everyone else would take for granted.  I sent you some pictures of the shelf edging in my cabinets I hope they help.

Carrie

Thanks for the question and for your lovely words of support, Carrie. This was a fun one to research. From what I can tell looking online, there were four waves of shelf edging design:

1. In the “early days” I am betting the major name making this was Meyercord. They are also known for their furniture and cabinet decals. The paper shelf edging was, I am quite sure, a way for women to dress up their farmhouse and apartment kitchen shelves without having to go to the expense of renovating.
2. In the postwar era, the big name seems to have been Royledge also marketed as Roylies and as Roylcraft. I also see some Betty Brite out there. You should also note that the edging came either as “just edging” or as edging attached to white shelf paper – but all still in one piece.
3. In the 60s, I am seeing plastic, pleated / ruffled , self-adhesive shelf edging from Contact. I like this idea a lot. As you demonstrate with your experience – that paper is going to tear in any high-use area. Also, the adhesive is pretty nifty. Otherwise, I am thinking that housewives earlier put the edging down with thumbtacks.
4. Today’s limited options “new”.

Where to get shelf edging and shelf paper?

Betty Brite "Edge 'n Lining" shelf paper from RetroRubbish. 12" deep, 15' wide, $10. Click on the image to go to the listing.

• Etsy seems to be a great source. The going price for a 15′ strip seems be $5 and up. Search terms: shelf edging, shelf paper, Royledge, Roylies, Meyercord, Betty Brite, Vintage Contact Paper

• You should also watch ebay. – I see only two sources. There is an Asian company making vinyl, self-adhesive lace style edging.

• New #1 — I found a company in Scotland — Diana Forrester — selling gorgeous fabric shelf edging embroidered in France.
  

  cotton and linen embroidered shelf edging from diana forrester

• New #2 — And a company that sells vinyl, pre-pasted, lace style edging.
• Finally, if you are handy, you could also make paper edging yourself out of wallpaper (new or vintage.) Create a decorative edge with scrapbooking scissors that you can find at Target; this is going to take a very steady hand, though. And, unlike the vintage edging – which is white where it sits on the shelf itself – your wallpaper-edging is going to be visible on the shelf, too. This may not be desirable. Trying to seam the decorative paper to a white piece of shelf paper may not work either as such a seam would be vulnerable to tearing.

This was a fun question to reseach, Carrie. Good luck!

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Of course, I would love a vintage 60s wall hanging of a house. It occurs to me that during my life, all I ever doodled were: Houses. I have a very deep rooted pathology. This is another treasure that I purchased from the fabulous estate sale time capsule. The photo above shows it handing the home’s entry way, so welcoming. Click through for a close up.

I am not sure yet where this will go in my home. But it will, I love it so.

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Finding quirky accessories can be the most fun (and never-ending) part of owning an eclectic mid-century modern or mid-century modest home. Here is my vintage Stangl wigstand, purchased 15 years ago, well before I lived the retro life. Isn’t she beautiful? She’s a blond, circa 1950. I think we named her Betty. Well, Betty sits on our built-in bookcase and always has a vintage hat of some sort propped on her head. This one is an amazingly lovely antique crocheted lace night cap (I think) lined with satin — one of my many wonderful finds from the time capsule estate sale last week. Peeking from behind — a vintage Shriner’s hat I bought 10 years ago at a thift store in Canada.

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Reader Erika Rae found these instructions about how to clean St. Charles steel kitchen cabinets, enameled right inside of  one of her cabinet doors. I presume these instructions still hold. Errr, umm, does anyone know where to get St. Charles Cleaner & Polish?

Interestingly — if you look at my cabinets, there *is* rust on the bottom of the base cabinet doors, close to the floor. Ahhh, the janitors at the cooking school (my cabinets’ original home) did not take care to “always wipe off sub base and bottom of door or drawer above sub base with clean cloth after kitchen floor has been washed.” Alas, but fortunately the rust does not seem to be spreading. Thank you, Erika Rae!

Meanwhile, this is a good opportunity for Renovate-Safe-Pam to remind readers: Remember that old painted surfaces on metal cabinets (and other places in your home) may contain lead (and asbestos may be elsewhere in our vintage homes, etc.), so take responsibility to inform yourself and consult pros about proper attention to environmental and safety issues. For example, the EPA hosts a website on lead in the home and a website on asbestos in the home.

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Urban Outfitters features bedding, shower curtains, cloth curtains and wall art, all based on archival designs by Alexander Girard. I particularly like the shower curtains, and they are now on sale from $20-$25. The quilts — which also have matching shams — are pretty groovy, too. Urban Outfitters – Alexander Girard.

First spotted by SparklyThings.

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Maribeth’s kitchen points to another excellent idea for retro styled kitchen cabinets: Have your kitchen cabinets built out of MDF, then paint them.

I’ve actually mentioned this idea before, and it’s listed as a way to go with bathroom vanities, but I’ve never done a full blown post about it for everyone considering kitchen cabinets.

All about painted MDF kitchen cabinets:

• Resists moisture: MDF is the acronym for Medium Density Fiberboard. I think that means wood particles and glue all melded together really solidly. Don’t be put off. The stuff is heavier than wood, and the beauty part in particular, is that it resists moisture. I have MDF cabinets in my bathroom for that reason.
• You can paint MDF slab doors: You can paint MDF slab doors — but you cannot paint all-wood slab doors. Real wood, when it is pieced together, expands and contracts when exposed to moisture or humidity. The paint chips/cracks along the joints. MDF, on the other hand, is manufactured in big pieces, 4′x8′ pieces, if I’m not mistaken, so it can be cut to size — even pantry doors — then painted any color. I’m telling you, you will not know it’s not wood.
• Versatile: As you can see from Maribeth’s photos, a slab style door is very vintage, yet also very classic — you can dress it up either way.
• Specs for an authentic retro door: Vintage steel kitchen cabinets all have slab doors with what is called a “radius” edge, and the doors are installed as “full overlay” — that is, you don’t see any of the cabinetry behind the doors or drawers. This set up – full overlay – also gives you the biggest drawers.
• Virgin adhesion: There’s more: You can paint these guys any color, and since you’re going straight onto a virgin MDF surface, you should get great adhesion.
• Retro and custom touches: Under the sink cabinet, carve those horizontal ventilation slats… paint your cabinets a glossy color…and install retro or vintage pulls…
  

  A good cabinetmaker can replicate these ventilation slats in MDF

  and people won’t know they aren’t metal. Add a cookbook shelf. Build in a desk. If you get the right cabinetmaker, he or she can craft these things. It’s flat wood – you can do anything. Scour all my vintage galleries and posts for ideas.

• Affordable: As Maribeth points out, these cabinets can be built very affordably. She had her entire kitchen and laundry room done for $6,000, including painting. And she has A LOT of cabinets. But note, before I found my metal cabinets, I had my kitchen also specked out for MDF cabinets. I bet I had as many cabinets as Maribeth, and the store wanted $14,000, and painting was not included. So, shop around, recognizing of course, that getting a quality, reliable craftsmen is another story altogether…
• Be conscious of cabinet construction, too: The construction of the cabinets (what you don’t see) also matters. When we were shopping, I bought an online subscription to Consumer Reports to get their tips.  Tips I still remember are: Dovetailed drawers. Slides and glides matter. And so does the thickness of the “box”.  Thicker plywood is better. As Maribeth pointed out, she originally was just going to repaint her old cabinets. But when they took off the countertop, the boxes were in such bad shape, they were not worth saving. That was the state of my 70s cabinets, too. The boxes were, like, one step above cardboard…the doors were basically falling off them within 30 years. Even if you don’t think you are going to be in your house 30 years, I think it is wise to save up and pay for better constructed boxes up front. It’s probably better for the environment and for your house karma, too.

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