Readers and their...

  • Gabriel and Amanda’s spectacular 1954 midcentury modern house — 28 photos

    midcentury modern kitchen in north carolia

    “Luckily we didn’t have the money to do all the renovations we wanted right away, because we ended up falling in love with many of the original aspects that we had considered changing.” Gabriel and Amanda own a stunning house, designed by architect John Erwin Ramsay, in North Carolina. “Own” may not be the right word, though: To me, Gabe and [...]

    Recessed storage… two office remodels… refinished wood floors… high gloss VCT… and Pam and the Pug

    polished-vinyl-floors

    Time to check up on readers and their projects. Over at Adventures in Retro Renovating, Lilynumph and her husband threw out the wall-to-wall carpet and refinished the beautiful wood floors underneath. They also retiled their entrance way, and added a midcentury door with six triangular inserts (go look). Read on for readers hard at work on [...]

    Jim and Kathleen’s “little slice of 1960″ Knoxville home

    James and Kathleen Owens at home

    Oh yeah, now we’re talkin’. Get yer cameras out, readers, and keep sending me photos like these — as Jim and Kathleen Owens, dub it, “Family Portrait-Ala-Cheese!” including dog pal Indy. And yes: There’s a beautiful house and inspiring story, too. Jim is an artist and actor, but Kathleen has an eye for colors that [...]

    Cullen Meyer, Crown Prince of Kitsch — 40 photos

    retro-kitchen-brooklyn-1

    “…I like the wild stuff, or what some people call ‘the dead 50s’ … I’m not sure anyone else does kitsch quite like me.” Cullen Meyer is a wee babe — just 27 years old — but goodness crikey, he has a jump on us: He has been collecting vintage for more than a dozen years already. This [...]

    Brian & Keri’s Happily Ever After $7,000 kitchen remodel

    retro-kitchen

    “We moved to Nashville… looking for a better quality of life and a little house to love…” When Brian and Keri moved into this Nashville house two years ago, they embraced their home’s heritage — and instead of gutting to granitize, they planned modest updates to the existing galley style kitchen to make the working [...]

    Lori’s pink, blue and yellow retro kitchen: A whole lot of lovin’ fun!

    black and white marmoleum floor

    “…We rented a truck and loaded up all the metal cabinets and brought them home. All they really needed was a good cleaning and then we attached them to the walls.” I count five cooking surface, two refrigerators, four Mixmasters — and a whole lot of lovin’ fun — in Lori and Ed’s super happy [...]

    In the spotlight: Brini & Eartha Kitsch, Betty Crafter, Mary Deluxe, Jon & Trixi, and Retro Ruth

    vintage-linoleum-floor

    In this week’s reader roundup: In her new AskBrini series, Brini Maxwell answers Eartha Kitsch‘s question, “People always tell me that I need to tone things down and become a ‘regular’ person….Is that their polite way of saying that I’m the crazy aunt…?” Brini may be a satirist, but I think her answer is quite [...]

    Bonnie Jo Campbell updates her ‘swamp house’ kitchen — and talks about living modestly to pursue a dream

    Bonnie Jo Campbell in her kitchen

    We have a famous author in our tribe — and she shares her Retro Renovation story with us today.  Bonnie Jo Campbell‘s recent book of short stories, American Salvage, was a National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and her 2011 novel Once Upon a River: A Novel (affiliate link) continues to earn rave reviews from [...]