Sarah first wrote me in early January (umm, it’s taking me a long time to get reader submissions posted…):

Hi Pam,

I have just discovered your site and it is wonderful. My partner and I have a 1946 “Victory Home” in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It’s chock full of original features. It is very lovely, and very modest (731 sq feet)!

I wonder if you would have any interest in seeing some photos? I would also love to contribute to sharing pictures and information about early Canadian postwar homes in the hopes that there are other Canadian readers of your site out there who might contribute. There doesn’t seem to be a similar Canadian resource.

Thanks for your consideration and happy new year.

Sarah

Sarah and Liz’ Victory Home photo gallery (click on first thumbnail to launch the slide show):

I ask Sarah for more info and pictures — for sure. She sends them — what a sweet house — perfect — along with more info on Victory Homes and how she and Liz ended up in their little bungalow:

First, some notes on victory houses (most people refer to them as veterans housing, but victory housing sounds so much more exciting!):

“In Canada these homes were built and owned by Wartime Housing Ltd. The crown corporation bought materials and land and followed through with orders for homes across the country. Victory Homes came in two models: a two-room bungalow or a four-bedroom, one-and-a-half story house. They were tiny by today’s standards – and without basements and furnaces – but they met the need.
After the war, many veterans moved into Victory Homes and renovated them. Some of them, enlarged and updated, are standing today. But there was still a post-war housing crisis. The entire economy was affected by a continued scarcity of materials and of the money to acquire housing. In 1946 the federal government responded by creating the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation (now the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation). The assets of Wartime Housing Ltd. Were transferred to CMHC in 1947 (including the responsibility of housing veterans) through the Veteran’s Rental Housing program.” Source:  International Metropolis…. Complete PDF…. More info from the Canada Central Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Sarah continues:

I have attached a bunch of photos of the fixtures in our house and a few of the exterior. I’ve also attached a picture of my partner Liz and I. Our house is sort of sideways on the lot (in comparison to most of the other houses like ours). There was only one owner before us, and she didn’t change a thing as far as we know.

We started our house-hunting journey in 2006 in the heat of a seller’s market in Winnipeg. We initially had our hearts set on a 1910s or 1920s 2 or 2.5 story character house. We soon discovered (to our dismay) that in the areas of the city that were convenient for us as dedicated public transit users, houses are mid-century. Liz decided we needed to develop an appreciation for mid-century houses, so she borrowed some books from an architecture library on CHMC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) house plans from the 1950s. We made 13 (over-asking price!) offers and finally had our offer accepted on a tiny 1946 bungalow/victory house. We had been making offers on 1950s bungalows and the odd 1950s 1.5 story. Our house was the first 40s bungalow we had ever set foot it.

Ours is the rarest of victory homes (2 beds, no dining room) so most of the documentation of victory homes overlooks our type. The layout is so functional, if a bit too teensy. There is a coat closet, a linen closet, and two other hall closets, not to mention bedroom closets. I included photos of the insides of the kitchen cabinets and some closets to show the colours. At first we thought the former owner just had a thing for bright colours inside her cupboards and closets but after looking at the 1941 Sherwin Williams Paint and Color Style Guide I think it was probably part of the trend shown in some of the images – bright paint colours inside kitchen cabinets.

Speaking of paint, I included some photos of the tiny back landing which is painted in two shades of green. A 1940s decor choice? Also, the covers on our light switches each have a tiny maple leaf in each corner – not sure if they’ll show up in the photos.

For the past couple of years we have been focused on getting a new roof, furnace, windows, grading, and cleaning the layers and layers of nicotine off of every inch of the house. We have only painted one room, and we don’t have our window coverings yet. We need a new kitchen counter and backsplash, and the bathroom needs some updating. We want a more efficient toilet, and the tiles around the tubs are all cracked. We want our updates to be in keeping with the 40s (and the house) but we also want a solid surface counter top. One problem: I really dislike 4×4 tile (did I say that?!?!). I really like basket weave, penny, and honeycomb tile. Do you know if they were “in” in the 40s? I am having a hard time finding distinctly 40s fabrics and tiles (other than 4×4).

Oh yes, the house really needs come curb appeal, too. We are thinking maybe a mint or spring green repaint on the original stucco. Any thoughts or suggestions you have on anything related to the house would be appreciated.

We both love mid-century houses and interiors now and are so thankful we didn’t get the kind of house we set out for! I discovered your blog over the holidays and can’t stop reading it. It’s fantastic.

Where did you live in Canada??!!

Cheers,

Sarah

Thank you so much, Sarah. What a darling house — so small, but so full of charm, I love it.

For a 1940s house, if you don’t like 4×4 tile for the bathroom, how about subway tiles for around the tub? Oh and as we discussed via email, those sure do look like plastic tiles in your bathroom. I have NO PROBLEM whatsoever with ripping those puppies out — I had three bathrooms full of them, and I was a happy pammy the day they were gone. In my bathrooms, the plastic tiles were absolutely rotted through, they were not watertight and 50 years had done their damage, no question. Ceramic on concrete board – yes! If you need to re-do the floors, I think that octagon or small six-sided mosaics (same as what you call honeycomb) — with or without color dots (which could be nice) would be appropriate. For exterior paint ideas, I’d point you at the library of Aladdin Home images for inspiration.

And I love love love hearing about Canadian postwar housing history. I lived in Canada for about six years of my adult life — I went there for two jobs with Ford. The first time, I lived in Toronto, in Cabbagetown. The second time around, I lived in the Bronte area of Oakville, a Toronto suburb. BTW, I have been to Winnipeg — a wonderful town, I had a great time! Thank you so very much for taking the time to share your home with us all. Circle back as you continue your updates, we’ll all want to see what you and Liz do with it to make it your very own.

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Hi Pam,

Just thought I’d drop you a note. Thanks to inspiration from your site, we just recently, i.e. in the last 24 hours, finished rejuvenating the kitchen in our 1938 house. It didn’t take much, the cabinets were in great shape and the 1958 GE range looks brand new (we’re only the second owners of the house), but the very neutral vinyl floors and formica had to go. We replaced the floor with a medium blue Marmoleum with a dark blue stripe and did the countertops with the same dark blue Marmoleum and the same stainless steel edging you did your countertops with. We finished off with a new Kohler sink with hudee ring.

Dave continues:

We’ve been in the house for right about a year. We outgrew our 900 sq ft 1931 brick house by the time our twin boys turned one and casually started trolling the real estate sites. We knew we wanted another brick house and were fond of the late 20′s through early 40′s architectures. We found this one at about 10 p.m. one night and I promptly drove over that night to check out the neighborhood. This house was about 2 miles west, right in the neighborhood we were most hoping to find something…. We put in a contingent offer and our old house sold the same day it was listed! This house is about 1,700 sq. ft. excluding the unfinished basement.

We bought it from a lady whose dad originally built the house and she had been living in it since she was 12. I even found a copy of the building permit in the basement dated 1939 with her dad’s name on it. We love it when old houses look old and have their original elements so needless to say we instantly fell in love with this house. My wife took a slight bit of convincing since the exterior architecture has a bit less whimsical character than our old house. Being late 30′s, it seemed to be gaining some of the minimalist traditional lines as opposed to the revival era cottage/tudor look of our early 30′s old house.  The house was in impeccable shape. Prior to us moving in, the original owner had just removed red shag carpet covering the red oak hardwoods and douglas fir softwoods (upstairs).

I believe the only real non-original elements were kitchen floors and countertops and the light fixtures save for a fantastic deco chandelier in the dining room. We’ve gone through and replaced the non-original light fixtures with a combination of vintage and reproduction. We also replaced the switch plates and outlet plates with NOS brown bakelite plates, but many of the original brown bakelite tumbler switches are still installed and working. We haven’t taken many pictures of the inside of the house since we moved in, but I posted the staged real estate pics from last year if you would like to see them.

You can tell that the stove desperately needs a big white and chrome Big Chill fridge next to it, I’m still trying to convince my wife of that though…  (Even so,) you’ll see my wife decided to get in on the whole retro thing with an attempt to recreate one of the campy vintage ads

If you’re interested, here are the particulars for the rejuve:

• Marmoleum field color: “Sparkling Lake”, this seemed almost identical to the color in the Armstrong ad
• Marmoleum stripe and countertop color: “Deep Ocean”, this too seemed nearly identical
• James at Nielsen Bros. Flooring (Seattle) did the install work (James was very patient when it came time to do the metal trim)
• Light over the Fridge: Rejuvenation “Atlantic” fixture with “Streamline 8 inch Opal” shade
• Light over the Dinette: Rejuvenation “Arcadia” fixture with ”Streamline 8 inch Opal” shade
• Kohler Triton Facet (K-7776) and Kohler Triton Cross Handles (K-16012-3)
• Kohler Bakersfield White Sink (K-5834) — I found out the hudee ring is sold separately.. (K-6599)
• Stainless steel edging from New York Metals — One nice hint, too. Wherever I ended up with cracks in the mitered corners and whatnot, I used silver/gray gutter sealant as a filler. It blends in fairly nicely with the stainless. Soldering would probably be best, but this was far easier.
• We got inspiration for the color palette from a 1941 armstrong ad I found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanvintagehome/3331401646/

I asked Dave in our email exchange whether he had considered Bradbury and Bradbury’s 1940s wallpaper line. He responded:

It’s funny you mention the wallpaper. I was just showing my wife some of the deco wallpaper on their site last night. You can’t see it in any of the photos, but as you leave the kitchen toward the hallway and head out the back door, there is a wall about 6 feet long covered with some wallpaper from the 70′s. Some of their wallpaper there would be perfect.

Fantastic work, Dave and Frances — the linoleum with the contrasting trim is fantastic, the countertop looks great, and you know I love that Kohler sink. Clearly, you show how making just some minor updates made to fundamentally sound original features can make for a charming (and not too expensive) renovation that makes the house truly feel like your own. I do have two questions I forgot to ask: I was under the impression that today’s linoleum in not particularly recommended for countertops. What were you told about this issue? Also, did you have to adjust the size of the countertop substrate material in order to accommodate the increased thickness of the linoleum vs. laminate? Thank you so much for sharing — this story will be very popular with readers whose homes or styles tend more toward 1940s sweetness than 1950s atomic.

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Today we meet Rachel, Brian, and their pug Chloe… and look at their recent project to renovate their lovely 1920s yellow bathroom. The bathroom also features an unusually configured shower that stumps even my experts. Rachel writes:

Hi Pam, I’ve been a reader for quite a while, and LOVE your site!

I have a house from about the 1920s with a yellow bathroom. The tile is yellow, with black trim, and white fixtures. There’s also small border of green waves beneath the trim. Previous owners, however, had replaced the sink with a terrible particle board vanity with a cream/beige sink. They also put in a particleboard medicine cabinet, which they installed *on* the wall, not in it. This weekend my boyfriend and I replaced these with a vintage Kohler wall-hung sink and enamel medicine cabinet. (When we removed the particleboard medicine cabinet, we found the original hole — complete with used razor blades! We managed to find a replacement cabinet that fit the existing hole perfectly.)

I also have a question: my bathroom has 2 showers — or originally, I guess it would have been a shower and a bath. There’s a full-sized tub with a smaller, “attached” stall shower separated by a half-wall. (Unfortunately, the little shower no longer works, so the tub is now the shower as well.)  I’ve never seen anything like it before — have you?Also, now that you can see the small wall between the tub and the shower. There’s a gap along the top, where we think maybe a piece of glass used to be? We’re just not sure.

A few more things — now that you can see the bathroom! =)

It’s currently painted a very pale green, and when we removed the old medicine cabinet and lowered the lights, we saw the earlier, darker green which matches the wave border. We’re currently deciding what color to paint — white or darker green. (Although I know you would probably suggest wallpaper!)

I know you’ve mentioned on the blog before that wall-hung sinks with legs makes bathrooms appear bigger, and I couldn’t agree more! The vintage sink we installed is actually a little larger than the one we replaced, but the bathroom *definitely* feels much roomier without the vanity. The same thing happened once we recessed the medicine cabinet. The built-in toothbrush holder and soap holders really stand out, since the medicine cabinet is no longer hanging over them.

Thank you!
Rachel

Cool bathroom – and it will be fun to talk about… But, of course, I also asked Rachel for her “retro renovation story”. She answered:

We’re in Western New York. I bought the house when I came here 6 years ago for graduate school (PhD in English….still working on it!). I met Brian after moving here, and he moved in about a year ago (he’s a graphic designer who works from home). We were recently visiting a local architectural salvage store (Rehouse) and saw some adorable vintage sinks for under a $100…that’s really what got us started! We realized that we HATED our particleboard vanity and sink-that-never-stayed-clean. We’re novice DIYers, but after some research, we felt like this could be a first real project – something we could actually afford and do ourselves! Replacing the sink is just the tip of the iceberg now, of course! We’re trying to decide about painting the walls, and we’ve re-sealed around the tub, but the grout in other places needs some work (not to mention the *other* areas in the house now begging for our attention!). But we’re really happy with the “new” sink and medicine cabinet — it dramatically changed the space and made it feel like an entirely new bathroom (for under $100!).

That’s our retro renovation story — for now, anyway!
Rachel

PS. We were at Rehouse this past weekend as well, and saw a new arrival — a set of metal cabinets (including two wall ovens) in TURQUOISE. It was gorgeous! They were GE, and although quite a few cabinets were there already, more were on the way.

What a lovely bathroom, Rachel — and the wall hung sink on chromes legs looks amazing.

Regarding that teeny tiny shower, I emailed John at deabath.com, one of my very favorite sources for salvage bathroom fixtures, to ask if he had ever seen a small shower like that. He says:
Hi Pam,

That’s got to be the smallest shower enclosure I’ve ever seen!  Judging from the tile work, it appears to be a “Well, we have an extra 24″ on this wall, what are we going to do with it?” kind of thing.  I agree, probably had glass in the groove, but I didn’t see any mountings on the side walls.  Definitely not stock, and at 6’1″, I’d have a really hard time getting into it.

Regarding your wall color:  I’ve been getting a lot of questions regarding wall colors to go with vintage pastel bathroom tile, and so I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I think that going lighter, rather than darker, is generally a good idea. The “lower” color anchors the room, so it makes sense if that’s a “heavier” color. You were right in guessing that my #1 choice would be wallpaper. Below is one that I found relatively quickly on HannahsTreasures.com. It’s not “perfect” but directionallygetting there — because it incorporates all the colors in your bathroom: The yellow, green, black — and even that touch of orange in the liner tile. These are all colors for you to work with in your accessories. One more thought — to my eye, the “buttercream” of this wallpaper (the light yellow-cream between the stripes) looks beautiful with the yellow tile. This might be another way to go…Buttercream: The color of fresh churned butter (with no yellow dye added.)

Also, Rachel, I see you shower curtain choice is definitely more graphical/modern, so I know that the wallpaper above is probably not to your taste! I like it, though — especially how it recognizes the strength of the black trim tile. Maybe all you really need now are coordinating towels and rugs — in green like the liner tile? — and some artwork on the walls that includes each and every color in the bathroom. If you want to go mod – maybe JennSki has a print up your alley?

Thank you so much for sharing, and good luck with everything… just looking at you and Brian reminds me of my early married days and how much fun (yes!) Mr. Retro Renovation and I had, feathering the nest, renovating this and that. Happiness.

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