Retro Renovation » happiness

Animal Rescue – Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps and the Halo meals campaign

pam kueber — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:02:50 +0000

The U.S. Postal Service is introducing these fantastic Animal Rescue – Adopt a Shelter postage stamps on April 30. In addition, Halo pet food — which is co-owned by Ellen Degeneres — has become involved and is donating a million meals to animal shelters. The story behind the adorable photos on the stamps: Photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce found these beautiful, adopted pets in her hometown of New Milford, Connecticut. Each of these animals was given a good home thanks to animal rescue shelters and the families who adopted them. After adopting Astro via Denise and her Schnauzer Paws rescue, I’ve become more and more aware of this issue. Way to go, U.S.P.S., Sally Andersen-Bruce, Denise, Ellen Degeneres, Halo — and to everyone who takes good care of their pets. Good on you, all! Read more about the Animal Rescue Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps and campaign here… and plan on stocking up on these stamps come April 30 (I’ll do a reminder then, too.)

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Flickr favorites — today’s digital Rorschach test?

pam kueber — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:00:28 +0000

I bet a psychiatrist could take a look at my flickr favorites at any given time and issue a diagnosis. Forget inkblots, our flickr favorites are today’s new digital Rorschach test. I have 1,872 images in my favorites list — on flickr, these are photos from other people that you see and tag as ones that particularly speak to you. You can then go back and revel in them whenever you want. Great cheap fun. Back when I started on flickr, my favorites were all pretty much house interiors — below is my first-ever favorites accumulation from 2+ years ago and still there on like page 52:

These days, though, it’s all babies and doggies and sassy 50s dames… storybook ranches, snowmen, family polaroids and… what a sentimental mushball I’ve become. Readers — what do your favorites say about you? Put a link to them in your Comment, and we’ll take a look. And remember to contribute your photos to the growing list of Flickr Groups that I have created and administer:

Retro Renovation (773 members)

Royal Barry Wills Vintage Homes (3 members)

Mid-Century Modest Homes (25 members)

Save the Pink Bathrooms (312 members)

Mid-century Modern Red Geraniums (32 members)

Knotty Pine Interiors (34 members)

Storybook Ranch Houses (37 members)

1,200+ flickr favorites Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper...
Royal Barry Wills: My favorite midcentury architect Royal Barry Wills was one of midcentury America's most influential...
Mid-century “Early American” street sign You know I do love my Royal Barry Wills’ houses....

Taylor sets the mood for my first-ever Save The Pink Bathrooms talk

pam kueber — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:00:00 +0000

I couldn’t stop smiling all day long after Taylor — a Retro Renovation reader from Charleston – showed up at my Save The Pink Bathrooms talk in Charlotte wearing our first-ever Save The Pink Bathrooms tee shirt. That’s Elaine, another reader, over Taylor’s right shoulder, and over by the screen you can see Ken, A/V expert for all my talks. The whole thing was A BLAST — especially Friday, when lots of readers showed up in force. Scathing Jane came from Atlanta! Lauren came from near Philadelphia! Teresa, Linda, Micheal, Edwin, Pete, Hugh, Cathy, Lila, Gail… oh my, there were more, too! You all get exclamation points!

It was so much fun to meet everyone, and to get all excited talking about our kitchens and our bathrooms and our mint-in-box finds and our prayers to the retro decorating gods and our families who don’t quite understand but certainly are amused. I have to say, the whole 5-talks-in-2-days-plus-media-interviews-plus-my-mom-was-with-me thing was, umm, stressful. So I can’t even remember everyone’s name my brain cells were so pressurized and big boo boo, I wasn’t taking notes. I’ll be back in home on Sunday night and will start queuing up all the photos. Everyone who came: Please send me an email (retrorenovation [at] gmail [dot] com), or comment when you see your photo, because I really want to recognize everyone. Oh my, what a wonderful wonderful experience it was to spend time with you. YOU ROCK!

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Talkin’ retro, live on “Charlotte Today”

pam kueber — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:46:11 +0000

Woo hoo. Here I am live on WCNC-TV’s “Charlotte Today” noontime show, talking about mid-century style with Dayvee Sutton, who was just wonderful to work with. I can’t tell you how weird this all feels. Have you ever seen anyone who grins so much — I am such a dork. But it sure was fun. tee hee.

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Miniature schnauzer Astro says, “Love the House You’re In”

pam kueber — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:00:41 +0000

While I’m away speaking at the Southern Spring Home & Garden Show, I won’t be posting. Expect me back online Sunday, March 7. If you want a little dose between now and then be sure to sign up for my Thursday newsletter, which is ready to go. Meanwhile: Astro the wonder dog is taking care of the house and keeping DH company. And, courtesy Mel Kolstad and her wondeful monthly collage Astro reminds us all to: Love the House You’re In. Last week a reader over on the Facebook Fan page also chimed in, “Happiness is wanting what you have.” Yes, that about sums it up. Woof woof.

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Retro Renovation 3.0

pam kueber — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:52:02 +0000

Yes, the blog has a new look. I’ve been blogging virtually full-time for three years now, learning lots along the way. With this update, I’ve worked to put some significant improvements into place. Key goals included:

Make the overall look of the blog simpler and easier on the eyes. In general, I wanted the new design to say “retro” and “practical” at the same time. To be visually fun… but fundamentally, to be practical — because this is a get-things-done blog. Kept the knotty pine – whimsy… the flower goes multi-color, to be more inclusive… and there’s lots more white space all around.
Make it easier for you to find the info that you want and need, faster. Up on the blue navigation bar, hover over “Find PRODUCTS” and “Browse STORIES” to see fancy schmancy “mega menus” that make it easy to get where you want at a glance. Also, we get a honkin’ big new search bar and the Forum is right up top, too.
Maybe make some more money. There’s new ad space below the welcome box over on the right. Every time you check out an ad that truly interests you, or buy something after clicking to ebay or Amazon via my links here, you are making it possible for me to keep providing all these retro resources, inspiration and community. How a blogger funds it all, well, that’s a whole big story, I assure you. Muchas gracias!

Many thanks to Suzy Massey of Phoenix Massey Studio, who led the work on the new design… to Chris Cochran of WebDevStudios, who masterminded the mega menus… to Scott Basgaard of WebDev, who provides my weekly tech support… and to Brad Williams, who runs Web Dev. Also: Many thanks to Margaret Roach of A Way To Garden, my blogging friend-in-arms, who constantly provides me invaluable feedback, advice and moral support.

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At the home show in Charlotte in 5 days: crunch time!

pam kueber — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:00:01 +0000

I‘m counting down to the Southern Spring Home & Garden Show in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I will be giving five talks over two days. On Thursday, March 4 at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m., I’ll take visitors on a 30-minute, 30-year tour of retro-vintage color and style and share ideas on how to integrate the the best of mid mod madness into your happy home today. On Friday, March 5, I’ll be back with the same talk at 12:30 p.m. At 3:30 p.m., it’s time for Save The Pink Bathrooms, and at 6:30 p.m. I’ll wrap it up with a spotlight on Mid-Century Modern decor, inspiration and ideas. All of my talks will be on the Home Ideas Stage Presented by Valpak. By 7:30 p.m. I fully intend to be knocking back a hearty Margarita with my mom, who is coming down from Kentucky to hang with me in Charlotte. If you are planning to be at any of the talks, be sure to introduce yourself beforehand .

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Mid-century modern landscaping at the Southern Spring Home & Garden Show

pam kueber — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:00:38 +0000

There are a number of celebrity presenters at the Southern Spring Home & Garden Show, where I also will be speaking next Thursday and Friday. They include Renovation Nation’s Steve Thomas (formerly of This Old House), painter and home furnishings creator Bob Timberlake, and HGTV’s Suzy Coelho. Interestingly, 2010 is the 50th anniversary of the show … it’s been operated by the same married couple since 1960… and one of the reasons that I was also selected as a speaker was that, well, what goes around comes around, and what was hot in ‘60 is hot again. There are a number of retro-themed surprises being planned for the show, and I can’t wait to report on them.

For example, Ted Clearly, of Studio Cleary Landscape Architecture, also is on deck as a speaker. And, he has a display at the show based on his gorgeous illustration, above. Here’s what Ted says about his design:

Because it’s the show’s 50th anniversary (and still actively run by the same married couple since Year One!), I thought it’d be fun to celebrate that, and them, with a Mid-Century Modern theme… an Eichler-inspired house is the centerpiece of the garden; in the front yard everything will appear just as it might have in 1960; as visitors move around to the back yard, it’s clear that it’s now 2010 and some young hipsters have moved into the same house, creating a contemporary take on a Modern garden.

Ted’s presentation, “Seamless: The Mid-Century Modern Home and Its Garden,” will discuss how mid-century modern homes pulled home and exterior spaces together so well and how its principles can be adapted for today’s frugal economy. He’ll speak on Wed. at 4:30 p.m. (I’ll be there and plan to do a report) and again (right after my final talk) on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. (I’ll be drinking margaritas by then.)

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Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes

pam kueber — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:00:33 +0000

Sneak peek. Retro Renovation renovations under way and coming super soon . Today’s my birthday and my big treat is that I’m taking a class from 11-6 with Crispina ffrench up in Pittsfield on creating felted wool blankets and scarves. There is so much great stuff going on in my life right now that I am about to burst. The family is good. Astro is coming along. The blog seems to be moving to a new level. I’m psyched about Charlotte. I know for a fact that pink bathrooms are being saved as we speak. Life is good.

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Willa’s Wild Life – Baby It’s You

pam kueber — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:00:33 +0000

Grabba second cuppa and watch this wonderful little mid-mod Saturday morning cartoon, sent to use by Jill, who writes:

Hey Pam -
Check out Willa’s Wild Liffe cartoon on Saturday mornings – it’s about a little girl who lives with her dad in a mid-century house – starburst clock, triple window door, very cool. It is on NBC and originally from Canada.

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