I want SF Troy to come over to my house and reorganize all my collections. He’s moved into a new house — a vintage Eichler, ooh la la. I’ll have another post that tells and shows all, but meanwhile, here’s a sneak peek at his collections and how he’s displayed them all, just four months into the new space. Whimsy! Color! Massing! Yup, this boy knows how to do it, all right.

Welcome, frends.  15 great photos in all.

Note globes. Are those Masketeers birdies? Note Monsterosa Deliciosa.

Nice.

Please explain, Troy. From airports?

Sunscreen Bob and Suntan Bob in their kitchen habitat. Troy – how is it that the vacation platters are ‘nested’ behind the backsplash? Did you put in a new countertop and design it that way? What is the countertop? Glad to see you kept the original cabinets and gas rangetop. I recently learned that the world will not stop revolving on its axis (or whatever) if we do not all have Viking Ranges.

What the? Photos of noodles in the half bath. Okay. See? Put three, six or nine of ANYTHING together and you have an artful statement. Troy, how long did it take you to get these tic-tac-toe organized just right? When you place your collections do you stress out just like the rest of most of humanity, or do you “see it” immediately. If the latter, do not answer the question or I might have to hate you.

Umm, why do I think that this photo will launch a run of macrame owl sales on etsy.com for the next year solid? I know I wanna. However, and you know I rarely say this sort of thing: That horse head pillow scares me. Too godfather. But yowza, that rug!

1972 New York City subway maps make it clear just how pretty our lives can be through the magic of design.

The PBN dog collection’s new home. (Here they were…

… in Troy’s old apartment.

A goodly dose granny ranch is essential no matter how mid-century modern you get. Cozy comfy crocheted afghans, my favorite.

My oh my oh my oh my. I want to marry you, Troy. Alas, we live on separate coasts and oh yeah, there’s that thing about the fact I’m already married, and quite happily actually. Next time.

Troy on the move. Thank you, Troy, for sharing. I will be coming back to you with some questions, and readers, there are lots more photos, for another post. Thanks for giving me this scoop! xoxo

Note to readers: Also be sure to see this post on Troy’s collection of vintage airline bags.

Viewing tip: Click on first image, it will enlarge, and you can progress through the complete slide show from there.

 

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We know about taking the road less traveled. To me, doing things the hard way has the same allure. The hunt for the perfect estate sale light fixture, the set of vintage cabinets that are just right, the document wallpaper that pulls things all together.

Honestly, the reason this blog even exists is that after completing big projects, I had so much info in my mental hard drive about the retro renovation alternatives available — all obsessively and endlessly researched — that it seemed a shame to simply be done with it when my projects were completed.

But the dangers of the hard way came into focus this week, when I pulled Palm Springs Stephan into the vortex.

A week ago Friday night I spotted the brand new, mint in box, never installed set of circa 1958 bathroom fixtures in this exact photo, on a forum. They’d just been posted. Hot! I happened to be emailing a bit with Stephan, and knew he was working on a bathroom reno.

Long story short, he was very excited about the prospect of pink fixtures and spent hours back-and-forth with the seller in Cheyenne, Wyoming, trying to certify the exact color, before he sent a certified check. Hours with a tile store to coordinate tile. Planned to switch the plumbing. Worked out shipping. At one point thought it was a done deal. Ultimately, though, the color didn’t pan out for him, and it’s back to plan A.

The moral of the story is — I guess — to know thyself. If you really truly want very special retro finds to complete your renovation vision, it’s gonna be a roller coaster. Requiring patience, tenacity, and a belief that once you put your vibes out there, the retro decorating gods will send you what you need. If you think that sounds fun — so then, will be doing it the hard way.

P.S. Anyone within driving distance of Cheyenne, Wyoming, interested in a set of brand new, mint in box, never been installed Crane bathroom fixtures? Tub, toilet with really cool seat, sink with chrome legs/towel bar, lav faucet, tub faucet. $1000. Email Gary, who seems very nice and appreciative of them, at: [item sold]. He can give you the whole story, which begins in North Dakota.

Oh yeah. They’re not really pink. They’re beige. Or taupe. Or a sandy pinky beigey taupe. Something like that. Buckle up.

This post was originally published Dec. 9, 2007, then again on Jan. 4, 2008.

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This is a RetroRenovation rerun originally published Nov. 9, 2008.

10. Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It’s not a lamp, but a “lamp”; not a woman, but a “woman.” To perceive Camp in objects and persons is to understand Being-as-Playing-a-Role. It is the farthest extension, in sensibility, of the metaphor of life as theater.

- Susan Sontag, Notes on “Camp”, 1964

Dan the Man at the Houston Architecture Info Forum recently linked to RetroRenovation.com with the following comment:

Here’s a neat blog on mid-century residential design. It tends towards the kitsch, but it recommends many resources and materials for appropriate renovations…

While I am truly grateful for the reco, I found myself reacting harshly at being called “kitsch” and the disparaging connotation. Hmmm. So what is kitsch…and should I care at being lumped in? I went over to Wikipedia to study etymology…

Of course, there was lots of discussion about avante-garde art and capitalist oppression of the masses… as expected. What really caught my attention, though, was this PostModern update, which to my mind,  confirms that this blog is not kitsch – it’s camp. Of this – I am proud!  Here’s more explanation for your Sunday Magazine reading. Warning: please caffeinate first, this is very “deep”:

With the emergence of Postmodernism in the 1980s, the borders between kitsch and high art became blurred again. One development was the approval of what is called “camp taste” – which can be related to but is not the same as Camp as a “gay sensibility.”^[2] Camp, in some circles, refers to an ironic appreciation of that which might otherwise be considered corny, such as singer/dancer Carmen Miranda with her tutti-frutti hats, or otherwise kitsch, such as popular culture events which are particularly dated or inappropriately serious, such as the low-budget science fiction movies of the 1950s and 60s. A hypothetical example from the world of painting would be a kitsch image of a deer by the lake. In order to make this Camp, one could paint a sign beside it, saying “No Swimming”. The majestical or romantic impression of a stately animal would be punctured through humour; the notion of an animal receiving a punishment for the breach of the rule is patently ludicrous. The original, serious sentimentality of the motif is neutralized, and thus it becomes Camp. Kitsch is never ironic. “Camp” is derived from the French slang term camper, which means “to pose in an exaggerated fashion.” Susan Sontag argued in her 1964 Notes on “Camp” that camp was an attraction to the human qualities which expressed themselves in “failed attempts at seriousness,” the qualities of having a particular and unique style and of reflecting the sensibilities of the era. It involved an aesthetic of artifice rather than of nature. Indeed, hard-line supporters of camp culture have long insisted that “camp is a lie that dares to tell the truth.”

More… on Susan Sontag and her role in all of this:

“Notes On “Camp”” is a well-known essay by Susan Sontag organized around 58 numbered theses. It was published in 1964 and was the author’s first contribution to the Partisan Review. The essay created a literary sensation and brought Sontag her first brush with intellectual notoriety. It was published in 1966 in book form in Sontag’s debut collection of essays, Against Interpretation (ISBN 0-87052-352-X).

The essay codified and mainstreamed the cultural connotations of the word camp, and identified camp’s evolution as a distinct aesthetic phenomenon.

Quotations

Indeed the essence of Camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration. And Camp is esoteric — something of a private code, a badge of identity even, among small urban cliques.

9. Camp taste draws on a mostly unacknowledged truth of taste: the most refined form of sexual attractiveness (as well as the most refined form of sexual pleasure) consists in going against the grain of one’s sex. What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.

10. Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It’s not a lamp, but a “lamp”; not a woman, but a “woman.” To perceive Camp in objects and persons is to understand Being-as-Playing-a-Role. It is the farthest extension, in sensibility, of the metaphor of life as theater. [ Yes!]

18. One must distinguish between naïve and deliberate Camp. Pure Camp is always naïve. Camp which knows itself to be Camp (“camping”) is usually less satisfying.

41. The whole point of Camp is to dethrone the serious. Camp is playful, anti-serious. More precisely, Camp involves a new, more complex relation to “the serious.” One can be serious about the frivolous, frivolous about the serious. ["Yes!"]

44. Camp proposes a comic vision of the world. But not a bitter or polemical comedy. If tragedy is an experience of hyperinvolvement, comedy is an experience of underinvolvement, of detachment.

[Update: Dan the Man actually saw this post and emailed me to say he kind of just used the term casually. No insult intended. In any case, it was fun to explore the difference between camp and kitsch...]

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I think that we all pretty much know what “mid-century modern” design is all about, at least in its popular incarnation. There is an entire philosophy behind it, but in short, it’s typified today by sleek and futuristic designs like Saarinen tulip chairs, $6000 Eames lounges, and experimental-shaped, high-ceiling, loft-like contemporary homes. The irony is that while mid-century modern design came out a kind of communist “internationalist” ethic aiming to make housing more accessible to the masses, it can actually be out of reach. As you know, I like to call it “high falutin’ mid-century modern design” in recognition that authentic licensed designs are very expensive.

My new term, Mid-century Modest, recognizes the fact that while there may have been 1 million mid-century modern homes built in postwar America, there were about 29 million Mid-Century Modest homes. And, while Americans may have had a progressive social and economic outlook, they tended toward the conservative in their homes. In all these years, nothing quite says “stable and affluent” in the U.S. of A. like a center entrance Colonial. That’s why we see so many Early American elements both inside and outside our postwar homes. Finally, while some pundits today consider the vernacular mass-market postwar design all too “kitsch” and pretty much spit on the idea of “tract” houses and all they stood/stand for, I say: Let’s celebrate Mid-century Modest, too – because this era of American housing and all it encompassed were really quite fascinating and special.

So, that said, here is a first draft of my “Mid-Century Modest Manifesto”:

The Mid-Century Modest Manifesto

NO QUESTION, we love Mid-Century Modern homes,
the high falutin’ designer kind.
BUT IN POSTWAR AMERICA, while we built
maybe 1 million mid-century moderns –
we built some 29 million Mid-Century Modest homes.
MID-CENTURY MODEST:
Mainstream. Main Street. Mass produced. Middle Class homes.
ROYAL BARRY WILLS Cape Cods at one end of the architectural spectrum.
CLIFF MAY Ranches on the other.
AND OVER THE NEXT 30 YEARS –
a gazillion prosaic, vernacular melting-pot variations in between.
MID-CENTURY MODEST HOMES ARE: Small –
1,000 square feet for many years running.
“SMALL” TODAY– but to their owners starting in 1946,
they were the culmination of the American Dream.
Following years of economic Depression and WWII,
these little homes were an amazing gift.
HOW DO WE LOVE THEE, Mid-Century Modest homes?
Let us count the ways…

• Built with love and immense gratitude.
• Wonderful features – pastel bathrooms, fitted kitchens, livable layouts.
• Knotty pine paneling – installed by Gramps.
• Lots of ingenious Americana
  like Nutone exhaust fans, Hall-Mack Tow’lscopes, and Dishmasters.
• Wallpaper and pinch pleats and pull-down kitchen lights.
• Boomerang cabinet pulls and wagon wheel lights and braided rugs.
• Indoor plumbing.
• Unpretentious. Exuberant. The first taste of true material comfort
  for many millions of people.
• Our houses have stories…
  Stories about the beginning of a new American era still playing out today.
• Did I mention small? Yes. But small is — green.
• Small is quite often: “enough.”

THERE IS MUCH TO APPRECIATE in our Mid-Century Modest homes.
And certainly nothing to apologize for.
GRANITE countertops? Who needs ‘em, especially when they come with
a home equity loan that stresses our family finances beyond our limits.
What silliness. What Insanity.
SHHHH! Don’t tell anyone, but our Mid-Century Modest homes,
because they are so unpretentious by today’s standards,
can be much more affordable to buy and to renovate.
RETRO RENOVATION is very much about the “Re”:
Reduce. Re-Use. Recycle. Restore. Re-Store.
Returning to the source of “The American Dream”…
And in the process, re-thinking what we want it to mean for us today.
OH YEAH, and Retro style has a happiness-quotient that is off the charts.
WE LOVE our Mid-Century Modest homes
in all their glorious simplicity and optimism,
and cherish the opportunity to safeguard their history and heritage.
That’s the: Mid-Century Modest Manifesto.

Copyright © RetroRenovation.com 2009

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The post about Madison Sarah and her hunt for a 50s or 60s home drew lots of comments, including a lovely note from Sumac Sue, aka Judi, of Lexington, Kentucky. Her comments were really moving, so I asked her if I could make a post out of them – and asked if she could send pictures to go with. She kindly did, and even added some more info at my request. A long post – but well worth the time to read and think about. Sumac Sue is a former newspaper reporter – so the girl can turn a phrase! Maybe other readers have similar stories about their neighborhoods that they would like to share? Send in your stories and your “walking tour” photos and I’d be happy to make this a regular feature. Thank you, Judi (Sumac Sue), for getting this started!

With so much emphasis on gizmos and gadgets and other facets or retro interior decorating, I really hadn’t thought much about how simple the facades are on most mid-century homes. I find our house, and the houses in our neighborhood of modest, mostly one-story brick ranches, to be sort of sturdy and cute, like freckle-faced boys. It’s a look I find appealing.

But, if someone like Madison Sarah wants a bit more oomph, then maybe she could try an approach such as looking for a house with a really pronounced modern style, such as Anne and Gary’s house, which has been mentioned on this site. Sure, it has some flatness to it, but, it has angles and overhangs and lots of glass, which makes it cool.

If Madison Sarah can’t find a house like that, then, my only other suggestion is to try to think of the mid-century houses not as a look, but, as a way of life. Sounds cliched, I know, but, we have found that living in our ‘59 ranch, in our ‘59 era neighborhood, to be really pleasant.

We weren’t really looking for a mid-century house when we found this one. We were looking for a house that was well built, of good materials, one that would be pretty easy to maintain, and one that was in a neighborhood that would be a pleasant place to walk with our dog in the evenings. And, we had a tight budget, but we wanted at least 1.5 bathrooms. So, we found our house in a nice neighborhood of 1,000 to 1,500 square-foot houses, most with carports or garages. Some have basements, but ours has a roomy, dry crawlspace — either way, they are all easy to get under to work on plumbing, the furnace, etc. (A previous house had virtually no crawlspace, and we had to scoot on our stomachs in the damp dirt. No more of that!) Houses this size are pretty easy to care for, and the utilities aren’t outrageous.

Like many such mid-century neighborhoods, ours includes a shopping area with a grocery store, bank, post office, and some other stores. We have enjoyed being able to walk to this shopping area, and now that gas prices have risen so much, we like it even more.

I can’t speak for other such neighborhoods, but ours is really stable. People buy these houses and hold onto them. We still have four people on our little street who are the original owners of their houses! They are all in their 80s. We bought our house last summer from the original owner, who was 86. We joke that these houses are good for your health, because people live so long in them.

But, maybe it is no joke — they really are nice places to live. We are in our 50s, and there are other middle-aged people on the street, and there are a few young couples with kids. The ones we have met have said the same thing as us — they moved here because they were looking for a well-built house. They also say they didn’t want to buy a cheaply built new house way out on the edge of town.

Our neighborhood is called Gardenside — doesn’t that just sound like a nice place to live? Madison Sarah, I hope you find a nice place to live, too.

I know I’ve gushed on about our neighborhood like a real estate agent with too many houses to unload. The thing I want to stress is, like you, we really weren’t looking for a mid-century house, but it has worked out really well for us, much better than expected.

We once lived in a quaint 1910 era frame house, but it was hard to maintain, and closer to downtown and the university, so traffic was terrible. We then bought some land in the country with a mobile home on it. We wanted to build a farmhouse or cabin. But traffic was terrible there too! All of those other city people moving to the country just like us, causing so much traffic on the winding rural roads. We just couldn’t commit to building a house there and putting up with the traffic forever. It seemed pretty nutty — so wasteful of time and resources. When Wayne changed jobs and his commute got even longer, that’s when we decided to move back into town.

I had once lived in a 1970s era suburb, and it was OK. I admit, we were a bit like Madison Sarah when we started looking at houses in the suburbs. We thought of them as being sort of boring. But the main thing we wanted was a well-built house — after living in an elderly cottage, and then a mobile home, we wanted a house that didn’t have something breaking every other day! A mid-century house fit the bill. And you know, we have not found one other house in the whole neighborhood just like ours. So, it’s really not boring, it’s unique!

I just wanted to let Madison Sarah know that living in a mid-century house was more than just about the facade of one particular house — at least that is what I am finding out. We love living here not just because of our particular house, but because the whole neighborhood is a nice place to be. Our house, and the entire neighborhood, is built on a scale that seems so liveable.

When we walk our dog, in a few blocks we get onto some streets of bigger houses, from about 1,800 to 3,000 square feet. (I was a bit incorrect when I said our neighborhood was 1,000 to 1,500 sf houses — that’s the size of most of the houses on the streets right around our house. But there are many larger houses within the Gardenside neighborhood.) These larger houses, ranches, split levels, Cape Cods, and two-story Colonials, were built in the late 50s to late 60s. We have crushes on several of these beauties. They still are built on a scale that seems right.

THEN we can walk into a neighborhood of brand new homes — some over 6,000 square feet, with half-million to million-dollar price tags. We feel like the Monty Python knights approaching a castle when we venture into that neighborhood! We always are happy to walk back to our street.

Hope this extra information is helpful, and doesn’t bog you down. I know you are busy…. knowing you also have family, career, and your house to tend to. So, I am happy to pitch in with some material for you. Maybe you could start a semi-regular neighborhoods feature, and others can send in photos of their communities. I think it would be a hit. But you know, we love it all, whatever you do!

I hope I got the right descriptions with the right photos — I’m having to hurry because I need to go get some pine mulch from a neighbor who offered it to me. Another reason it is nice to live here. I think because the place is on a nice scale, people actually see each other and visit and share things.

Judi

This post originally ran on April 28, 2008

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In this RetroRenovation classic re-run from April 2008, Madison Sarah writes to express her concern about midcentury homes lacking curb appeal. She is looking to buy a new/old home. I share my advice on what to look for when shopping for a home, and also how we handled starting out with a house whose curb appeal had most definitely faded.

Madison Sarah writes:

Hi Pam,

First of all, I have to say how much I love your site. It has helped me move from a rabid collector of retro lamps into someone obsessed with finding the perfect 60s house (and thus giving up my lovely, but labor-intensive, Arts & Crafts home that I have slaved over for six years).

My problem is this: I hate the exteriors of most of the houses I am looking at! Whether it’s the flat facade, with the windows and door and garage all in a row, or the cliched colonial brick-and-shutters motif (sometimes with a weathervane on the garage for an extra touch), just can’t see the curb appeal. Do you have any advice on how to either learn to live with the exteriors of these houses, or to enhance them in such a way that they look more interesting?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Sarah (Madison, WI)

Thank you, Sarah. Wisconsin is another of my favorite places – I went to college in Milwaukee. That is one cold place. I heard that this year, it snowed EVERY SINGLE day of the winter. You are hearty souls indeed.

Okay, so, the exteriors of modest postwar homes. Here are my thoughts:

You know, many of these homes are quite plain. In the first five years after WWII, issues like ‘curb appeal’ were quite secondary considering the incredible demand for functional housing coupled with the very modest tastes following 20 years of economic deprivation. Quite opposite today – people had to be pried loose from their wallets, they were still so concerned following those depression years.

By about 1953, though, we began to relax into affluence and real consumerism kicked in, bringing with it a design flair that emanated from (1) Modernism and California Cool and/or (2) neo-Colonial-revival inspiration. The preference for both of these styles came out of the post-WWII desire to invent an authentic American look. While at the opposite ends of the spectrum, one reaches to our possible future, while the other harkens to our historic past.

Now – whether you like the looks of these homes is a matter of personal taste. And it’s a taste than can evolve out of appreciation and understanding.

When we found our 1951 colonial-ranch here in Lenox, Mass., seven years ago – buying retro had not been on our radar at all. We wanted a quaint New England farmhouse. Fortunately, as it turned out, the house has been great – and inspired this great passion I now have.

Initially, our home’s exterior was…pretty awful. In my opinion the trim paint did nothing for the exterior, the trees and shrubs were overgrown… there was a lack of decorative punch. People used to come inside the house – and act surprised at how nice it was – because from the outside, it appeared so “innocuous.” In fact, I came to like this fact. It kind of played to my rebelliousness about “not keeping up with the Joneses.” In fact, this unpretentiousness is basic to the mid-century design ethic. Excess ornamentation is not functional – and it also costs unnecessary money, which would put these homes a little farther out of reach. Simpler=Democratic.

Even so, over the years we made a number of changes to our house that made it much more pleasant, and today the house has really nice – colonial – curb appeal. It was kind of like the ugly duckling that we turned into a swan.

So, what to look for, in your house hunt?

1. My #1 tip when it comes to buying a house: Location, location, location, like the realtors say. That includes, good feng shui, in particular: No roads “pointing” into your house, if possible. Someday you will likely want to sell. Not only will best location make it be easier to sell, but your investment will have compounded at a much nicer clip. And, it will be a nicer place to live in the meantime. If at all possible, I would not compromise on location; hold out.
2. After that – look for an interior that has the right scale and room flow. Is it truly truly livable? Can you imagine using each of the spaces to its fullest possible extent?
3. If possible, original kitchen, bathroom, floors, windows – etc. Un-remuddled, and of good quality. Yes, you know I am a fan of time capsules! If original features are of good quality – and if they are safe and environmentally sound (always know what you are living/working with) – they are gems and will save you tons of money in renovation costs. (If you find these time capsule features, do NOT act excited. Most people are not like us. Use this as a negotiating lever, like, furrow your eyebrows and say worriedly, “Well I kind of like it but, oh my gosh, that kitchen hasn’t had any updates since the day they moved in…hmmm”).
4. And of course – a price that is fair considering all these factors.

If these four factors are right – you should be jumping up and down in the foyer with excitement.  In your head, not in front of the real estate agent.

The look of the exterior would be at least this far down my list – probably farther. Because anything cosmetic — is fixable.

I jumped on Realtor.com for Madison, and found several homes, all under $200,000, that looked like nice examples of the era. Of course, I can’t weigh on location, #1. But the four homes I show here all have exterior charm that looks workable – and several of them have “one owner for 35 years” or “needs TLC and/or updating” — codewords to me that there may be original stuff inside.

Over the next while, I’ll do some more posts on ways to spruce up an exterior. Now that it’s spring is here in the north, the time is right!

I hope this helps, Sarah. I’m a big believer in truly loving your house. I hope you find the one that’s right for you. Keep up apprised of how your hunt goes!

Epilogue: Sarah contacted me a few months later and said she’d found a house she was happy with — and was loving her new neighborhood.

This post has been updated from the original, which ran on April 15, 2008.

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Kevin in North Carolina — one of our readers — has amazed the retroblogospher by solving the “Sister Mystery” within 24 hours. I asked him how he did it, and here is his story – which is now a part of Maureen and Noreene Everett’s story:

Hi, Pam, it’s nice to finally meet you firsthand.

I’m just thankful I could help find out who the sisters were. Like most of the other people who saw Maurine and Noreene’s pictures, their obvious love for each other and for life struck a chord in me, and the mystery of the whole collection and how the photographs ended up on eBay intrigued me. History, genealogy, and preservation are some of my passions, and it saddens me to see once valuable possessions being sold off or destroyed and losing their original meaning. Fortunately, Roz gave the photos a new meaning to be shared by so many who never even knew the sisters.

Kevin continues:

I wanted to know who the sisters were, so I checked out all of the comments about the sisters on your site, The Sister Project, and Flickr, and saw there were no updates, so I took on the challenge myself. I really didn’t know how much luck I would have, and I never thought in a million years that I would have found their yearbook photos online, but once I found them in the census records it all fell into place. There’s still a lot that’s left unanswered, but at least it’s a starting point. One detail I don’t think was mentioned was that the sisters were raised by their mother and stepfather, Ina Hay and Rucker Everett, but their birth names were Maurine and Noreene Howard, which was a nice coincidence. It really would be something if the twins and I were related, but I doubt it since Howard’s such a common surname.

[I also asked him how he came upon Retro Renovation...] As for how I came about your site, I hope to get my grandparents’ late 1920’s bungalow (nothing very fancy) and restore it, so I was on Flickr looking at vintage linoleum ads and trying to get a feel of the layout of rooms in the 1920s and 1930s. I saw your geranium comments which led to your Flickr site and groups and ultimately to your blog. I’ve been checking in since then to see your updates because I really like midcentury style (furniture, appliances, patterns, etc.) and historic preservation (I share a similar distaste for granite countertops and HGTV’s habit of “updating” any house they set foot into). I also just like to get inspiration for any future projects I may come across. You have a really all-around great blog.

I’ll try to wrap up with a little about me. I work with my parents and sister on our farm in North Carolina. We also have greenhouses and were planting geraniums for the spring today. I majored in Southern Studies in college, dabbled in archaeology, and interned with a historic preservation group before I came back to the farm. Right now I’m just trying to clear out my yard (it’s pretty overgrown) and get some gardens going. And like I said before, my big goal is to eventually restore my grandparents’ house as a model working farmstead. Also, I hope to one day (probably a year or so) start my own blog about the farm, restoration, life around here, etc.  I know I’ll do one when I can start restoring the house, because preservation needs all the publicity it can get, and I’ll definitely send you a link when I get it going, if you’d like.  I’m still trying to get my office/library/studio fixed up before I can start working on any projects like that.

I know that was way too much information, but maybe there’s something interesting in all of that. Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to know, and I’ll keep it shorter next time.

Kevin

Kevin, are you kidding, you are just amazing and I could read what you write all day long. Thank you, and don’t wait too long to start that blog.

• Readers, there’s also more at TheSisterProject.com, where the mystery was first published.
• And see all the original photos here, at writer-artist Roz Liebowitz’s flickr photostream.

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This rerun is for Sara, who is looking for a ranch house design to build. I originally ran this post back in spring 2008. Source for this design is the Small House Planning Bureau, St. Cloud, Minn. Year: No info.

“Not another one! Yes, another thing that I’m becoming obsessed with – collecting and then for hours, scrutinizing, vintage 50s house plans. It’s sort of like — the quest for Eldorado. The quest for the perfect little jewel box. Not that my house isn’t great. But I am intrigued to see if I can discover the perfect 50s house in the most compact footprint. I have these criteria, the house must have: 

• Two full bathrooms – honestly, I know that legions of Americans lived with one, but that is where I draw the line.
• Foyer with adjacent coat closet – Foyers always get cluttered and then there’s the whole muddy boots thing. So, this must be a clearly defined area with handy storage.
• Mudroom – Same as above with the addition that the mudroom must be between the garage and kitchen so that all junk can be left in this ante-way with a door to close behind it.
• Good kitchen layout – I know it when I see it.
• Dining room or area must also be well designed. If there’s a dining room – it needs to be in a flow where it can/will actually be used every day.
• One, not two, front doors — It is very bad feng shui to have two doors (e.g. one main door, one visible into kitchen or mudroom) visible to the street. Like, the energy does not know where to enter.

On virtually all other counts — exterior design, layout, size of rooms — hey, I’m flexible! Here is my first pretty darn close to perfect home, discovered after a few hours of staring intently at a new stash of home plans. I’m telling you – hours of cheap and wholesome fun!

This house gains points for:

• Utility/mudroom/lav off the back of the garage leading to the kitchen. Washer/dryer – right there.
• Twoand a half baths.
• Kitchen is nicely done, great flow to family room.
• Bedrooms are small but that’s okay.
• Foyer close enough, coat closet a little far from the action, but okey.
• And (shown in original image at top, and below): Nice curb appeal

Loses points for:

• Kind of big — but pretty darn well-done for 1625 s.f.! From a book of four-bedroom plans. Which is what makes all this stuff fit!
• I don’t honestly think 20′ wide will do for a two-car garage, would have to be bigger, in reality.

Honestly, I think my quest will be complete when I find a 2 BR 2 BA 1,200 s.f. winner. But the more I look at this particular home design – the more I think, it’s a really really good one – especially considering that it is 4 BR. Stay tuned, the quest continues.

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A vintage Magic Chef range used only 28 times since 1955… a pristine pink bathroom… and more “frozen in time” features in this amazing time capsule house in St. Louis…The owners only ever lived downstairs! Thanks to Meredith and her connections for spotting it and sending it right in. Real estate agent Christopher Thiemet reports that the original listing agent interviewed had advised the sellers to gut-and-renovate-ala-2009 before selling the house. He saw the gem this was and advised otherwise. Thank heavens they listened. Christopher sold the house faster than the speed of light and before it was officially listed – to a buyer who bought the whole thing kit, kaboodle, furniture – and clothes hanging in the closets. Hurray.

Read on for the story – and be sure to see even more photos at  Christopher’s excellent website here.

I am also reminded of this post – another family whose virtually unused kitchen was put in a museum. From the listing:

Circa 1955: The best way to describe this awesome find? “NEW CONSTRUCTION FROM 1955!”

This awesome 50’s bungalow, located on a quiet, cul-de-sac street on the Hill, has seriously never been lived in… at least on the main level. This ONE-OWNER home was resided only in the lower level during their stay here, so the main level has been frozen in time and perfectly preserved. The vintage Magic Chef gas oven had a head-count of 28 turkeys cooked in it for 28 Thanksgivings — that’s IT. The other meals prepared in this home were in the lower level kitchenette, where the family resided full-time. The quality of the 50’s shows, as everything is in great working order, the original wooden sash windows are in perfect shape, the tile is impeccable, the hardwoods are pristine (they’re there under the wool carpet)… the list goes on and on. There is an entry foyer, large living/dining combo, large eat-in kitchen, 2 bedrooms with hardwood floors and double (large!) closets, and bath on the main level. Downstairs, you could eat off the floor it’s so clean, and features an additional full bath (offered as-is). The yard is neat and tidy, and fully fenced, and has a 2-car garage with electric opener. Newer low-maintenance siding has been added to the home.

Offered for 129,900 — seller open to negotiatng furniture/furnishings to remain. Truly one of a kind to find. WILL NOT LAST

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As part of my trip to Louisville last week, I visited the home of the Dishmaster – a fun road trip to Mitchell, Indiana.

From Dishmaster factory, Mitchell, Indiana

Roger Swayer, owner of the company that makes this wonderful authentic retro kitchen faucet, gave my mom Fran and me a tour, told us how he ended up the caretaker of this amazing brand, and then took us for wonderful lunch at the nearby Spring Mill Inn, where we also met his wife Millie.

From Dishmaster factory, Mitchell, Indiana

From Dishmaster factory, Mitchell, Indiana

The factory is a small operation – with lots of personal attention to the production of each Dishmaster faucet. There are six employees in this subsidiary of the business – including Sharon, above.

From Dishmaster factory, Mitchell, Indiana

Nearby, Sam was fabricating Dishmaster brushes – on a machine that has been in continuous use since 1948! Roger and Sam explain that it can be finicky, especially after the lunch break – but it gets the job done just as good as ever once it gets going.

From Dishmaster factory, Mitchell, Indiana

The steps to make the Dishmaster are mapped out on the wall. Every single unit is quality-tested by an employee.

From Dishmaster factory, Mitchell, Indiana

How did Roger and SilverStream LLC end up with the Dishmaster? Roger explained that the Dishmaster got its start in Pontiac, Michigan. The inventor/owner also had a place in Southern California. So the faucet was successfully marketed in those locations, in particular. Then, as Dishmaster owners – who are exceedingly loyal – retired to Florida, Arizona and Nevada, they took the faucets with them, literally and figuratively. The early models, Roger points out, look like Studebakers, and you can still see the Michigan/automotive influence in the M76  models today.

From Dishmaster factory, Mitchell, Indiana

Roger’s company SilverStream LLC acquired the original Dishmaster company in 2004, after seeing it advertised for sale in a trade publication. SilverStream had previously manufactured and sold bathroom fixtures – under the brand name Indiana Brass Co. – but they eventually had to exit the business as the mainstream fixture market moved to Asia. They had been looking for something unique to fill the gap – and are seeking to give the Dishmaster brand a whole new lease on life.

From Dishmaster factory, Mitchell, Indiana

At the end of the tour, Roger even showed me all these mint-in-box, new-old-stock Dishmaster faceplates from history, bought up with the factory and tooling four years ago. Guess what I came home with.

• Want to buy American?
• Want authentic retro?
• Want to save water, detergent and energy?
• Want to make after-dinner clean up fun?
• You know where to get a Dishmaster of your very own!

Thanks so much to Roger, Millie – and Ronda, my key contact at SilverStream LLC – for their exceedingly kind southern hospitality!!!

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