Retro Renovation

Metanoia suggested this feature on Sears’ Harmony House brand several months ago. Oopsy, my email accounts are out of control so I just surfaced it. It’s wonderful! Metanoia, I haven’t heard from you for a while. How are you? Thank you!
The info below is straight from the Sears brand history website, it’s actually quite cool! [...]

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Fridays are shaping up (informally) to be the day we think about sprucing up our postwar jewel boxes - on the outside. Today, this terrific 60s paint palette from reader Ronn. Not only are the colors great, but the graphics of the paint chips themselves are yummy. Ronn admits, this is a treasure he keeps [...]

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Laura B. sent some fun scans of color combo’s for mid century homes after the post on curb appeal for Sarah in Madison, Wisconsin. Thanks, Laura, these are great especially now that it’s painting weather across the USA.
Hi Pam - Since your blog touched upon curb appeal yesterday, I found this awesome link to Sherwin [...]

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Anne and Gary’s 1959 ranch home in Oregon is a wonderful work in progress and I love checking in with their blog as they settle into their new old classic and continue to make it their own. Currently, they are planning a kitchen update. When I saw their existing kitchen and its layout, I thought [...]

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click to enlarge both images
The smokey gray walls of the living room in a recent post on Chinese Ancestor paintings really struck me as gorgeous — and not something you’d really see a lot of today. The illustration above is from vintage materials - also really beautiful. It would be so easy to put this [...]

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The winter is starting to feel like it will never end, here in western Massachusetts. I am not complaining - it’s very pretty, and the rush of spring is like no other. Even so, it feels like time for a BLAST OF COLOR from the 50s. How exuberant are these 1955 Crawford garage doors? To [...]

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Vintage paint colors are a big issue for virtually everyone, so I’ll start out the new year with these 1950s and 1960s retro paint colors scanned directly from a vintage Sears Harmony House brochure that I bought recently. The scanner does a good job on most of the colors, with the dark pinks and reds [...]

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We watched Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House last night.
A great movie from 1948 with deep social underpinnings — the mass relocation of Americans from city to suburbs — but just as importantly, Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvin Douglas as funny and wonderful as ever.
Check out the Colonial architecture and interiors (and the Woodard patio [...]

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“Vintage_Kitchen” recently wrote to ask about repainting her 60s white steel kitchen cabinets. You can read my answer regarding technique - but I also promised this post with suggestions on paint colors for your mid century kitchen.
Note: Click on photos to enlarge for better color scrutiny!
From all the advertising material that I own, it appears [...]

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Immediately coming out of WWII, colors in American decorating were very sweet, cheerful, optimistic. If you have a 40s or early 50s retro bathroom or kitchen - lucky you! — you can choose from a palette including the delightful shades pictured today.

Aren’t the combo’s put together for the bathroom fabulous? In particular I [...]

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