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Window treatments for a wall of windows — Sarah asks for our help

Posted by: • February 8, 2012
more-fabric-vertical-blinds-smith-and-noble

Today, let’s throw it open for ideas and suggestions for window treatments for a wall of windows. Home designs incorporating walls of windows were common in midcentury America, especially in midcentury modern ranch houses. However: How to cover the windows from the spooky black hole of night… from fabric-fading ultaviolet rays… or for simple privacy [...]

20 Historic Paint Color Collections — from colonial to 20th century — available today

Posted by: • January 30, 2012
historic paint colors guggenheim collection

Call me authentic or call me lazy, but when looking for a paint color for an historic house, I look first to — historic paint colors. I noticed a variety of one-off stories, but no big list, so I did the research and found 20 historic paint collections available today. The list is dominated by [...]

Inez Croom 1960s wallpaper — 47 designs still in production today

Posted by: • January 26, 2012
vintage-wallpaper-1960s-inez-croom-waterhouse-wallcoverings-reproduction

I am now into my fifth year of blogging daily here at Retro Renovation, and I have to admit: I am astonished that — most often through readers’ help — we together keep uncovering AMAZING designs created by AMAZING people from the postwar era that have received little or no recognition in the design world [...]

Satanic vintage wallpaper, yellow Preway fireplace in 1973 deck house

Posted by: • January 25, 2012
creepy satanic vintage wallpaper

Yikes. Satanic 1970s wallpaper. This is among the strangest things I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure I could keep this in my house, it’s so creepy. But yay on reader Suzanne who will be keeping this … invaluable … original piece of her house. Also see her fab foyer and the school bus yellow vintage Malm Preway [...]

Two starburst stencil projects for your bathroom — including a free pattern

Posted by: • January 23, 2012
stenciled bathroom wall

Trixi and Jon aimed to renovate their 1970s home on a shoestring — it’s the times, you know — and heck, doesn’t it make for a much better story to get all creative rather than just throw lots of money at the problem. In this story, I spotlight two readers who made hand-cut stencils — [...]

Full-length plastic blinds on a patio door

Posted by: • January 5, 2012
Original plastic blinds ona patio door

The other day I showed unusual plastic bathroom window shades original to Todd’s 1960 house. Pretty quick, Anne popped up and provided this photo of the full-length plastic shades covering her patio door. Complete with avocado trim including on the self-valance. I LOVE THIS. It also looks to be in terrific shape. I bet they [...]

New Retro fabrics from Michael Miller

Posted by: • January 5, 2012
retro-fabric

Michael Miller Fabrics (of the beloved Tammis Keefe line) has just launched a bunch of new designs — and their retro patterns could not be sweeter. These fabrics are pretty lightweight — typically meant for quilting — so you can’t upholster with them. But, they would make for lovely aprons, cafe curtains, curtains or valances [...]

Melissa DIY refinishes and reupholsters her 1950s dinette and Cosco high chair: Fabulous!

Posted by: • December 8, 2011
1950s dinette cleaned up and reupholstered -- DIY

Remember this recent story about how to reupholster vintage dinette chairs affordably? Well, reader Melissa used the video shown to tackle doing the upholstery herself — both on the dinette chairs and a vintage Cosco high chair she found for $3.12. Melissa also used steel wool to polish the chrome, and achieved what looks to [...]

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