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

Posted by: • February 8, 2012

window treatments for a wall of windowsToday, 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 from the outdoors?

Sarah is grappling with this exact question and has sent photos from 1961 raised ranch in Vancouver, which appears to have been designed for and still features original window treatments — pinch pleat draperies over pinch pleat sheers, both set on traverse rods. And in most parts of the house, the traverse rods seem to be hidden behind wood valances built into the very architecture of the house. Let’s look at Sarah’s house — which I think is pretty typical — and then let’s talk about options.

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Flocked PBR wallpaper

Posted by: • February 7, 2012

flocked wallpaper of pabst blue ribbon beerIf flocked red PBR wallpaper does not make you fall out of your chair laughing, you scare me. Some more most excellent “flocked wallpaper” humor: HERE.

Tip to using the ebay carousel: To go to a particular item, click on its photo (NOT on the ebay logo) — then, click on the lime green “View and Bid” box, which will take you to ebay. Disclosure: When you buy anything from these ebay carousels or after you click into ebay here, it nets me a teensy commission.

Dozens of New Old Stock 1960s bikinis and mono-kinis found in Salt Lake City

Posted by: • February 7, 2012

New Old Stock 1960s bikinis

On my recent tour of midcentury modern Salt Lake City with Mony Ty, we stopped a lovely downtown vintage clothing store, Misc. Boutique. That’s pronounced “Missy”, like owner Missy Baber, shown above. I did not have a lot of time to shop… I was on a fast-paced photo tour… but my ears perked right up when Missy mentioned her hoard of New Old Stock (NOS) vintage bikinis acquired last summer. Now, my tour was in the dead of winter, January 17, so I was disappointed, but not surprised, when Missy told me, “They are in storage.” But Retro Decorating God good news: Storage meant “downstairs in the basement,” and off she went to get a box of some examples to show us.

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DIY stainless steel countertop: Linn installs a $3,000 countertop for $400

Posted by: • February 7, 2012

DIY stainless steel countertopOver at her blog The Home Project, reader Linn and her husband continue to chronicle the remodel of their adorable bungalow kitchen. Recently, they rolled up their sleeves and installed a stainless steel countertop right over the old, existing laminate countertops. The headline: When first considering the stainless steel countertop option, Linn contacted a big box hardware store and was quoted $150/s.f. for the steel countertop, including installation included. Her countertop is pretty small — just 20 s.f. Even so, that would have added up to a hefty $3,000 kitchen countertop. Researching more options, Linn found a local steel fabrication company that would cut and bend 20 gauge stainless steel to Linn’s exact template — for $400 total.

bungalow kitchen

That is a serious price difference, to put it mildly. So, Linn and her husband figured out how to do the job.. In fact, they make it look pretty in the click here --> step-by-step tutorial on how to measure, prepare for, and install a stainless steel countertop. Nicely done, Linn — you two have mad skills, and the countertop really turned out beautifully. Your little bungalow kitchen, and your little (974 s.f.) jewel box house: simply lovely.

Update: A reader asked, in comments, how I incorporated stainless steel in my kitchen — here’s the video I made about my countertop. The stainless steel and butcher block I added shows starting minute 5:00. See all my stories about ideas for retro kitchen countertops here.

Only your contractor knows for sure: Formica Ideal Edge mimics expensive stone & solid surface countertops with laminate

Posted by: • February 6, 2012

“…Eliminates the final telltale sign of laminate
– the brown line.”

I am a big believer in the idea that the most significant design shifts tend to come from technological breakthroughs. The advance of laminate kitchen countertops — replacing linoleum and wood in most kitchens in the 1950s — came as a result of the very invention of plastic and then, the ability to manufacture it in long thin sheets with colorful designs laminated on to the top layer.

Originally, countertop edges could not be bent or rolled, so that’s why we always see metal edging in early kitchens. Later, around 1957, the countertop industry developed the ability — called thermoforming — to “roll” the edges and the backsplash in one continuous piece, eliminating the need for metal edging and introducing a big shift in the way kitchens looked. Homeowners who didn’t choose rolled edges chose flat edges, and metal edging faded from use.

Now… 2012… we have another advance: Formica this week is introducing new laminate edging technology that allows us to have more intricate “ogee” or “bullnose” edging profiles on our Formica countertops — complete eliminating the tell-tale brown line that comes from a typical 90-degree edge. And, their new “Ideal Edge” — in these two curvy two designs — can go all the way around corners and ends, adapting to any cabinet or turn-the-corner configuration.

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74 midcentury modern houses in Salt Lake City – driving tour with Mony Ty

Posted by: • February 6, 2012

midcentury modern salt lake city


Midcentury modern houses galore in Salt Lake City… Serene, uncongested neighborhoods that read, to me, like the Southern California utopia of the 1960s:  Oh my gosh, who knew? I was recently in Salt Lake City for a blogging conference and arrived a day early to take up real estate agent Mony Ty’s gracious offer of a driving tour of Salt Lake City’s midcentury modern neighborhoods. Ten years ago, Mony began specializing in midcentury modern real estate. You will recall, we first “met” him, when he gave me permission to feature his photos of Dean Gustavson’s 1957 time capsule house with a private observatory. During our afternoon together I learned that, today, Mony has curated a rolodex (remember those?) of about 1,000 notable examples of midcentury modern houses in Salt Lake City. And his standards are tougher than mine — I am betting that if you include all the cute midcentury modests and kitschy moderns, we are talking, what?, 10,000 fantastic midcentury houses, all cloistered in very drivable neighborhoods. Mony and I drove around for about four hours on a cold, kind of cloudy January day (great for taking photos). The mid mod houses went on and on and one — just like the cold clear beautiful mountain desert sky.

My overall impression: Amazement. I was born and raised in Southern California in the 1960s — Carlsbad, Oceanside and Vista, it hardly got any better. And to me, 40 years later, these Salt Lake City neighborhoods — and their overall easy, expansive feel — remind me of those early Southern California days, before SoCal became overrun with freeways, endless subdivisions and smog. These eminently “collectible” midcentury houses in SLC also seem to be way way cheaper. And they are Gorgeous.

Mony drove me through three Salt Lake City neighborhoods built in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It was house after house after house after house of beautiful, generally unremuddled midcentury loveliness, modern and “modest” alike.

notice the roofline!

Every style and detail you could possible imagine — international, MCM, prairie Frank Lloyd Wright, colonial, cape, storybook ranch, Cliff May ranch, flat roof, butterfly roof, ski jump roof… on and on it goes it terms of ideas and inspiration straight from the way-back-midcentury-time-machine. I jumped online to see if I could read about this seemingly rapid-fire build up of gorgeous midcentury modern homes in Salt Lake Cities in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s — but I could find no articles. I’d love to include a link here, if someone can find one. I am so curious: Why so many gorgeous examples?

I’ll say it again: The midcentury houses went on and on — just like the cold clear beautiful mountain desert sky. I took 300 photos. 81 presented today –>

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Lug-A-Ture — 1950s bedroom dresser that converts to four suitcases

Posted by: • February 5, 2012

Remember the table that Laura made from a vintage suitcase?

All across DIY-land, you see crafty 2012 folk making things out of vintage suitcases: end tables (remember Laura’s?), dog beds and recently I saw wall shelves. But our grandparents were already well ahead when it came to innovating with suitcase conversions. LoOk: Here is a true, vintage tall dresser made from suitcases — which converts to usable suitcases. In fact, the piece is branded “Lug-A-Ture“, according to reader Cindy, who spotted it in an antique shop and good girl, had her camera handy to report back. “Lug-A-Ture” — get it? — “Furni-Ture” that you can you can break apart and use as luggage when you need to get a move on. Cindy writes:

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Kate installs a new electric cooktop, plus news from Eartha Kitsch, Mr. Modtomic, and Mark and Cara at Our Art & Crafts House

Posted by: • February 4, 2012

electric cooktopWhat has our Retro Tribe been up to this week, and recently? I cruised around all the midcentury house blogs listed on my blogroll, and found some inspiring stories — readers completing projects, getting crafty and generally loving the house they’re in. Above: Kate gets supa props for doing regular postings on her blog Retro Ranch Revamp. This past week: great job on (1) watching and then pouncing for GE electric cooktop on sale and then (2) installing it to replace the worn glass-top model remuddled into the space years prior. Yup: Great retro style, and impressive DIY skills including a spotlight on safety.

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