Products and ideas to remodel your mid century home in authentic vintage style
Your daily dose of midcentury remodeling resources…
home design inspiration… thrifty finds… and a generous
community of people passionate about their vintage and
postwar homes – “modern” and “modest” alike.
I'm Pam Kueber, your mid mod mad guide. Read more
Here are some basic recommendations for paint colors with a mid century feel. Important: We all care very much about managing environmental and safety issues properly, so when undertaking your restoration project, be sure to familiarize yourself with and use recommended best practices. For example, the EPA hosts a website on lead in the home and a website on asbestos in the home. Consult professionals regarding these materials, and also about the proper disposal of debris, etc.
Where to find speckled gold laminate? Also called “lame” (with an accent on the “e”, as in “lam-ae.”) A typical reader question, like this one: Hello – I really hope you can help me. I have been searching for weeks with no luck. I have an old trailer from the 50′s and need to replace [...]
Over 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 [...]
Reader Sarah successfully removed a layer of more modern laminate from her yummy gold-speckled mid-century laminate beneath. She wrote about her experience — and the products she used — on her blog, Sarahs’ Blue Castle. But before you jump over there, take a look at her note to me and my comments here first –> [...]
As follow up to my post yesterday – with a round up of all the laminates for bathroom counters that are on my radar today – I also recently found this great little history of laminate in the 1950s, from Wilsonart. 2011 update, Wilsonart has taken story down, but here are a few highlights: Laminate [...]
For either kitchen or, especially, bathroom countertops, I believe that Carrara marble laminates are an authentic vintage choice. I blinded myself searching for them among the 8 retailers of laminate in the U.S. today. The number-one choice, I think, is going to be from Wilsonart — their White Carrara, shown above. Read on for some [...]
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Here’s my dilemma: The brick siding on my ranch is in the orange shades and since there are four brick ranches, including mine, together on the same block, I’d like to paint the trim and garage overhead. I was thinking of avocado, but not sure yet.
Any suggestions, retro friends?
I have a 1955 large ranch home. When you enter the foyer you are just about in the dining room (the only feature I don’t like about my house). There is a brick planter box that is about 18″ high X 10′ long that separates the dining room from the foyer, has anyone else ever seen that? When we bought the home the dining room was painted an off white color – I think it might have been ony the second color the dining room had ever been painted. I painted it a very light green/gray color and I hate it! I have been on a kick lately wanting to paint it chocolate brown. But, I can’t find any pictures of brown dining rooms anywhere – I am crazy? I am open to suggestions. Also, I have a wall of built in china cabinets that are painted cream on the out side and a coralish pink color on the inside. Please advise!
Hi Diane, and welcome. Why don’t you send me some photos at retrorenovation at gmail dot com. Sound like you have a lovely home! Pam
Thank you! I think I have a wonderful house too, and as soon as I can figure out how to add pictures I will! I am very lucky to be the third owner of a very special home. Overall it is nearly 5000 square feet, with two kitchens and an actual “electrical room” not just one breaker box but about 10! The original homeowners were very well off and spared no expense when building the home which is my good luck. I am glad to be joining such a great site!
first time poster, love looking! I wanted to say thanks, I had a certain retro colour I was looking for so when I came to this section, I saw Sherwin Williams recommended. It was there in the Suburban Modern brochure! yeah! Burma Jade for our 50′s 1.5 story house. As it turns out a SW store opened a month ago up the street from my house and on the day I went in to get a colour swatch they were starting a 40% off sale the following day! The fates were smiling on me for sure! I have convinced my neutral colour lovin’ husband to paint the garage doors this colour in addition to the door I bought it for.
Welcome, Yvonne. The retro decorating gods were indeed smiling upon you! Send me a photo when you’re done! Send to: retrorenovation [at] gmail [dot] com. I can’t wait to see it!
I just bought my first home – it’s a fixer which is okay since I get to start from scratch, basically! We just finished painting, using Sherwin Williams “sea salt” for the main rooms. I love this color and it has a very mid-century feel to it, but is calming and not overpowering. It’s a bit more pale and more green than turquoise.
Welcome, Nanci – and thanks for that tip. It’s always a great value to know what colors that readers had success with!
Is there any place where I can buy some actual 1955-56 brown kitchen tiles? I got a few newly made pieces, but (1) they are not quite the same color, (2) they don’t make the raised edge pieces , and (3) the 1/4 round type pieces to go around the sink are smaller. Hence, I am no where yet. I need to replace sink, but don’t want to tear out the whole kitchen. It is truly a vintage ranch kitchen. Any ideas??? Thanks.
Carolyn, finding leftover tile from 1955-56 is going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. I’ve identified numerous companies that today supply bathroom tile suitable for mid-century homes — and they are all catalogued on the Product Guides / Bathroom Fixtures page. Look at both the wall and the floor tile. But your best bet is likely — with B&W, which has 48 colors, at least, of mid-century-style tile.
My husband and I just bought a 1955 raised ranch. It is in desperate need of paint outside. We cannot come up with colors that will look good on the house. We want to keep the 1955 feel but also make it more “modern”.
Any help from anyone – please? And thank you!
Our dilemma is INTERIOR paint color for a room that is using avocado and orange with a little white & yellow.
Plain white walls seem so “rental”… but yellow seems TOO bright… any green shades would make the room too green (the large sofa is green) and orange is not happening.
We can do lauan or grass cloth on one focal wall… but then what on the rest of the wall?
HELP!!!
(Thanks.)
stacie, can you send me some pics and i’ll see what i can do – maybe do a post asking for reader suggestions… retrorenovation [at] gmail [dot] com