Chris and Angela wrote to me a few months ago, excited because they were about to close on a beautiful 1964 mid-century modern home in Wisconsin. Well, the deal went through successfully, and now this cute-overload couple is happily playing house in their stunning, designer-built house — a time capsule with mint-condition original lighting, Nutone, basement bar and heavens to betsy: two flocked wallpapers. (Can you live with that? tee hee.)

Before I launch Chris, let me explain that when he originally wrote, the couple was concerned about the sunset tan bathroom — didn’t quite know what to do with it even though they are “designer types.” I pointed them to a photo of one of my bathrooms, in which I used Home Depot “rose beige” tiles, and suggested something akin to the mint green, aqua and brown combination I used for wallpaper, linens and accessories. You can see how they picked up and ran with the suggestion in their bathroom design experiment to date.

So here’s the story and all the awesome 1964 time capsule eye candy. Chris writes:

Hi Pam,

My wife and I were lucky enough to just purchase this beautiful 1964 home. Our house is an original one of a kind. The original owners we bought the house from designed the floor plan and many of the details were constructed by the owner himself.  Beautiful features, fixtures, stonework.

We are not finished decorating any of this yet, but had to share now since it will be a while until it’s finished. These are all just items we already had that we’re using until we find better suited ones, along with nice drapes.

The chocolate & mint accessories in the bathroom will work once we find ones we like, thanks for the color tip!

As you can see, right now we’re experimenting with chocolate, green and cyan.

The bathroom is nearly as-new with hardly any wear (they used the similar but smaller blue bathroom which will be undergoing restoration shortly). About the only non-original item is the faucet.

Note long sliding medicine cabinet under the mirror with an electrical outlet inside. Slanted cabinets. Also we have the NuTone 3-in-1 heater, light and fan.

Needless to say, this room will stay as-is forever. We need to find a chair appropriate for the dressing area,

and I need to clean that floor grout. Pretty easy restoration, I’d say!

Next up is our main hall with what we call

our “UFO” light fixture

And our cozy fireplace room that we’ve accessorized temporarily with some Danish Modern influences.

We love our dotted light fixtures here, too. NuTone built-in doorbell here, too. This room’s flooring is an interesting laminate that is clear with laminate chips in it that looks like pebbles in water. Unfortunately there is a lot of damage, so will need to be replaced eventually.

Entry tile. Pink/green, though camera flash brings out the
color. It’s more subdued. [Pam adds: I like the look of that wallpaper, too.]

Last up is our basement 1960′s paneled family room. We are starting to furnish and accessorize this room now in all oranges and greens. Need to find some orange barstools!

Oh, and can’t forget a couple samples of our flocked bedroom wallpaper, one orange… [Pam adds: I couldn't resist putting these images in super-size. Blow your mind, mon!]

…one blue.

Great site, it’s our favorite… keep up the good work!

Chris & Angela, near Milwaukee, WI

Thank you, Chris and Angela, for doing this great archiving of your home and for sharing it with us. Fantastic house — and you two sound like you are the perfect caretakers. I can’t wait to see what else you do with it, over time. xoxo

Bonus quiz:

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Reader Frank gets snaps for spotting this great video — a true “time capsule” car. I’m thinkin’ this is the platform just before the first-ever Mustang (a 64-1/2 model) came out. Thanks, Frank, keep ‘em coming!

Hi Pam,

The link below is not necessarily on topic of retro homes, but it is a cute story about an 89-year-old woman who still drives her immaculate 1964 Mercury Comet with 540,000 miles on the odometer. I’d guess you could call it a time capsule car. Just like the mid century ranch homes, the cars of the 1960′s had beautiful clean lines. Thanks for keeping up your great site.

Frank

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