Lots of treasures awaited my return home yesterday… An ebay find which I’ll show soon… Barkcloth samples from Full Swing Textiles… and the best of all: Two rolls of vintage pink wallpaper from reader NYC Dorothy. She has contributed it to our community – so that it can savored for all. You see, these are the two wallpapers that hung in her mother’s kitchen and bathroom – and she wanted them to go to a good home.  Dorothy, I promise you, they are in the right place – in front of many thousands of readers who treasure these memories of the homes our own families built in postwar America. Many thanks, indeed!

Oh, and readers… just to ensure you are triply amazed: Did I mention that both of these wallpapers are on a totally high-quality (not brittle) vinyl…. and that they have gold flecks and streaks throughout? Totally swoonable.

Click through for more delightful images of these two great vintage wallpapers….

Want to see more vintage wallpaper? Try these posts:

• My vintage wallpaper collection on flickr.
• 33 vintage-style wallpapers new
• Vintage wallpaper – reader favorites
• Bradbury & Bradbury ’40s and ’50s wallpaper reproductions

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Ruth’s Geneva kitchen, pink bathroom, peach bathroom, Tennessee granite fireplace — everything in her 1957 Michigan home — are just fantastic. I thought that I had more Geneva metal cabinets in one place than anyone, but Ruth sets a new record. And look at it: A curvacious island… marble counter topped baking area … original range exhaust fan … and more. Ruth did replace the kitchen floor – so you also can ogle her design and see if it might be right for you. I think it’s terrific – the scale is just right and the soft gray and blue have just the right ‘coolness’ to go with the lovely light blue Geneva cabinets.

Read on for Ruth’s story…16 photos…and a link to more on her flickr stream…And when you’re done be sure to check out her new blog: No Pattern Required.

 

Ruth writes:

Hi Pam!

I love your blog and it has been an unending source of information for us since we have purchased our new home. At the time we bought our 1950’s brick ranch, we didn’t know anything about mid-century modern, but we knew we loved the way it looked. Thanks for helping us to restore our house to the style it was meant to be.

The house was built in 1956-57 and was designed by the homeowners. They owned if for their whole lives, and we purchased it from their daughter.

The cabinet colors are original, and totally awesome. I almost lost it when we walked into the kitchen for the first time. It was really well thought out and is so wonderful, the amount of storage space is just amazing. My favorite cabinets are the round ones in the front of the island, they are so perfect for holding big equipment that takes up counter space and big serving pieces. And to the right of the island is a whole extra bank of cabinets that serves as a pantry with extra countertop work space. In front of the long window and next to the oven is a low marble slab that matches the marble windowsills. Underneath the slab is 9 drawers, including drawers for flour and sugar, and a built in breadbox.

I wish I could think of more things to tell you, but if I did everything would end with an exclamation point. We love it! It’s fantastic! Cooking is a breeze! Etc, etc.

{I ask about the new kitchen floor and Ruth explains:] We are using Armstrong Imperial Texture Standard Excelon in Blue Cloud and Soft Cool Gray.

The living room might be awhile, we have to put up our gold atomic wallpaper and figure out how to make pinch pleat drapes out of our existing drapes!

Oooh, you know that “gold atomic wallpaper” is going to keep my attention on your house, Ruth! In addition to the images above, Ruth has posted more photos on her flickr photostream. Many thanks for sharing, Ruth!

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This is a fun one!

Teacher Kerri is the shepherd of three kitchens’ worth of vintage Geneva’s and of course – her students.

Dig this incredible extended kitchen – and read on for her question – and my response.

Hi, Pam!

Recently I “inherited” a Family and Consumer Science (HomeEc) classroom with Geneva kitchen cabinets. The school — which is in Lawrence, Kansas — was built in 1960. They are still in good condition so I am interested in sprucing them up a bit. What are the original colors these cabinets were made? The current (and original I believe) color is a pinkish beige.

Here are a couple of my questions:

1) If I am able to get them repainted, how should they be painted? Sprayed, brushed, etc. If sprayed, is there a certain way it should be done?

2) Since I can’t change the color of the Geneva emblem, do you have a suggestion as to what color should be used? I kind of pictured them in a pearl gray, which would be similar to one of the pull-out trays in the cabinets.

If I were to try to stay with school spirit, the school colors are Columbia blue and white. That shade of blue is a medium light blue, which might not look too bad, but might not look good with the emblem. I would like to stay with a color that would help conceal dirt so don’t want to go too light.

Because these cabinets are in a junior high, I don’t really want them to look too retro or the students will think it looks out of style.

Thanks for your help!

Kerri Hess
Family and Consumer Sciences
West Junior High

Well, Kerri, in a word, I recommend: Aquamarine, aka Holiday Turquoise. See the Sherwin-Williams Suburban Modern palette here for the correct vintage shade. And, you can see my Geneva kitchen – pretty much the same make and model year as yours — here — to get the idea.

The reasons I recommend aquamarine:

• I am telling you, my 8th grader’s friends – boys and girls – LOVE our kitchen, led of course, by the color. It’s youthful but…sophisticated. It’s also quite an au-courant color today – the kid’s don’t even need to know that it’s authentic retro.
• This color will harmonize with your school blue chairs.
• Regarding the badges – they should come off via screws inside the cabinet. For your use, I think I would take them off and replace them with….decorative magnets. Over time, I’d keep an eye out for aquamarine Geneva badges. Funny as it sounds, these things turn up once you put your retro renovation vibes out into the universe.
• If you want or need to replace the countertops – how about the aquamarine Formica Skylark boomerang laminate? Again, I have it in my kitchen, and it’s been a big hit. That said, the countertop you have — is it sparkle dust laminate? swoon! — looks fine. We also heartily approve of your vintage VCT tile floor. If you do replace the counters – go to New York Metal for edging – and be sure to donate the counters to your local ReStore, we retro renovators want sparkle dust flecked laminate!
• Finally, one of our most active readers/contributors is Lawrence Bill, from your fair city. Maybe he wants to come down to consult…or make a presentation on mid century modern to your students?
• I bet you could even get a newspaper story out of this whole experience!

Regarding Kerri’s other questions:

• She’s already reported back that the maintenance staff says they will powder-coat the cabinets, just as they do lockers.
• And Kerri, regarding colors that we used in 1960 – pretty much all the colors that you see on the SW interiors palette were used – even pink flamingo! Oh yeah – and harvest gold of course!

Let us know what you decide – and how it turns out!

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Be sure to see today’s NYT, which spotlights one of our favorite brands of vintage steel kitchen cabinets, Geneva. More press sure to accelerate interest in these gems!

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Wow, Alice. You have a beautiful kitchen, bathrooms – and house to wrap all around them. What a classic! Readers, note that Alice is in Richmond, VA. Alice, you asked about suggestions for your kitchen, so here are a few thoughts:

1. How about putting a picture window with two sidelight windows (double hung) in your kitchen – above the sink. It seems to me that your kitchen is big enough to handle this addition. Putting in a big window would really open it up and make it truly spectacular. I did this in my kitchen, and it made a huge difference. Of course this has to make sense given the façade of the house, and I don’t know the exact orientation. If you do put in a window(s), you can take out some of the cabinetry to the right and left, and add corner cubbies. Also, bring the base of the window down to about 4 inches above the sink. That, too, would open up the space to the maximum possible.
2. I know that, right now, the wallpaper seems much. But, I would recommend living it for a while before you rip it out. In reality, it is really great and certainly speaks to a time and place – very classic 60s. Also, I wonder if you got more light in the kitchen with the window set, would the wallpaper seem lighter, too? Less “in your face.” Bottom line: GO SLOW, once it’s gone, it’s gone.
3. Ditto – the countertops. Be absolutely sure of your path before you gut. To me, the countertops themselves look nice. I don’t care for the laminate all the way up the backsplash, though. Too homogenous. Maybe….just take the backsplash out, salvage that laminate (hopefully) and use it to make and install a 4” backsplash instead. Then paint the drywall. Also, if you install stainless steel edging on, I think that would perk up the countertops, too. Define them. You have one mighty STRONG kitchen. Any elements that are too subdued look…measly. Stainless steel edging would empower those countertops.
4. I very much agree that the floor (from what we can see of it) looks like it can go. How about, the ‘brick’ vinyl from Armstrong – a nice, modern look. Or, a new favorite of mine, the Armstrong royal sheet; it is available in widths of 6’ so there would likely be a seam somewhere (can be filled with a weld rod). The seams, I don’t like – but boy, how I like the look of this stuff overall! Finally – how about VCT tiles. Personally, I like all of these in the white versions for your yellow kitchen. Sunny and bright!
5. Okay…one more thought: That sink isn’t impressing me. Looks dinky. How about putting in an Elkay stainless steel with drainboards (the drop-in style, not the countertop style) to give the space more anchoring, heft?

So….there you go, Alice. Thank you so much for sharing all these photos with us. Hey, where’s the aqua bathroom? The living room, the dining room…and do you have a knotty pine or wood-paneled rumpus room hiding in that gem? We want more. We can never get enough of fabulous time capsules like yours!

Readers – as usual, all of your comments and ideas are welcome as well! Keep the wallpaper, or not?

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Sleeping Bee Alice writes:

Hello, I am a novice retrorenovator…and am loving your website.

My husband and I are leaving our modern, brand-spanking new customized kitchen for a charming 1950’s yellow Geneva kitchen in a home that we have fallen in love with. I’m having trouble thinking through the “enhancement” of the kitchen…the cabinets are in great shape and we really like the look…we have to replace the outdated wallpaper, bad flooring and yellow countertops. The fridge was gone.

I really enjoyed all the pink kitchens pictures…any such resources for yellow kitchens? (Pale, maize yellow.)

For future thought, we are also inheriting three fabulous tiled bathrooms…one pink, one blue, one aqua…will be looking here for complimentary design ideas for those as well…no gutting going on here!

Thanks!

No — thank you, Alice! For all the wonderful photos — and for letting us know, another sweetheart of a middle class mid-century home is being saved. Hallelujah!

Since this is already a long post, what with all the photos, you’ll get some suggestions tomorrow!

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Our penultimate day of pink kitchens. I love that word, penultimate!

41. TGIF, it’s party time and these 1961 Hotpoint kitchen-goers are ready!

42. This 1955 Geneva kitchen is more sedate but setting the pace nonetheless.

43. Pink and yellow, what a spring-y combination. And, this seems like quite the 1957 groove pad! Note the wall-cabinet fridge, every ReRe reader’s favorite, it seems!:

44. Oops. Another formerly used Flashback Kitchen with the numbers stuck in it. But I had to show this pink-lavendar-blue combo. Lavendar for kitchens was promoted later in the 50s. It looks nice here, be clearly never caught on. I think there’s something fundamentally icky about purple+food, grapes and eggplant notwithstanding.

45. A 1952 Youngstown kitchen – you can see the rosy pink cabinet at the right, so this made the list.

46. Religious readers will recognize this amazing kitchen. You gotta give those Formica interior designers credit:

47. A 1955 St. Charles kitchen combining pink, aquamarine and birch (I believe.) Pretty snazzy:

48. An honorary pink kitchen: pink + classic birch plywood cabinets with a darkish stain:

49. Another (painted) pink and birch kitchen, from Coppes-Nappanee:

50. And another all-time favorite, a Dow Styron tile ad with a kitchen that I christen pink because of the wall cabinet refrigerator. Awesome kitchen!

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This week it’s pink postwar kitchens of every style – from the 40s through to the 60s. Be sure to check in every day, today through Saturday for a festival of Mamie pink!

To start – let’s head right to 1957, the absolute pinnacle year for pink pink pink!

#1: 1957 GE pink kitchen and look at that all-new Refrigeration Center!:

#2, a 1955 Crane kitchen in Blossom Pink:

#3, a 1953 pink Formica kitchen (which we have analyzed before):

#4, 1956 Westinghouse appliances including the cool wall refrigeration unit — with a pink kitchen:

#5, a 1949 American-Standard kitchen — cabinets that foreshadow the frenzy to come:

#6, very pixelated, but I wanted to show this early pink St. Charles kitchen as well:

#7, a few years later now in the heart of the Mamie years, a 1955 St. Charles pink kitchen:

#8, yes, I’ve been dreaming of a 1956 Westinghouse pink kitchen:

#9, an early- to mid-50s Geneva Blossom Pink kitchen with the classic accent color, red:

And number 10 for today: This gorgeous 1958 GE pink kitchen, which incorporates wood and 60s groove:

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