It’s always amazing to see this stuff still mint-in-box. I always want to know the story: Where did it come from? Why did it sit for 50 years unopened? Who finally uncovered it? And — where will it go! Today: Four parts of a vintage Nutone Food Center – including the base. And if you are doing your bathrooms – there’s some great Hall-Mack chrome from both the Coronado and Metropolitan line.
More: MIB Nutone Food Center and MIB Hall-Mack bathroom hardware
Posted by: • September 23, 2009
18 rare vintage Hall-Mack bathroom accessories
Posted by: • July 26, 2009
This week’s vintage Hall-Mack miniseries concludes with 18 special accessories found in my 1962 catalog. Above: The Tow’lescope (I have two MIB) and the even more rare Extendo-Bar, which I have never seen in real life. Heck yeah there is more →
Six mid-century bathrooms, vintage 1962
Posted by: • July 24, 2009
There’s more to come in my series of vintage Hall-Mack bathroom hardware. But a pause here for some bathroom illustrations featured in the 1962 catalog. There are some really great ideas in these six mid-century bathrooms. Above: One of our favorite sink and vanity base combos, the American-Standard introduced in 1959. I think a reader just wrote to tell me that he or she had the sink in just this color. It’s terrific. And what about that fabulous toilet. Heck yeah there is more →
Hall-Mack Coronado bath accessories – the most popular line?
Posted by: • July 23, 2009
HALL-MACK’S CORONADO line of bathroom accessories seems to be marketed for a long time. It is also featured prominently in this 1962 catalog, and it’s also the main line in my other catalog 1956. The line certainly seems prototypical of the postwar era — I see the shape of the end-pieces for the toilet paper and towels, in particular, everywhere. Heck yeah there is more →
1962 Hall-Mack Aristocrome line
Posted by: • July 22, 2009
I recently nabbed a 1962 Hall-Mack bathroom accessories catalog. Seems that there were three principal lines of chrome soap dishes, towel bars, robe hooks and the like: Coronado – likely most popular; Metropolitan – budget line; and Aristocrome — the top-of-the-line suite. Today, I’ll show you the Aristocrome line. Heck yeah there is more →
13 scenes from an estate sale time capsule
Posted by: • June 22, 2009
THE ESTATE SALE on Saturday was wonderful. A very classic, brick Cape Cod home, single owner, great quality. Loved. The only things changed out were the kitchen appliances and floor. Above: Vintage “linen laminate” from the kitchen countertop. Grace Jeffers, the historian who restored the Wilson House, told me that linen patterns were the #1 most popular of the postwar era. Yes, even more so than the gold sparkle speckles we all love so much. At the left: That’s me with the first shot of a reader favorite, the Hall-Mack revolving disappearing toothbrush holder. Click on through for 11 more photos. Heck yeah there is more →
A 1964 blue bathroom with built-in Hall-Mack, NuTone, Textolite & more
Posted by: • May 12, 2009
THE 1964 SPLIT-LEVEL TIME CAPSULE first shown yesterday also had two great bathrooms. The full bath upstairs is a beautiful robin’s egg blue, all 4×4″ field tiles, with cheerful flowery liner tiles. There is a separate bathtub and the shower. The shower door is a true classic, and notice the terrazzo floor pan, the light, and the tile on the diagonal on the ceiling.
And there’s more: A laundry chute built into a storage cubby… and the fold-down Hall-Mack scale holder below. The laminate countertop on the dual vanity is surely GE Textolite, from the “Twilight” series . And, the owner’s daughter told me that the Nutone exhaust fan/light also had a built-humidistat that turned the fan on and off automatically when the room became too humid. Finally, there was a hidden door to the master suite, along with a door to the hall. This might have been the best bathroom ever in this history of the retro-universe. Again – not pretentious, but so well considered and well built. Click through for the slide show – 15 images in all. Heck yeah there is more →
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