Home improvement and remodeling for midcentury homes
Photographer Sarah Superstar has an eagle eye (of course!) and spotted today’s ebay pick — a very pretty, light pink set of metal kitchen cabinets. Bonus 1: From a real Levittown subdivision, Levittown, PA! Bonus 2: Groovy countertops. Bonus 3: A built-in blender set-up. And bonus 4: A new brand for our Forum – United Metal Cabinet Corp. of Pottsville, PA – just over the way from my mom’s hometown, Shenandoah. THANK YOU, Sarah!
Okay, I admit that I really may be losing my mind, but I love this kitchen! There are so many elements that come together so nicely:
The laminate countertop is what pushes this kitchen design into kitsch (especially when combined with the wallpaper.) If you used something more neutral — a white washed woodgrain would be great — I think the room would be more timeless. That said, so ’66!
This past weekend my kitchen was featured on ApartmentTherapy.com’s Guess the Decade. This feature shows a photo, then gives readers the whole weekend to ponder – then vote – to guess what decade the room/photo came from. The vast majority of readers were on the mark, detecting the modern clues. Take a look – and be sure to click through to the original post as it contains many amusing — often scathing — comments. Although, I must admit the jury is out on whether I am OCD or not – about retro reno details, at least!
This is the “trend-setting new ‘PIONEER’ by American Kitchen” – 1956. I find it so fascinating. It was right about this time that steel kitchen cabinets started to lose their battle against wood. But it was a slow death. And along the way they decided they’d rather switch than fight. That is, these cabinets have wooden doors…steel drawers – in a coppertone finish… and all steel bodies. Kind of, the best of both worlds. Other makers, like St. Charles and Youngstown show an alternative approach — all wood on the base cabinets, all steel on the walls. I think that one of the main issues they may have been addressing was dented doors. Little Billy on his trike and all.
Great kitchen also in its streaky brown floors, cool roller shades, and simple breakfast bar. And I even love the chartreuse walls / reddish coppertone / light birch color scheme. Hey, look beyond to the dining room — it’s those birch-bark-paneled walls, which we saw last week in the scary kitchen photo. I saw them in another magazine the other day. I’m on the lookout for real now! Oh, and be sure and open the thumbnail, to get the best look hubby on the indoor bbq.
My favorite photo of the week. A real American Beauty, circa 1959. TGIF, all!
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So…I must stop buying all these great retro relics mint in their boxes! This is a great great great item, so EXCRUTIATINGLY painful as it is, I set it free into the retroblogosphere!
be sure to click to enlarge both photos!
When I ran the post including the Simmons hideaway a few weeks ago, I have to admit, I didn’t even notice that the couple was playing musical instruments. Cute 50s ones, too – an accordian and a recorder. Touchee, Maddy123, for pointing it out!
Now, you have inspired a new obsession: Hunting for postwar interiors photos featuring accordians and the like. RetroRenoReaders: Send in any that you spot — we’ll start a flickr group, too!
Isn’t this 1957 kitchen great? You can see how ‘open concept’ was starting to take hold. I love the birch cabinets, the built-in eating area and fiberglass chairs, the barkcloth pinch pleats, the brown VCT floor, and the Monsterosa plant and George Nelson style bench in the foreground. And of course, in addition to Joey on the accordian, we get an indoor barbeque for Billy!
“Meet the Austins” recently linked to my site saying they liked one of my living room post illustrations. So, I dug up these two 1957 kitchens for them, too. What do you think, Austins?
Like so many other elements of postwar homes, these kitchens very often had a Colonial flair. The paint colors are like colonial Milk Paint. Also notice the colonial style ceiling lights, chairs, curtains and accessories in both photos. In reality, 50s painted wood kitchen cabinets pull can lean either colonial or modern, but for the Father Knows Best look, I’m a sucker for colonial.
All of these cabinet pulls are available from Amerock — a large manufacturer whose prices and quality are just fine.
<——-I also adore this hinge – it’s a wrought-iron strap-style hinge that you use to install a 3/4 overlay door onto a cabinet; you know, those thinnish birch or maple plywood doors so very common in postwar kitchens. Strip, prime with the best primer you can find, and paint the wood, install with strap/hinge, add pull in same shade of black iron. Very cool look.
Finally, Amerock also has several more modern style cabinet pulls worth considering — the first set of three Crosley pulls (just above) kind of a traditional steel cabinet pull… the second (below), getting closer to the famous yet elusive Youngstown chevron pull…the final (below, right), similar to a streamlined waterfall pull, sweet.
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