HOW ARE YOUR SUMMER PROJECTS GOING, readers? What are you getting done? What do you fear will never get done? Me, hopeless. Wrote a check for some new landscaping work, but other than that, too busy with work, the blog, visitors, the usual. And all you lurkers, make my day and leave a comment, for gosh sakes.
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57 comments
Cinemascope says
Kitchen here, too. Our 1955 cape cod came complete with the original Youngstown Kitchen cabinets. Instead of replacing them as we had originally planned, we decided to celebrate them! We covered them in faux stainless steel shelf liner. Then, of course, we had to paint in colors that would compliment…SW Holiday Turquoise, Chartreuse, and Apple Blossom for the trim. And we added an authentic mid-century dinette table. It is the one with the fish border that someone else sent in a picture of a few months ago. There are a few finishing touches that need to be done, but overall our kitchen is retro-inspired.
Lara Jane says
We’ve got some work to do yet on this late-60s ranch before we can sell it… exterior needs repainting, wood awning-style windows need help, and we have a whole lot of sorting and purging left (I’m packing & storing as I go).
We’re not moving far… just 20-25 miles up the highway, but that’ll mean a big savings as far as gas and wear & tear on our vehichles (husband drives to work and back; I go twice because our son goes to school there, which equals 100 miles per day just for me!). There are tons of cute houses in both towns, and I’m hoping my current House Crush will stay on the market until I’m able to buy it!
scurl says
well, my wife is pregnant again, so what with me running after our 2 1/2 yr old all day, and her being exhausted all the time from work, we haven’t had much time, energy, or money for anything. add to that some new neighbors who we’ve been having SERIOUS trouble with (it’s all over now though, a 2 hour armed standoff with police at their house got them all…taken away), and our renovating has pretty much been put on hold until winter. we ARE slowly accumulating all the needed supplies to get everything we’ve got planned finished though. every so often something pops up on clist and i jump on it, we just got a kitchenaid kd-2p dishwasher (1958-1963) for a very reasonable $30, and it’s really fitting well into our half finished kitchen. i’ll be buying all the needed wiring to redo all the kitchen lights and outlets and bring it up to code in a few days, and we’re slowly coming to a compromise on the front landscaping to be done next year…right now it’s a patch of corn and beans. anyways…i still read everyday, and retro renovation is keeping me motivated, maybe not front burner of viking range on high heat motivated, but certainly back burner of a wedgewood stove on simmer kind of motivated, and i thank you for that, because it’s the best kind.
pam kueber says
scurl, how poetic: “not front burner of viking range on high heat motivated, but certainly back burner of a wedgewood stove on simmer kind of motivated…it’s the best kind.” I love that! Congrats on the new baby on the way.
Julie Rogers says
We finally got up the nerve to paint in our 1955 prefab ranch – a bright yellow in the tiny hall and bright blue in the bedroom.
That inspired hubby to – gasp – take a knife to the bedroom carpet, discovering GORGEOUS, original hardwood floors beneath. We think all but the bathroom and kitchen are done that way.
Next up, the bathroom. Sadly, the original plastic tile has to go. (See Pam’s comments regarding mold and lack of fans.) There’s black mold in the walls.
Then, the kitchen …. sometime in 2050.
pam kueber says
Tikimama, I had no bathroom fans in our three bathrooms when we moved it. One of them – the master bath, which we used the most – constantly constantly was molding up on the ceiling. It was super disgusting. I had to go up there with bleach/water all the time. Ick ick ick. When we reno’d we installed the bathroom fans directly above the tub/showers. They are great. One thing I’d do differently, though, is to ensure they were on their own switch (rather than double-ganged) so that we could put timers on them. We are constantly accidentally leaving them on for hours. Not a big issue in summer when the windows are open. But in winter, I think we’ve spent a fair chunk of change sending all the heat in the house to the great outdoors on a fair number of occasions.
Meanwhile, I am wondering, do you think you could find a small dehumidifier and run it in the bathroom after showers? As long as the plug stayed away from any water of course. I am not sure whether this would really work. Maybe you could even drain the dehumidifier into the sink. I know this sounds ridiculous. But I’m remembering the disgust of mold on my ceiling and thinking I should have tried this as an interim solution.
lady brett says
Well, we got the nicotine-colored hallway repainted a while ago, and i’ve switched out a light fixture and fan. Other than that, most of the work has been more decorating/organizing than remodeling (but the ‘vintage’ office is coming together pretty well!
But next week is my vacation, and my dad’s coming in town, so we’ll have a chance to tackle the real projects! Most notably, the soft spots in the kitchen floor that have appeared from nowhere since we moved in (eek!). I’ll let you know how that goes 😉
Deb says
Kitchen…started in May, redid some lighting (Rejuvenation to the rescue!), painting, painting, painting, painting…STILL painting – TCP, primer, 4 coats on everything and has to dry in between, of course! I wanted Boomerang laminate countertops (chose Skylark – prefer the more Bisbee blue turquoise color of that to the Aqua which has more green in it) and since it’s a small “U” shape countertop it wasn’t too terribly expensive. Waiting for them to be completed and shipped and praying that my husband and I were completely accurate on our measurements!! Upper cabs are semi-gloss white, lowers are semi-gloss turquoise, a shade darker than the countertops will be.
Installed an 18″ DW and needed more drawer space for what was lost, so picked up a Craftsman tool chest (red), took off the wheels and will tile the top with turquoise tile. Had a tool chest in another house (sold it when we left the area) and they hold A LOT of utensils, pots and pans, etc. Not exactly retro, but I’m pretty eclectic. Hope the kitchen’s done by the end of the month!! We’ll see…
pam kueber says
Deb, the Sears tool chest is a great idea. I’ve seen it used once before, in a magazine. And I think the red will look great with your blue. This whole thing of using garage-ware for kitchens is big territory worth exploring further. Some of the companies even have metal cabinets. If I were doing an all-new loft kitchen, for example, I’d totally look into using this stuff seriously. As you mention, the drawers are not so deep – so very very useful.
Nina462 says
Summer project was new windows. I cry when I think that I had to replace the originals. I kept the majority of the wood work in tact. And, I saved all of the old windows (stored in the basement)-for when I win the lottery and can have them restored. If I won the lottery, I would not buy a new house—I’d just restore my house (65 ranch)…well, and buy the wooded lot next door, and another vintage car (yes, I already have a 68 Dodge Coronet R/T). But I digress, windows this year….driveway and garage door next year. And the garden, of course.
Meanwhile, I’m on the lookout for an old TV & a dial telephone for the knotty pine basement ‘reck room’!
Kristen–thanks for the idea on the vintage antenna (I’ve got one of those too!)
Kristin says
We just got our hardwood floors completely refinished which was the biggest deal! The sellers had GLUED the carpet foam down onto perfectly good pine floors and put in awful Home Depot carpet. So until they were refinished, half the house had this crap carpet plus the other half remnants of glue or big S shapedc stains in the finish! Now it is gorgeous.
The backyard is our ongoing project and last week we finally could see the light after raking massive amounts of leaves from beds and from underneath the wire fence/wooden fence that was causing massive flooding in our yard.
Now I’m putting primer on our found patio set to prep to repaint!
Summer projects??? Ha! It never ends!
Note: the vintage antenna? It is staying!
Gretchen S says
Ugh, we are in the final stretches of a master bed/bath gutting and redo — and the devil is in the details. We started last October and have been slowly progressing. Much more interested in doing things correctly and we’ve been pretty patient.
We’ve been hitting snags that involve items being damaged during shipping, wrong items, or items acting up after being installed. Hopefully our mod pod will be done by mid-Sept.
We successfully finished another house so all is good in that realm!