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Remodel & decorate in Mid Century Style

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Home / What to Collect

1952 time capsule kitchen…70s time capsule bathroom…and more

pam kueber - Updated: March 24, 2013

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

I spent not one — but two — days this weekend at a fabulous estate sale in Adams, Mass. I’m really busy with work right now, so don’t have a lot of time to post, but I wanted to start getting photos from the house (and my finds) online. This is a 1952 Geneva kitchen. It was the second, upstairs kitchen in the house. As far as I could tell, it was virtually unused – absolutely pristine.

1960s-butlers-pantry This is a shot from the dining room, looking through the butler’s pantry toward the downstairs kitchen. You can see Geneva’s also in the butler’s pantry. But the downstairs kitchen was renovated in the 70s, so there were melamine cabinets there…plain white, nothing eye-popping. However, look at this fabulous vinyl-tile floor. Seriously wonderful.

metallic-dining-room-wallpaper
Gold metallic-Asian inspired 70s wallpaper in the (Victorian) dining room. You know I love this paper. Beyond words.

1960s-bathroom-dressing-room
The downstairs master bathroom / dressing room was expansive — a dream bathroom. . Notice the tiled-in nooks just above the vanity top – a very nice feature. That’s a big mirror looking at the closet opposite. The sinks are avocado. The floors are a small multicolored mosaic of white, avocado and harvest gold tiles. This bathroom was incredible.

1960s-kitchen
On the walls were 4×4 harvest gold American Olean tiles, each designed to look like three smaller, longer, rectangular tiles (see image below, as well). Interestingly, I have about 5 big boxes of this very same tile that I picked up at the Re-Store last year. There were Hall-Mack Towelscopes on both ends of the vanity.  Just beyond the door on the right is the separate toilet — that’s a Danish Modern light fixture on the wall, I have some close ups coming. Oh, and to the left of the Towelscope … look up… and you can see the can lights kind of sticking out of the ceiling about an inch… satin chrome or maybe brushed aluminum finish. It was a wonderful detail. Oh yeah – wallpapered ceiling. If you have a house built after, say, 1965, I’d say you must think seriously about wallpapering your ceilings.

1960s-frigidaire
Oh — a gorgeous vintage Frigidaire in the upstairs kitchen.

It is going to take me like, five days, to get through all the photos from this house. And then I will start on WHAT I BOUGHT. I was so enthralled, I spent 3 hours at the house on Saturday, then I drove back on Sunday to go through it again. The house was an inspiration.

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What to Collect

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37 comments

Comments

  1. Maria Stahl says

    November 3, 2009 at 10:38 am

    *SCREAMS* LOOK AT THAT LINOLEUM in the upstairs kitchen!

  2. Annie B. says

    November 3, 2009 at 9:58 am

    Oh, yes, what a house. Dream City! Can’t wait to see what you bought there, and the rest of the photos. Congrats on some sure-to-be-terrific finds.

  3. Magnarama says

    November 3, 2009 at 9:45 am

    Postscript: I always thought that the vintage ad pictures that show up to the right of the current post were in arbitrary rotation — but the one I see now opposite the Geneva kitchen photo on this post (1953 Kitchenmaid “Television Kitchen”) is so similar to the Geneva featured, with an identical stainless steel wall oven (is that a Chambers?) that I’m now wondering if you can control those photo inserts, Pam.

    Guess I should refresh the page a couple times and see if it changes.

    • pam kueber says

      November 3, 2009 at 10:48 am

      Magnarama, the rotation is out of my control…

      Also – that half round cabinet: There’s a little push button above the cabinet pull to actually open the half-round door. I’ve never seen that before. These things were HIGH END – fabulous.

  4. ...love Maegan says

    November 3, 2009 at 9:44 am

    amazing.

  5. Mick says

    November 3, 2009 at 9:40 am

    LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!! Espesh the Floors in the Untouched 50’s Kitchen! Cant wait to see more Pam!

  6. Magnarama says

    November 3, 2009 at 9:38 am

    This may be the first time I’ve ever used OMG in a comment… oh oh oh that Geneva kitchen with the half-round cabinet! I am licking my monitor…

    Can hardly wait for the full report! Maybe there will be pecky cypress 🙂

    …Maggie

  7. Gabbie says

    November 3, 2009 at 9:07 am

    That upstairs kitchen is soooo pretty! My 1949 kitchen was cheaply remodeled in the 80s (I’m guessing) and I wish I knew what it originally looked like. These posts are great! Thank you for sharing.

  8. gavin hastings says

    November 3, 2009 at 8:36 am

    What a house!
    Please take me with you on your next outing so that I can provide minute-to-minute commentary.

    I would like to point out that it seems the brick-like flooring in the pantry actually picks up the gingham on the walls!

  9. Maryann Roy says

    November 3, 2009 at 7:23 am

    How utterly incredible ! Can’t wait to see more photos!
    Maryann

  10. Glamorlux Nancy says

    November 3, 2009 at 7:16 am

    The kitchen is a dream!!! The floors, the counters, the cabinets… all make me swoon. Thank God someone didn’t decide to update it in the 80’s. This is a work of art!

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