Reader Sara is mid-mod-mad, but she is biding her time in a rustic farmhouse while she and her husband finalize their plans to build their retro ranch house on the same, large property. She can’t wait any longer to get her fix, though: She has been in the farmhouse for five years and wants a jolt of retro in her kitchen NOW.
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So, Sara has asked the Retro Renovation community for our suggestions on how to retro-fy the kitchen without spending a lot, as they will not live in this house for a lot longer. The cabinets are from an old chicken coop, she has been told. That sink is original. Oh, and wait til you see the highly sought after Armstrong 5852 flooring. She’s also provided an “inspiration photo” from our archives.
What are your ideas, Sara asks: Paint the countertops? Paint the cabinets? Paint the bottom cabinets? Change the wallpaper border? Change the wallpaper all together? Paint the window casings? Curtains? What about painting the lower cabinets and the counter red to match the sink and replacing the wallpaper with a small print that has red and aqua in it (have the turquoise fiestaware)?
Go to it, readers! I’ll wrap it up on Tuesday with a mood board.
Here is Sara’s inspiration photo:
Click on the first thumnail to start the slideshow. There are descriptions below each photo, along with arrows to move you back or forward:
And here is some more background:
Hi Pam. I’m so grateful (in advance) for all the practical and down to earth decorating advice I’m hoping to get from fellow “love the house you’re in” folks. We’ve been here 5 years now and it’s been a lot of work inside and especially out. Nature can take over pretty darn fast when a place is left vacant! Anyway, I’ve included a lot of photos so you can pick through them. Just thought you might like some outside ones to get a feel for this place. As you can see, the setting is beautiful. And you know my hope and plan is to build a mid century modest home to live in for the rest of our lives (next 40+ years). This place has no foundation, old everything, and not one of those “solidly built” homes you have back there plus we worry about the fact that it’s basically kindling. And with one bathroom off the utility room and 4 bedrooms upstairs it doesn’t suit an aging couple. It is actually the 2nd home to be built on this property. But in the meantime, I want to enjoy it. It is my husband’s dream property and he’s always wanted it. So for us it’s all about the location and the lifestyle it gives us. We will be making a smaller footprint by taking down (recycling old wood) the house and outbuildings and building smaller.
Hey, this place was “retro” when “retro” was modern! I’m thinking a western direction would work. Keep thinking how everything “western” was so cool in the 50s. Movies, clothing, ranches, even the Mickey Mouse Club had a western story line. I’m a little overdosed on the whole “lodge” theme. My grandma went from a farmhouse to a pink mid-century modern home. I think I know where she was coming from! I hope people have fun with it.
Many thanks! Don’t know anyone else who doesn’t want to gut something and put in “updates”.
Sara
Candice says
The island is picking up on the screen as maroon, is it really the same shade in person?
I second retro cowboy. I spend ALOT of time tracking down this look for my mom.
Repodepo has some good fabrics, you actually might like some things from Archie McPhee’s cowboy line. Get a wagon wheel chandelier in there and go cowboy!
like this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/42424780/vintage-retro-cowboy-with-lasso-fabric-a?ref=vl_other_1
Lodge is too dark in alot of homes, with so much wood a colorful 50’s western theme would be great. Nudie suits, Nashville sparkle and big hair fun!
If you’re going to demo/salvage you’d have to make the call if it’s worth it, but I’d go turquoise on the counters, and take up up the backslash too if you aren’t up to strip and stain them.
Also once you find your perfect red and turquoise accent fabric I’d make matching curtians for the sink and window with a little shorty valance.
Great place, good luck!
Sara in WA says
FYI! The island is a dark red; not pink as some are seeing. Gee that was an easy update! Thanks for all the encouragement and suggestions. Keep it coming. Funny about the “green acres” comment Gavin. You’re right on the money. I’ve thought about moving the sink but not the cabinets – might work in a utility room. Those things are beyond sturdy. We call this place “North Fork Ranch” as our favorite show was Dallas and we live near the north fork of the Lewis River. (but He’s not JR, and I’m not Sue Ellen.) Thanks again.
Gavin Hastings says
…Hey, yours is a dream compared to the one I used to can fruits and vegetables in!
You have actual countertops and don’t have to rest red-hot pressure cookers on the floor!….oh my silly 30’s…
Canning in August and September is a great idea at 7:30 in the morning…but turns into “Canning Hell” somewhere around noon!
angie says
Ooooh Sara I am beside myself with envy over your big red enamel sink!
I wish these things were still made; they are so completely functional:
Sink, storage, drainage,all in one big happy unit! I have an old one from the late
40s/50s that I use in my basement “workshop” to hold paint supplies and all
that kind of stuff.
Love the curtain you have to hide the under-sink storage; this is actually quite
faithful to kitchens of the past–at one point I was so frustrated with my own
kitchen remodel/restoration that I considered ripping off all my lower kitchen
cabinet doors & replacing with a curtain treatment myself!
I agree with all the other posters here to comfort yourself for now with temporary
infusions of mod-ish stuff until you build your Modern Modest palace!
And your woodcabinets are really mid-mod, faithful to the era.
Or, as my mother would say: urly amerrrican.
Enjoy!
Dixie says
Wait–this is the UN-RETROFIED picture? I don’t think she needs to do much in the kitchen–the wooden cabinets and red sink are Fifties already. Personally, I’d go with curtains in a brighter retro print, but the lace isn’t bad.
The biggest thing that jumps out at me as non-retro, and even this almost doesn’t count, is that the country-look wallpaper with the borders is more Eighties than Fifties. Now, Eighties could still be retro, but my guess is that that isn’t what she had in mind. Even something as basic as a more Midcentury or Forties wallpaper border could do a lot to change the look. (The main wallpaper in yellow and white stripes is sort of neutral, so I think she could work with that, but a trim with either a geometric or a stylized floral would look more pointedly retro.
Some ideas here.
Michelle says
Sara – you have the makings of a dreamy kitchen. Love the cabinets the way they are, so cool. And that red sink and counter is fabulous! I would lean more toward vintage cowboy, not vintage lodge. I think you are on the right track when you say how cool everything western was in the ’50s. I uploaded a sample of vintage cowboy barkcloth for under the sink and the curtains. Play up the red and mix with turquoise (may be just me but I love those colors together), maybe a turquoise backsplash or how bout some tin tiles painted turquoise. Big envy on those canning shelves!! I would make the nook into a little computer area maybe and redecorate the dining room and bath with the same vintage cowboy flair. Be on the lookout for some old cowboy items to add to your decor, like old bits and spurs. And a retro chrome/formica table/chairs would set it all off. Can’t wait to see what you do with your space – it’s got huge potential!
Gavin Hastings says
Ok….here goes:
I would do NOTHING. Your kitchen is charming and more importantly, everything seems to be working. It is clean and safe. That in itself is something to enjoy. 5 years moves along pretty quickly and I would use that time to save and plan the “real” kitchen.
Kitchens can be a designer’s dream….but the bottom line is that they are workspaces. And yours seems to work.
You are so smart to be looking to the future: don’t go looking for trouble in the present. I spent 15 years in a kitchen right out of “Green Acres” and tried everything to make it better. We laugh now at the time, energy and money used to “transform” the space….
Your kitchen suits your charming house. Take those great cabinets with you to the new space…intact and unpainted: they are your starting point.
Best wishes to you both!
Amy Hill says
You know, I have to agree with Gavin. I don’t believe in changing a period kitchen, and this definitely a 70’s period kitchen, into something it’s not. Your kitchen is gorgeous as is!
Please don’t paint the wood. Someone at some time in the future who is stuck with the task of stripping off that paint will be wondering who in their right mind would slap a coat of paint on that beautiful wood!
Buy some cannisters or new curtains that you can use later on in your newly built ranch.
Gavin Hastings says
Thank You!
I think people are missing the temporary nature of this decoring exercise.
The only thing I see “off” is the sink base. If you are determined to do something…why not encase the fixture in planks of knotty pine with an Early American stain? You get to have some new doors in the bargain!
Bottom line is a budget of no more than 200 bucks. I think spending any more than this amount: for something not transfered to the new structure would be wasteful.
Now that I know you are in Seattle….nix the Green Acres tag. Your home is pure “Here Come the Brides”! Say hi to Jeremy, Joshua and Jason Bolt for me!
Sara in WA says
I appreciate your comments (very much) Gavin. We’re actually just north of Portland OR but if I see those guys I’ll say “Hi”. I’m going to go with your $200 budget.
Kelly says
Oh, and can I add that if you go Early American, you can easily use your furniture and it will fit right in? Here’s a link from right here on Retro Renovation that shows you what I mean:
https://retrorenovation.com/2009/08/04/early-american-design-why-was-it-popular-in-the-mid-20th-century/
Good luck and I hope that we get to see what you do. It really IS a fantastic home as it is now but I know that you can tweak it to feel more like what *your* dream home is.
Kelly says
What an incredible home, Sara! I think that you have a lot to work with here and that it could easily lean towards the Early American look of the 50’s. If it were me, I’d leave all of the wood unpainted that I could. I love your cabinets. The kitchen looks great to me except for painting out the pink on that island (I think red too) and maybe removing the lace from the window and replacing it with a more Mid-Century fabric – something matching for under the sink maybe?
It seems like to me that the dining room/sitting room area is what is taking the look too far into the country revival look of the late 80’s and early 90’s. I think that it just needs to be taken from a little more of the country look – the wallpaper borders, the ceiling fan, the lace curtains and the modern takes on country or woodsy decor make it seem more country – which is a very sweet look but if you’re going for a Mid-Century look, those things can take away from it.
It might help to look at items and ask yourself, “would this have existed in the era that I’m trying to emulate?” I’ve had to do that before and it really helps weed out some things. I feel like your home is really close to the Mid-Century Early American look or even the Western look that you want to emulate and that it just needs some minor tweaks. You won’t have to go too far to make it read like the period that you love. I’m excited for you!
And let me say that I am in awe of all of your canned goods. You are obviously a woman who is not afraid of hard work. : )
Tamara Hoffbauer says
Great start on that kitchen. I think a new colorful counter top would make a huge difference, paint the island or replace it, and switch the wallpaper for a geometric pattern. (I uploaded a sample from Bradbury – Atomic Doodle, which has an understated but whimsical turquoise pattern). You could also carry the new wallpaper over to the under-cabinet areas.
I’d put a hard valance with scallop edge over the kitchen sink, and find a nice vintage piece of fabric to use for a curtain. Paint the storage nook an accent color rather than hide it, I think the architectural detail is nice! Throw in a few more choice pieces of vintage ceramic decor or appliances, and remove the accents that are “country-ish” and I think you have a pretty good Mid-Mod kitchen on the cheap!
A very cute house!
Susan says
Paint the island red to match the sink (leave the top as is, just paint the pink part). Then use red and turquoise as accent colors. May replace the wood table and wood pie shelf with formica/chrome table and chairs and kitchen cart.
Susan says
Hi Sara,
What a great house! I love the porches, the canning shelves and the red sink! You really want to gut the whole thing?
I’m seeing big splashy hawaiian barkcloth under that sink, for the borders and lining the backs of bookshelves that might hide the crawl space. Or could an angled curtain rod work there? Think vacation getaway.
Here are two sites for barkcloth: http://www.barkclothhawaii.com/ and http://www.alohaoutlet.com/Shops/108/en/Search.aspx?CatId=1388&gclid=CMj7wa6Li6ECFdtL5Qod-zDGQg.
I’ve tried to upload some fun prints. Splash that red around with energy!
Best of luck!