Hi Pam – About two weeks ago my husband and I purchased a 1959 ranch home in Florida. Just inside the front door is a brick planter with wooden slats that divides the dining room from the living room. I have seen this type of thing before, but have not come across any solutions as to what might be done with it. I don’t want to demolish the thing, but would like to get rid of the slats. There is dirt and gravel in the planter. Perhaps you or your readers may have some ideas.Thanks,Lynne in Kansas
Hi Pam – I am a real estate appraiser and you could say it’s my hobby. In the past couple of years I have been watching the prices in Florida, in the meantime my husband and I went to Texas and Panama looking at possible retirement/vacation homes. I love the east coast of Florida, and we traveled down there from our home in Kansas City about a month ago and saw 15 homes in one day. I was specifically looking for a ranch home that had not been renovated. I wanted terrazzo floors and many of the homes we saw had ceramic tiles installed over the terrazzo. I was looking for something with at least three bedrooms within walking distance to the beach. When I saw our home that morning, I loved it, although we kept looking. At the end of the day, although we had seen newer homes that had been renovated – this was just the house for me. It has a pink bathroom and a seafoam green bathroom, an inground pool and a detached two-car garage. The home was built in 1959 and the kitchen seems to be fairly original (cabinets are definitely original) although the appliances had been replaced during the 70’s. We pulled up the carpets and had the floors refinished – that is actually happening this week while we are back in Kansas City. The floors are the only renovation I will be doing. The one thing I am not sure of is the brick planter between the dining area and the living room. I wonder if any of your readers have encountered anything like this. I would like to remove the wooden slats, but then will be left with a fairly low structure right where someone could run into it! I am considering some sort of widely spaced shelves where the slats are now. The planter contains gravel with dirt underneath. (I hope no insects!). I love reading your web page – I no longer worry about the pink bathroom! I have always loved danish modern mid century furniture, so now I am having a great time shopping for some cool stuff for the house.
Thanks so much – I have attached a photo of my husband Larry and me. I would have taken a photo at the house but we won’t be back there for another couple of weeks.
MCMeg says
Wow! What a lot of great ideas! These are the one’s I like: keeping the slats (love them!) and putting the snake plants in pots in the planter, I love the look and then you you can take them home with you the rest of the year. Good luck!
Sarah says
I also like the slats! It’s a great way to divide the space. As far as plants, I would put some cacti in! I don’t know much about plants, but I just bought a few cacti and they are so easy to take care of and look great in our mid-mod style home! I have also seen them growing out of gravel, it helps regulate the water intake when watered. Good luck! Sounds like a great house!
Shane says
Well I’d stick some plants in there!
Actually,I just built a short, 24″ x 39″ wall with matching header above it that I’m using as a base for shelving to divide my LR/DR. The shelves are going to be built out of birch, similar to my doors, and varnished down to a 1954 appearance. There will be 3 verticals, and the shelves will be of varying height for that MCM look (they won’t be symmetrical).
They’ll look like they’ve been there all along. That’s what I’d do. 🙂
Atomic Bowler - Dave says
I used to live in a home with a similar style feature insude the front/main entry. While it was a very SHORT wall, extensionwise., it DID have a bearing function. Take a look at the wall, and if you see one or more carefully disguised pieces of painted 1″ or larger pipe? Know that the wall/divider has a bearing function and cannot be entirely deleted. Or…”consult a licensed and bonded contractor for a professional opinion”.
DW
paige says
Mother in law’s tongue would look great there too
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sansevieria_trifasciata
Happy Daze says
Personally, I’d keep the slats to help define the space around the front door. If you want to remove them, I’d suggest replacing the slats with reeded glass. The glass would be a good compromise since it would give the illusion of opening up the space by allowing more light through, but it would still provide some degree of spatial definition. In addition, reeded glass would maintain the mid-century feel.
If I were going the reeded glass route, I’d plant tropical plants in the planter and light them from beneath so that the foliage would create interesting silhouettes and patterns on the glass.
One thing to consider with the glass – if you are removing the carpet from the terrazzo, adding another hard surface like glass will change the acoustics of the room.
Lynne says
I love your uplight idea! You are right about the accoustics – I am leaning toward leaving the slats and painting them an accent color while I live there and can see how the space functions for us. Several plants uplighted would be really pretty there. Thanks!
TappanTrailerTami says
Lynne,
Wow, lots of “keep the slats” going on in this thread. While I can’t tell *you* what to do, I can only say what *I* would do if it were my planter and slats.
I would definitely keep them, and since it is a vacation home in Florida, I’d just go the kitschy retro route, and use silk plants in the planter, maybe silk Ficus, palms, or something of that nature so no water is required. If you want to be totally kitschy, you could opt for really cheap plastic plants 🙂
To go along with it, I just really envision a couple of pink yard flamingos in that planter! And I would use some of the slat space to hang some tiki motif masks or tiki art on display, and maybe even some artful swagging of some vintage tropical barkcloth, to frame the perimeter of the slat area.
If you want to tone down the “kitschy” bit, Lane pottery made some fairly large ceramic flamingos, that could be displayed, sometimes they sat within a large free flowing shaped shallow ceramic planter. There are really lots of things that could be done within a “theme” at this entry way. The planter even looks long enough to make a bench at each end and leave just the center open as planter space.
The thing that concerns me is the recentness of your purchase. Lots of folks here bought their houses, and some things they wanted to do away with right away…(pink bathrooms come to mind)……but over time, living with these items has caused new appreciation for them. I’d suggest you wait for awhile and see if these slats grow on you. It’s much easier to wait and be absolutely sure you really want to remove them, because once they are gone, they are gone.
Best wishes and have fun vacationing!
Lynne says
HI Tami – Thanks so much for your idea of planter in the middle and a bench at either end. I am definitly going to live with the slats – maybe paint it an accent color. I literally took the photo the day we got the house keys, so after we have been there a while I may find it to be a handy feature. Thanks again!
Leigh says
If you don’t want to do the plant thing — we put colorful marbelized vintage bowling balls in ours. We buried them about 1/3 of the way down with the holes at the bottom in color coordinated gravel. Needless to say we’re sort of kooky and irreverent — and we have brown thumbs!
pam kueber says
would love to see your bowling ball garden, leigh. send me pics at retrorenovation [at] gmail [dot] com if you are game. we love kooky and irreverant!
TappanTrailerTami says
Awesome, what a great idea Leigh!!!
Bryan says
Keep those slats! A cool indoor planter AND a cool vintage room divider? Retro-awesome.
Thomas says
Definitely Mother-in-laws tongur (snake plant). My mid-century also has a built in planter and nothing says mid-century like snake plant. Heres what mine looks like http://www.flickr.com/photos/28286954@N06/3327612766/
Amy Hill says
Your planter looks very nice. I like it!