Now that the holiday frenzy is kinda sorta dying down, I’m getting back in the groove with features about reader homes. Did I say “groove”? Veronica — who is closing on her first house — a 1976 contemporary — today, is already chomping at the bit to get her retro nesting under way. And, she wants our help with paint colors for this 1976 kitchen. Interestingly, this is really typical of how readers find my site: They make an offer on a new/old house… immediately begin online research on how to renovate and update it … and land right here among us, sucked into our “back-dating” retro vortex. Veronica writes:
I have recently bought my first home- a 1976 contemporary. I want my first project to be the kitchen, but on a tight budget my only option is to paint… I am having a hard time picking out paint colors. They are currently black and white but it feels too stark and cold. I want to keep a mid century mod motif- I was thinking grays and browns to match the brick red colored tiles on the floor, but I would love some ideas.
My husband and I are first time home buyers in the Albany, NY area. Relatively speaking, it did not take us too long to find our dream house- a 1970’s contemporary. I knew before we even began looking for a house that I would not buy a “cookie cutter” house. When we walked in to this house, we fell in love with the spiral staircase and the retro feel of the house.
The layout is a bit awkward- the main living space (kitchen, dining, and family room) are in the walkout “basement”. The main floor is a wide open living room- the third floor holds the bedrooms and there is even a fourth floor loft area (accessible via ladder). I am very excited to add even more midcentury mod touches to this house!
We are closing on the house Wednesday and will begin our renovations this weekend.
thanks pam!~Veronica
angela magee says
Nobody would have stencilled a kitchen cabinet until the 1980s, ours looked exactly like yours.
Maria says
Hope you let us know how it turned out!
The cabinets look like they have blue on them, if so I’d repeat that on the walls and go with a wild rug incorporating the blue. If they are in fact black/white, I’d go with a very mod looking black/white wallpaper and in both I’d do mod hanging round lights. Tulip chair/table would complete the look.
Aileen says
I think a sunny yellow would look great. Black and white and yellow look good together and yellow was a popular kitchen color in the 70s.
heather Staas says
sherwin-williams.com has a great paint tool online.. you can upload your own photo, highlight the area you want painted, and then fill it with any of their colors. It even shades and keeps textures so the effect is pretty real!
Josie says
Okay, I love black and white plus one bright, sunny colour. If tangerine doesn’t thrill you, and I see orange has been mentioned a numer of times… why not yellow? A bright, clear yellow. Or even a chartruese.
What about the Sherwin Williams Suburban Modern chartruese? Or really any of those colours, pink would also be bright and warm without being too acid-y like some people who aren’t me find chartruese to be.
But I love the cabinets. I wouldn’t do them a bright colour, I would keep them white and let the bright colour be bold but not overwhelming.
Hillery says
My first instinct was orange, but then I started to wonder if I could live with bright bright orange. Perhaps, a glass back splash with hints of grey, agua and orange. Then, on larger walls, a pale orange (the palest color of an orange segment).
I love the hardware, so please leave it. I like the idea of stenciling or pale striping the cabinets.
Or, just go wild . . . old school Howard Johnson’s is still a fabulous color match – teal and orange. 🙂 Cannot wait to see it.
Melanie says
Take a look at the Benjamin Moore Affinity fan. TONS of colors in there that would work with the era…without seeming slavish to the era.AF-230 (Buttered Yam) might be too dark for your space…but it might be perfect!
If you want to go green without it being to “avocado” try AF-430 “wasabi”.
Seriously…the whole fan deck is awesome. Additional bonus? The colors are great–but limited. Won’t put you into analysis paralysis.
Helen says
A color combination that I really like is turquoise & red with black & white. Since you already the black & white thing happening, I would paint the walls turquoise & bring in red accents with a clock, towels, etc.