Midcentury home design and renovation ideas from 8 retro housebloggers

This year I want to give even more visibility to the fabulous activity under way among all the retro house bloggers featured on the blogroll. Above: Uncle Atom is carving his own tiki totem pole — making us all look like slackers and giving our usual go-to-decorating-overachiever TroySF a run for his money. That said, you ain’t getting me near any chain saw. Read on to see some of the great stories from 7 other house bloggers…
.

Over at Cincinnati Modernation, Chris has taken down some wall and is renovating the closet. Ummm…. Chris…. it appears you are plastick-ing yourself into the closet. Did you get out? I hope this project goes well…

On their blog, Our Arts & Crafts Home, Cara & Mark added a boatload of insulation to their attic and walls. Hey, I did this, too, this past fall — a great idea, given all the weatherization incentives out there — and good for the environment, of course!

Melanie from The Tiny Tudor, shows us the before-and-after of her fabulous 1939 black-and-lavendar tiled bathroom. This tile and the sink are all original – can you imagine! So valuable!

Here is a time capsule living room from a real estate listing that Retro Ruth showcased on her blog, No Pattern Required. It caught my eye because of that fireplace landing area or whatever you call it I can’t think of the word right now. Threshold? Hearth! That’s it! Anyway, it’s the same, inexpensive, random-colored mixed-slate tiles we spotlighted earlier this year for entry ways, patios, and the like. Yes!

Mr. Modtomic showed off his Salem Northstar dinnerware on his blog, Mr. Modtomic. Woah, this stuff is snazzy! 

Joe — known as Synthesis in his comments here — is documenting his “Minus 365” campaign over on his blog, Just Another Statistic. That means: One item leaves the house each day every year. Yes, serious clutter-busting. I need to do this, too. Joe, you are my new inspiration to keep at it. 

Over at The Gonce House, Susie is helping her sister to freshen up her new — 1970s — hair salon. The photo is kinda blurry, but not so much that I don’t get the drift. 1970s hair salon? Yes! 1970s hair? no no no no no no!