2014 was a great year for reissues of classic midcentury product designs. Still, there are three very basic products — I’m trying not to be greedy — that I would love to see brought back to the market, mass produced for cost, quality and availability. My list is based on seven years of blogging about midcentury modest and modern homes, hearing about what Retro Renovators need and have been excited about whenever the products come up.
1. Glitter laminate:
The absolutely positively #1 item on my list is glitter laminate.
Update, March 2018: Susan has brought this back! See the complete story here.
Made with deco paper — with real glitter inclusions, just like they were starting around 1950 all the way through the early 2000s — yes, this stuff was available for more than 50 years, non-stop. Today, this deco paper is still available — I have personally seen where it is made! Laminate manufacturers: I won’t even be greedy and ask for different colorways. Just give us a white (check the historic examples to get the rightish white) with gold glitter. The white field glitter laminate will solve for MULTITUDES of Retro Renovator kitchens and bathrooms.
Alas — this neeeeds to be a production laminate — it can’t be digital special-order run. As far as I know, the metal glitter cannot be replicated with current on-demand digital printers. That means this must be done with paper with real glitter inclusions. Laminate manufacturers must buy minimum (lotsa) size rolls of the deco paper… once they make the laminate, the sheets must be stored flat, in climate-controlled warehouses… and then there’s the whole marketing machine to get it out to the public. Note, I also tend to think that laminates made with deco paper (on a rotogravure press or as in the case of sparkle laminate, with real inclusions) are nicer looking — the ink saturation will be more intense… AND production laminates are much less expensive than on-demand digital prints because they are mass produced.
Pretty please with sprinkles on top: Will some laminate manufacturer take a big gulp and take a market risk on this? We’ll buy it! Maybe there are enough of us!
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2. Double-bowl, dual-drainboard, metal-rimmed, cast-iron kitchen sink:
Number two on my list: A double-sink, double-drainboard, hudee-rimmed, porcelain-on-cast-iron kitchen sink. The photos above show vintage Kohler sinks from our story about 16 vintage Kohler kitchen sinks.
And above: A 1956 ad for the Kohler “Clearfield” sink — now we know its name. Thanks to ebay seller splittinimagecards for giving us permission to show this photo of this ad for sale, we love having it for our archive.
Note, we love the hudee-rimmed Kohler’s Delafield sink currently available today — it’s a go-to recommendation for a replacement kitchen sink. But oh dear Kohler, can we have a design with drainboards?
Hey, I’d even settle for a double bowl with one drainboard. OR, a single bowl with one or two drainboards. Must have the metal rim, though!
3. Armstrong #5352:
Armstrong Floors, can we have #5352 — believed to be the most popular flooring of all time — back, please? Unbelievable: This floor was made from at least 1935 through to the mid-1990s — 60-some years!
This classic rich brick red color would be fine if we can have only one color. But if you can do other colors, how about something light and creamy (predominantly warm, rather than cool)?
Note: I am not saying Armstrong #5352 floor should be paired with a glitter-on-white laminate countertop. To me, the brick red screams “put me in a warm cozy midcentury modest kitchen” with a rich-colored countertop. But maybe I’d pair glitter laminate with a light, creamy colorway of the floor.
Updated: Like in Lori’s kitchen, photo below, thanks, Lori! Well, she says that floor originally had green squares, but they’ve faded with use. Still, you get the idea of how a monochrome meet-up between a beige 5352 floor and the glitter laminate could look:
And another update:
Reader Jan provided this photo (above) and the history:
Re: the Armstrong Brick flooring among the things we’d like to come back – I found this photo of the side porch at my grandmother’s house. This photo was taken in the late 1950s. My mom can’t remember when this floor was put down – she was born in 1934 and just always remembers it being there. I remember that it was a green colorway -very pretty! (The dogs are Come Here on the bench, Buster in the middle and Kilts on the right – Kilts was a full Scottish terrier and mom to the other two, who were “accidents” with a neighborhood dog – before spaying and neutering was the right thing to do!)
Thanks, Jan!
Some historical images from our files:
What do you think of my list, readers?
I’m wary of pushing our luck by being *too greedy*…
but for the “next wave” of we-wannas, what else?
Amanda chaik says
I grew up with the Wilson Art Gold Satellite (gold glitter with crackle on white) on our kitchen peninsula…and I right now have embossed linoleum in light blue in our kitchen, though I think it is from the eighties or nineties (and a laminate rather than real linoleum). While it is one of my personal least favorite features of our kitchen (and mid-century decoration), this article is making me think about keeping it intact rather than replacing it. I would love a double sink with double drainboard, for sure!!
mag says
My mother-in-law’s kitchen had the glitter counters and beige floor. She never, ever liked it but lived with it for 30 years before remodeling. She now has white oak wood floors that match the rest of the house, white, raised panel cabinets, and medium blue (she loves blue) counters. She did save most of the cabinets in the basement. Oh, she also had her two mid-century bathrooms gutted. She went with very similar colours but all 1990’s materials. The one thing she did like from her house when she moved in in the early 1960’s were the pillow shades, so she had those duplicated for the windows seen from the street. The rest were given miniblinds. When I first entered the family all the windows had 2″ metal blinds, so at some point there had been an update there. I’m rambling, aren’t I?
mag says
pillow shades = pull shades. Gotta love autocorrect on my phone!
Also, I love the taller windows in her living/dining room. They appear to start less than a foot off the floor and top out at about eighteen inches from the ceiling. The bedrooms have those high windows which start about five feet off the floor, which really limits light, but allows furniture more places to sit without blocking anything.
Susan says
Has anyone tried pricing out Formica Envision? It’s their new(ish) line where you can design your own laminate and have it printed. I’m not sure if you can incorporate a metallic into the Envision (little metallic squares mimicking the gold flake). However, I’ve thought about it for creating a boomerang pattern with a colorway that would work for my house, but I haven’t pulled the trigger to price it out and I was wondering if anyone else had.
Cassandra says
My grandparents renovated their kitchen in the early 60s and have the Armstrong 5354 (light beige) in the kitchen and the red in the vestibule. The countertop in the kitchen is white formica with a light grey woodgrain pattern. They also have a pink bathroom and a knotty pine half-bedroom with old VCT on the floor upstairs, and flocked wallpaper in the living and dining rooms. I’ve taken many pictures of the interior of the house and I spent so much time in it that I’ll never forget the details, but I really should take some much more detailed pics of certain aspects before it sells.
Amy says
We have that glitter laminate in the kitchen and bathroom of our 1969 home! We love it and refuse to wreck-o-vate it!
Cindy A. says
Yes, yes, YES!!! I grew up with that fabulous gold glitter laminate and I would love to have it in my own kitchen. Forget granite and quartz… gimme gold glitter laminate!
Leslie says
What do we want: GLITTER! When do we want it: NOW!
Erin in Ohio says
*chanting* 🙂
zanna says
I NEEEEED Glitter formica- i have one countertop made from it in my bathroom and i suspect that all countertops were at one time glittered. I’m planning a reno of the bathroom but i can’t complete it without a proper piece of glitter formica! I’d also love to see a better selection of pink laminate.
I also think companies need a better selection of pink tile- Mamie pink can be hard to come by. More pink bathroom fixtures, more pink kitchen appliances…. more pink everything really. The demand is out there!
Erin in Ohio says
“Note: I am not saying Armstrong #5352 floor should be paired with a glitter-on-white laminate countertop.” Having seen this pairing in real life, I can confirm that they don’t look great together.
I am sooooo afraid of taking the plunge and getting new countertops in our kitchen. My fear is that the moment our installation of boomerang laminate is complete, you will post that they have brought back glitter white!
Is it possible for a laminate company to offer the product pre-production for pre-orders with the stipulation that if they don’t receive enough pre-orders, they will not produce it? I feel like we could get enough pre-orders from your readers alone (myself included) to warrant/fund production!
vegebrarian says
Yes to all of this! My paternal grandparents had the sparkle laminate in their kitchen and bathroom – it must have been the Gold Satellite, because I remember the crackles as well. I have long wanted the same counter tops in my bathroom.
And looking at your 1963 Armstrong catalog, I see something else they had in their house that I loved – 5220, the flagstone flooring with the sparkles!
My great grandparents had something interesting in their home as well – glittery linoleum that was meant to look like carpet. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a turquoise-y blue with gold glitter, the pattern was almost like a chenille blanket.