Here’s a fun one for a Friday: As an owner of an old house… did you take the tried and true advice to “listen to what your house says it wants” before making updates or remodels?
- If so: What did your house tell you — and how did that affect your plans?
- Flip side: Did you not take the time to listen to your house… and make a rash decision you later regretted?
It’s pretty clear what the fabulous evaxebra’s old apartment was telling her: Don’t you dare mess with the pink bathroom!
Kari says
When we purchased our 1954 split-level in ’07, the original plan was to “update” and make the home eco-friendly with bamboo, recycled glass counters etc. Previous owners had done a 90’s re-muddle. We had a lot of exterior & mechanical renovations that needed to be done 1st. Fortunately in the interim we found this website, re-imagined our plan & with the help of Craigslist, eBay, our local architectural salvage warehouses & demo sales we are bringing it back to its original glory. Our small yellow master bathroom was recently featured here on RR.
Markie says
We have only lived in our 1951 ranch since October… but the last four months we have listened every step of the way and have changed only what is needed… and then kept as close to the appropriate materials and look as possible. The previous owners kept much intact but all walls were flat white. Most of the change has come from warm, soft color. The main bathroom has been the biggest renovation change. We replaced floor, light, fan, vanity, sink and kept Cinderella tub and original commode, both in Ming green. As spring approaches, we are looking forward to making changes outside to give us a mid mod feel in our yard. The big changes to the house this year will be a new roof to replace the original one- looking for someone who will keep the original flashing or can create a suitable replacement- and to change the “modern” bathroom downstairs. we look forward to slowly gathering the supplies first. It is a lovely, lovely process.
Mary Elizabeth says
Keep searching on eBay and in small hardware stores for a ming green bathroom sink for your vanity. Enjoy your home, Markie!
KStacey says
I JUST bought a ming green American Standard sink (the deluxe ‘projecting’ model) at a salvage yard! $25, looks like it was taken out of a bathroom nobody ever used. The one thing they ripped out of both bathrooms was the guest bath sink, replacing it with a Hope Depot honey oak horror. At least the vanity counter was separate, and they left the Wilsonart ‘marble’ alone!
If you keep looking, it will find you!
Tommy Knappenberger says
Make sure to listen to your old door chime. Many of those 1940’s/50’s chimes are almost like musical instruments compared to the “tink-tonk” sound of many of the ones on the market today.
I replace plenty of them with new ones, due to the requests of homeowners and decorators, but keep every one of the old ones I remove and save them for my customers that actually care about quality.
“SAVE THE NuTone’s”
KStacey says
I saw the NuTone doorbell, with the starburst button plate and matching starburst cover on the long chimes in the hall and KNEW I had found ‘our home’. Was a bonus when I later realized there was also a doorbell at the BACK door (not a cool starburst, but a pretty sweet deco bakelight deal) that not only worked, but had it’s own chime, so you know which door is ringing! Don’t know how much I will ever use it, but I will for sure take loving care of it for as long as I am there. (And as far as I’m concerned, my next move will be into an urn!)
Mary Elizabeth says
Tommy, thank you for saving all those NuTones! I still have mine in the 1959 ranch. Many people want the doorbell replaced when it stops working, no realizing that the buttons can be rewired to the bell. (We did that to the front and breezeway doors.) Also, there were little chrome strips on the sides of the doorbell unit in the kitchen, which cleaned up nicely, as did the plastic housing.
Tommy Knappenberger says
If you want to have a little fun with your long bell chime, if it is the four tube Westminster type, you can rearrange the tubes so that it will play “How dry I am”
Kate says
I’ve owned my 1958 Cape Cod-style house for 21 years today! Closed on Valentine’s Day, 1996. Anyway, I have a pink and black classic 1950s bathroom, and I love it. I am mid-ranovation of the (awful) sink, toilet and tub and floor (yuck!). We tore out the tub altogether and are making it into a shower only. But I insisted on preserving the pink and black classic 1950s tiles. I think they’re going to make a comeback, and everybody’s gonna be peeved that they tore them all out. LOL!
pam kueber says
Yes, do you know our other little blog: Save The Pink Bathrooms ? They are already well on their way to making a comeback!
KStacey says
I have been in my East Dallas 1960 Ranch for 4 months now. 3rd owner, we purchased it from a widower who had been in it since 1968. I am definitely taking my time, allowing ideas to brew, stuff like that. I haven taken the chance to peek into other homes in the neighborhood, (either visiting or stalking zillow listings, even a couple estate sale ‘visits’) to get an idea of what others have done with similar spaces. It was not a ‘development’ type neighborhood in the way that they churn them out now, the homes seem to have been built randomly from about 1958-1964. And while many are similar to at least some of the other homes, no two seem to have been identical. (even down to the bare bones floorplans before the ‘open concept’ cudgel was swung upon many of them) It’s fun to see things changed and things preserved, although it can be heartbreaking as well. (“Can you believe it, this bathroom was floor-to-ceiling pink tile! We had to completely gut EVERYTHING!”) So yes, I am proceeding with such caution I have not even hung much on the walls.
HOWEVER, there are a couple things that were immediately terminated. The 1992 plaid wallpaper covering every inch of the kitchen/breakfast area and the bright shiny brass boob-light fixtures come to mind. There are some things that deserve my contemplation. There are others that I am 110% confident I will never love or understand, and frankly cannot stand to look at for any longer than humanly possible.
Dee says
we live in a duplex built in 1944- the house defiantly talks to me but since we rent its a fine line balancing between what the house wants and what the wallet can rationalize – hand scraping all the lovely wood is a labor of love though
pam kueber says
Be sure to Renovate Safe! https://retrorenovation.com/renovate-safe/
Heart says
Really love that you see the Beauty in your Retro rental!
Having rented multiple vintage homes over the years, I have found that if I decorate to Honor the Period of the house the landlords appreciate respectful decent tenants. Over time they are likely to see the value you see & they begin to make needed improvements to maintain/restore the value.
Enjoy your period Home, After all YOU live there!
Hope this helps…
Retroski says
What a fun post to revisit! Do I listen? I try! We-re in the process of installing some new wood floors and tile in the entryway of our mid-70s era condo which started life as an apartment, and later was converted into furnished apartments for corporate housing, then regular condos. The old floor was dingy, stained, off white carpet, so I feel it breathing a sigh of relief as it says, “Thank you for turning me into a home!” It felt neglected after being occupied for years by uncommitted people. It wants us to remove all the off-white bleh-ness but do the changes in the retro spirit. It also wants us to keep the original closet doors and fingerblock parquet in the kitchen. I also think it’s happy with the orange/white/amber slag glass lamp above our kitchen table…something that was going to be temporary till we found a better lamp, but it felt so much at home we kept it!
Retroski says
Some houses must have stronger voices than others. Some really want to stay original while others are okay with being changed as long as you take care of them and do the changes well. When my mom got the chance to remodel our orange kitchen to a different style (after living with it for years) the house said “You have taken good care of me, so I will let you change my kitchen since I know you do a good job. The new kitchen, while modern, is well-designed, tasteful and functional, so the house doesn’t mind! My parents have done a lot to upkeep the house, and they love it, so it’s happy with its caretakers.
Heart says
How Fun! A retro 70’s update. Yes, sometimes breathing new life/love into an old house is exactly what’s called for. The hunt is on, enjoy the journey.
Jody says
Nope. First thing we did, before moving in: take up the old, worn wall-to-wall, cheap laminate and banal white kitchen tile in our main floor and replace it all with cork, and I’ve never regretted that decision. We also pulled out riverbottom-brown wallpaper in my daughters’ room and pulled down four floor-to-ceiling bronzed mirrors in the dining room, revealing a hand-painted 1955 mural, and replaced the gold chandelier with a Lightolier glass tubing fixture from the bedroom. Within a year we knocked out a previously-covered pass-through in the front hall (the original design had louvered slats there). In other words, we returned three features to their original glory.
We also took down a room’s worth of brown Naugahyde wallpaper in a bedroom. It had been put up in the early 1970s (judging from the peace signs painted on the wall behind it). It was a novelty, but also felt like being inside a saddle. I wish I’d left that up, and also the plain-blue wallpaper in our garage entry alcove, simply because we have yet to replace it. (I do plan to get knotty pine paneling to match the rest of the alcove, so that’s a plus.)
Before we moved in, though, someone had already installed granite countertops–but left the steel Geneva, which was a selling point for me. And former owners also tragically converted what I know was a classic tiled bathroom to a Home Depot beige special. I’ll let you know when we work on that project!
Jody says
I should qualify my “Nope”–we DID listen, but we didn’t wait the recommended year on the big stuff. Sometimes your house is screaming so loudly , you just have to answer immediately.
Ronda Matlow says
I answered mine immediately too. The counters, stove top, and oven were installed for someone very tall. I am only five feet. Reaching to use a back burner over a hot front burner, or standing on a stool to use the counters could be dangerous.
rue says
I definitely listen to my 1930s cottage!
I kept the original 1930s cabinets and layout, much to my mother’s dismay. She kept telling me to gut it and open up a wall to the bedroom that’s off of it. The horror! lol Instead I sanded down every single part of them and figured out what color everything was and went with what was closest to the original. I have no idea what the original flooring was, so I went with the checkerboard look based on an old kitchen add from 1929. The countertops were replaced with laminate during the 70s or 80s, so I put in tile and a 1930s cast iron sink. I went with white tile, because there was evidence that was what was there and kept the colorful backsplash tile.
Now, I’m trying to figure out what colors were original in the rest of the house and painting them back again, because the last owners painted everything brown…. walls, cabinets, the outside, everything. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll use what I think the house wants.
Even for a house with only 4 different owners, there was quite a bit of remuddling, that I’m trying to fix. The bathrooms are still waiting on me to bring them back. I actually found the base to the original washstand in the back that was being used as a plant stand. I hope one day I can find a matching top to it, but I doubt there’s a lot of brownish 1930s sinks floating around without a bottom…. sigh.
Sadly all the windows on the main floor have been replaced in the 80s and they all are failing. Of course the three original windows downstairs are working just fine. One day I hope to fix that mistake.
So much to do…. but I wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂
TerriLynn says
We have spent a couple years listening to our 1952 modest brick home. It speaks a different language than I do so it is taking me a while to figure out. I think we really got the kitchen right with a little kiss to the vintage. The original is way to far gone after 70s renovations that were poorly done to recover any of it. Lots of add on’s have created many many doors all over the house. We have already closed up three of them and opened wide another. The thing I am having trouble with it the added on bathroom. It was originally a 2 bd 1 bath house with a den. In the 70s they added a bathroom onto the den on top of a concrete patio. This is going to be a gut job cause once again, it was done so poorly. But I have yet to figure out what the house wants to do with it since it was not original, but I cant even think about losing a bathroom and making it a one bath house.