Retro Renovation

Remodel & decorate in Mid Century Style

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Alesha restores the original 1961 exterior paint colors on her midcentury modern ranch house

Kate - Updated: October 1, 2020

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

Let’s hear it again for
Sherwin-Williams Holiday Turquoise!

midcentury paint jobThe #1 tool in any homeowner’s arsenal for adding curb appeal to the front of our homes: Paint. In this super happy transformation, Alesha shows what a dramatic change some Sherwin-Williams Holiday Turquoise paint made to the appearance of 1961 midcentury modern ranch house. Oh — and in her research phase, she learned that aqua was the original color of those yummy decorative concrete blocks, which enclose her front patio with (envy rages!) courtyard pool!  

1961 electric house
Alesha’s home before.

Alesha writes:

I’ve attached a picture of our newly painted exterior. It was a drab tan and white before — and is now back to pretty much the original color of aqua and white.

1961 electric house

We used Sherwin-Williams Suburban Modern color Holiday Turquoise. We hired a contractor for this project because we had a lot of rotten wood in the soffit and fascia that needed to be replaced in kind and some wood repair around windows.

[Love the decorative concrete blocks? See our story on more than a dozen companies that still make and sell them.]

1961 electric house

I attached a couple interior shots and one of our Gold Medallion Home plaque. It’s great fun working on this place and bringing it back to life! Now to get the courtyard pool operable… maybe next year!

1961 electric house

Alesha is working hard on getting the inside of her new home, but she did send us a few photos of the built-in charcoal grill in her family room to tempt our curiosity.

1961 electric houseOh, what fun these original innovative home features are to see still intact!

Thanks so much for sharing your before and after photos, Alesha, and keep us posted on your progress — we’d love to see more results of your TLC as work continues.

love the house youre in

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Comments

    • Alesha says

      Yes, the grass hides a lot of the breeze block and the color doesn’t compliment so well!

  2. Mary Elizabeth says

    Alesha, what a good color choice. Even if the original color had not been aqua, it would still be lovely! The only thing I would have done differently would be to continue the aqua to the alternate blocks on the garage door, where the gray was (and possibly covering up the old aqua). I’m a big fan of anything that can be done to ramp up the interest in the garage doors of a mid-century house.

    • Alesha says

      Thank you! Yes, we do plan to use the Aqua on the garage doors to, but we’ve got to play around with how we want to do the design first. Originally it was all white from the newspaper photos I’ve seen, but I think it’s appropriate to jazz it up and glad you agree!

  3. P says

    So happy to see people respecting the integrity of these homes. I grew up in a house in N. Ft. Myers, Fl that was built in 1961 as a model for Joe Pulte’s first development (think Pulte Homes). We had terrazzo floors, white and turquoise boomerang Formica and turquoise cabinets and appliances. The house stayed that way for 46 years.

    • Alesha says

      Thank you! We have dark and gray winters and I hated looking out at the tan, but I think this will help!

  6. Josie says

    I love the fresh bright colour. So much cleaner and happier.

    I like the repainted chimney, too.

    But I LOVE the courtyard, so jealous now. Even w/o a pool, I would love to have a lush courtyard garden with big-leaved garden plants and some Hawaiian print fabrics behind that turquoise! Or mid-century zen with rocks and junipers and tiny Japanese maples… or bullet planters and butterfly chairs. I could keep going. Leave at I’m super jealous.

    I would have to include the turquoise inside too… either at least one room’s walls, or some great cushions/drapes. Or something.

    I am super fond of breeze block, (the decorative blocks) nobody gets why I love it, and glass brick, so much. It’s because they have privacy, and sturdiness, and still let in LIGHT. Everyone locally to me puts up five foot tall metal panel fencing in various colours, mostly dark. Just what I wanted, a steel wall between me and the sunshine. NO.