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Vintage-style kitchen in the pink

pam kueber - Updated: November 3, 2020

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

vintage style pink kitchenStep one in creating a pleasing design and color combination for your kitchen: Find your pattern — and build from there. I spotted an adorable set of New Old Stock cafe curtains — and now I need a new house because I want to install this kitchen! 

An in-the-pink kitchen:

pink-cafe-curtains

Thanks to ebay seller vintagechamber for permission to show photos of this lovely vintage find. Click here to get to the listing. Selected details (there are more with the listing) include:

  • Three pair (six panels) of wonderful new old stock Mid-Century Modern cafe curtains.
  • A Donaldson’s paper price tag is pinned to one of the panels. The price was $3.99 a pair. Donaldson’s was once a popular department store in Minneapolis, but sadly, no longer exists.
  • Each panel is 32″ wide by 34″ long (measured from the top point where the rings attach).

pink-kitchen-curtains

  • The print fabric is a fine quality, crisp polished cotton with a mid-century kitchen-themed print of coffee and tea pots, coffee grinders, cups and saucers, sugar bowls, spoons and forks.
  • The colors are pink, gray, tan, black, and white. The white areas have a slight pinkish hue because of the pink lining. The pink lining is also a fine quality, crisp cotton.

formica-boomerangLet’s pair it with: Formica Charcoal Boomerang Laminate… easy peasy!

neoflam-cookware


neoflam-cookware-greenAnd start accessorizing with pink cookware. Several readers spotted and sent me emails about this Neoflam cookware, which is available in two retro colors — a delicious Mamie-ish pink color and a 1960s-ish pistachio. The designs of the knobs on the lids are fun, too. Available on Amazon (affiliate link).

cafe curtains

This fabric is just so perfect — we love the subject  matter — but more importantly, the fact it contains several shades of gray, the additional shade of beige, and then, the accent color pink, makes it super versatile. This fabric would look great with white or pink cabinets — but I’d love to see it with warm wood cabinets — the blonder the better, to pick up on the beige in the fabric. Like… can you imagine these cafe curtains in this time capsule kitchen:

time capsule house

  • See more of this time capsule kitchen from five years ago on the blog — earlier this year — yes, five years after we discovered it — it became a viral internet sensation!

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41 comments

Comments

  1. tamiam@socal.rr.com says

    The curtains are so cute..just love those old graphics & the scallop design. The straight pin in the price tag..remember when everything & clothing was sold like that.

  3. HeidiAnn says

    I am loving those curtains, and yes, that fabulous pink cookware would be so perfect! The gray and pink wallpaper that was in our kitchen back in the 1950’s can be seen in my blog post found at: http://goldcountrygirls.blogspot.com/2015/07/our-wallpaper-again.html
    It would have been great in that time-capsule kitchen, too!
    We live in the house my husband grew up in – it was built in 1940 – and his parents used to have a pink Frigidaire Flair range, back when the wallpaper was on the walls! (Wish I had pictures of THAT!)

  4. linda h says

    Oh, dear. I don’t suppose you’d like these curtains in a craft room, too. I like my olive and orange colored kitchen decor. But my craft room has some pink. And I do love coffee themed items. If I do the new Riley Blake “ooh la la fresh and french” fabric in red to recover my covered cans footstool, the spoons and forks on that fabric would go well with those curtains.

    • linda h says

      Actually, on second thought, I should probably buy enough of the Riley Blake fabric to make cafe curtains as well as recovering footstool. I just got carried away when I saw how cool those curtains were. Easy to go crazy over the nifty things I see on your blog.

  5. Robin, NV says

    I love those curtains! And those pans are awesome. I might have to buy a set in the green – too bad they don’t come in orange.

    Pam and Kate – I’ve been wondering if you were going to do a “99 ideas to decorate a kitchen” segment. Maybe you could do kitchens decade by decade? Start with a wood and/or metal cabinet template and let us readers go crazy with ideas. I had so much fun developing the mood boards for the bathrooms. 🙂

  6. Mary Elizabeth says

    OK, we also need pink Pyrex to go with this kitchen:

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/230829180/pink-pyrexpink-gooseberry-pyrexpink?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pink%20Pyrex&ref=sr_gallery_4

    . . .and this poster:

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/213936279/real-men-use-pink-pyrex-vintage-inspired?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pink%20Pyrex&ref=sr_gallery_21

    . . . and some pretty Homer Laughlin dishes:

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/203983422/1956-homer-laughlin-a55n8-made-in-usa?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=Homer%20laughlin%20pink%20dishes&ref=sr_gallery_6

  7. Steve H says

    Donaldsons really was a great store (fun fact: you can see the store in the opening credits of early episodes of the Mary Tyler Moore show). I love these curtains and would buy them in a heartbeat for my parents’ kitchen, but their countertops are gold Formica with gold sparkles, so I’m afraid it wouldn’t really work.

    • pam kueber says

      I think that what I call beige in my write up might really be tending toward the gold — and I think it’s probably there to coordinate with golds.So I think it would work!

  8. sherree says

    I love a pink kitchen! My parents built a new ranch home in the late 50’s (my Mom designed it) and it had a pink & charcoal kitchen. The cook top and wall oven were pink. My mom had their existing refrigerator painted pink at a local body shop. Also, that great cookware line offers additional pieces in other colors too. I love the knobs!

  9. Karin says

    SO, so, pretty love it. Find your pattern and build from there. what great advice. I wish I had a window in my galley kitchen so I could have a cheery curtain pattern like this. Does “find your pattern” apply to wallpaper or backsplash as well?

      • Karin says

        Thank you for your reply, Pam. Backsplash sort of patterned. I was planning a new aqua glass mosaic backsplash tile called She’s a Star. While not authentically period, the colors look like beach glass-a great match to Holiday Turquoise, which is what my Youngstowns will be. Wallpaper-Aqua Atomic Doodle? Also, after five years of searching, I found 3 sheets of Aqua boomerang Formica. Turns out it’s still available in Canada through some wholesalers. Who knew?

          • Mary Elizabeth says

            Yes, wow! Canada has all kinds of things no longer carried in the U.S. Once I bought the nicest cabinet knobs in a hardware store in Nova Scotia. Perhaps we should think about searching there for pink potties. But I’m afraid shipping would be a bear, so one would have to take a trip there to make it practical.

  10. Andrew says

    I have had that exact boomerang counter top for 8 years and its held up amazingly! It looks like its brand new. Lowes carries it in 8 colors I believe.

    • pam kueber says

      Yes, but it’s the only Formica boomerang left! Charcoal is the only color available. The other colors were discontinued about five years ago.