Here’s a time capsule house of a different color: Not only is it designer-decorated, with every little detail carefully considered, color-coordinated, and matchy-matchy… but this house was barely lived in — for nearly 50 years! Yes, the owners had five other houses and only stayed here a few weekends each year. So pretty much every single element is: Original and pristine. Oh and: The house is for sale fully furnished! Let’s analyze the details — here’s how the late 60s / early 70s were done — in 17 photos >>
#1 (above): Oh my word, the lime green and yellow striping that leads you through the living room. What a snazzy way to connect the spaces in a large, long room.
Here’s the listing info:
- This single family home located at 446482 E Fishermans Road, Gore, OK 74435 is currently listed for sale by C21/Wright Real Estate, with an asking price of $359,000. This 2,832 sq. ft. property was built in 1960 and has 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths.
Yes, listing agent and Realtor Wes Nofire says that the decor we are looking at was conceived by a professional decorator hired by the second owners of the house, who bought it in 1970. The design of the original house also is a marvel, he said: The first owner was a World War II naval veteran, and designed the house so that all the plumbing, electric, etc. were accessible from one space — like inside a battleship. The home is three stories, with views to a nearby lake.
#2 (above): The color palette in the living room is tightly controlled — lime green, sunshine yellow, and white. Note the yellow-back-painted shelves. The carpet has a hint of avocado to mellow out and ground the space.
Peek: Into the dining room. Looks like very metallic silver foil wallpapear in there. I don’t have a photo, but Wes says he may be able to send me one.
Wes, who took these photos and generously gave me permission to feature them, says the only thing that has been changed in the house is that some of the white leather upholstery was reupholstered over time. All the appliances are original and they all work, he says.
#3 — The sectional is wonderful. Notice the sheer pinch pleats are layered over what appear to be woven wood shades ala Beautie Vue.
#4 — Tiny stools tucked under the mirrored sofa table. The fireplace (toward the back of this photo) also appears to be mirrored.
#5 — Yes, carpet in the kitchen. No comments, please. It was the 1970s.
#6 — The cabinet door and drawer fronts have the look of some St. Charles’ I’ve seen, but I don’t think these are steel.
#7 — I’m thinking this is a family room. The color blue is now judiciously introduced — in the blue-painted ceiling, the back-painted cabinetry, the mats of the framed sketches above the sofa, and on the card-table chairs’ upholstery, methinks. Great card table chairs!
#8 — I like how the doors are all painted. They are treated like geometric elements within each room, not whited out.
#9 & #10 — I’m thinking that all the living spaces are oriented toward the lake, with seating planned to enjoy the views.
#11 — Fantastic master bedroom. Matching pinch pleat draperies and wallpaper… coordinated bedskirt and even piping. The little square pillows all in row == LUV.
#12 — This bathroom goes with the master bedroom, same wallpaper. Again, I don’t wanna hear waah waahs, please, about the carpet in the bathrooms. It was the 70s.
#13 — The yellow bedroom. The lime green dresser reminds me of Drexel Plus One sans the words. Flower-powered wing chairs are my new everything.
#14 — I *think* this is the bathroom that goes with the yellow bedroom. However, looking at photo #13, the wallpaper in the attached bathroom seems to match the wing chairs; I see blue. Me confused. P.S. Close yer toilet lids, people: Bad feng shui to leave them open, because your money energy is attracted to be flushed down that drain, and we don’t want that, do we?
#15 — Every house needs a plaid bedroom. Notice: The window seems to be dressed with (1) sheer pinch pleats over (2) a plaid pull-down shade, which hangs over (3) cafe curtains that hang to ground, to line up with the pinch pleats. Now that’s attention to detail.
#16 & #17 — You’d never know from outside, all the 1970s happy going on inside!
Link love:
sherri says
love the square pillows on the bed in the master bedroom. reminds me of my mid-1960’s Barbie dream house.
Dave S. says
Ohhh MY! A great house!!!! To bad the agent uses the term Art Deco. Only off by a few decades. Its sad to think the likely outcome will be a gut job when new owner takes over. My parents put carpet in our bathrooms in the late 1960’s-early 1970’s but only lasted a couple years. It was nice on cold winter mornings getting ready for school.
My first home in Ft. Lauderdale had an oven door that opened from the side. A cool appliance two ovens one over the cooktop plus one below cooktop all one connected unit. People thought it was a microwave up top. Great for holiday and party cooking. The stone walkway and driveway of this home are a work of art in them selves. Try to fine someone today to do that work. Dave
Sandra says
Looking a the pics a second time – the doors on the wall ovens look like they swing out, not down?! I have never seen that and am intrigued? To not have to bend over a hot oven door with a turkey – excellent I say!
Oh the shag – its nice, until you have to pull it up and it reveals all the ookiness that was not vacuumed up 😉
Dan says
I know french door style ovens were available then (there’s a commercial featuring same starring the cast of ‘I Love Lucy’ out there somewhere) but have not seen ovens with doors hinged on one side as these seem to be. Does seem more convenient, doesn’t it?
On another note – the problem with this place is it is too perfect, too much of a piece. You wouldn’t dare change a thing, or buy so much as a toothbrush without making sure it fits the design scheme. Might he fine as a vacation place, but for year round living, I’d take my happy jumble of a home.
CarolK says
I think that maybe GE Profile and Bosch both have wall ovens currently that are hinged on the side. With Bosch, I know that you can pick which side is hinged. The wall ovens I bought were Kitchen-Aid since Lowe’s had a great sale on them about a year ago. The wall oven of my dreams though are Neff Hide and Slide ovens where the door opens and then slides under the oven. They’re the oven on The Great British Baking Show and they’re unfortunately not made for the US market yet. Neff is owned by Bosch, though, and maybe, just maybe the Hide n Slide feature will be incorporated into some other Bosch company products.
I was looking through some kitchen makeover somewhere (on the Better Homes and Gardens website?, HGTV?, Houzz?) where they were making over this old kitchen with one of those glorious ranges that you saw in the 60s with two oven: one below the elements/burners and one above. (Sure beats the current two oven stoves. Ever picked a 25 pound turkey from the floor? That what it’s like lifting the roasting pan with a turkey in it.) Anyway, this range was described as having a microwave over the stove. Umm….. no.
I need to look through the vintage stoves and things that Pam’s listed here to see if I can find any wall ovens with alternate openings.
Dan says
My grandmother had one of those combo double oven stoves. That design still strikes me as so practical. I especially like that your wall is protected from stovetop messes. Funny, I rarely see these in older homes and have never seen one at my local ReStore. Maybe they weren’t as popular as I had thought.
Allison says
My turquoise 1962 Flair range has 2 eye level side-by-side ovens with doors that glide straight up and out of the way. (Not to mention the 4 burners in a drawer that slide in.)
One oven has a meat probe that will turn off the oven when the roast is done, the other has a removable rotisserie option.
Plenty of innovation in those days no longer available to modern consumers.
CarolK says
Allison, most high-end ovens have temperature probes now and Thermador ovens and ranges do have a rotisserie option in the more expensive models. Those innovative things are still around, but you have to be willing to pay for them. That was probably true in the Sixties, too. I’m thinking of the people I knew that had Flairs; they were upper middle class. The two most prominent examples on TV are Samantha Stevens’ kitchen on Bewitched and Pete and Trudy’s Connecticut kitchen on Mad Men, both upper middle class.
Jay says
Not always high end, back in the 50s my parents had a run of the mill Hotpoint stove with a built in rotisserie compartment. The 50s and 60s saw a lot of innovation in large and small American appliances for the middle class that went away as costs for raw materials escalated and cheap imports increased.
Maria says
Gaggenau Makes side hinged ovens. They seemed kinda cool when I saw them, but sometimes I’m happy for the door below when I’m pulling something hotter and heavier than I thought out of the oven.
Carolyn says
I have carpet in my K, although it’s indoor/outdoor, and shaped to define its area from the DR. Once I trained DH to avoid spilling and rinse/blot/rinse (or get out the rigamarole of the Little Green Machine), it’s pretty much a non-entity. I wouldn’t have pile carpeting – oy!
I’ve enjoyed my carpeted bathroom too. I used to steam clean every month til I realized it just doesn’t get dirty enough to justify cleaning more than Spring & Autumn cleaning. Stuff doesn’t shatter when dropped and it’s so soft on my bare feet (it’s coppertone from 1975 – ooh, plush!)
I would only change two things to this home – change out the K carpet to alternative flooring and harvest the trees in the way of the lake view and maintain that sight line. I’ve been in a few estate sales in this era of home that capitalized on the view when built. But for some reason or another, trees weren’t prevented from growing or grew and nobody had the wherewithal to remove them.
Kind of sad that this house used to be THE “thing” for this family to gather periodically but the family has spread out too much to get together anymore. We see that trend with lowly summer cottages with the barest amenities – families that saw each other every summer but then the kids grow up. Why suffer communal bathrooms, showers, and mosquitoes when you can go to a waterpark any time of the year?
Debbie in Portland says
Lime green was my favorite color during my pre-teen years in the early 70’s. I “outgrew it”, but seeing it here makes me realize how pretty it really is, especially in smaller doses. My mom was wise to not allow me to paint all four of my bedroom walls that color!
If a house that they stayed in “only a few weekends each year” is THIS fabulous….doesn’t it make you want to see their other five houses?
Laura's Last Ditch Vintage Kitchenwares says
We had carpet in the kitchen of one of the houses I lived in when I was a teen. I LOVED the carpet because it meant not having to mop (one of my least favorite jobs). I highly recommend it.
ineffablespace says
I would replace the floors with site finished wood, VCT or ceramic depending upon the room and top them with broadloom cut as area rugs or near room-size rugs in the same colors as the shag.
Marta says
I was missing a new time capsule house, and then this one came up! I so love this interior decoration, the colors, the textures, the attention to detail. I happen to have been a teenager in the seventies and my brain is imprinted with the aesthetic of those times. In a different note, I could use the “bad feng shui” argument with my husband. Thanks for the idea!
Robert says
Groovey!
Wendellyn Plummer says
Wow! My parents even had carpet in their kitchen at one time. Yuck, gems, yuck!!!!!
Love the house. One I wish I lived in OK and two I wish I had that kind of money!