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Kara Vallow’s Bicentennial Chic kitchen remodel — winner of The Hard Way Award – Kitchens for 2015

pam kueber - Updated: July 18, 2021

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

bicentennial chic kitchenOkay, so this has got me to chuckling to no end. Howdy hudee, the votes are in (thank you, readers) and the winner of our The Hard Way Award for Kitchens 2015 is Kara Vallow’s Bicentennial Chic deelite. The super creative Vallow — a producer, animator, artist and writer known for her work on “Family Guy,” “American Dad” and “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,” — wanted to recreate her warm fuzzy childhood memories of growing up in the 1970s during America’s Bicentennial fever in Philadelphia. “I am just not a cocktail chic girl,” she told us, “nor am I a spare and stark Dwell dweller at heart. I’m more hokey pokey than Swingers, and I find perverse comfort and nostalgia in the anachronistic, 1960s does 1780’s design style…” We gave her kudos — and so did voters — for tapping into this iconic style and reinventing it for her kitchen in a fresh, beautiful and functional way.

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16 comments

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  1. Susan says

    I’ve kept coming back to read about this remodel. I love the homey feel and warmth. It’s been a big inspiration in following my heart, rather than the latest trends, in planning my own kitchen redo. Well done, Kara!

  2. RAnderson says

    Been hoping that this one would get the award! My New England-born Mom’s own taste was very Federal formal-traditional, but growing up I always loved the warmer “Fauxlonial” (great name!) look in the houses of my friends and relatives. It was everywhere in the ’50s to early ’70s: braided rugs, Armstrong faux red-brick linoleum, hobnail lamps, black eagles, Liberty bells, the whole shebang. We’re transitioning from the clean but now almost-becoming-cliched MCM style to that warm look of our youth – hey, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood!

  3. Michelle says

    While not my particular taste I do love what she did and that she did it to suit herself! Nothing like “not” being a part of the crowd. I really dislike the new homes where everything is a different shade of “brown” and really no style at all. I definitely LOVE the stove!
    Congrats on the award and keep on stylin!

  4. Deborah says

    That’s a look I have always loved and it’s the most nostalgic for me. Fauxlonial is a good name for it! My mother coveted that furniture style but at the time she could not afford it. Now our living room furniture is predominantly in that style: We inherited it from Grandma. It has such a comfy homey look. Most of that furniture is maple given a warm finish. Braided rugs are part of the look. I bought one recently. The Wilton foundry also made colonial style dishes and serving pieces in a tough alloy that looks like pewter. They made lots of bicentennial stuff. I collected a whole bunch of it for no other reasons than sentimental ones.

    Very nice to see my favorite style get a blue ribbon! Congrats Kara on doing your own thing so well!

  5. Thomas Welles says

    Kara, congratulations on winning The Hard Way Award, well deserved!

    A lot of us have a soft spot for the bicentennial era, a lot of us being products of the 70’s. It’s an overlooked style that you executed beautifully. I applaud you.

  6. Dan says

    I, too, grew up in a series of Sears Roebuck “Faux-lonial” homes – I can still feel that green plaid Herculon wing sofa. My response, however, was to run fast and far.

    But I do so admire folks who could not possibly care less about what is stylish and furnish their homes to make themselves happy. This kitchen brings back memories of bundt cakes and that Jello stuff that magically divided into three layers of chemical yumminess.

    • kara says

      Dan, your comment” “I do so admire folks who could not possibly care less about what is stylish and furnish their homes to make themselves happy” really made my day.

  8. Melinda says

    I can’t seem to find the other finalists for The Hard Way kitchens.
    Can you post a link here in the comments?