Reversing the remuddle: Megan & Nick bring their 1947 kitchen back its retro roots

Megan and Nick have been retro enthusiasts for years. So, when they purchased their 1947 house, they knew what they had to do — take it back to its simpler-time roots. The remuddled kitchen was the first thing they attacked. What you don’t see: All the important utilities replaced or restored, like plumbing and electric — thank goodness Megan’s dad is a contractor and insisted on helping! What you do see: To start, get ready to (1) say buh-bye to the granite countertops and then (2) to welcome Megan and Nick’s amazing transformation. 

Megan writes:

Hi!

My husband Nick and I just bought our first home in Los Angeles. We’ve been big fans of the site for years and were happy to put the inspiration to work. 

We are still settling in and decorating the rest of the house, but the kitchen that is camera ready…. I took extensive before and after photos which I’d love to share with you. 

Nick and I are totally lucky that my father is a general contractor in Nashville and insisted on helping us retro renovation of our house! He used to do historic high rise restoration and loves bring old buildings back to life. 

The previous owners kept the original kitchen cabinets but replaced the previous yellow and blue tile countertops with granite. We knew we wanted to make the kitchen feel original to the house. However, the house was still on fuses and we needed to add circuits to the kitchen and plumbing so we stripped it down to the studs. 

My father is a contractor in Tennessee and we were very lucky that he basically demanded to help us remodel our home. We recovered the original hardwood floors, removed a wall, moved another wall, stripped the kitchen and laundry to studs, added an electrical panel, re-ran some gas lines and plumbing plus changed every light fixture and fan in the place. All of this was done over the course of 10 weeks by me, my husband and my father. 

We lived in a small 600 sqft triplex for five years, and it was my dream kitchen, so when we bought our home I used my old tiny apartment kitchen for inspiration. 

We’re lucky that we live 15 minutes from B&W Tile in Gardena. They had the exact colors we wanted, jade and light green, and were extremely helpful.

Pam adds:

• Carolyn used yellow and maroon B&W Tiles similarly, in her kitchen renovation featured here.
• B&W Tiles also have been used by many readers and their bathroom remodels.

Our VCT tile floors came from Linoleum City. I had an idea of what I wanted but wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find it. Luckily, we walked in and I spotted the Azrock Pistachio tile first thing and knew that was our accent tile and Armstrong White Out was our main floor tile. 

We removed the soffit so that the cabinets would go up to the ceiling. We moved the stove to the center of the wall, added a dishwasher and garbage disposal. We created cabinets around the fridge including my baking bookshelf. The two ceiling mount light shades are original, but we replaced the bases because the wiring was fried.

 

I found the light over the sink on Etsy and loved it immediately.

Our enormous window was impossible to find curtains for so I bought a vintage sheet and made them myself. 

Modern cabinets are not constructed to use with bull-nose tile, and my loving father had to do some custom work to make it happen. The tiles took four days to lay and set, but it is the most beautiful and expensive thing in our house. We managed to save the original laundry board from the wall and relocate it to another part of the house. 

Megan says the cabinets are Heritage Cabinets of Andersonville, Tenn. (available via dealers)

The kitchen faucet is American Standard Heritage Wall-Mount 12 in Swivel Spout Kitchen Faucet with Metal Lever Handles, Chrome (Amazon affiliate link).

Many people assume that our kitchen is original and it is the best compliment we could get.

Megan, this kitchen is gorgeous. Pairing the precious green tile with simple white cabinets ensured that the tile, your biggest expense, would be the star of the show. Still, the counters don’t “scream” — and the space, so light, bright and happy now! From our emails, it sounds like you are a visual artist: You know what you’re doing — thanks so much for showing us all how it’s done including sharing all these wonderful photos!

• Read more stories about readers and their kitchen remodels here