In this week’s Retro Design Dilemma, reader Jeanne is asking for ideas to decorate her beautiful vintage knotty pine bedroom. She wants tips on colors to paint the angled ceiling, along with ideas for window treatments and nightstands to match her beautiful Broyhill Brasilia bedroom set.
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Retro Design Dilemma — Nicole’s 1953 Cape Cod Exterior
Reader Nicole loves the history of her Cape Cod house — but she is torn between sticking with its current traditional look, versus giving it a more modern look that reflects her furnishings and decor insdie. In this story — our second Google live chat video — Pam and I ponder Nicole’s questions and suggest two different makeover options. Which design direction will Nicole choose to revive her home’s curb appeal?
Note: Next Thursday, Dec. 20, at noon Eastern — we will be taping our first Retro Design Dilemma LIVE. You can tune in to watch — but also to ask questions — and contribute your own ideas — too! How to participate? You need to join Retro Renovation on Google Plus — and add us to one of your circles. That way, we can invite you to our Hangout Events. Join us and see for yourself –>
The old-fashioned write-up for this Retro Design Dilemma also is featured, below.
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What to do with an off-center roman brick fireplace?
Reader Lisa is having some trouble figuring out how to make her off-center retro roman brick fireplace work for within her living room design. She initially wanted to paint the bricks white to match the built in bookshelf next to it, but her husband is a purist and prefers his brick au natural. How can Lisa make the room more aesthetically pleasing to her and still keep the natural brick for her husband? I’m thinking she was on the right track — but needs to reverse her thinking.
A color scheme for a pink, maroon and white bathroom
Reader Naomi’s new-to-her house came fully equipped with a retro pink and maroon bathroom — which she loves. However, there are a few problems — the toilet is broken and must be replaced, and there is also a non-repairable crack in the sink. Naomi is okay with replacing the broken maroon fixtures with white, but she doesn’t want to replace the still-perfect maroon tub. Her dilemma — she’s not sure how it will look to have two white fixtures and one maroon tub.
Which Crestview door for Maureen’s ranch house? Let’s vote!
Reader Maureen’s lovely ranch home in the woods is in need of a front door makeover. She’s looked at all her options locally and decided that none of the available doors styles would complement her house like a mid century door from Crestview Doors. She has decided on a few styles and color choices, but needs our help to narrow them down and pick a winner.
3 ideas for Angela’s aqua bathroom design
Reader Angela and her husband were forced to renovate their vintage master bathroom because of a leaky shower. As much as they tried, it was nearly impossible to save and reuse the original pool blue Pomona tiles from their shower because they were cemented in place. We often see this is the case with the old-school “mud set” tiles — they are cemented into the walls or floors or countertops like nobody’s business. Angela has tried to locate matching blue tiles for her master bath for quite a while now — with only a smidgeon of luck. With her bathroom project stalled, she asked for our help to pull her retro bathroom design together together combining what was left of the old with what we could find to coordinate, new. Fortunately, this color of blue is pretty popular right now — so I think we came up with some good ideas.
Dining room decorating ideas for Kami — 5 design tips to pull her room together
Reader Kami loves the built in 1970’s hutch in her dining room because of its charming details and storage capacity — however, the hutch isn’t jiving with the rest of the room and is in need of refinishing. Kami likes the eclectic mix of 1930s -1970s furniture that came with their house, but isn’t sure how to make all of it work together in this room while also trying to achieve a “cottage feel.”
Helping Gwen to unify her open floor plan with her favorite paint colors
Reader Gwen loves to fill her house with color and has no hesitation using it everywhere in her bright and cheery midcentury modest home. As much as she loves painting all her walls happy colors, Gwen feels that something is a bit off, which is why she is asking for our help with her painting problem.
A minimalist modern kitchen design using vintage St. Charles cabinets
Remember Pam’s post about the 1964 custom green St. Charles kitchen for sale in Chicago? They are not for sale anymore — owner Mark and his wife are in the process of gut remodeling the entire house and have decided they will keep these awesome reto kitchen cabinets for reuse one way or another. But can this couple incorporate these cabinets into the minimalist-modern kitchen design they have in mind? Read on for my suggestions…
Bedroom design ideas for Robert’s blonde vintage furniture
Reader Robert has just acquired two vintage blond dressers for the bedroom at his new house. He’s basically starting from scratch and wants to know — should he keep the blonde finish, or refinish these two bedroom dressers in a teak stain. Read on for Robert’s dilemma and our decorating ideas…
