Ah, a woman after my own heart! After eternally regretting the white grout in the upstairs bathroom, when we installed a second bath in our 1952 ranch, the installer asked me what color of grout I was using. "Dirt colored," I replied. LOVE your backsplash (considering a similar one but leaning heavily towards stainless steel subway tiles). And that FAN. *fangirls,* but that would so kill my budget. The goal is to wrap the costs of the kitchen reno into a refinance of the house, and keep it to where we could come out with a lower mortgage payment and still pay it off sooner (hubby should've been an accountant, man!).
Anyhow, oh friend of many retro resources (still gleeful about that door light page you posted)... got any suggestions for good retro kitchen design ideas? I've got a classic 50's U-shaped kitchen (one row of bottom cupboards separates it from the dining area). It still has the original flat front wood cabinets. They've WAY seen better days. I've decided to replace them with IKEA cabinets in the Abstrakt high gloss white. Quite in keeping, I think, and I do have a white cabinet fetish.
Considering cork flooring to replace the 1970's lino we buried under Lee Press-On Floor ten years ago. Mother-in-law has cork, and it's so nice underfoot (though I fear what a dropped chef's knife might do). So the question is what's a good nod to retro with modern enough style that it can hold its own against the next 10-20 years?
So many decisions. Nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. You need to post before/after pictures for us!
Oh man! I hear you. We paid off the mortgage about 15 months ago and had been saving the amount of the payment to go toward this but it is really strange to have a mortgage again! Really weird!
We HAD to rewire and replumb and reroof so it made sense to just move out and take everything down to the framing and the slab.
I think the Abstrakt will be great for you. I'll try to find my bookmarks for kitchen stuff and pass it along - although we're really more post-war cottage/ranch than MCM.
We looked long and hard at cork. In the end we went with tile since the laundry room is contiguous and we did not here good things about cork under a washer or dryer. I was impressed with how well the cork we saw held up to pets, etc.
The fan, the backsplash, the front door, and the mason jar chanedlier are all in the Too-cool-for-school category and coming from savings rather than "house budget". Going for value everywhere else, for sure.
GOOD LUCK! We've had fun but it is still stressful.
Our little ranch isn't quite that modern (how I wish it were!), though I sometimes wonder what's buried under the vinyl siding a previous owner decided to put over the brick (INORITE?). I think it's got a lot of long-term potential, but I'm continuing to undo the horrid country-cozy environment we inherited, unearthing the clean lines of the place.
It's little details that tell me it had much more going for it in the beginning. Take for instance, the leg of the counter that divides the kitchen from the dining area. It's rounded at the end with two rounded shelves and a chrome pole acting as the counter support. I had to strip the pole of four layers of paint. I intend to keep it with the new cabinets, though it might take actually rebuilding it instead of just putting the original back. Just depends on the cabinet depth of the new ones.
Anyhow, oh friend of many retro resources (still gleeful about that door light page you posted)... got any suggestions for good retro kitchen design ideas? I've got a classic 50's U-shaped kitchen (one row of bottom cupboards separates it from the dining area). It still has the original flat front wood cabinets. They've WAY seen better days. I've decided to replace them with IKEA cabinets in the Abstrakt high gloss white. Quite in keeping, I think, and I do have a white cabinet fetish.
Considering cork flooring to replace the 1970's lino we buried under Lee Press-On Floor ten years ago. Mother-in-law has cork, and it's so nice underfoot (though I fear what a dropped chef's knife might do). So the question is what's a good nod to retro with modern enough style that it can hold its own against the next 10-20 years?
So many decisions. Nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. You need to post before/after pictures for us!
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We HAD to rewire and replumb and reroof so it made sense to just move out and take everything down to the framing and the slab.
I think the Abstrakt will be great for you. I'll try to find my bookmarks for kitchen stuff and pass it along - although we're really more post-war cottage/ranch than MCM.
We looked long and hard at cork. In the end we went with tile since the laundry room is contiguous and we did not here good things about cork under a washer or dryer. I was impressed with how well the cork we saw held up to pets, etc.
The fan, the backsplash, the front door, and the mason jar chanedlier are all in the Too-cool-for-school category and coming from savings rather than "house budget". Going for value everywhere else, for sure.
GOOD LUCK! We've had fun but it is still stressful.
Reply
Reply
Our little ranch isn't quite that modern (how I wish it were!), though I sometimes wonder what's buried under the vinyl siding a previous owner decided to put over the brick (INORITE?). I think it's got a lot of long-term potential, but I'm continuing to undo the horrid country-cozy environment we inherited, unearthing the clean lines of the place.
It's little details that tell me it had much more going for it in the beginning. Take for instance, the leg of the counter that divides the kitchen from the dining area. It's rounded at the end with two rounded shelves and a chrome pole acting as the counter support. I had to strip the pole of four layers of paint. I intend to keep it with the new cabinets, though it might take actually rebuilding it instead of just putting the original back. Just depends on the cabinet depth of the new ones.
Reply
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