1950s Ranch House: Revenge of the Retro Decor

The not-so-glamorous part of homeownership

2008-12-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

Decorating is fun. Love it. Dealing with mundane stuff? Not so much.
Sigh. This is the week of the mundane. I ordered our final three replacement windows. (Energy Star is the only part of that that's sexy...), I am going to the store later today to order replacement doors for our kitchen, one to replace a hollow-core door between the kitchen and garage that turns our kitchen into an ice box every winter, and two to replace a pocket door that the last owner's dog ate through on one side. Splinters for baby? No thanks.

I am also having the marmoleum floor guys come out. We got a leak in the bathroom where we had the floor installed, and the water got under the tiles and ruined them, so I'm going to have them redo it. I could probably do it myself, but wouldn't get to it for 6 months, so in the interest of getting the Elvis bathroom up and running, I am just going to pay to have it done.

Then maybe I can get to the serious business of decorating.

Purple 1950s Ranch House

2008-10-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

BEFORE

I painted the house this weekend. I know am fulfilling a life-long dream to live in a purple house. At first, the neighbors hated the painted chips, but now that it's on the whole house, they actually like it. Down with beige!

AFTER

Finally. The perfect tile for the bathroom

2008-09-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

My "master" bath is a mess. It's 1950s, but not in a good way. All of the original tile loves to host toxic slimy mold and it's impossible to keep clean. And the vinyl tile floor. I won't even go there. Since we moved in two years ago, I have taken about a dozen samples of tile for the floor and the shower in there. I was not in love with any of them. It seemed like the plan didn't fall in place. They were nice, but...

Then, Saturday on a trip through Lowe's, I found IT. THE tile. Only by a fluke. It was a special order someone didn't pick up, or something, so they had a sample out in the bin. It's 1-inch square glass tile that is an iridescent aqua blue. It's BEAUTIFUL. I thought it might be too good to be true, like it wouldn't work in a bathroom. But I read up on it, and apparently, it's a pool tile, so of course it will work in a bathroom.

The moment I saw it the vision for the entire bathroom came together. It is THE tile.

Only problem is it's $9.25 a square foot. Our bathroom is small, so we could probably get away with doing the floor, shower, and one wall with this tile and still spend less than $1,000. still, now that I have found it, I am going to measure the bathroom, figure out how much I need and then wait. Yes, wait until it's on sale!
At least now I have a plan.

OMG: That house is... PURPLE!

2008-08-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am painting my house purple. I am so sick and tired of every house in the Midwest being brown, yellow,white, or some variation of beige. I think that's why people perceive the Midwest as boring. Nothing fun to look at. So, in honor of my former hometown of 10 years New Orleans (please don't get destroyed by Gustav. Please.) I am painting my house purple. Here are the paint chips. The paint is from Lowe's. It's Olympic brand and the chip numbers are C 44-2 Frosted Lilac (for the stucco) and C44-4 Purple Surf for the garage door and wood accents on the front. You have to see the chips in person because they look kind of weird on a computer. My neighbor Peggy is skeptical, but I am sure it's going to look fabulous when it's finished. Even the "buttoned-up" neighbors will like it.

The garden plan

2008-08-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

I have ambitious plans to beautify the outside of our house. Part of this is to eliminate grass,because I hate mowing, and since all of the full sun on our property is in the front, build beds large enough that I can secretly grow vegetables behind the flowers without raising the ire of the neighbors.

And then there's covering up those glamorous sink holes that showed up last year!
Here is the plan. The dark areas are the new beds. Now that the roof is finished, my goal is to dig the beds during the month of September. If all goes well, I will be able to buy stone and lay the stone retaining walls around the beds as well.

If that's done,then I will paint the house in October. I was going to post the paint chips for you today, but alas you will have to wait. I can't find them! I'll give you a hint: We're bringing a bit of New Orleans to Ohio by painting our house a purple I think our neighbors can handle

Red Shag, RIP

2008-08-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

I had to rip out the red shag carpet in the bean's room. One of the kitties decided to use it as a potty, and no matter how many times I steam-cleaned it, the smell wouldn't come out. I'm sad. I have loved that carpet since the first time we looked at this house. 70s red shag. Who wouldn't love that?

Luckily, the bean room has wood floors like those in the rest of the house. There are some damaged spots, but it will do for now.

The pounding never stops

2008-08-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

We're currently getting a new roof. Boy. It sounds like those guys are pounding the nails right into the side of my head. We just finished day four of pounding. And not short days-- 12 hour days. It's taking a long time because our house has two layers of really old, thick shingles on it. The oldest layer is the home's original roof. You try scraping off 50 year old nails. And yet, they still have one more day.

It's very disruptive, but I am happy. The roof is the last big, expensive mandatory no-fun project we have left. (That I know of...) We've done the furnace and new windows. Everything else is either decor or improvement, or eco-geek stuff. If we can come up with the cash, we want to get solar panels in a couple of years. How oll would that be?

The house is really ugly right now.

2008-08-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

Boy, things really do have to get worse before they get better. I've suffered through 4 days of pounding, thanks to the crew tearing off two layers of shingles and putting on a new roof. Boy is it loud. And the house looks awful. Shingles every where. I'm really happy I put off my big ambitious landscaping project until this was done. I will post a line drawing of my flower bed plan this weekend. It will be awesome, and it will also prove to the neighbors that I do have some civic pride and am not content with being the ugly house in the neighborhood. My lawn has always raised eyebrows, but really became pretty embarrasing last fall when part of it collapsed!

Yes, right after the geothermal heating lines were put in the yard, we covered it with dirt and laid sod (for the neighbors sake. I could care less...). Then, two weeks later two sinklines appeared, where the furnace lines run to the house. They're still there!

I hope to fix them when I do the flower beds. We'll see.

I'm back!

2008-07-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

I know I know. I committed the cardinal crime of blogs--not posting! Well, good news. I'm back in full force and I have a lot of projects in the pipeline, so we're back in business!

This summer, I am painting and landscaping the outside of the house (all by my lonesome.) and I have a mid-century bathroom renovation to plan. I'll be posting more soon.

Bean room photos...

2008-04-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of our latest finished projects--The bean room and the Elvis Bath. The Elvi bath is still set to get some new soap and towel racks, and a new mirror and lighting scheme around the sink. But, the big work- the floor, toilet and sink are finished. Hopefully there won't be too much time before more work gets done around the house. Although, taking care of the new baby bean is pretty all consuming right now. I'm hoping things will calm down a little more with time!

The baby bean has arrived

2008-04-06T09:27:00.001-07:00

Well, we finally did it. The new baby Bean (Raymond, after my grandpa who died last March) arrived April 1 at 7 a.m. after only 25 hours of labor. Phew. There is a reason they call it labor and not tickle party.

We've been home from the hospital for 3 days. Everyone seems to be in good health so far. Although, mommy and daddy are exhausted. I knew it would be hard, but I didn't know it'd be quite this hard.

No sleep, constant feeding, crying. Seems like the little guy is either passed out asleep or if he is awake, screaming his lungs out. I'm hoping that's just a phase. He is after all, brand new and the world must seem pretty overwhelming.

Of course, I'll post some new photos of the completed baby room soon. It looks fabulous. But first... I have to go run and change a diaper. Of course...

Elvis bath finally has a sink...

2008-02-05T12:07:00.001-08:00

It only took me a year to buy a sink and vanity for the Elvis bathroom. But at least I've finally done it right?
It's harder than it sounds. First, vanities are WAY overpriced. The less-expensive ones look like bland icky stuff you'd see in a crappy rental, not a rad ranch. And, I spent many weekends looking for a vintage 1950s sink to put in that room. Add in that my bathroom is incredibly small, and my searching was all for naught.

On a whim, I popped by Home Depot Sunday during the Superbowl. (It's always good to shop when everyone else is watching a game!) And there it was. The perfect vanity. Mod. Good looking. And even better. ON SALE. and not normal sale. It's a $269 vanity on clearance for $99. Sold!

(Sorry for the tiny pic. it's the only one I could find.)

Sadly, faucets cost more than that as I discovered while shopping. Geesh, why do they cost so much? I finally settled on a $98 chrome faucet. And that was the cheapy one. Oh well. It means the Elvis bath, by the end of the week, will finally be a fully functioning half bathroom. No more handwashing in the kitchen sink. Now, I just need more Elvises...

Elvis bathroom STILL under construction

2008-01-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

It's been exactly one year since I ripped the sink, toilet, and floor out of the "Elvis" bathroom. This is the half bathroom off of our kitchen. In the past year, I've put in a new floor, new toilet, and dashed on some paint. Still no sink. I know. Pathetic.

At first, I was just waiting to find the perfect vintage 1950s sink. After combing every salvage yard within 100 miles, nothing! So I'm about the break down and head to Lowe's and buy something off the shelf. (boo.)

I also just put the third coat on the two accent walls today. Once that dries, I'll be able to hang up our ever-growing collection of Elvis art and get the ball rolling. (The photo is of a homemade plaster bust of Elvis my best pal Jenny picked up for me at a thrift store in Memphis. How rad is that?)

Half baths are perfect for themed rooms and to show off weird collections. Usually, they're so small you can get away with being pretty bold in decorating them. Although I wouldn't reccommend taking a year to finish yours!

Mural progress

2007-12-30T20:46:00.001-08:00

After two days of painting, our pop art fabric inspired mural is coming along nicely.

Retro Babies

2007-12-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

All right. You caught me. It's been a long time since I've posted here. In my defense, I accidentally ended up pregnant and with 4 monbths of terrible morning (noon, and night) sickness. Boy, I never thought making a person would be so much work. Alas, my favorite guest room is now going to have to be turned into a nursery.

Don't worry. Just because there's a baby on the way, doesn't mean I'm suddenly into gingham and pastels. It takes more work, but it is possible to have a retro- fabulous baby room. So, once it was clear that this pregnancy was going to stick, I started flipping through my vintage decorating books. My discovery? If you want an awesome retro kids' room, the 1970s hold the key. It was the era of bright colors and wall murals. Sold!

But what on earth should I paint? The room has bright red carpet and is teeny tiny. Not easy to decorate around. Unless you're a kid. My friend Jenny found an awesome retro kids fabric (pictured) called Alexander Henry's 2-D zoo. Voila. Mural inspiration had. What kid won't like floor to ceiling jungle animals?

I've already moved the furniture out of the room and put a base coat of bright white on three walls. I have one accent wall of red (to match the carpet). The plan is to harang my mom into coming over later this week to help me paint the animals. I'm also painting a palm tree in each corner of the room, with leaves that reach onto the ceiling.

This is my first mural, but I'm armed with an opaque projector to enlarge the animals, a box of paints, and a willing mom to help out. Keep your fingers crossed!

Everyone needs a mermaid...

2007-10-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

This lovely lady now hangs over the shower in my main bathroom. OK. I admit it. She's a reproduction. A lady named Sandy makes these from molds she's cast for vintage chalkware from the '40s and '50s. Check her out. She's got everything, and she will custom paint them to match your decor.

Vintage chalkware pin-ups

Ta-dah! Hawaii at home

2007-09-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well, the walls are painted.The comforter is stuffed with down, the knick knacks are on the shelves and I revamped the dresser. The Hawaii room is for the most part, finished.

The dresser, a vintage 1960s model, was a hand-me down from my grandpa. I repainted it in a color close to its original, just to give it a bit of new life and to cover all of the stains. I found the mirror above it at the Habitat for Humanity store and painted the frame, so it at least looks like it matches the dresser.

I painted the walls and ceiling the sandy color that matches the neutrals in the comforter. It's a little dark, but hey, a lot of that has to do with the lack of windows.

The knick-knack shelf, also inherited from grandpa, holds some of my tiki stuff, plus three geisha girl statues and a large ceramic chicken that used to be my grandma's favorites. (She died last summer, sniff.) The girlie statute was made by this lady Sandy who does custom reproductions of all kinds of cool 1950s chalkware. She did a great job.

All in all, it's my favorite guest room. The bed is the softest in the house and it's very cozy, despite it's small size.

Target to the rescue

2007-08-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

I found the perfect comforter for the red guest room. It was so perfect I squeaked when I saw it. The red flower matched the carpet perfectly, and the comforter, which is tropical, has set the entire theme for the room.

It's now going to be-- the envelope please-- the Hawaii room! Yay!

On the way home, I took the pillow sham into Lowes to try to find a paint chip for the walls. There is a sandy beige color in the comforter that will look great on the walls. At least I'm pretty sure. So off to work, transforming what was a pretty depressing room, into a tropical destination.

Guest Room Blues, er reds

2007-07-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

I have two spare bedrooms to turn into guest rooms.
Maybe I'm weird, but I really heart theme rooms. I think coming home everyday should be like taking an exotic vacation. The minute you open the door, , you're somewhere interesting and fun, far from the bland drudgery of work and chores.
This is especially true for guest rooms. I want the people who stay over to feel like they had a neat getaway.

Unfortunately, I don't have crap to work with. My smallest guest room is the size of a postage stamp. It's also a problem color-wise because it's got red shag carpet. I really love the carpet. It's in great shape, the color is super bright, but it's also a huge decorating dilemma. How the heck do you decorate around it?

I'm hoping inspiration will come soon.

A small victory

2007-07-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

I hardly beleive it, but the bookcases are stained, sanded, varnished, and up and running. It only took four months, but hey. We're relieved because we finally got to unpack all of the boxes of books that have been rotting in the corner, taking up tons of space. The basement is totally "man-spaced" out yet, but it's closer to pimpin' fabulous than it ever has been.

I also managed, miraculously, to coax my father-in-law to install my new fab "bubble" chandelier in the kitchen. It's much cooler than the brass thingee that was in there before. eek. They sure loved that brass in the 80s, didn't they?

It's like I'm a new me! Finishing all of these projects is giving me an identity crisis. Good thing I still have plenty on my to-do list...Up next? Tiki-ing the sunporch and Hawaii-islanding out the guest room. Stay tuned!•

Confessions of a renovator with a short attention span...

2007-07-25T20:24:00.001-07:00

As always, I promised myself I wouldn't start a new project until the basement was finished. Alas, two of the four bookcases grandpa made us are still in the garage, unfinished. (Part of that problem is the hubby wanted to make that his project, and I don't want to nag him to get it done because he'll never volunteer again!)

We can at least sit in the basement. But it's definitely a man space, filled with boxes yet to be unpacked, and the sad tiny bits of pretzels that have long ago been eaten, gathering under the sofa.

So I confess. I started another project-repainting the kitchen. When we moved in, it was covered in an awful floral wallpaper, and had a dull red vinyl floor that was peeling at the seems. I mean it was absolutely awful.

The layout of the kitchen is fantastic, though. It's long, plenty wide, with lots of custom birch cabinetry from the 1950s, and an awesomely spacious breakfast nook. We're using that as our dining room, because any 50s architect who thinks the dining-room-at-the-end-of-the-rectangular-living-room thing doesn't feel cramped is crazy.

We've already replaced the floor, with relatively eco-friendly marmoleum in black and white. (It's awesome by the way, very easy to clean and tough as nails).

This is the second time I've painted the kitchen in a year, so Erich looked at me like I was crazy when he saw new paint cans on the kitchen table. But he's practically blind, and the last color I chose, a dark plum, made it almost impossible for him to see. I decided to go lighter and brighter. So I repainted the entire kitchen and ceiling in that American Tradition Cincinnatti hotel beige I used in the living room.

Then, on the wall running behind the table, I went with a medium-dark purple. Something that would really shine next to my vintage $35 thrift-score red formica table and chair set.

It's very cheery. He says it looks like we live inside of an easter egg. And it does.... Unbelievably, I actually managed to FINISH this project. Two coats of primer, two colors, all in one weekend. Well, almost finished. Never mind that I haven't replaced the baseboards since the floor was installed, or that I have to get rid of that awful light fixture above the table. But alas, I'm still searching for the perfect chandelier, and cutting those 45 degree angles to install baseboards? eek! I'm not sure I'm cut out for that!•

The basement is wrecked still...

2007-07-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

The basement is wrecked, still...

I always start out with good intentions. Get the basement started. I'll be able to finish it...and hang the new towel racks in the bathroom...and repaint the kitchen...and find a new vanity for the half bath.... and... You get the idea. The half finish projects list just keeps growing. It's not like I'm sitting around watching TV, doing nothing. I am perpetually overbooked-- leave the house at 9 a.m. and not home in bed until midnight. I'm left to paint and primp and install in the odd hours when I'm not supposed to be somewhere else.

I did manage to get a little bit more done on the basement. Mostly just removing the cardboard boxes the new sofa came in and moving two of the four bookcases grandpa made me into place. They still have to be attached to the wall and I have to stain the shelves, but hey, little victories right? It will all be very cool when it's finished. As you can see from the pictures, it's far from glamorous so far! The dropcloth for the woodstain is still on the floor, wires are everywhere, and no shelves or books yet on the cases. They are very cool though. They were built using this free pattern for built-in bookcases. We just altered it a bit so they were freestanding. The only thing standing between me and a (mostly) finished basement is a husband who is reluctant to sand and stain the remaining two bookcases. Wish me luck with that....•

The basement is wrecked...

2007-07-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

So maybe I bit off more than I could chew. I have a bad habit of starting a lot of projects all at once, then leaving them half finished. I tell myself that I won't do it again, that I'll quit being so schizonphrenic and just stick to one room at a time, start to finish. But who am I kidding. The creative process doesn't happen like that. I need to install the new towel racks and regrout the tub in the main bathroom, I ripped out the vanity and have yet to find a replacement in the half bath, and I have yet to prime and paint the kitchen, despite the fact that the new floor was installed a month ago.

So what do I do? Start on the basement. Yep. You guessed it. Now that room is half-wrecked too! It's not terrible, mind you. My honey was nagging me about the boxes and boxes of books we have yet to unpack since we moved in. Our last pad had built-in bookshelves. This one, well, it just wasn't meant for books. I talked my 80-year-old grandpa into building us 16 feet of custom bookcases. So with a nagging husband and a grandpa anxious to see his handy work in action, I started in on the basement. Noble reasons.

Don't get me wrong. It's a big job. To start off, the room was a wood paneled nightmare, with very little light and a long, skinny shape. So far, I've primed and painted the panels American Tradition Empire Fleet blue because it was the only color we could agree on. Not too shabby, considering the carpet is maroon. I was afraid it'd look like a 1970s-style Spirit of '76 bicentennial color scheme. But so far, so good. Two fo the bookcases are stained and the new sofa, from Ikea, finally arrived. But as you can see, the room is still a work in progress...•

Blueprints, HGTV, and Habitat for Humanity...

2007-06-26T18:41:00.001-07:00

You probably haven't noticed, but I'm also trying really hard to make sure our remodel is earth-friendly. It's a nice idea but it really slows things down. It takes a lot more dang time and energy researching where to find good used, vintage, and earth-friendly materials than it does to just go buy it all at Lowe's. Okay, I admit I can't resist Lowe's paint chips and who wants to buy a used plumbing line? Not me!

Anyway, I decided to scour the Habitat for Humanity Restore in our area yesterday in search of a light for the kitchen and a bathroom vanity. I didn't get either, but it was still awesome. I left with a five-foot vintage 1950s mirror medicine cabinet for my guest bath ($10!!) and a huge vintage wall mirror ($29!!!). They have these stores all over the country, so google your local Habitat and check it out. They basically collect used and new building materials that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill.They use the money from the store to build houses for low-income families. Oh, and it's a great resource for people who already own houses and don't have a huge budget to fix them up. I count myself as one of those-- I always just about poop my drawers when I read articles about "cheap" $25,000 one-room renovations. Hell, that's more than I'm going to spend on my entire house!

In other news,a pile of papers fell out of the cabinet above the fridge this week. Turns out it was four pages of blueprints for the house, with the name of the home builder (Norman L. Koon) and the developer, (Gabay Development). Very cool. I want to find out more about my neighborhood, and now I have the first clues to start me on my way. Although I did notice that whoever paid to build this house moved the stove around in the kitchen,ditched a cheesy flower bed outside, and went with plaster walls and thick stucco instead of drywall and wood shingles.

On another note. I'm one of the three people left in the U.S. that doesn't have cable TV. Somehow, I don't want to admit that I like television enough to pay for it every month. Plus, I'm scared it'll take time away from other projects. Anyhoo, I have to balance my TV ideology with the fact that I am addicted to HGTV, so I often drive down to my mom's to spend the night vegging in front of her HGTV. Lo and behold the episode of Designer Finals was a makeover of a house in Columbus,Ohio. My brain spun. I often check the Be on HGTV button on their Web site, and never once did I see a request for houses in my town! Holy cow. I'm totally bummed out that I missed it. I have a few rooms that could use the touch of a young professional other than me. But maybe next time...
.•

The bathroom, part two, and the toilet name game...

2007-06-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Mission accomplished. At least partly. The robin's egg 1950s blu emy husband wanted in the main bath upstairs in now in place, the mauve carpet has been safely removed and freecycled, and the new hardware that will someday (when I have time to install it...) has been chosen. Woo-hoo! I'm almost home free. The color is Behr Embellished Blue from Home Depot. It really makes taking a shower a lot cheerier. And, it shows off the 1950s faux marble vanity top.

I did have bathroom fever this past weekend, so I started a makeover of the half bathroom adjoining the kitchen. Well, it wasn't that I was feeling like a go-getter, it's just that we are having Marmoelum flooring installed in the kitchen and bathroom of that room this week and the toilet and vanity needed to come out beforehand. I figured while the toilet was out, I'd replace it with a new one, because there was no way in hell I was putting that mid 1960s 5- gallon a flush water hog back in. Especially when it didn't flush right to begin with.

No one warned me that toilet shopping was such a humorous experience, though. I had to wonder who came up with the model name for toilets. At Lowes, you could buy a Cimaron. At Home Depot, the Harbor or the WellWorth. Silly names trying to add a bit of mystique and class to what has for all time basically been referred to as "the old crapper." We went with the WellWorth. And in a fit or irony, the same day we bought it, we went to a house party where the hostess had just bought a new toilet. I told her of the humourous names we encountered while toilet shopping and she said, "Yeah, it's funny. I think ours is the WellWorth?" Those marketing people earned their money that day.•