No Pattern Required

I know that redirecting your traffic is a big no-no in blogger world, but for those of you who haven’t read it yet, go over to Retro Renovation and check out Pam’s fantastic and ultra-detailed post on vintage metal kitchen cabinets, you will be glad you did!!!

Our 1956 Steel Geneva Cabinets

By the way, in her article Pam recommends VCT tile on the floor for a 1950′s kitchen.  If you haven’t seen pictures of our kitchen before, here it is before the VCT tile:

And here it is after!

Pretty big difference, huh????

I know.  Because I’ve got it.

So, I found myself excited for spring the other day.  Not because I am sick of snow and not because I am looking forward to gardening. I was thinking I was looking forward to spring because then I could start running outside again.  And running outside means that I would be able to peep into my neighbor’s houses, trying to catch a glimpse of their kitchen cabinets.

I am a sick, sick woman.

So, too keep my voyeurism in check, I had to resort to looking for vintage kitchen’s on Craigslist.  It lets me keep warm while I peep, and I don’t leave any pesky tracks in the snow.

Here is a great white Geneva metal kitchen in Madison, Wisconsin.  Wipe the drool off your face!  I know mine is covered. And I think that might be a Flair oven, too!

Here is a great deal in downtown Fort Wayne, IN.  A whole metal kitchen for $50!  Okay. Catch your breath. Whew. There is wallpaper on the front of the metal cabinets, but it looks vintage so it might be a plus and not a minus.

A set of green Youngstown cabinets in Bloomington, IN.  Awesome. Even comes with the white enamel sink!

A white metal set in Lakeview, IL with some interesting handles.  These are another great deal at only $100! Love the wall oven. God.

A pretty pink stand alone cabinet from Egan, MN.  Love the handles on this one!

Here is a “beige” set from Hyattsville in the D.C. area.  It says beige, but they sure look pink to me!  A pretty set, I like them a lot. 

They also have this dreamy green set as well!

If you have the cash, 5 grand that is, here is a GORGEOUS set of terra cotta St. Charles cabs for your very own.  The St. Louis owner says they are in mint condition!

And, a cute beige, actual beige, set of Youngstown cabs in Baltimore.  This kitchen also has an album if you want to see more pics!

Wow!  That’s a lot of cabinets. I feel better already. More…calm.

Feel free to share any links or email me pictures of metal cabinets if you have ‘em to help me get through the long winter. Oh, and don’t forget to visit Pam’s metal cabinet forum if you are seriously in the market for some blue steel beauties!

So, I was digging through all of pamphlets and instructional manuals the former owner of our house had left behind for us and looking for the directions on how to operate the record player in the basement.  Seriously. I remember using a record player when I was little, but the model that is hooked up in the basement goes far beyond a simple record player. 

In any case, not only did I find the instructions for the record player, but a ton of other interesting instruction manuals as well. Including the original installation instructions that came with our blue Geneva kitchen cabinets.  I need to do a bunch of scanning before I upload the others, but here is the cabinet instructions. Enjoy!

I put this link up in Twitter yesterday, but it is so cool that it deserves another mention.

Sable sent me this great ad from Craigslist in Denver for an entire turquoise Geneva kitchen WITH built-in appliances.

Ack.

Look at this kitchen-aid dishwasher!  The thing is, I have a Kichen-Aid dishwasher in my blue Geneva kitchen too, but the blue part is on the INSIDE rather than the outside!  Bizarre, huh?

But this would be so very, very sweet in my kitchen!

But it doesn’t hold a candle to this feature:

What, it just looks like a row of cabinets, right?  Nothing special here.

Wrong!  It is a built-in fridge and freezer that just LOOK like upper cabinets!

Holy cow! And if I am not mistaken, I think that I glimpsed some of the wood-faced metal cabinets as well. You know, the ones that Pam just did a post about!?!

Wow. What a find, Sable! I hope someone can snap these babies up!

Wow, check out this beauty that just went up for sale in town. Built in 1950, this colonial-style home has had a lot of it’s woodwork painted and some of its features replaced, but there is some great stuff still there for someone who wants a restoration challenge.  Or, someone who just wants elements of vintage mixed with modern. 

Pretty, isn’t it?  I love the deep red color.  Almost looks like a barn!

This house is a 4 bedroom, 3 and 1/2 bathroom home that is on 1.25 acres of land in town!  They are asking $300,000. Check out the listing for all the photos and info.  I know where this house is, and it is near the hospital in a wooded area.  A nice place to live, so if you are looking  in my area, this could be it!

Say “hello” to my cabinets!  Yep, it looks like this kitchen has the exact same cabinets as I do.  Which is really, really neat.  I may just have to go to this open house and take some pictures. Wow.

Anyway, you can see that the original appliances and countertops are gone, replaced by new granite and new appliances.  The use of the oven mounting in the back is interesting.  I never would have thought of that myself, but it doesn’t look too bad.  The only thing that is really strange is that the original owners built this kitchen with metal cabinets even  though it was colonial-style.  Where is the knotty pine? The wood? And there are some painted over knotty pine cabinets in the basement, which is even stranger.  But enough of that.

Another view of the kitchen.  That ceiling light fixture is intriguing.  I wish they would have gotten more of it in the shot.  You can also see the Geneva Cabinet logo under the sink, so these are totally my cabinets.

Oh, and this picture shows another kitchen oddity – the mismatched cabinet handles.  It looks like the originals on top and then colonial-style pulls on the bottom. Strange.

Another gem, the tiled bathroom with what looks like the original wallpaper. Bliss.  I adore their towels as well.  I wonder where they got them from.  I might have to contact them and ask.

This room is another room that resembles a room in my house, our blue bathroom. That is totally my shower door! Ohhhh…I hope that whoever buys this place doesn’t gut it.  But if they do, I am going to be the first in line to get all that stuff!

Anyway, check out the listing to see the rest of the pics, including the painted-over woodwork.  Enjoy!

So, hubby and I have just purchased a 1956 brick ranch home in Michigan, and afterwards found out that we were some of the luckiest people on the planet. When we first walked into the house, we were shocked at how vintage and fun everything looked. There were marble accent’s everywhere, a lot of original light fixtures and tons and tons of built-ins.  But what floored me the most was the spectacular kitchen!  It was full of the original metal cabinets from when the house was built, and I fell completely in love with it. Within days we had an accepted offer – and a completely new style that we didn’t even know existed!

Mid-Century Modern.

And now, everything we do is influenced by it. And why shouldn’t it be?  Our house is a picture-perfect vintage testament to how quirky and fun the 1950′s were, and how all of those great ideas shouldn’t be changed out or thrown away for something modern, but saved. By starting this blog, I will try to follow what my husband and I consider to be an important part of our lives now: restoring our vintage home.

The first thing was, of course, our fabulous kitchen. The first place we looked for information on where to start our restoration was the internet. A quick google of “Vintage 50′s Paint Colors” let us to www.retrorenovation.com , and all of Pam’s great advice. So much information can be found there! We found our paint palette in a snap (Sherwin Williams Suburban Modern Palette) and had some great leads on how to replace the filthy carpet in the kitchen and dining area. And it was something we had never even thought of: commercial flooring.

We ended up going with Armstrong’s Standard Excelon Imperial Texture  in Blue Cloud and Soft Cool Gray. It looks fantastic, as you can see from the picture.

If you are interested in more pictures of our kitchen, check out my flickr photostream. Also, Pam recently did an entry about our house and kitchen here. Please check it out!