Hopin' and Wishin'

My kitchen progress is coming along, slowly, but surely.  Finding all the right pieces takes a lot of patience, and of course budgeting for some of the more expensive changes has to be accomplished one improvement at a time.  This year, we painted the cupboards peacock blue, created a chalkboard refrigerator and added to our collection of colorful 1950s housewares, including our pastel ceramic Monterey dishes.  My goals for 2013 are: finding the perfect retro oven (it has to be one of the harder to find 30" models), replacing the light fixture above the dining table, and re-tiling the back splash.  Maybe by 2014, I can think about new counter tops?!?

Bold indicates items that I covet, the rest is already in place. (From left to right): Our Peacock Feather blue cabinets, chalkboard fridge, white subway tile for the back splash,  vintage Pyrex, yellow wooden "eat" sign, Airstream kitchen hand towel,  1950s Wedgewood stove,  Yellow Lustro Ware canisters, "Why, yellow Gorgeous!" kitchen hand towel, mint green shake mixer, "Make Lemonade" printable,  aqua Lustro Ware reamer, gold star burst clock, pastel ceramic dishes, Amy Butler fabric in Coreopsis, George Nelson Saucer light, & mint green rotary wall phone.

What's your perfect kitchen?

XOX

Master bedroom

I'm finally ready to reveal our master bedroom!  It's really my own unique style; part mid-century, part girly glam.  I was inspired by some of my current color obsessions; navy blue, aqua, and mint green.  I added some peach and gold accents in the artwork to help warm up the space.  I tried to add plenty of reflective surfaces, neutral white and gauzy sheer curtains to brighten up the room.  It was a bold choice to go so dark with the wall color, but I'm really happy with the space.  It manages to be soothing, without being boring. 

The wall color is Behr's Darkest Navy.  The antique iron bed frame was mine in high school.  I used a thrifted, embossed, chenille bedspread as a bed skirt.  I love the fringe!  The mid-century, metal, rolling, record cart was a gift from a friend.  I found the Crosley suitcase record player at an estate sale for cheap.  The white hanging light is a puzzle lamp from good ole Ikea.  The letters over the bed are actually 3-D cardboard letters that I sprayed gold.  The are super lightweight, so if they fall off the wall in the middle of the night, we won't be killed by LOVE. ;)

The nightstand was thrifted and then painted a pale minty blue.  The blue, Zenith alarm clock/ tube radio is from the 1950s.  It only gets AM stations, but it sounds crystal clear! The "You and me are meant to be" screen print was ordered on Etsy. 

The Thonet chair at my sewing nook, was purchased at the Denver Modernism Show, and then recovered in the same Amy Butler Honeycomb fabric as the Mod Podged desk.  My wool chevron rug came from ebay.  Our matching Drexel dresser set came from an Estate sale for $50 for the pair!! I'm still doing cartwheels over that bargain! I have some of my vintage hats and small purses hanging from hooks on either side of my dresser.  It's a nice way to keep everything organized, and also display some of my favorite accessories.  We have an aqua Princess phone and the coolest turquoise, spinning pen holder.  The aqua, 1950s, deer, TV lamp came from ebay, but the two tiered fiberglass lampshade came from a yard sale for .50!!  I framed a 1950s swimsuit ad, and some of my favorite vintage cameras are displayed throughout our room.

The mint "Happy Happy" screen print is from Etsy.  The mint green floor fan was originally a standard, black plastic fixture, which met with some Krylon Pistachio and Silver spray paint.  I think it gives it a nice retro feel, but I don't have to worry about severed fingers, like with the genuine antique fans.  Those vintage metal fans are a thing of beauty, but those wide slats in the screen terrify me!

More vintage cameras, including a Brownie with flash, and the Bolex, I used in my film school days.  The mini bullet planter was thrifted and my kitschy little owl bank came from the same estate as my dressers.  It's the wrong era, but I couldn't resist it's cuteness.  The "I freaking love you" screenprint came from here and the "Home sweet home" screenprint came from here.

Our bookshelf has geode bookends.  The "Kissing Booth" screenprint came from here.

What do you think?

Vintage Western Electric extension phone

My birthday was in mid-March and I bought myself a "new" phone for our kitchen.  We had a super cute kettle phone, but I hated having it take up room on our counter top and the cords were driving me crazy.  I got on ebay and started looking at rotary wall phones from the 50s-60s.  I fell in love with a 1959 pink Western Electric, but I had to drop out of the bidding...it ended up selling for $160!!!  Eventually I found a sea foam green or "mint" green W.E. that had been refurbished.  I think it looks even better than the pink one would have, so all is right with the universe.  Hello, cutie!

I have a framed copy of this advertisement hanging in my kitchen too!

It says: "Why you need a kitchen extension phone

 First, It's a great help in running the house.  Your kitchen extension is near your shopping lists, and at your finger tips for emergency calls to the plumber and other repairmen.   Next, it saves you trouble.  Biscuits won't burn, or a pot boil over, because a telephone call took you out of the kitchen.  And while you handle important household calls, you can keep a watchful eye on playing children.  It saves you steps, too.  When it rings you're right there to say "Hello."  Since the kitchen is where you spend so many hours of your busy day, it makes sense to have a telephone handy.  (Your husband, like you, will find it one of your most useful phones.)  And when all your work is done, it's easy and fun to take a break and chat with a friends on your handy kitchen extension.  The comfort, privacy and protection of extension phones throughout your house- where you work, play, or sleep- cost surprisingly little.  To order extensions, just call your Bell Telephone business office."

'Cause that's how I like to spend my day; slaving away in the kitchen AND gossiping!  I wonder who she is talking about while her little urchins eat an entire bowl of chocolate?!!?

Hello Lover!

Perhaps, I'm sentimental.  Just as everyone is switching to electronic readers, and bookstores are becoming obsolete, I'm figuring out how to build wall bookcases.  Just as everyone is ditching their landline phones and hooking themselves into the digital age with smart phones and apps that make vocabulary, rudimentary knowledge and directional sense irrelevant, I'm pining over retro phones.  Phones with rotaries, no caller ID, antiquities really.  I can see, in the not too distant future, these things will be hazy memories, we reminisce fondly over...remember, when we had books made of paper? Remember the smell?  The sound the pages would make as we turned them, the spine cracking?  Remember phones? The feel of the serpentine cord wrapped around your finger as you paced the floor, tethered to the wall?  Why do I find myself missing them already?

I love this white phone from the 1930s.  Check out that earpiece!

This black Bakelite phone from the 1940s reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for modernism, anyone?

Then there was the Ericofon, designed by Ericcson phone company out of Sweden.  The first year of production was the same year my house was built, 1954!  Check out this amazing advertisement I found in a 1959 issue of Homes and Gardens magazine:

Now check out all the candy colored varieties:

Also from the 50s-60s came the beloved princess phone.  It was available in many colors, but my favorite is the pink, COME ON, it's called the princess phone!  This phone required a separate ringer and additional wiring so that it could light up in the dark.

Lastly, there was the "donut" or "purse phone." Popular in the 70s, it seems like a more stylized descendant of the princess phone.  Made by Western Electric Sculptura, these can be found in both rotary and touch tone.