Making the most of our 50s/60s/70s homes

[Lelivre]

Following on from the 1974 thread here
...

This is for those with mid-century homes, trying to modernise or update them in a way that is sympathetic to that period.

There are a few of us out there, no lurking now, please join in!

Hopefully we can share ideas, products, gumtree/eBay/Carboot finds and other sources of inspiration. Also I hope, receive feedback on our plans and build enthusiasm for 'features' that others zealously take out!

For starters I enjoyed this article here

If you will; introduce yourselves, your homes and where you are with things

Lelivre it's white walls with beige gloss cabinets and oak countertops. Yaaaaawwwwnnn. I'll post a pic if/when we move in to get people's ideas.

Apatite I love the sound of white/ teal/ yellow!

I was briefly thinking of replacing the boring oak countertop with an orange one. But then though maybe I'd get bored of that after a year or so...

Apatite1 sounds great! I would love love love to see a pic but I know what you mean.

citydweller I couldnt sleep last night and got to thinking about your kitchen and I think if it was me...I would live with it for a while and then I would be doing minor things to introduce some colour and style; by way of paint, lighting fittings, clock, chairs or stools.

I did a quick search on mid century kitchen on houzz and saved these pics for you.

Orange would work wouldn't it. Corian do a fantastic fiery orange but yeah it could be difficult to live with. I love teal with grey and white also .

Personally I would be looking to change the doors to a simple matte flush door (in time), but keep the wood until it needed changing and find some statement tiles that I loved in a colour from a mid-century pallete. Or something a neutral colour, white even, but a strong geometric pattern and with a sixties feel.

Those orange ones caught my eye

Thanks for the pics I love the Orange, but am not sure I could live with it for long without getting bored or regretting it. I love teal too and think it might work quite well with the existing kitchen.

But yes, the plan is to live with it before doing anything (for financial reasons as much as anything)

Regretting ripping put my 60s bathroom now after reading this thread! Sadly the last owner had already upgraded the kitchen. Some of the houses in the street still have them. Very funky handle free wooden units and bizarre dining tables that fold out from the wall! The only part of mine that still looks original is the brutalist outside. I still have the 60s bathroom door. Pondering getting rid as it's seen better days. Big heavy wooden door with a bubbled glass square! Sadly all the original doors have been replaced with cheap white 6 panel doors at some point. Still have the glass rectangle above the kitchen door. May make a feature of this. Stair case has been boxed so I no longer have the full ground floor to 2nd floor ceiling height in the hall. Makes painting easier but it's darker. Under my flooring I found the original black vinyl tiles put in when they were built! May try and restore these in the hallway.

Any advice on paint colours for inside a Span house? Separate thread here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/home_decoration_pictures/2447117-Help-me-pick-paint

Thanks!

In our previous flat, which had a lot of windows in living room, we painted it F&B Skimming Stone. It's a lovely colour that, like all F&B, changes tone according to the light. So during bright days it would be quite crisp, almost off-white, in the evening it would be a warm, soft very pale grey, etc.

Bumping

Although...if anyone has seen any current mid century modern fabrics they like please post as I am having trouble finding curtain fabric.

princessconsuelabannahammock you may enjoy looking through this thread

I think I will have to join here we are in a 50s semi I have some mid century pieces and the love that mid-century eclectic style the Eames house would be my perfect place inside and out - now I will go back and read the thread!

I have this for my living room curtains in my 1959 house - love it!

Thebitterboy - love that too! Thanks for posting!

We got our curtains off eBay, complete bargain for some amazing 60s floor length curtains.

Not a great picture but oddly I don't have any pictures of just my curtains This is a snap of our Christmas breakfast table from a couple of years back, and you can see the curtains in the background.

Hi, we live in a 1974 townhouse. For most of my teenage/adult life I have been obsessed with Art Deco but in recent years, my fascination with mid century has taken over and I love living in big plain rooms, even though having three stories is a bit odd. We haven't done much to the house since we moved in a couple of years ago but hopefully within the next few weeks will start phase 1 of the renovation (new bathrooms, lots of replastering, decoration new flooring etc). I'm having a tidy up so will post pictures later. Would appreciate ideas and suggestions.