So I'm not off to the fastest start, but I will try to speed things along here. Tonight, I will post a little about the kitchen of our 1963 ranch. The kitchen was one of the first things that sold us on this house. Those Geneva cabinets did it! Although, the previous owner took the liberty to paint the cabinets with a brush, the fact that they are textured probably hides some of the imperfections. I actually like the color, so we will go with them. I wish the countertops were more like the originals (whatever that was) but they aren't bad. We still have a lot of work to do in here, including a new backsplash. We are thinking it will be either true vintage mini-tile, if we can find some, or the popular glass tile you see often now. I have some under-counter LED lights to add. We still need to brighten up things some. Those dark brown cabinets do soak up the light. Speaking of lighting, the previous owner had modern track lighting up, but we took that down when we ran across a very nice vintage Imperialite at an estate sale. Enough writing, now for some photos...
Stainless Thermador double ovens. And I thought stainless was a recent trend! They even blend well with the modern microwave.
Geneva logo detail. This was actually painted over when we moved in. I had to take it off and strip it, hoping it still looked good. We were pleased!
Clock detail. Anybody know how to fix this? It doesn't work, but it still looks good.
My wife's pot holders
Imperialite we added from an estate sale.
After the cleanup.
Love that light fixture! How / what did you use to clean it up. I've got a big Lightolier (sp?) that I need to clean up like that. It looks like you did a great job.
ReplyDeleteThe steel cabs look good in the pics, brush painted or not! Maybe ad some baby blue to brighten things up? Orange too if you aren't afraid of that combo (it's kinda obvious and over the top "retro").
Remember to check your local Habitat For Humanity ReStore for Vintage and Period Correct hardware. Ours gets lots of New Old Stock from old (Old-School!) hardware stores. You might find some good backsplash tile there.
I used Silvo polish on it. It's made by Brasso, and you could probably use Brasso. Be carful though, because some of these have a coating on them that you don't want to polish through. Test an area first. My light, just had grime on it, so I was carful with the polish.
ReplyDeleteHadn't thought about baby blue, but orange is in the plan. I might see what they both look like together and give it a thought.
I with we had a ReStore here, but nope! On the Habitat website they say one is coming, but I don't know how long it will be. I hope it comes around soon. There are other places in town, but mostly for really old stuff from the many Midtown homes built in the 20's and 30's, and they aren't cheap like the ReStores.