if you’ve spent any amount of time on pinterest, then you’ve probably found yourself drooling over impossible pictures of dream kitchens. i’ve been spending countless hours doing just that, because one of the larger projects that i knew i wanted to tackle in my new house was the kitchen. the house was built in 1926, but the whole kitchen was gutted and redone in 1970. at some point, i promise to share some really good “before” photos, but you can see some glimpses here: dark stained cabinets, sickly sea green tiles, and an avocado green oven! i can only assume that at one point, there was also a matching avocado refrigerator.

since i’m looking at my house as more of a restoration rather than a renovation, you might think that i’d be looking to go with a historically accurate 1920s-style kitchen. but if you really start to do research on kitchens of that era, you’ll see that they really don’t lend themselves to modern practicality. i think many people still had wood burning stoves and ice boxes! so instead, i’m going to be mixing and matching vintage elements for a space that will be modern and vintage all at once. think white painted wood cabinets with crystal door pulls, a butcher block countertop, subway tiles, a farm sink, perhaps a fancy chef’s range. i know, it might all sound way too cliche, but it’s the space i dream about creating… complete with a smeg refrigerator!

i’m sure you’ve seen it. it’s a total mid century style (but this many years later, i think we can just call it a classic). and despite a few giggles after seeing the name of the brand (did you know that it’s an acronym for smalterie metallurgiche emiliane guastalla?), i have to say, i’ve got my heart set on smeg.

image above: stadshem

elle sweden

my scandinavian home

paul massey

varpunen

a couple of months back, i started browsing craigslist on a whim. i’d always wanted a vanity in my bedroom, so i could perch at the mirror in the mornings to get ready, perhaps while glamorously wearing a robe. and as luck would have it, the very first search result was for the perfect little mid century vanity. i was actually surprised to find one from that particular era, since i’d figured such things had gone out of style by the 1950s, but lo and behold there it was in all of it’s sleek, modern splendor. it was being sold individually or as part of a set with two matching wardrobes. i wasn’t in the market for such a thing, so i hopped in the car to pick up my little dresser and called it a day. but don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone? joni mitchell had it right. i almost instantly regretted that i didn’t buy the whole set, and now i can’t stop obsessing over finding one. the only catch is that by the 1950s, people definitely had closets and weren’t in the habit of keeping their clothes in giant wooden boxes. leave it to me to set my sights on some totally random piece of furniture that turns out to be rare and hard-to-find.

so while i scour craigslist and the local green sheet, here are a few inspirational images that are keeping me motivated to find my perfect wardrobe.

image above via freuden von freuden.

adrian and simon

my attic

post-patternism

after yesterday’s quick decor post, i realized that i hadn’t caught you up to speed on where we are with the house! we’ve just been settling in and slowly unpacking for the most part, but i thought it might be fun to share some of the “before” photos of the house in the week prior to moving in! as i’ve shared before, the house was built in 1926 with one major renovation done in 1970. it’s got tons of vintage features like crystal door knobs, the original hex tiles in the bathroom, and beautiful vintage windows throughout. i was immediately drawn to it because it had not been updated with the standard builders grade cabinets or granite countertops, and it still maintained a lot of it’s original integrity. something that i could renovate to fit my tastes and restore to it’s original vintage charm.

our first task? ripping out the terrible brown wall-to-wall carpeting that was covering the original hardwood floors. we knew there were wood floors under there, but it was a mystery as to what kind of condition they were in! i had been itching to get in there and pull it all up the entire time we were in escrow, and i can’t tell you how satisfying it was to finally get rid of that stuff! fortunately for us, the floors were in pretty decent condition, so we were able to move in. unfortunately, they’re still going to need to be refinished!

the moment of truth. pulling up the first corner of carpeting to reveal the floors underneath.

my hands were sore for days after pulling out every single staple from the floors with a pair of pliers. it seemed as though there were thousands!

i was most concerned about adam’s bedroom because even before we pulled out the carpeting, i could tell that a wall had been removed between the original room and a service porch. fortunately, the wood floors ran all the way through the room, but it definitely needs to be refinished along the area where the walls and closets had been. there were also a few holes where there had previously been hot and cold water pipes and what appears to have been a water closet! kinda gross, but it cleaned up pretty well, and i’ve covered it up with rugs in the meantime. also note those heavy seafoam green drapes straight from 1970! imagine this room after they set it up that year, complete with green shag carpet!

those vintage crystal door knobs are my favorite!

remember when i wrote that very heartfelt post about how we missed out on our little vintage dream house? well, i have never been happier to say that i was wrong. we got the house! 

back when i wrote that post, i really truly thought it wasn’t ours. it had been a month since our offer was rejected without the opportunity to counter-offer. the sign in front had been taken down, and i’d finally let go of that little glimmer of hope that it could somehow be ours. i figured we would go through a few more “losses” before we finally found a place to call home. but the real estate gods must have been looking down on us, because about a week later, we got word that the sale had indeed fallen through. our real estate agent, rita shaw, rushed to the listing agent’s office right as the sellers were looking through the other offers. she negotiated with them and they accepted our offer right on the spot! i was in so much shock, i was afraid to share the news lest i be premature in my announcement once again. but a little over a month later, the house is truly ours.

so to bring you up to speed since my last post, we’ve finally closed escrow and moved in just yesterday. prior to that, we got a home inspection and an appraisal, signed and submitted what seemed like an endless stream of papers, got approval on the loan, paid the down payment, and officially got the keys to our new home on friday. but even though we kinda breezed past the house hunting phase, the journey has really only just begun. it’s not what you would call a fixer, but it is a house that we bought with the hopes of making renovations here and there to truly make it our own. it was built in 1926, so the idea is to restore it back to it’s original charm. and of course, in true blogger form, i will be sharing the entire process with you all once i get my office set up with an internet connection. in the meantime, i’ll be sharing little glimpses of what we’ve been up to on instagram. so expect to see more updates in this space very soon!

adam drinking his morning cup of “coffee” before the big day.

getting the first glimpse of the original 1926 hardwood floors beneath the ancient wall-to-wall carpeting. and check out those mint green drapes, straight from the only renovation to the house that took place in 1970. at least according to the permit records!

we spent hours and hours pulling up each and every staple from these floors. the wood is beautiful and it’s totally livable in the meantime, but we’re already looking into getting them refinished. one cool discovery was that even the kitchen has wood flooring beneath the vinyl tiles and subfloor.

not sure what the story is here, but we have an old horse hitch out front!