1960s ranch- impressions please!
How would one appropriately restore this kitchen so it is in keeping with the spirit of the rest of the house?
Comments (25)
midcenturymaiden
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Great Kitchen in a 1960s Split? Mission Impossible?
Comments (13)We are in the middle of renovating the kitchen & dining area of our 1979 split level-entry home (stairs going up & down from the front door). We have 2 small kids and were really lacking storage and usable countertop. There is an entrance to the kitchen at the top of the stairs & one into the dining room towards the back sliding door. It was an L shape with a pantry closet, fridge, & range on one wall the sink & dishwasher on the other. That left 2 empty walls with nothing. We took out the pantry closet and put in a broom closet, moved the fridge down, added a deeper cab above the fridge, moved the range over giving us room for a corner lazy susan and a bit more countertop. We took out most of the wall between the kitchen & dining room. The remaining empty wall we placed a pantry cabinet and to the left of that an open shelf cabinet. There will be a peninsula of cabinets being put in there between kitchen & dining room. The microwave going under the open shelves and on top of the counter. The remaining wall will hide the micro from the dining/living area. The peninsula & pantry are going to provide a lot more storage for us, much more countertop, and a place for the kids to pull up at the counter. We also took out the big rectangular fluorescent lightbox and installed 2 solar tubes in that recess, and recessed lights around the perimeter. I can already tell this space is going to work so much better for us and we'll be able to see the kids better in the other rooms while we are in the kitchen. We really tried to utilize all of the space that we have. I will post some pics when we are done, right now it's a mess (Mostly DIY project as well)....See MoreLayout Help with 1960s Ranch Kitchen
Comments (43)regarding W/D in the home gym.... If you do that, then you have forever relegated that room to a laundry room. It becomes a very large laundry that is used as a gym. IMHO, I don't think a very large laundry will be a selling point. I would rather have a multipurpose room that can used for many different things. If you keep the home gym as a multipurpose generic room, then it can be used as a guest bedroom, kids playroom etc etc as your life changes. However, if you are willing to give up the bedroom, it solves the issue of your powder room where the guest is not walking through the laundry area. In general, it is nice to be able to direct the guests to the powder room which is NOT a personal bathroom. If you direct the guests to the hall bath, that is in the private area. My guess is that you want a useful/nicer powder room for the guests to use. When you remodel, you think you solved one problem, you notice another problem! I would work the floor plan more so that you have a really nice inviting 1/2 bath with better doors in that hallway. You are already doing an enormous amount of work. This will not add that much to the work. At this point, it is just your time.......See MoreNeed help adding curb appeal on a 1960's ranch
Comments (14)I think that some of the suggestions wouldn't be an improvement and suggest that you think about whether those changes will enhance the home's appearance and period details. The dark stripes of the shutters add interest to the facade from a distance and I don't think I would change them unless you are going to add similar wide dark trim. The glass brick are appropriate to the architecture and were common in that time period, so unless you want that to be a window that you can look out, don't change them. Similarly, the wrought iron porch supports are typical to the time period, so unless they really bother you keep them. On the other hand, I don't like the jalousie windows and consider them to be more common on beach houses and back porches, not on windows to the main house, so I would switch them out. The low wall doesn't bother me since it is so low, but if you don't like it, I don't think removing it would be an issue as long as doing so won't damage the porch or house. I think replacing the door with one more in keeping with the house's architecture would be nice, and painting it something that contrasts with the masonry while still coordinated with the house would look good, so rich deep brown or black, or a shade like the brightest brown in the masonry, or even some shade of orange. The main issue to get an appealing entry is the plantings and walkway, both of which are currently narrow and cramped feeling. So I would move the walkway to a minimum of 5' from the garage so that you have room for a row of small shrubs underplanted with groundcover and a few bright flowers near the drive and where the walk turns toward the house. The walk should be at least 5' wide so visitors don't have to approach single file, and 6' would be better. You have a lot of different masonry surfaces going on already, so I would choose concrete to match the porch surface. I like the simple squared off shape of the walk and how it relates to the building, so I wouldn't change the shape or add curves. The current plantings seem rather random with regard to the architecture, so placement when you add plants will be important. Don't put plants that want to grow tall in front of windows, and center plantings with regard to architectural details instead of the current placement of being half in front of windows and masonry details. You don't say where you are in zone 6, and soil pH, texture, and moisture are different in Cleveland vs. New England vs. Oklahoma, so at this point it is difficult to make specific plant suggestions. You will want some evergreens for the backbone of the garden to provide year round interest. If your soil is acid and has reasonable drainage, look st some of the smaller and more densely growing members of the Heath family such as smaller Pieris or mountain laurel/Kalmia, heath/Erica, Heather/Calluna, or some of the smaller Rhododendrons. The Rhododendrons and Kalmia will tolerate a good amount of shade but the heaths and heathers like full sun. Other evergreens to consider with varying tolerance for shade include: Yew/Taxis which is your current plant, but has other shapes and sizes available and has the advantage of being very shade tolerant Junipers range from groundcovers to large trees and different cultivars have varying foliage colors, but like a good amount of sun Chamaecyparis has quite a range of foliage color and texture as well as plant size, depending on species and cultivar. Doesn't like all day shade, but tolerates a range of pH....See More1960s stone wall. Sigh. What to do?
Comments (28)I read all comments & none were about the mantel. Is it possible to add a much bigger wooden mantel? You said you were getting rid of the gold around fireplace - is it possible to change FP to a new one that is also larger? I do like the wall & I don’t mind the planters. I might’ve changed them when doing the floor but if you don’t want to add plants to them I think capping them is best - maybe with something to match the new mantle?...See Moremidcenturymaiden
8 years ago
emmarene9
8 years agoemmarene9
8 years agooops I left out the picture.
See how much better it is without it. Not sure why but I also think the room looks wider with it gone. I apologize for my lack of skill in Paint.
midcenturymaiden thanked emmarene9midcenturymaiden
8 years agopalimpsest
8 years agoTo fit a cabinet depth fridge, the cabinet above would need to be modified, because they are much taller. I cleaned it up a bit, too, and lightened the floor:
midcenturymaiden thanked palimpsestmidcenturymaiden
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoI can't believe the difference a lighter floor makes! Thank you Palimpsest. I really like the idea of a light marmoleum on the kitchen floor but am stumped as to what to do with the counters. Am I crazy for totally loving something like this?
The house has great parquet floors in the bedrooms which can be refinished, but was disappointed to pull the carpet back and find only concrete in the main living area. (slab) Hall bath is all original, with tile countertops that are not cracked and grout stained- will post a pic next time I visit the house. Don't know if I could do that in a kitchen. The grout might drive me crazy.Someone did the house a huge dis-service and updated the master bath with 12x12 floor tile shower tile. Broke my heart when I saw it- does not fit the house at all.
midcenturymaiden
8 years agomidcenturymaiden
8 years agoThis is the other side of the kitchen. We
looked to see of there was a pass through originally, but the bookcases appear to be original to the house.
Any recommendations for flooring through the main part of the house?
Fori
8 years ago
Lavender Lass
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoI'm with Fori...check for hardwood!
It it were me, I don't know if it would be authentic, but I would try removing some of that shelving and adding a cut out over range, between kitchen and dining room. The cabinetry looks like it would be easy to modify, just trim a few pieces and paint.
Then add a banquette in front of the big window and slide the table over. This would work better with a pedestal table and would give you more seating (with the stools) and communication between the two spaces. It would also add light and views from front to back.
If you're cooking, then it might not be the best place for people seated at stools, but they can move to the table. When you're not cooking, easy to talk to people or pass drinks over. Of course, if you have a breakfast room, you might want to keep the formal dining room, but this is what I would do :)
This countertop....love it!
Kitchen....with vent moved up and opening to dining room.
Dining room....with banquette and stools.
midcenturymaiden thanked Lavender Lassmidcenturymaiden
8 years agostephanj
8 years agoFori
8 years agostephanj
8 years ago
Fori