Oh ! MY then you would love to have my kitchen , I started retroing it the minute the landlord told me to go for it ,and then when she told me the age of the house , I loved it even more , it's a 1920's Sears Craftsman home ,I love the the huge cabnets not, alot of space but I like it , it's still has the sink comeing out of the wall and of course the same windows with the weight in side, so far I stubled on a 1945 Gafflers and Staller stove , pressure wash it and got all the grills and stuff cleaned and the only thing I haven't gotten to yet is finding a clock for it , i've been all over the antique store's lucky me I live in Orange County and the orange circle is just brimming with retro items, on the mirowave I simply bought a red one from Target like 60 bucks and a red coffee pot, if you have any good wills in your area hit them up , cause alot of estate things go there , I've painted my kitchen red and yellow , took the rather large drawers and took some paint remover , and some elbow grease and a paint gun which just melts the paint off , painted them red and found some little rooster decals that I put on , went to the 99 store and food some checkered red and white contact paper and put them in the drawer some plactic deviders to . Because I'm into both the retro, feista and the older pyrex , you know the different colored one with the little lids, i found scores of them in the goodwill nd also the different color pyrex bowl set , for a grand total of five bucks ,it's got a door to that leads to the laundry room , so i took out the old glass and put some screen wear the glass was and painted the door red and then found some red and white checked curtains and it looks super , even still has those old looks with the knob to open the door , I'm still trying to find the perfect frigerator , I saw one on one ad and fell in love it's a kelvanator foodarama (SP). Know i have the Idea to pull up the linolim (SP) and see what he wood looks like, maybe sand it and do the red and white checker board my self or be lazy and find the red and white checker board myself , as for the kitchen counters I hate them the tile , but i want to go for the old soda pop look , red linolem , so far. as for the arctiure of the the house it's soild and and i love the wood detailing so i'm just going to get out my magic eraser and clean , the walls do need paint has a few cracks bit i figure to paint the walls a camel color so the cracks will give off a shadow , if you go to the 99 cent store you with find alot of red if that's your color and the good will you would be amazed , I found and old ceder wood cabnits that hold plates and glasses and I store my pyrex and feista wear in there , also at the good will I found not one but 9 chrome toaster with the cloth cord for 99 cents apiece still in the box to took them home shined up a little ,put them up on ebay for 50;00 a piece and all sold except the one I kept and still use , I don't know if alot of folks go to the good will but you can find lots of stuff , I'm fixin to paint my 1945 stove red , like i said i live in what i call antique town , I just got the universal knobs to the stove , because it has the stove on one side and the broiler on the other and has the griddle in the middle , I guess the floors are pretty stonge cause that thing took 4 good sized men to get in my kitchen oh and of course , i found some old cambells soup and vegatable ad that came out of the time life magazines painted some black frames and put them on the wall above the stove , I will have to take a picture although not all toghether yet I still love my kithen even if it is in the works. Take care

Thank you everyone for all of your replies! Sorry for the absence...I have no internet here at the house yet. In response to questions/comments: kudzu9: There are areas of the grout that are missing, and the remainder has turned yellow. I would like to replace the missing grout and whiten the yellowed. We hope to rent out the home, so I don't trust tenants to wipe down painted walls. I'm hoping to find a complementary alternative. benjesbride: Unfortunately, the reason I have little budget now is that most of the original plumbing has to be redone. The drains are all old cast iron, and have degraded...there are lead pipes too. So, since they are replacing them, I figure that now would be the time to relocate. Thank you for your advice on "embracing the retro" and your link! nosoccermom: I cant really remove the shower head, as its the only bath in the home. I LOVE your idea of glass, and will research it. Have to figure out how to seal it from moisture and how to make area where it meets tile waterproof. Fori is not pleased: LOL!!!! I'm not pleased either! Thanks for the laugh and suggestion. I will def head over there once I have internet at the house, and am ready to make all the decorating decisions.polly929: I had considered having a company reglaze the tub & tile white, but the many opinions of keeping the original intact have made me reconsider. I am keeping the home, but am trying to fix it up to rent out for now. bpathome: Thanks for sharing your experience. I was considering adding 4x4 tile above the existing, but someone else said it wouldn't look good and hearing your experience too really gives me pause. I agree that the glass sounds like a cool possibility, but I need to research the installation issues. Would wallpaper hold up in a shower??? Yes, I absolutely need to redo the floor. Its a pier and beam home, so I am avoiding any real tile. However, I have looked at black & white LVT alternatives in both the hex and penny. jesshs: That is amazing! I cannot believe someone on here has actually had this tile! And its funny you mentioned grey....that is exactly the color I was thinking of going with on the walls! As far as paint on the shower walls, as I said above to kudzu9, we are planning to rent the home out and I worry about tenants taking the time to do that sort of maintenance. I want to go with something I don't have to worry about them taking care of. cpartist: Another retro vote! I'm coming around :) The grout is yellowed, and missing in a few areas. I'm hoping there is a way to bring it back to white. I agree with you, and everyone else, about the grab bars, as well as the shower head. And so glad to get another grey vote! I am absolutely redoing the floor. Just haven't decided what would go best. Again, THANK YOU everyone for your opinions and suggestions. Please, keep the ideas coming!

It seems to me that if you're moving your table every time you have company, the bathroom is a problem. Maybe getting rid of it isn't the answer, but it does need to be addressed in some way. The two dining rooms are separated by 2 things. The ceiling header and partial walls (I can never remember what those are called.) But they're also separated by the path from the mud room to the kitchen. It seems to me that if you moved the entry door from the mud room over toward the back wall (to the left from the perspective of the floor plan) you would open up the perceived area of the smaller dining room to include what is currently the walkway. The end of the dining room with the bathroom could be used either as an entry hall with a table in the middle or as a sort of sunroom, with a couple of chairs and a small table, suitable for coffee and toast type breakfasts. You could disguise the separation between the rooms on the exterior wall with a gas fireplace something like this centered on the table.

Congratulations on your purchase! Are the cabinets original? If so, and if they are in good shape, I would preserve the cabinets that you can while changing only the problem areas. In order to fill a gap, I had a 6 inch cabinet made at a local Amish shop that exactly matched the 1950s cabinets in one of my rentals. A carpenter might be able to help you build in the refrigerator (to the right of the sink, perhaps, so it doesn't block the doorway as palimpest suggested). From the pictures, the cabinets around the stove look fine to me. Also, stained cabinets are easier to maintain than painted cabinets.