‘Mid-century modest’ homes see a resurgence

McClatchy photo/courtesy Erica Berger

Pam Kueber, in her retro kitchen, shares resources and tips on great finds for home renovation.

When it seemed like everyone was outfitting their kitchens with granite countertops and Sub-Zero refrigerators, Pam Kueber was on the hunt for steel cabinets.

Ten years ago, Kueber and her husband bought a 1951 ranch house in Lenox, Mass., with ugly plastic tiles in the bathroom and a 1970s kitchen that was showing its age. But rather than bringing the house up to date, she wanted to take it back to its mid-20th-century character.

A communications professional with a degree in journalism, she put her reporting skills to work on ferreting out sources of vintage materials to renovate her mid-century home. Five years into her search, she struck gold: a set of aquamarine Geneva steel cabinets in what was once a cooking school run by nuns in New York City.

Her experience prompted her to start a blog to share her research with like-minded souls. Today her Retro Renovation blog, retrorenovation.com, attracts about 220,000 readers a month and is the go-to site for homeowners with a passion for restoring mid-century homes.

Kueber shares resources and tips on great finds, like the stash of 1960s tile a guy in Mansfield, Ohio, found recently when he was cleaning out a contractors house. Its like Whac-A-Mole, she said of the constant chase of the latest bonanza.

The blog celebrates what Kueber calls mid-century modest homes, houses like hers that sprang up across the United States in the wake of World War II. Unlike the chic, glass-walled atomic ranches that are revered as the epitome of mid-century modern style, these are the simpler Colonials, ranches and split levels that housed a much larger segment of the postwar population. Now many of them are housing young homeowners, who can afford their modest prices and appreciate their vintage style.

Her blog sometimes addresses high-style mid-century homes, but I write about pink bathrooms and knotty pine kitchens more, she said in a recent phone conversation. And more than write about them, she touts their appeal.

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‘Mid-century modest’ homes see a resurgence