When we lived on Summit Street in the 1960’s, a pink refrigerator set proudly in my Mom’s kitchen. As proud as I am of my all stainless steel appliances, Mom loved her pink ones. Even the countertop had pink and aqua flecks in the Formica! Back then, it was a whole world of pink thanks to Mamie Eisenhower. The trend reached it's peak from 1953-1961 when First Lady Mamie chose a pink gown with 2000 pink rhinestones for Ike's Inauguration. Their private quarters at the White House were redecorated in pink, Mamie's favorite. Her bathroom at Gettysburg was pink down to the cotton balls and American women wanted it for their homes too!
When we watch HGTV's "My First Place," the couples are often looking at older homes from that era. Affordable because they need practically everything from new furnace to roof, the kitchens are like a glimpse of my childhood! If a remodeling hasn't taken place in these homes, you see what I remember of that house in Springfield; linoleum floors, flowery wallpaper and Formica countertops edged in steel. Some things, like shag carpeting or paneling date a house terribly. But often when they see the kitchen with it's retro styling and charm from yesteryear, they actually like it. One thing for sure, you will have a one of a kind kitchen that few can duplicate!
Our bathroom wasn't near this fancy, but the sink and tub were also pink with aqua tile accents! I remember the monogramed towels that we weren't allowed to use...EVER!
What do you remember from your childhood kitchen?
OMG.. I love that designer drawn 'powder room'.. yes those special monogrammed towels still exists in this home.. but funny thing, they start to fade after time (so noted here).. and I adore the white, pink and black french themes!! Yes, some day that would be lovely.
ReplyDeletewith love,
Olivia
Kind of funny...what goes around comes back again...I would love to do one of my little trailers in pink and call it Bubblelicous...Interesting about how pink really got started....didn't know that...
ReplyDeleteOur kitchen had a red linoleum floor! My mom would mop, wax and buff it with an elecric buffer. We would then slide on it in our socks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing back some memories!
Have a fabulous day!
Our kitchen had blue linoleum - marble-like in appearance, and the countertop matched it. It was the kind that had black underneath where it wore thin. Before dad added a family room onto the house, we had a kitchen window over our sink and mom could look out and see us playing in the samdbox!
ReplyDeleteI love the image in the post below! As for kitchens..loved the old kind like that, it would cost a fortune for that now. Ours was just an old farm house kitchen but always so clean and mom was a great cook and taught me. Come say hi :D
ReplyDeleteah yes, those wonderful sights from our childhood. We are renting a house right out of the 60's to a large degree. The kitchen in particular reminded me of our tract house in southern California. Green refrigerator, oven and electric stove. Counter tops in a green formica and original cabinets. But it's very comfortable and works well for what we need at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI am crazy about that bathroom. I wish I had seen that before we built our house in Maine. I know I would have had to have one designed that way.
ReplyDeleteI was born and raised in Australia so Mamie Eisenhower didn't influence our home decor to my knowledge. I remember a lot of white. I would have loved a pink refrigerator though.
My Grandmother always dressed me in baby blue and my sister in pink. We also had bows in our hair like the one in the picture. She made all our clothes and did beautiful smocking on our dresses like the little girl is wearing.