Hello again readers! It’s been about a year since I’ve last posted here on the blog, but I’m trying to get back into it again, so here’s hoping I can keep it up!
Last October we bought a new house in the Northern Kentucky area. With Ryan’s pottery studio being located in our home, I felt like we were bursting at the seams in our old house. And now that Ryan and I both work remotely for our full-time jobs (oh yeah, and I quit being a flight attendant…that’s a whole other story), I’m really glad we moved for more space. All of the bedrooms in the new house are more spacious, in addition to having a finished basement, so we have plenty of room for both of our offices, his studio, and room to spare for entertaining. We bought a 1953 mid-century house and it’s full of amazing retro details that fit our style so well! We also have over an acre of yard, so plenty of space indoors and out!
We’ve done quite a bit to the house cosmetically in the last 6 months, but we are now starting on some major projects and I’m really excited! So let me give you a little visual tour of our home so far, and what we plan for the future.
While the exterior is really not that bad, we are trying to bring our home’s style in a more retro modern direction. Back in the 1950s, two styles of home/home decor were prominent, the space-age atomic style, and a more traditional federal/colonial style. Our home details and architecture leaned heavily on the colonial style of the 50s, and it’s definitely not my favorite style of that era. I love mid-century modern decor and design, as does Ryan, so we are trying to lean that way where we can in our home. So with that in mind, we are planning on adding some cool exterior details like modern horizontal wood trim, and a bold new color on the house. We’ve always wanted a blue home, and we are going for it! Not sure when, but it’ll be happening.
However, the back patio will be getting a makeover in a few weeks! We have a concrete company coming in to do a major overhaul in the backyard. The entire patio is an uneven mess, and the stairs on the side are falling apart, so it’s all getting redone. I’ll share more photos of the before and after of that project soon.
The living room is a space I think I could actually deem done. We might change a few accessories here or there, but we like how it’s turned out. The wood paneling, huge windows, and wooden dowel feature by the entry are all vintage features we absolutely love and plan on keeping. We didn’t have to do much in here besides hang the art and place the furniture. Almost everything we already had from our previous house, except for the rug and commissioned abstract painting above the fireplace. This space is a blend of boho and mid-century, but I’m sure it will start evolving even more towards mid-century when find more amazing vintage pieces.
Our dining room on the other hand, has been a struggle for me, for some reason. I’ve been back and forth on the art for the walls. I usually do gallery walls, but I feel like big pieces of art are the way to go with this retro home. I haven’t found any pieces I love or can afford, so I think I’ll make some pieces. I did replace the old light fixture with the DIY colored globe one, which I really like! I also plan on replacing the chairs with hairpin leg benches, which I think will help the space feel less traditional and more eclectic mid-century.
Beyond the French doors in the dining room is a sunroom, which we are so excited to have! We house allllllll of Ryan’s succulents and cacti in here, in addition to any plants that the cats love to bother. We have a couple seating arrangements in here so we can sit and enjoy the space as well. I’m going full boho in here, and it’s still a work in progress, but we love it so far!
Our kitchen will be another major overhaul in the house. Though I love the wood paneling in the rest of the house, I really hate the look in the kitchen. The cast-iron colonial hardware, worn out knotty pine cabinets, and fake blue wood grain vinyl floor are not my vibe. I plan on staining the cabinets black (Ryan wanted to still see the wood grain), replacing the hardware, and doing a cool new vinyl floor tile. It will look totally different soon and I can’t wait! We did acquire these super cool atomic chairs and table, along with the sputnik light, which will look great with the new version of the kitchen.
The entryway got a very bold new look! I replaced the light with the one my aunt custom made for our last home, painted the door chartreuse on the inside and teal on the outside, and added this awesome retro-style entry cabinet that I painted magenta. I wanted the entry to tell you this house is a color explosion, and to be ready, haha!
I gave the main bathroom a mini makeover since we plan on redoing it in a few years. The outdated brown tile is not our style, but it’s functions until we can redo it. To embrace all the brown for now, I painted the walls with this fun scalloped green and pink detail, added new floral boho accessories, and replaced/painted all the hardware with gold.
Our bedroom was a beige blob before I painted it in this dramatic, smokey black. Since we have all of our beautiful Art Deco furniture from our previous bedroom, I decided the theme in here would be more moody glam with touches of modernism. I made the canopy above the bed from curtains to cover the window, replaced the hardware on the built-in vanity, and plan on redoing the sliding closet doors soon (not pictured).
Our second bedroom acts as my office, guest room, craft storage, and stores all my clothing/accessories that doesn’t fit in the main bedroom…so it functions as a lot of things. I started calling it the Groovy Guestroom, and it lives up to it’s name! I living out all my funky 60s/70s dreams in here and going all out. I have more fun DIYs planned for this space, so stay tuned!
Our second bathroom in the basement is orignal to the home, and I loooooove all the retro blue tile! I still need to spruce up the grout, and I want to change out the cast-iron handles to something more modern retro, but we don’t have to do much in here.
The basement is still a work in progress, but we love having this extra space! Since I have to work with the grey carpet and sofa for now, I decided our tiki bar and overall basement design leans more towards a retro 80s tropical glam aesthetic. I still have to build the bar in front of the feature wall, and work on the lounge area, but it’s coming along. Ryan’s workspace and pottery studio are also down here (not pictured), and they are pretty much done. We converted the third bedroom located in the basement into Ryan’s studio, and it really helps to have it not taking up half the basement like in the previous house.
I hope you liked this tour of our home, and I can’t wait to share more renovations and projects with you!
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