Here’s my dream: Tracey says to me, “I don’t care what you do with your kitchen. It’s your territory, and besides, I’ve decided I want to give you full control – and I do mean full control over how you want our house to look. Me? I’m just from this point on a disinclined occupant.”

Boy, would I love that! If you want to see where The Great White Shank’s heart is when it comes to kitchens, check that picture out, will ya? Sure, it’s not the white sheet metal cabinets of my grandparents’ old house I fondly remember, but it’s pretty gear if you ask me. The colors and tile alone really make a statement. Not sure what that statement is, but… this is what I’d be looking for:

By the late 1950s, designers began to apply color and styling to everyday, functional items, and American kitchens exhibited rich colors compared to previous appliances. The influx of color was a reaction to the antiseptic white of the previous decades, and it allowed homeowners to coordinate the kitchen with other rooms as well. General Electric first made colored appliances in 1954, and competing manufacturers introduced other colors to American homes such as fern green, buttercup yellow, and lagoon blue. In 1958, the year of the Stats home’s construction, the home appliance journal Electrical Merchandising summed up the demand for pink appliances — “If forced to pick one color as leading this year, most industry men say pink is tops.”

The form and shape of appliances also saw a remarkable change in the decade from 1955-1965. Kitchens were designed as an integrated unit which was, in theory, more appealing to the homemaker. The sleek appearance, flat surfaces, and right angles of the appliances and cabinets gave the impression of a clean, efficient laboratory. Coupled with the increased capabilities and efficiencies of the new appliances, homemakers could enjoy spending large amounts of time in the kitchen tending to family and guests.

Problem is, my living room and kitchen are part of a so-called “great room”, meaning I’d have to look for sleek lines and boldness in the living room as well. The good news is we already have it, with the exception of the wood end tables and which could easily be converted to chrome and glass and look fantastic! Not to mention having as the centerpiece a chrome “bowling dome bar set” like my grandparents used to have.

Now let’s head to the bathrooms. I wouldn’t touch Tracey’s – she’d kill me – but I do have my own, and here’s the style I’d love to implement:

Plain and simple, here’s your typical 1950s bathroom in Phoenix homes: 4? pastel tiles with contrasting trim, vitreous china sink, and wood vanity.

Like, yeah, so what’s your problem?? The first few pics at the link I really love, and further down I dig the yellow and light blue. Bathrooms should be happy or relaxing places, so the pics with garish dark colors don’t do it for me. And lose the gold fixtures – it’s only chrome or pewter for me. But again, as long as you do pastels how can one go wrong?

Back to reality: looks like I’ll have to wait until I have enough money to move to Palm Springs or find a retro house with a sunken livingroom. Think about it: golf during the day, cocktails afterwards, what could be better?