This Old House, Kitchen of the ’50’s

Hi y’all! It’s been a while since my last post:( I’ve been busy “restoring” or resto-modding Mom’s kitchen amongst other things.  Mom’s kitchen was long overdue for a facelift! Here, Mom, Gary(hubby), and yours Truly after my rendition of a coca cola room was created, that started it all! So this is a restoration of Moms kitchen on Classic Cars and Tools!

 

Backing up a bit, this house is the same age as I, I’m 59, so it’s 59 years old! Mom is a spry 88 and my best friend!;) Of course my husband is my best friend too! Back in her hay day, she was a car hop which may have prompted me to do the Coke scenario~ I wish I could find that pic of her in her car hop outfit!

Mom’s home rests on 3 acres in the Houston city limits of which she continues to keep up to this day; a lot to take care of! Though this blog is about the upgrade of her kitchen, it pays tribute to Mom being a Super Mom, and I just like doing nice things for her;)

 

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Moving right along, back in the ’80’s I had done my best to upgrade her kitchen, and at the time, I suppose it looked OK (rather drab I’d say), but no different from an old car, however, now it has some issues with the floor that needs attention.

When I would go to visit Mom, which is often as she is a wonderful person to be around, the kitchen was just sad! To me, it’s like looking at one of my projects, and in my mind, I could see it finished in my mind with lots of new stuff, a lots of hours, with the turn out of something nice. I just had to make it so!

 

In the picture below, the Okeef and Merrit stove was my Grandmothers or Mema as I called her. I can remember her cooking stuff on it!  It is a 60’s model or so, but unfortunately it was just too rusted out to restore, plus it was extremely heavy to move, especially after new tile was to be put down. It had to go:(

As for the lower cabinet, the hardware was crap, the drawer guides were crap~ time to just get rid of all of it and in with new!

 

 

 

Well, I knew that beneath the layers, there would be some rotted wood:(, but peeling the old back, brought back memories, mainly the greenish part of the time line.

 

At one time, the turquoise looking tile was awesome! Mom would use her polisher to make it shine, but somewhere along the way, Dad put sheets of particle wood down followed by the ever so ugly white/yellow looking tile. The particle board eventually started separating and deteriorating.

 

 

IT makes sense that right in front of the kitchen counter, it would be the most rotted. Luckily, it didn’t go into the sub-floor. I was able to cut out the bad, and put in new wood!;)

 

Also in the den, a large section had to be cut out due to deterioration.

 

 

 

The sheet rock behind the kitchen counter was “gone”, figuratively speaking that is.  At one time, the original faucets were back splash mounted. I considered re-installing that type, but went with the conventional way of a counter top kitchen faucet instead.

 

 

It’s kind of fun to take a hammer, swing it into the old sheet rock, then a large section comes right off! 😉  Oh, that looks much nicer! All the holes are sealed up too!

 

 

I used the old kitchen counter and made a frame out of scrap wood. This was necessary so Mom could still have a functioning kitchen. However, when I’d come over to work, or play I should say, I could easily move this assembly out-of-the-way to work on the wall, and floor, etc..

 

 

 

I suppose my favorite part was the first bar. Since it was based on a Coca-cola scheme, it offered a bright and cheerful atmosphere, and give mom an uplifting place to sit and drink her morning cup of coffee.

 

 

I didn’t want anything permanently attached to the floor, so most moveable things were on metal furniture legs, including the kitchen counter, but of course the kitchen counter will never have to be moved!;)

 

 

The single drawer for “stuff”, was obviously installed and about a 15 degree pull out. The making really taxed my geometry and common sense skills.

 

Since the drawer was now at a slight angle when being pulled out, it would miss the bar and allow access to the clips to remove the drawer.

 

Note: A couple more Tools needed along the way of course!;) You know I love tools! I found a ’60’s model Craftsman belt driven table saw, back when things were still U.S.A made! Rare these days I’d say! I go into any store, everything is from the Big C! 🙁  Oh, and 12″ band saw! I didn’t think I’d really use the Band saw, but I used the heck out of it! I got both for 300 bucks, but bought new blades, Dado blades, etc.. Well, can’t cut wood without good sharp blades! Especially large sheets of plywood!

 

 

Cutting a large sheet of plywood is difficult even with two people! Using My Little Mule, I was able to manage cutting the large sheets into workable sizes!

 

The most recent bar of which Gary and I took over a few days ago, was more simple in that it had no drawers, but it is taller(40″) and wider. The lighting from Home depot which looks a little more modern still offered a retro look, and the red pinstripes (Moms suggestion) really added the final touches to it and with a dimmer switch really sets a nice tone in the evening! 😉 I’m still waiting for the Coke graphics to get here. As with the other bar, this one is moveable for polishing the floor.

CabinetmakerWarehouse.com is where I purchased this Red Ellipse Formica brand laminate. A place here in Houston quoted me an outrageous price, but The Cabinetwarehouse prices were very reasonable. I bought two sheets!

 

The T-moulding is so Retro! A pain to install and pricey, but awesome!

This was the original structure between the kitchen and den(the den was actually a bedroom back in the day).

 

 

As said earlier I believe, this lighting didn’t come with the red pen stripes, I give credit to Mom for the idea! Way to go Mom!;)

 

The cast iron Kohler sink from the ’60s weighed in at round 70lbs!! I used My Little Mule to put it in place for mocking purposes. I also used my little mule when installing the entire counter top with the sink installed!

 

The Armstrong flooring is a commercial kind that I chose. My brother helped me on this part of the remodeling. I still can smell the adhesive glue, however, this was an exciting time. After a few days, I came back and sealed it, then polished it a few days later;)

 

I was worried about defects of the sub-floor showing through, though not perfect, it still looks great!

 

I won’t go into to detail, but the refrigerator was relocated to where you see it, and also gave mom a larger walk in, more attractive genuine Pantry. As for the color and style of the refrigerator I’m not fond of, Robo picked it out and paid for it. Mom was asking if I could paint it a different color~ of course I can.

 

Here, a couple of things; The crown molding was several inches below the ceiling and a rope lighting was placed in it, of course with a dimmer switch to set the mood!  As for the coke border “wall paper”, anything with Coke on it comes at a premium. Coca cola wall paper border is very pricey. I bought a king size sheet set off of eBay which was made in the Coca cola scheme, cut it into the appropriate widths and lengths, then Mom and I glued each piece painstakingly onto to long pieces of masonite with white(bath tub surround sheets). Then just used my air stapler to put each piece up! Worked great and saved a great deal of money!

 

There is much more to the story, but these are the highlights of this particular project.

 

Gee~ 😉 Looks like a Fun place!

I’ll probably be adding to this little project~ in the meantime, Mom is enjoying her new kitchen and Coke room! It was kind of refreshing to work on something else for a change, but I’m ready to get back to my 67 Mustang and get it back on the road~ I’m installing new Edelbrock heads~ don’t worry, there will be a blog on it! 😉

Don’t forget to subscribe to Classic Cars and Tools~ It’s free and I try to make it fun. 😉

dne’