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Congrats on getting the house! Nice source for fabric, would love to snoop around in there. I've never made it to Hilo, been to Volcano National Park and back to Kona, just too big, but love it!
You want to stay with linoleum and not ceramic tile? How does linoleum hold up to the dogs?
Hard to do a 50's theme with white and tans. Too bad without the reds to match your table. I wonder if you could redo the red on the table, I'm not sure how or even if you should try. But the tropical seaglass, copper, white and barkcloth to go with it could be really nice.
How about some yellows and reds? That would help tie in the red, white and tan. From your source, or any with yellow and red: Hibiscus Flowers - White
I don't think we can really do ceramic tile on the floor since it's a "post and pier" house. That means the foundation is 4" x 4" wooden posts going down to "tofu" (concrete) blocks. Wooden joists and wooden floor is comfy on the feet since it's not hard like concrete. However, it's just flexible enough that ceramic tiles could crack and they usually do when put on this type of floor.
Ouch, from Kailua-Kona to Volcano and back in one day definitely doesn't leave enough time to go to the fabric store in Hilo!
Because they have so many fabrics, the fabric choice will probably be one of the last selections made for the kitchen re-do since it will be much easier to match fabric to the counter top & floor than the other way around. So far there have been the least amount of choices in flooring (unless we get nuts and spend way too much money) and not many more choices in counter top colors. Especially if one goes by what's on island to keep away from special order prices and shipping costs. There are a lot of colors in some sort of solid vinyl tile (what I usually call "linoleum" although the sales person said it was actually a solid vinyl of some sort. However, most of the interesting colors are special order and have to be shipped in.
They do have linoleum in big sheets, that could be interesting. They have it in stock and on island, too. I should go find a bigger sample of the "Sea Glass" laminate so flooring can be picked out. It's much nicer to have a sample on hand to put next to the other samples. Aqua countertops, teal walls, glossy white cabinets and ??? for the floor. Although it needs to be something in warm tones that won't show dirt. And probably some accent color to make it pop. Gold? Red?
LOL "tofu" blocks! I know what you mean, I have seen them. Yes the tile floor would crack on that flooring. But it is much more comfortable than the tile floors too, I've rented houses there and my legs get so sore with the full tile floor throughout the house.
Not sure how red will work with the seagrass counter as much as I like the color and it does say Hawaii. What if you drop the aqua and go with reds, yellows and tans with white? Accent with your copper.
Ok, I can't think without pen to paper so to speak, so I grabbed the countertop and found a .99 tile from homedepot, might not be the right one. But I added the color swatches to it. There seems to be a nice amount of colors in the seagrass countertop to work with.
In the first swatch there is countertop, copper, white, darkest blue from the countertop, and floor tile. I like it, it seems calm and could work with the tropical look if you use any darker bamboo or rattan or koa furnishings.
The second one has Red and Yellow added. The red isn't bad with the amount of color in the countertop but you would have to try it in person to see how well it works.
. . . So what should be done to restore the kitchen?
Congratulations OP on your new purchase!
We also live in a historic house (1929 Arts & Crafts in VA) and keeping historic integrity, merging old and new, etc. is always a challenge for us too! Not only is style important but blending in materials that are durable (for your location) and localized are important.
That said, the kitchen is probably the most challenging (and most costly) of rooms in such a house. Maintaining integrity but making it functional and attractive?
My suggestions (after inspecting for deterioration of rot, of course):
* Keep the original footprint.
* Keep original doors, moldings, or any other architecturally-interesting features.
* Don't go 100% with the 1950s -- blend the 1950s with a modern/new look.
* Keep cabinets, repair and replace if necessary. Paint or send out to paint by a professional. Don't forget: hinges and pulls are very important on cabinets too! So consider those.
* Keep the sink! It rocks! (We kept our original sink -- a Kohler porcelain, double-drainboard sink!)
* Get new appliances. They should match -- white is probably easiest. Black will look weird.
* Is that stainless steel countertop salvageable? If not, maybe consider a stainless steel countertop.
* Paint Color Scheme: grey and turquoise or light green or light blue. Bright white trim. Accent with yellow and deep pinks or reds. By keeping the colors in the grey/greenish family, you have a solid background that can be accented with a variety of fabric, furniture, and patterns. Also, grey is very IN today, very modern.
* Think About Texture: flat vs raised, tactile qualities, mixing solid and patterned.
* Window blinds and flooring should be new materials. I like vinyl plank flooring for your kitchen, preferable in grey. A wider plank with a texture is nice and a deeper grey would complement the paint scheme. Not sure if wood would work for you? Resilient Vinyl Planks - Vinyl Flooring & Resilient Flooring - Flooring*at The Home Depot
* Fabric: Definitely barkcloth! Use on curtains/drapes, possible seat cushions or pillows if you have a seating bank.
* Possible: Washable wall paper in a pattern instead of a tile backsplash. There are some very nice patterns to choose from and some look like barkcloth. If your paint and surfaces are solid-a wallpaper in a pattern could offset it nicely.
* Design Elements: Tiki-Mod or Trader Vic's? Maybe toss some elements in! Have some fun!
If the basics are salvageable....Just refinish things. I wouldn't necessarily try to shoot for retro either, unless that is your preference....you can do some very nice modern or retro back splash and counter tops....such a wide variety these days.
You can work out that counter and make it look very nice, new back splash, counter tops and general cleanup and paint.
I wouldn't gut it unless there are issues. You may want to rewire, but you don't have to gut to do that.
I think it looks like a fun project, and it definitely has great possibilities. Can't wait to see what you choose to do
Great colors, Kayekaye. I like the first grouping best. A much calmer feel to it than some 50's palettes.
I was chatting with a carpenter friend today and he kept talking about removing the old ceiling, replacing ceiling joists, etc. By the time he was done, the roof needed replacing, too. We are trying to keep the job within a very small budget so most of that stuff on his list that would be "good to do" probably won't happen. He was thinking a drywall ceiling but those need nailing at 16" on center and the framing we have here would be 24" o.c. so the ceiling would eventually get swoopy unless we added a lot more framing between the trusses.
Now, instead of drywall or plywood, I'm thinking a drop in ceiling. One of those grid things with the drop in tiles. Would that be too odd, do you think? It would be light enough that we'd not have to add in a lot more roof framing. There are some interesting options for drop in tiles, although I think we'd end up with what ever the cheapest ones were.
Looking at things, there's no counter top overhang so anything spilled from the counter top would spill down the face of the cabinets. I wonder if we could add an inch or two extension to it before putting down new Formica? We could still reuse the metal trim most likely.
I noticed a lot of the white cabinets in the 50's kitchen brochures have brightly painted interiors. Hmmm. That could be a fun little pop, perhaps.
Great site for retro stuff. Sorry about the delay. My sister has a retro home and used this website but could not recall the name from while on vacation.
I was chatting with a carpenter friend today and he kept talking about removing the old ceiling, replacing ceiling joists, etc. By the time he was done, the roof needed replacing, too. We are trying to keep the job within a very small budget so most of that stuff on his list that would be "good to do" probably won't happen. He was thinking a drywall ceiling but those need nailing at 16" on center and the framing we have here would be 24" o.c. so the ceiling would eventually get swoopy unless we added a lot more framing between the trusses.
Negative on the drop ceiling. Why would you lower the space above and thus make the kitchen feel more cramped? Your contractor should have informed you about the possibility of installing extra beams to install the drywall properly.
I looked at your original photos. Nothing appears to be sagging. Is the original drywall salvageable (i.e., scrape, prime, re-paint, etc.)? If so, that would save you the headache of replacing a a ceiling.
Is your carpenter-friend a certified roofer? Since he believes both the roof and the ceiling need to be replaced -- sounds like he's looking for a couple of pricey projects.
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