Paint Colors!

I think we all know that feeling when we walk into an older home and immediately shrink from the dated and sad aura it gives off.

I have found that unless there is a smell (sometimes there is,..)  usually it is caused primarily by paint colors (or wood panelling, but that is a whole other topic.)

As many of us tend to shrink back at the colors from the 1950s-1960s it can be a bit tricky with midcentury homes to keep them modern but also authentic. Avocado kitchens and orange living rooms can be a truly frightening prospect!

So how do we solve this?

Like any other historic period we have to try to find colors that are somewhat period without being offensively so. Usually with midcentury this means a neutral with some pops of bright color.

(as a side note, paint colors will ALWAYS become outdated. They simply will. never fool yourself that some current trend will always be wanted or liked. This is why I recommend using paint or fabrics to add bright colors.)

So what colors worked 50 years ago? You name it! Midcentury design was very colorful, Let's look at some images and articles!

http://www.madformidcentury.com/2013/01/mid-century-modern-color-palette-trends.html#.VyKe3fkrLIU



http://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/hues-say-you

http://abduzeedo.com/mid-century-modern-illustration-style

http://theglamoroushousewife.com/2013/09/home-decor-of-the-1950s/

Some of these colors are amazing, but the combinations can be a bit awful. So lets see some examples of modern fun usage without drowning in that dated feeling 

Much better isn't it? 

http://www.zillow.com/blog/color-palettes-mid-century-modern-171154/

http://color.about.com/od/colorstyle/tp/Top-10-Colors-for-Mid-Century-Style.htm

Terrazzo!!

Yesterday I toured some homes with a feature I had not seen in residential homes: 

Terrazzo Flooring!! 

Being who I am and doing what I do, that meant coming home and doing all the googling. 

I have no idea how i have not seen these before, and then saw two in one day. I see so many houses, all the time. I guess it was just bad luck. 

So today I will introduce you to these AMAZING floors. 

What is Terrazzo? 

"Terrazzo—chips of marble, glass or other aggregates embedded in tinted cement, ground smooth and polished to a silky sheen—may have been yet another of mankind's accidental discoveries. In the 15th century, mosaic artisans in northen Italy swept waste marble chips out onto their terraces, terrazzi, and smoothed the surface simply by walking over it. When workers learned to press the chips into a more permanent clay base, then grind and polish them with heavy stones, terrazzo caught on. Michelangelo used it in St. Peter's Basilica. George Washington strode over it in his cherished Mount Vernon. In the 1950s, Richard Neutra and other modernist architects specified terrazzo in their designs, and by the '60s, it covered floors in developer houses across the Southeast and Southwest. But as installation costs rose, terrazzo once again became a relatively pricey option—approx. $10 or more a square foot—for custom-built houses."

It comes in many colors, depending on the materials used and is all one large smooth cool surface, perfect for homes with pets or children that can destroy hardwoods or tile grout.  

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/32026189/list/make-your-floors-terrific-with-terrazzo

Do you have terrazzo floors? Please share some pictures! I would love to see them!