Mid Century Paint Colors

I think I've found the color palette for our house! This fabulous mid-century home has beautiful tones of green and red--perfect for our lovely ranch.

Mid Century Modern Color Palettes

Original Eichler Exterior Home Color Palette from retro renovation

Let's face it--picking paint colors is hard. Especially if you're trying to keep the home's original character. In our case, that means some ranch-style mid century modern color research. Luckily, there's a lot our there on the subject of house colors, with most examples using the source material from the time. There are also plenty of re-invigorated color palettes out there, such as the "Suburban Modern" from Sherwin Williams.

I love what Modative did when looking for colors to compliment a mid century modern car wash renovation: they turned to ads and palettes from the period to choose the most complimentary and accurate colors.

Monday Inspiration: Curb Appeal!

I've got gardening on the brain--in December, we're planning to use our holidays to spruce up our curb appeal, adding some rocks and borders, and hopefully building a small retaining wall and sprucing up the porch with new slate tiles and some paint. It won't look exactly like my inspiration photo, but I love the calming colors of the slate, the gray on the house, and the red door.

Reminiscing on the Ranch House

I'm a lover of mid century modern design, and an admirer of good ol' American kitsch. It's amazing what America can produce in times of prosperity (a.k.a. post-WWII through the 1960s), and it's an equal shame how we tear it down for the next big thing (a.k.a orange shag carpeting and faux wood paneling--both staples in the house I grew up in).

That's why I'm loving No Pattern Required--the author has embraced the mid century modern glory that is the ranch home, down to its pink tile bathroom. There are also a lot of fantastic old ads and MCM recipes put into action. Check out the pirozhki experiment--it's all about the presentation!

Garden Dreaming on a Fall Day

I'm at home sick, dreaming of fresh air and gardening. Gardens have always been my decorating Achillies' heel, trying to balance the Mid Century style of my ranch house, with the water-conscious gardening of the desert, with the complication of some very old bushes and trees that I just don't have the heart to get rid of.

I went looking for images and found the one above, from Fine Gardening, and I love the clarity and simplicity of it. I also love this image of some Mid Century Modern front steps. If only I can combine these into something...I'm sure a eureka moment is coming soon!