A photo of our kitchen before the cabinets were taken out:
When we moved in, the only thing we could afford to do was replace the coverless fluorescent light with a cheap little pendant light from Ikea.
These were original wood cabinets from the '50s or '60s. You'd think a vintage kitchen like this would be cute, right? Not this one. It was more or less functional but that was it. We had to duct-tape drawers together and the countertop was warped with water damage. It was depressing.
This is our first home, so I saved its real estate listing photos to show what it looked like before we moved in. Hope one day our son will find this interesting! I studied History in college so I'm really into saving stuff from the past as mementos for the future.
Here's the listing pic of the kitchen:
When we looked at the house the fridge was gone and the dishwasher replaced with an old ugly black one. It was a rental so I can understand the tenant taking away his or her fridge, but the dishwasher?? Weird!
The photo shows a simple small kitchen, but in real life it was pretty awful. The cheap acrylic sink was so dirty it was more brown inside than white! The floor was torn up in the corner, and the cupboards had strange stains that never came off. The ugly formica countertops were warped, if you can believe that. And the freaking fluorescent light over the sink didn't have a cover on it! WTF???
We had no money to make any kitchen repairs when we bought the house, so I thought we could just paint the walls and cupboards and it would be okay for a while.
Err ... nope. A couple of the drawers started breaking apart and had to be duct-taped together. The garbage disposal in the sink broke. Water kept pooling in the sagging countertop whenever the dishes were washed. Just being in the kitchen depressed me.
We knew it was time for a big change. But we didn't realize how much worse it could get.
Found some adorable photos online of mid-century Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon), and wanted to share!
First, a busy street scene from Pettah, the central commercial and shopping area of Sri Lanka's capitol, Colombo:
Next, a pic of the big open-air market in Kandy, the biggest city in Sri Lanka's central highlands, where my family is from. This is from the '60s, and shows the market in front of the Kandy railway station:
Another photo of some little shops along the main road in Kandy, circa 1962. Note the cool retro van! Also, the white sarong-and-shirt combo worn by men in these photos was very popular those days, because the cotton material protected against the tropical heat and humidity. Nowadays there's so much pollution in these cities that wearing white is impractical - it gets too dirty from all the exhaust fumes and dust! Sad, isn't it?
Last but not least, the crew of Air Ceylon, Sri Lanka's main carrier from 1947-1978. This photo is from 1965. Check out the groovy beehive on the stewardesses! Saris and beehives, a very popular combo back in the day (according to my mom), is what I call Too Fabulous!
I love looking at photos of mid-century Sri Lanka, a peaceful prosperous place that everyone who lived back then fondly calls the Good Old Days!
Kitchen cabinets of the past were so simple, with their plain slab doors, you'd think they'd be affordable today. Nope. Those ones were the most $$$$. The only cabinets we could sort of afford were the ugly ones, you know, like in your very first apartment where the former tenants got evicted for reasons involving a whole lot of cops.
Then we thought: why not try Ikea??? We love just about everything there, so why not their kitchen cabinets? So I researched them online and found out they had a pretty great rep! Seriously! And everyone IRL who had Ikea kitchens loved them too. Sold!
Plus, they were having a kitchen saaaale -- cue choirs of angels singing on high!
We visited their kitchen department and the first thing I saw was their catalog, with this photo inside:
It was like getting a $1000 gift card to the Christian Louboutin store, hand-delivered by Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston. Okay, okay, not that awesome, but still pretty awesome, especially because they were also affordable!
I made changes, though: in our kitchen the wood grain cabinets were to be on the bottom, and the ivory ones on top. This, because I read someplace that light-colored cabinets would draw the eye up, making the room seem bigger and brighter. Whatever. Our pokey little kitchen needed all the help it could get.
Man, Ikea: making non-rich people's dreams come true! Seriously though, to this day I'm grateful for whoever decided to plop down an Ikea within driving distance. Our fantasy of a non-ugly kitchen seemed actually doable!
When we got the green light to make over our kitchen, visions of retro grooviness started dancing in my head! The Jetsons, Brady Bunch, Mad Men: these were my inspirations. So I did a lot of research online on 1950s and '60s kitchens.
One thing that struck me about kitchens those days is how colorful they were! There were pink, yellow, green, blue, orange and red kitchens from the 1940s to the 1970s. White kitchens with sleek stainless steel accents and pops of color were also in vogue, if the ads in women's magazines were any indication. No beiges, grays, and stark whites like today.
One color that really stood out in vintage kitchens was turquoise. I loved the idea of a turquoise kitchen but thought it would be too hard to pull off without loads of money. But I couldn't stop thinking about it, and pictures like these didn't help:
A Family Circle model kitchen from 1963:
This 1960 Formica ad features adorable turquoise cupboards - LOVE!!
More adorable cupboards from the 1962 movie Boys' Night Out, with matching table and chairs (squee):
Another mid century kitchen with turquoise countertops and walls:
Aaaand let's not forget: turquoise appliances! In 1960 these were made by Hotpoint:
And last but not least, here's a groovy movie-set kitchen (from the film version of Speed Racer) based on real mid century kitchens:
Kitchen work is not always easy or fun, so why not have kitchens that lift our spirits and make us want to be in them? I wanted to just step into all these kitchens from the '50s and '60s and get my Betty Draper on!
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