April 2012 – Girl for Animal Liberation

Dear GE Followers (if I have any),

As some of you may know, I recently purchased and moved into a 1915 home that only had 2 owners on record. The 2nd owner on record, lived in this house for over 75 years. She was a nice Italian woman who passed away in 2010 at the ripe old age of 98. Her children, now in their 70s, sold the house to me. The house hasn’t been updated in years and I do mean years. But that’s ok, that’s what I love about this house and the reason I bought it.

The purpose of this blog post is my kitchen, which appears to be a combination of different period styles. I am not an expert but I think my pantry is 1950s?… and my kitchen is 1960s-1970s. I have been researching remodeling ideas for my kitchen — I want something different. The last 4 places I have lived/owned, my kitchens were comprised of stainless and granite or Corian. I am sick to death of the granite counter top/stainless steel look. Seriously, I am sick of it! As a die-hard fan of Mad Men, the more I watch, the more I want a retro kitchen. I spent a good part of my Easter Sunday morning surfing the web for retro kitchen ideas and stumbled upon some great blogs. It would seem, I’m not the only one who is tired of following the trend and/or keeping up with the Jones’s. I get that stainless and granite is all the rage, but there is something to be said for retro. There is also something to be said for houses that were built at the turn of the century. But I digress…

Anyway, Steve thinks I should gut the entire kitchen and start over. You’ll have to excuse him, for he cannot help himself. He is a contractor and primarily builds/remodel high-end homes on the South Shore. As for me, well call me Little Miss Nostalgia for I would like to preserve what I have and just freshen it up. Well, freshen/preserve everything except for my kitchen floor which is beyond saving. I’m pretty sure my kitchen linoleum floor installation took place when Nixon was in office. No matter how much I scrub this floor, I cannot make it look clean or nice. I’m sorry to say, but it is beyond saving.

The reason for my post is: Can someone out there tell me if my pantry countertops are Formica?

I have posted some photos for you to see. I would to love to hear back from someone, anyone, as to not only the type of countertops I have, but perhaps the period of my pantry?… Thanks so much.

Love,

Girrl_Earth