1950s: Here’s a website www.Decodan.com that might give you some ideas on items of the 1950's for your kitchen project. other sites you might try: http://www.thebrighton.demon.co.uk/ (curtains and fabrics) http://www.boomerangmodern.com/Dining%20Room.htm (examples of kitchen tables, etc) http://www.circa50.com/, http://www.fiftie-fiftie.be/

nursemini

1930s Farmhouse: For toast, I would suggest "Model Magic" clay. It is an air dry clay that has a pretty realistic bread texture when sliced. I make loaves of bread, let dry, use paint or chalk to brown the outside and then slice with a new single-edged razor blade. Then you can "toast" each slice with a little light brown chalk. Although in a kitchen of that era, biscuits would probably have been the norm – especially in a less affluent household. Mmmm, fresh baked biscuits smothered with butter and home-canned strawberry preserves…Nothing better!!

Most of the old-timers around here had their flour in a bin in a lower cabinet – they used it so much, they bought it in BIG sacks. Bowls for biscuit making were flatter and rectangular – made out of wood. Chickens with brown eggs would be perfect. Don’t forget the little yellow chicks!

In the garden, corn would have been an absolute – you can make this with floral tape leaves on wire, fimo corn, and embroidery floss for the silk on the corn. Other goodies in the garden would have been: tomatoes, green beans (on poles), cabbage, melons, cucumbers, okra, carrots, radishes, lettuce, etc.

If you have room, old-fashioned apple trees would be perfect – the ones where the apples don’t really look like the fancy ones you get in the grocery stores – they are a duller red and green mottled together. You could have some sliced apples (cored and sliced to look like a flat donut) strung on fine string across the porch or hung in the attic to dry – great for fried apple pies!

If you decide to add flowers, try to stick with some of the older type flowers - daffodils, climbing roses on the fence (not as many petals on the roses – they are more open in the center), marigolds, zinnias, daisies, lilacs, iris – try to stay away from all the ‘new’ hybrids.

In the attic, anything goes – sort of! Any broken furniture, kitchen items, etc., perhaps an old trunk with keepsakes from previous generations (wedding gown, christening gown, pictures, etc) You can use off white satin and lace to give the illusion of the gowns so you don’t have to whip up a fabulous creation just to stick it in the trunk. Dust, at least in the corners, seems to give it a good atmosphere. Most old houses I’ve seen had newspapers on the walls – looks best if you soak the paper in unsweetened tea and then let dry before you use it. I like to use some of the cheap dollar store furniture in the attic – try to stain it dark if it is a light color, dirty it up some, maybe break a leg off the chair.

Sonia

1930s Farmhouse: The kitchen had round oak table and chairs. Both houses had a walk in pantry and both Grandma's baked in their pantry. One had a regular sink and the other had a pump on the side of the sink. One had a small refrigerator with the little freezer hanging in the middle and the other had an ice box. One had a stove with the oven on the side and the other still used a black wood stove with a warming rack at the top.

Both had a big cabinet which held foodstuffs and a flour bin. Dining rooms were quite formal and had a buffet and a china cabinet. One had a couple marble top serving tables. The bedrooms had an armoire and dressers and washstands with the bowls and pitchers. Both homes had a living room and a formal parlor. Wallpaper was the large ugly flowers or scenes such as horses and buggies and houses.

Claw foot tubs. Accessories - most every house had a stand with a Boston fern on it. The father's photo was hung in the living room or parlor. I remember a coffee grinder and lots of canning supplies in the kitchen. Stereoscopes and the photos to go with them. Scrapbooks.

Sally

1930s Farmhouse: The chickens my grandparents had laid white eggs but others could have laid brown eggs...No lamas in Texas at their farm but geese that would chase me...also horses granddaddy used to plow before he got little gray Ford tractor. Dining room had more formal dining table and buffet and china table. This farm house had large screened in porch that had rolled down awnings that would roll down to keep out rain. They also had boots, coats, hats, baskets for gathering eggs, vegetables waiting to be washed etc. If the kitchen didn’t have a porch these things would be inside.

Linda

Victorian furniture: I have quite a bit of mid to late Victorian full size furniture in walnut, and one piece of oak. All are the same dark finish. The only difference is the shade of dark varies as the wood varies, and of course the grain is quite different. I also have a French sideboard that is a couple of centuries earlier, totally of oak, and it is very dark. I don't know whether European oak is much darker than what we have used in the US for "mission" style furniture, or whether they just finished it darker.

Barb Jones

Victorian furniture: I'm working on a bedroom set by House of Miniatures right now, and I'm staining the set a medium oak. I'm so tired of all the dark, dark woods myself. Staining the lighter colors really lightens up the room, and by using the lighter fabrics it really makes the oak stains richer

Cindy from Mi

Circa 30's and 40's loft space: Karon asked about access to loft space in 1930's houses here in UK. I was brought up in the house my parents bought (new) when they married in 1939 and remember a square "trapdoor" in the bathroom ceiling that led to the roof space. The "lid" didn't have hinges or anything that advanced - it simply balanced across the hole in the ceiling. It was slightly bigger all round and had to be put back diagonally and twisted round to fit and close the loft. We had to get the stepladders out to get into the roof and I remember that the space was used as storage for things we wouldn't need for awhile (Holiday luggage, deck chairs, kids' tents, Christmas decorations, etc.) and for things that my dad (an inveterate hoarder of things others had thrown out) thought would "come in useful one day" and that my mum considered "rubbish."

As a child I thought that the roof space must be an Aladdin's Cave of treasures - an old wind up film projector (with films), a steam engine that eventually gave forth little puffs of steam (my father, then a diesel engine fitter, made it for us), several old 78's that we no longer played but held happy memories, and many bits of my dad's "useful rubbish".

Whenever I asked where a particular item I'd missed had gone, my mum always told me it was in the loft. I was too small to get the ladders out and look, and of course I believed her. I now think that "in the loft" really meant "in the bin" and that my mum, over the years, disposed of dad's rubbish. It didn't matter of course, because by the next month he'd found another treasure and had forgotten what he had "in the loft."

Elaine Manchester UK

Circa 30's and 40's Loft Ladders: The loft/attic in our house when I was a child was storage space only. This was a 1930's house in London. To get up there, you had to use a stepladder and lift the cover up and sideways. Later we moved to a more "modern" house (1940's). You caught a metal flange with a metal bit at the top of a pole, then leapt out of the way to avoid being hit by a descending metal ladder. That loft even had windows, but as the floor wasn't finished, there wasn't much you could do up there balanced on beams with ceiling plaster between. Good for hide and seek, however, behind the water tank, if you were careful.

Kay Gale

Circa 30's and 40's doilies and lofts: More on the huge doilies for anyone wanting to maybe be crazy enough to make one in miniature. They were about 24-30" wide and the ruffle would be about 6" deep. The glasses used were regular tumblers and would give you an idea of the size of the ruffling around these. In the 40's the sugar starch was more permanent than regular starch which tended to "wilt" in a short time. With that much work, nobody wanted to redo it for a long time. The sugar starch ended up making the ruffle of the doily into a "sugar cube," and I had forgotten about the ants which did happen to my mother once - she freaked out to think there were ants in the house. I imagine that, depending on where you lived, other "critters" would be attracted too. By the way the sugar water was boiled like any good starch of the day.

However, in a doll house the critters are not a problem, or for that matter neither is sugar water, because we have neat stuff for making lace and fabric stiff now which could also be used for big doilies of that type too. I had forgotten about the pointy ruffled type; that could be great, too. If you are doing a 30's to 40's house, be prepared to crochet tons of doilies because they were all over everything! Embroidery and crochet were being done constantly by the "little woman." I think when women started getting out into the workplace, especially during the 50's, the doilies, etc. were put away. Who had time for all that stuff anymore?

I have been interested in the "lofts" being mentioned. In my area of the country (the West Coast) they were called attics (of course I still call big roads Freeways while on the east coast they are called Thruways) and the opening (usually barely enough for a man to get through) was the attic access. Our house was built during the war to house the shipyard workers moving into the area. Our access was located in a linen closet, of all places! My Dad removed the linen closet and turned it into a small hall that went from the back door to the bedroom area (this also kept the flow of traffic away from the living room). Then he enlarged the opening and put in a hinged trapdoor. For access, he built a ladder arrangement permanently attached to the corner of the wall. He eventually floored in the attic where my brother put his Lionel along with bookshelves etc. to handle the household overload. It did get hot in the summertime but in all was a wonderful addition to the house.

ana gerard

1950's: We built our first house in 1953..a 4 room brick with a half basement...4 rooms Huh!! but they were extra large rooms, living room, eat-in kitchen and 2 bedrooms and hardwood floors.

The kitchen had white appliances, as did all my friends and neighbors, no colors...the floor was covered with asphalt tile, the counter top was Formica and of course the green Formica top chrome leg dinette set!! I had been thru the Tupperware invasion, so my canisters were Tupperware, I had every piece they made at the time, including the green colander which I am still using and the 2 cup measuring cup, which I am also still using. I had the red frame kitchen clock, the pig cookie jar, which one of my daughters is still using both, and the mix master and blender sitting on the counter, don't forget the baby bottle sterilizer and pressure cooker, cafe curtains on the windows....the little glass shelves that hung onto the window with African violets...

The bedroom was furnished in mahogany, I was not into the chenille spreads, the living room was deep rose overstuffed Lawson style sofa and chair with round mahogany end tables, occasional table in front of the picture window and don't forget the brass TV stand, also had a Story and Clark spinet piano. Used the other bedroom for ironing, had one of those roll pressers, forget exactly what it was called.. mangle I think, never did learn how to iron a white shirt on the thing, but was great for flat work, a sewing room, sitting room, til it was turned into a nursery complete with the old stand by platform rocker!

In the basement was the freezer chest and one of those new fangled automatic wringer washers, it went thru the cycles automatically but you had to run the clothes thru the wringer at the end to hang them out...no I didn't get anything hung!!!

Off the back of the house we built a 12 x 24 patio using concrete pavers..

There was one major drawback to this little house, it had a floor furnace in the hall, which most houses had at the time and one Xmas we were getting ready to go to the family xmas dinner and my oldest daughter slipped on the grill and burnt her leg from the top of her sock to her panty leg. it looked like someone had taken a razor and sliced the waffle pattern up the whole side of her little leg and she still has the faint scaring...needless to say we sold shortly after that and moved into a bigger 6 room house...I went a little crazy with that kitchen had the walls painted flame red and used white wallpaper that had a small red and black design in it. still had the chrome dinette set, the pig cookie jar etc!!!

jo

Another addition to the 50's kitchen. When my mother decided to upgrade our kitchen in the early 50's with the most modern things available, she put in all white enameled metal cabinets. I remember the green vinyl floor tiles (they had to be re-laid because they were installed before the cabinets were brought in, and they got scratched up.), and the wood-grain Formica counter. I don't remember color for the 'Kelvinator' (refrigerator) or the stove - I think they were white but I do remember the bathrooms were turquoise and something else - can't remember - the brain is the first to go LOL!

Jacqui in Hilo, HI

50's kitchen: I don't believe anyone mentioned Coppertone appliances (the color not the sun tan lotion). Aluminum pots and pans were also common, as opposed to steel, iron and copper of previous decades. Tile (rubber, linoleum, and asphalt asbestos - vinyl toward the end of the 50's) were used on the floors. Only one company made a refrigerator with shelves built into the door. The 2 tub SpeedQueen washer was popular. Custom built kitchen cabinets (often with a rounded end). Dinettes as part of the kitchen. Melmac dishes. I grew up in a house built in the '51 (I moved away from home in '61). All the woodwork in the house was birch and just shellacked (no stain). The furniture was limed oak. Had a green sectional sofa, a couple of tree lamps. Ah, of course there was an AM radio in the kitchen.

Tom Berkner

Circa 30's and 40's: All the talk about 1930's and 40's houses got me thinking about my grandmother's kitchen and her toaster cover "mammy doll," so I decided to make some in 1" scale. I have collected the life-sized versions for awhile and really love them, so this was a really fun project. If you would like to see them, I have added a page to my website:

http://www.wishbooktoys.com/toaster/index.htm

I will also be updating the progress of my house projects there too. Thanks to all for the wonderful tips and techniques I have learned here. I really am enjoying this a lot.

John Medeiros

50's kitchen. A lazy susan on the table! And linoleum floor that looked like bricks.

Melissa

50's Kitchens and linoleum floor that looked like bricks: Oh, yes...my parents had that linoleum in each of their childhood homes and managed to find it again when they reworked their kitchen in the 60's:very dark, reddish bricks. What we would call a classic. You are safe using that one.

We once lived in an old farmhouse...red and white square checkerboard linoleum kitchen floor; I hated it...I would scrub it and the red color would start to bleed out to the white. I never thought that floor was clean.

The lazy Susan was always there...must have grown out of the table...wooden. And Mother had gotten into the mosaic craze and made a coffee table shaped like an artist's palette. Lots of things were decorated in mosaic.

And don't forget screen doors...they made a wonderful bang as you went in and out. No air conditioning. Lots of Campbell's soup.

Laurie Sisson

50s: Not only does it sound like fun to play with rugs made out of fuzzy paper..for those of you doing 50s settings; how about those typical "Elvis.. or a bullfighter" on black velvet paintings! lol Of course, you'd have to start with white fuzzy paper or all you would end up printing out would be a picture of a black cat eating licorice in a coal mine!

Alice Zinn

50s Kitchen: Even though I don't remember the floor or counter top, I remember when my Dad remodeled our late 50s kitchen. My Mom picked out med. blue enameled metal cabinets, pink sink and what appliances that had died. I think we still kept the white fridge with rounded top. The pink sink was made to fit in the corner and the cabinets were off each side and made like an L shape along the two walls. I was in heaven as the boxes for all the stuff was stored in the living room and as Dad would install, the BIG box would be put in the yard and I could cut doors and windows and had pretty much a cardboard jungle (I mean village) by the time it was all in place. I had fun while it was in the house too! I had borrowed the braided wig and bow and arrow that Dad had used in a play when he was a youngster. (You can say we didn't throw anything away either.) and I would crawl around, in and over the boxes waiting for unsuspecting cowboys to come by..... I had terrific battles and always managed to survive by leaping on my stick palomino pony and riding off into the sunset. (I'm a lady, by the way, but don't ride side saddle.)

I also use to while away the hours, cutting paper dolls and making houses and accessories for them out of shoe boxes and the Sears catalog.

Another bit I remember is when Mom got a dishwasher! S & H Green stamps had one in their catalog. You needed fifty-two million stamps to get it, but we did get one! It was green on the bottom and clear on the top and you hooked it up with a hose to the hot water tap from the sink. The arm would spin around and would do a great job of misting the plates etc. (Pots wouldn't fit in it) and then they would have to air dry. Washing them the conventional way was much more sanitary and quick, but it was a new toy, and Mom could say she had a dishwasher!

Until I was about 6 years old, I lived in a 21 foot trailer. You talk about miniature! I'd love to do one in scale, among the hundreds of other things I have in my head. I'd better get all the kits done first! I have a few of those too!

Maria in MD

50's Kitchen: Our furnace had a vent in the kitchen. Do you know that if you drop an old balloon in a hot register that it bubbles? Goodness, that was an OLD memory. Just came up from nowhere.

No one has mentioned the built in corner kitchen dinette....if you were young and small, you had to be the one on the inside and the only way out was to slip under the table and past feet and the table post. You couldn't wait because the grownups talked forever. It looked like the ones at commercial restaurants. Hard to clean under, but the seats were often extra storage.

Laurie Sisson

50's kitchens: All this talk of the kitchens and no mention of the combination wood/gas stoves! Didn't anyone else have one of those? The wood side of ours had 4 griddles and the gas side had 2 or 4 burners ( I don't remember which). We used the wood side most of all. I remember my grandmother taking a griddle off the wood side and using a wire popcorn basket to make popcorn. Yum! And my great uncle liked his toast toasted on the wood stove - just put the bread straight on the top of the stove and then flip it over to brown the other side. We had a toaster but he would never use it. We were a farm family in Upstate NY and my mother & I lived with my grandmother & her brother. I was born in 1951, and until my great uncle died in 1965 there had never been a tractor on our land - he had done everything with a team of horses. Someday I will recreate the farm & animals. It was a wonderful childhood, full of experiences that I will never forget. And that old stove is one of them - I learned to cook on it.

Dianne in Austin

50's Kitchens: My parents built a new house in '56 and the kitchen was very streamlined, lots of chrome or stainless steel. All appliances were built-in, charcoal and white marbled tile (which my Mom kept polished to a high gloss), white enamel cabinets. Mom wasn't big on color, but succumbed to pink and turquoise Melmac for everyday dishes.

When the house was in the planning stages, my Dad brought home a small suitcase full of miniature kitchen cabinets and appliances to be used in selecting the layout of the kitchen. I assume they were "salesman samples" and if memory serves me right, they must have been 1:12 scale. I played with them endlessly . . . don't know how my parents managed to make their selections because I was always rearranging. A few years ago I saw a set at an antique auction, but somebody wanted them far worse than I did (or had unlimited funds) because they sold for big bucks.

On the Discovery Channel, Christopher Lowell has done a show featuring a kitchen recreated in 50's pink. What fun! Although I don't remember pink anything in my friends' homes either while growing up in small town Minnesota. Must have been the Scandinavian influence . . . white food, white everything!

Jude