21min readJoin me on a journey through kitchen trend trends over the last 30 years, from the classic maximalist Nancy Meyers kitchen of yesteryear to the sleek, modern minimalism of today’s invisible kitchen.
If you don’t want to end up with a dated kitchen in a few years, do not remodel aiming to have a trendy kitchen right now. This is, I hope, not surprising advice to any Mid Mod Remodel listener.
But that doesn’t mean we should ignore trends. In fact, keeping an eye on them is a good idea if we hope to identify and avoid emulating them. Am I right?
Now, there may be innovations or conveniences that you want to incorporate into your kitchen remodel. For instance, an appliance garage if you are the “clear counters” sort. Or an induction stove for it’s incredible efficiency. You can have these elements and still create a kitchen that feels like it was always part of your mid-century home.
Today let’s talk about shifting kitchen trends over the last 30 years:
That’s why my friend mid-century Kitchen Designer Aletha VanderMaas takes every one of her clients on a kitchen field trip.
There’s a specific kind of magic that happens when you stop looking at Pinterest and start touching real-world materials.
No amount of internet research or saved magazine photos can substitute for putting your hands on an object to know if it’s truly right for your home.
This week, I’m thrilled to dive deeper into mid-century kitchens with Aletha! I love her unique perspective on how to do right by a mid-century home while matching it to your modern lifestyle.
17min readDo you need a better kitchen work triangle? Maybe…or maybe it’s completely wrong for you and already the cause of your problems.
Odds are, if you’ve ever given serious thought to an upgrade for the kitchen of your mid-century home, you’ve run across the term “kitchen work triangle”.
And if you have issues with how your kitchen works—not enough storage, not enough prep space, no room to share the work, a crowd underfoot at dinnertime every night—you’ve wondered if this mythical concept of a perfect kitchen work triangle is the solution.
Maybe…or maybe it’s completely wrong for you and already the cause of your problems.
26min readSpring is officially here, so you should be getting outside and right down to it with some yard tune ups!
Or, no, maybe you should not?
Jim Drzewiecki of Ginkgo Leaf Studio is going to walk us through what should happen when for a Midwestern landscape. And this news, as always, is what I can personally use.
I bet you’re going to find it helpful too. The shortest version of this episode is a reminder that the actual weather and whether little green things are popping up are a much better guide for when to start than your calendar (or any website telling you what to do and when).
But spring is also the perfect time to review and tune up your yard. To think about what’s been growing well and what has not been thriving. So we will also talk about how to make some design improvements to your mid-century yard as you work through your spring to do list.
24min readIf you adore the yards that get featured on the cover of atomic Ranch, but you don’t live in Palm Springs, are you just out of luck?
No, you can still have striking plant structures and beautifully composed outdoor spaces. You’ll just do it with different vegetation. Listen to my most recent conversation with Jim Drzewiecki of Ginkgo Leaf Studio for some great strategies.
41min readIf you are not already a huge fan of the Instagram account, Homes with Max, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you that you’ve been doing your algorithm wrong. Let’s fix it.
For today, strap in while Max shares his vintage villain origin story, his favorite features of a time capsule house, and makes such a convincing case for bringing back wall to wall carpet that I kind of end up sold.
I want you to tell me if he’s persuaded you, too!
I know you’ll love today’s chat because I loved recording it. And I know that you, like me, love little more than nerding out over details with a fellow mid-century superfan.
Also, he’s getting back into the business of design advice. So if you need some assistance in re-crafting a perfect MCM time capsule of your own … shoot him a DM!
28min readThis week it’s a bathroom remodel advice roundup to help ease your worries!
Planning the right update for a mid-century bathroom is about space planning and the right product picks, sure. But it’s also about your lifestyle, your morning routine and your five-year plan.
I’ve had a lot of conversations with Master Plan clients and on consult calls recently that caused me to notice some recurring issues and questions, things that come up again and again for a lot of people, which makes me suspect that if you’ve got bath questions on the brain, you’ve had some of the same struggles.
So let’s talk through some of the most pressing issues you can nail down to create a good mid-century bath update for you and for your house and for your style.
37min readAs a designer, it’s so hard to pick a favorite project, but one I’m talking about today has certainly got to be at the top of my list. I recently covered this house on the YouTube channel, because it’s a perfect case study of getting the 90s out of a perfectly nice mid-century home.
Sometimes you find the house in the perfect spot that completes your future dream checklist … but no one has taken the time to revise the 90’s remodel. So only you can really see it’s potential.
Today I’ve invited homeowner, Michelle Cramton, to talk about how we took a shell of a house and turned it into her dream retirement home as she was literally starting from zero after the Altadena fires last winter. I am so happy to share her story of resettling back into her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, and into her mid-century dream.
Her contractors are still tying up the last loose ends so no “after” shots yet but some of these progress photos are looking pretty SNAPPY!.
Settle in to hear Michelle telling you her story of how we met, how we started thinking about this project together, and how we explored her options in a master plan package.
And then had the opportunity to take it further through a bunch of really fun additional services.
She just let me stick with her from the beginning right through until now! We’re currently working on the last final few details of the house. It has been such a treat to get to follow along closely at every step.
You’ll find some photos of this house below. These are recent progress snaps. We don’t have final photos yet, because work is still underway. In fact, in the conversation you’ll hear just a little bit of banging – outside work being done.
If you’d like to see a bit of the design process, jump to the YouTube case study I just made about this house.
48min readAre you familiar with Kerf Design kitchens or bathrooms or wall mounted shelving units? To quote Kerf’s website, “Good joints should be admired. Construction should be simple and honest. We tinker, we improve, and we consider every detail. We love plywood.”
Well, I do too.
If you’re in the market for a Kerf kitchen or just in the mood to learn a lot of interesting background on construction with veneer or plywood materials, you’re in luck.
In this great chat with founder Nathan Hartman, we cover how their designs are manufactured, how the plywood is sourced, different wood grain types, and how this kind of minimalist, sleek, modern cabinet blends in perfectly with the traditions of mid-century history.
I’m also in luck because Nathan perfectly articulated why all of the different members of a design construction team are really valuable.
It works so well for his group to his group to take a project that started with a designer who can handoff to them once the schematic element is well established. Then Kerf’s team take in the project and figure out each detail of kitchen storage and plan for perfect construction before handing off their completed cabinets to a construction team for install.
This conversation is going to give you some insight into built-ins and kitchen design and cabinets generally.
It’s also wonderful insight into the specific process that Kerf uses to create great kitchens that make their homeowners so happy.
30min readHow soon do we get our master plan document back? How much is it going to cost? Oh, and is that all due up front? Can my contractor build directly from the master plan package? What do I have to do so you can get started?
My favorite thing about a first call with a potential client is … talking about you. How you found your house, what drew you to it, what you might want to change, why you love mid-century. It’s SO FUN to dig in.
But those calls are a two way street.
It’s also a chance for you to ask questions about the process, about pricing, about timing. I love to answer those questions and will always go deep to make sure you get all the answers you need.
In the interest of saving as much time as possible for talking about house design, though, here are (pre) answers to my most frequently asked questions about the Mid-Century Master Plan package when I talk to new clients!
