I know it can be tempting to dive right into remodeling your mid-century house the minute you get the keys, but I’m here to offer a bit of unconventional advice: wait. And I’m not the only one who knows this is true!
In my latest chat with preservation expert Susan Halla of Make it Mid-Century, we explored why it’s crucial to live in your home for a little while before making major decisions about renovations.
(If you don’t already know Susan … check out her amazing supplies and how-to instructions to for perfect MCM projects.)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Take a breath, take your time
This might not be what you want to hear, especially if you’re itching to jump into a kitchen or bathroom remodel, but Susan and I know this —taking time to get to know your home can save you from making decisions you might regret.
After all, a house is more than just its looks.
It’s about how the spaces feel, how the light moves through the rooms, and how you and your family naturally flow through the space.
How long to “live” with your Mid-Century home
By living in your house for a few months or even a year, you’ll learn so much about what works and what doesn’t.
Maybe that quirky kitchen layout you thought was awful at first will start to grow on you. Maybe a little tweak to your living room furniture arrangement will help you fall in love with a space you thought needed major renovation.
You won’t know until you’ve spent some real time in the house.
Don’t be that person who regrets their (expensive) mid-century remodel!
Rushing into renovations can sometimes lead to irreversible mistakes.
You might feel pressure to update original elements like tile, wood paneling, or built-ins because they seem “old-fashioned.” In fact, we bet you will. Lot’s of well meaning friends and ‘experts’ will point you in the direction of quick trendy transformative updates.
But once those original features are gone, they’re often gone for good.
Susan and I both hear from people all the time who regret tearing out a mid-century bathroom or painting over original wood details.
Sometimes, all these elements need is a little TLC to shine again. So before you make any drastic changes, take a beat. Live with it. You might find that what you thought you hated turns out to be one of your favorite things about the house.
ESPECIALLY don’t paint your mid-century brick … ever
One of our shared pet peeves is seeing homeowners paint their original brick. Please, please, please … don’t!
This is a trend that looks nice on Pinterest, but in reality, it can lead to big problems. Once you paint brick, you can’t unpaint it, and it often leads to issues like moisture retention, mold, and crumbling bricks. Trust us—just leave the brick alone!
In fact, try not to paint any original, unpainted surfaces, whether that’s brick, wood, or trim.
Original materials can often be restored or refinished, but once they’re covered up or replaced, you lose that connection to the home’s history.
Odds are, your house older than you are …
so treat it with a little respect
One of the things I loved about this conversation with Susan was her reminder that while we may own our homes, we’re really just stewards of them for the next generation.
Mid-century homes are becoming more and more appreciated for their craftsmanship and design, and the original details that come with them are a big part of that charm. Preserving these features not only adds to the character of your home but also increases its value over time.
If you’re lucky enough to own a mid-century home like this one, you’re living in a piece of architectural history. Treat it with care. Before you jump into renovations, take some time to live in your space, get to know its quirks, and appreciate its original features. You might find that some of those quirks turn into features you love most.
And don’t forget to share your biggest mid-century pet peeves with us on social media—I’m @midmodmidwest and Susan is @makeitmidcentury. We’d love to hear from you!
(photos and images in this post all credit to Susan and Make it Midcentury!)
In Today’s Episode You’ll Hear:
- Why you should live in your house before you remodel (if you can!)
- How to spot features that are true to the style your mid-century home.
- When doing less is likely to add value to your home.
Listen Now On
Resources
- Check out all Susan’s great Mid-Century resources at Make It Mid-Century.
- Sign up to get her AMAZING monthly Mid-Century Newsletter
- Download my Mid-Century Resources List.
- Get ready to remodel with my free Masterclass, “How to Plan an MCM Remodel to Fit Your Life(…and Budget)” available on demand!
- Get the essential elements of my master plan process in my new mini-course, Master Plan in a Month.
- Want us to master plan for you? Find out all the details with my mini-class, Three Secrets of a Regret-Proof Mid Mod Remodel.
And you can always…
- Join us in the Facebook Community for Mid Mod Remodel
- Find me on Instagram:@midmodmidwest
- Find the podcast on Instagram: @midmodremodelpodcast
Read the Full Episode Transcript
Della Hansmann
One of the best pieces of home design advice I can share, especially for anyone living in an older home, a mid-century home, for example, is do nothing.
Della Hansmann
That is, try just living in it for a little while before you dive in and make major renovations. I know sometimes that isn’t practical, but wherever it’s possible, I find that my clients, my students, my friends, myself, really benefit from getting to know the house a little before deciding what to change.
Della Hansmann
Don’t take my word for it. This is one of the best tips that Susan Halla is going to share in more detail in today’s episode. She is the misheard vintage and preservation expert, and she’s seen too many homeowners that regret losing irreplaceable quality and amazing original features when they jump into making changes to their homes too quickly.
Della Hansmann
We’re going to dig into that and then share a little early spooky season tour of the horrors we have both seen all the worst mistakes people can make when updating quote, unquote, a mid-century house too.
Della Hansmann
Hey there. Welcome back to mid mod remodel. This is the show about updating MCM homes, helping you match a mid-century home to your modern life. I’m your host, Della Hansmann, architect and mid-century ranch enthusiast. You’re listening to Episode 1811.
Della Hansmann
Check out some of my previous chats with Susan in past episodes, earlier this summer, in 1801 no 1803 and a few years ago, in 1411.
Della Hansmann
By the way, make it mid-century, Susan’s business is one of my go to references for anyone, any client of mine, anyone listening to this podcast who’s hoping to repair or restore their mid-century, modern or mid-century modest home’s glory. She’s got the starburst laminate, the stacked diamond front door kits and the vintage child hookups you’re looking for.
Della Hansmann
If you want a more general list of mid-century resources, I’ve pulled together an easy download with everything you need to get started. Grab that must have mid-century ranch resources list today. When I first put it together, it had 57 articles, books, magazines, product suppliers and more to check out. And over the years, I’ve added to it and added to it. I think it’s now weighing in at well over 100.
Della Hansmann
Honestly, I can’t remember, but don’t worry, this isn’t heavy homework. It’s any searchable list, easily broken down into favorite books, history, design, architects, movements, TV shows and movies. You might want to check out favorite magazines, to thrift through blogs, to check out Instagram comps, to follow a starter guide of suppliers for furniture, a tile resource guide, and even a list of common mid-century house hazards to watch out for.
Della Hansmann
Grab that list at midmod-midwest.com/resources or grab the transcript show notes and find the link to get onto the mailing list for Susan’s amazing monthly mid-century email newsletter at mid mod midwest.com/ 1811 let’s get into it.
Della Hansmann
What can you learn by living in your mid-century house for a while before you start making changes, before you take on your resto or your reno project? I think we’re both going to come down on the yes, you should side of this. But what do you think should someone live with their house for a little while before they jump in and start making start making changes in an ideal world?
Susan Halla – she/her
Yes, definitely. And I know it could be a non popular opinion, because, like, for example, if you have to refinish all your floors, totally understand, yeah, if you’re just refinishing them, do that before you move in, because that is a complete nightmare if to try to live through. But if you’re just doing something like painting walls, or something, you know, something like that, you can do that. When you’re when your furniture is in, it’s no big deal. Push everything to the middle of the room.
Susan Halla – she/her
You’ll be throw some drop cloths over it, you’ll be fine. But especially if you’re TR if you’re thinking about doing something completely drastic, tearing out a bathroom, tearing out a kitchen, wait and live with it for a while, because you don’t know how you are used to wherever you came from, your kitchen set up and your work triangle. You may be so used to that that you want to recreate that in your new house, but until you’ve lived in your new house, and you’ve spent six months a year whatever, just to see how it functions for you, that’s going to tell you a lot of things.
Susan Halla – she/her
That’ll tell you, wait, this setup is actually better than what I’m used to, or Yes, I hate this, but you may learn things that you do love and you want to keep so by living with everything for a while, it’s going to teach you just remarkable amounts of staff about your house before you undergo any sort of rest or Reno.
Della Hansmann
Yeah, I think that’s absolutely true, and it’s we have occasionally people who come to us for a master plan who want to do the work before they move in as they’re going to they’ve closed on a property. They haven’t transferred locations yet. Sometimes that’s the way it needs to happen. But I prefer to hear from someone how the house is or isn’t working, from for them, their family, the way they communicate together, the way it causes them to socialize or pull apart, based. On their experience.
Della Hansmann
And I feel like we can go so much more deeply into design possibilities when we know those answers, then we can when we’re just speculating about the house will or won’t work. And I you made me laugh when you said, you know, just give it a try, because it’s what you’re used to. Because I, I don’t like change, um, so anytime I nobody does upgrade a product or, you know, like, I just had to get a new Fitbit because the battery was dying, and somebody asked me, So how do you like your new Fitbit? And I was like, I hate it, because I might like it in a couple of weeks.
Della Hansmann
Ask me then, but right now, I hate it, and that’s just inevitable. So I’ve learned that about myself. It doesn’t mean I’m going to get rid of it, it just means I need to process it. But I think I really hear that from my clients. They’ll tell me, when they moved into a mid-century house, they thought the first thing they were going to do was tear out XYZ, the bathroom, the kitchen, the basement with the paneling. But then they lived into it for a while, and though their priorities have totally shifted, they may still want to make some dramatic changes to the house, but some of the things they thought they would change the most have changed from bugs to features now they really like it.
Della Hansmann
Plus, you don’t know how some of those conveniences, or the way the house is built into its site, the way that daylight moves through the house, or the seasons change, that could really affect the way you like a detail or a space, the way it is or realize it needs to change. So yeah, there. There’s a lot you can learn from being in the house. Do you feel like you hear Do you have anecdotes about this things? People have thought they wanted to change right off, but then they got used to them and fell in love with them. Maybe,
Susan Halla – she/her
I think there’s a lot of people that think that I don’t have any very specific anecdotes, but mean, people just they’re like, Yeah, I moved into this house, and it really, I thought I was going to have to tear out the whole bathroom because the tile was falling off the wall and whatever. But, you know, but you helped me figure out what I could do with it.
Susan Halla – she/her
And not only did I save them a lot of money, but they realized how much they liked what they had. And now, you know, they once you get it fixed up so that tile is not falling off the wall or whatever. Then people come in, they’re like, Oh, this is really cool, you know, yes, original, that sort of thing. So it’s a lot of that, really,
Della Hansmann
and that’s so important too, because sometimes people will walk through and see something as maybe just dingy, or certainly, if it’s got to prepare a maintenance problem, they will address it as this needs to be replaced, which, from a contractor’s perspective, is often easiest, tear it out, start fresh. That’s not the least expensive way to go about it often, and so for tile in bathrooms, for, my gosh, for original mid-century windows, the default the like, the thing the realtor said to you at closing was, and when, as soon as you tear out that bathroom, as soon as you replace all those windows, you’ll love it.
Della Hansmann
But I really, I think it’s best to try not to go in and make those changes right away, and then again, to think of it from an architect’s point of view, when people sweep through and make a bunch of those changes. Right off the bat, a, they might regret losing original mid-century quality, and B, they’ve lost the ability to get a two for one out of a repair or a change later, because when you’ve just replaced every window in the house or torn out and replaced the bathroom, then you don’t want to think about shifting the layout.
Della Hansmann
You don’t want to think about how opening up a space might require a different arrangement of Windows, so you’ve lost the ability to make considered changes by making a big change. And as I need to use this argument more, I think it costs a lot more money to change things. Right off the bat, I
Susan Halla – she/her
agree. I mean, think about the fact that if you spend a whole lot of money make all these changes before you get into a home and then you move into the home, into the home and you hate it because you’re not using it in the way that you thought you would.
That’s a waste of money, whereas if you live in it for a while, you can really see what you don’t like about what you have and what you do like about what you have. So you’ll be able to get both sides of the coin. Figure it out by living in it for a while and before anybody complains. I know Della doesn’t have kids, and my kids are out of the house, so I completely understand that living through renovation stuff with kids is terrible. I get it, but you also want to be mindful of your pocketbook. And this is one way to be mindful of your pocketbook.
Della Hansmann
It really is. Yeah. I mean, you’re going to see what are the what are the biggest priorities, and that’s one of the biggest components of the work that we do, is giving our clients options and then letting them choose which options match their priorities the most, so that we can pick a project that matches their budget, which, of course, everyone you could do the coolest things everywhere.
Della Hansmann
And I don’t know how that gets financed, but when you have to make a real world decision, you want to think about what’s what are the areas that are rubbing against your family life the most, and what are the areas that are neutral or fine, or you love them that you figure it out by. Living with it. So, right?
Susan Halla – she/her
And I want to say one more unpopular opinion, and that is the fact that while we are all if you have a mortgage, you’re paying on a mortgage, and this is your house, right, the chances are your house is going to outlive you. So really, you need to think about the fact that you are a steward of this house. Somebody lived in this house before you, somebody will live in this house after you.
Susan Halla – she/her
And if you rip out original details, they’re gone forever. Your chances of being able to recreate some of those original details are really slim to none. So just consider that. And I know with the amount of money that you’re putting into a house, you don’t want to think about the fact that you’re just a steward of a steward of it, but you are.
Susan Halla – she/her
You’re basically loaning this house for a while. You’re paying on it, and you’re going to get, you know, one would hope you’re going to get your money back when you sell eventually. So maybe an unpopular opinion, but that’s, that’s my thought well,
Della Hansmann
and that I don’t often put it that way, but I think I think I really do think of houses that way myself, and I am an architect who really cares about my clients. I really care about their personalities and their preferences and how they live into houses which not to throw stones. I think not every architect is as interested in the way the clients that they have live in their houses, but I also feel like I’m a little bit an advocate for the house, and it’s whatever mid-century quality it still has that’s something that we can’t necessarily put back.
Della Hansmann
It’s very hard. It takes a lot of work, if it’s possible at all, to restore, to preserve, to put it back, how it was to recreate rather than Preserve. But if it’s there and it’s not bothering you, certainly don’t change it. And try not to be the first person that changes something. Try not to be the first person that paints a surface or remove something that was original to the house, if it can be preserved, leave it for the next people.
Della Hansmann
And I do think that, honestly, this is one thing that as time goes forward, for all houses, we have more and more of an appreciation of historic house styles the further we get away from them, and the from them. And mid-century houses are just going to become more mid-century is trendy right now. There’s that, but it is just also going to become more historic as we go on in time. So people are going to continue to appreciate these details more. The more your house has them, the more when you pass it on to the next people you were rewarded for that care in your resale value. So it’s a nice sense of like the continuity of mid-century history,
Susan Halla – she/her
exactly,
Della Hansmann
what should you not do for your mid-century house? So there are some things that we watch renovation shows and our neighbors and people who put their houses up on Zillow due to mid-century houses that make us absolutely cringe. Let’s talk about them. What should you most not do if you’re trying to make good choices for a mid-century home? Do you have a most pet peeve?
Susan Halla – she/her
I think we both have a most pet peeve, Della and that would be painting your brick. Oh, my God, do not paint your brick. Do not you cannot unpaint brick. And by trying to remove paint from brick, you will ruin the brick. Yeah, so do not paint brick.
Della Hansmann
As a caveat to that, try not to paint any previously unpainted surface. And I don’t say this to make light of it, it is, however, more possible to remove paint from woodwork in the future, or if you find yourself in a situation where someone has come in and been heavy handed with a paintbrush in your house, you have more optimistic possibilities of getting the paint back off paneling or doors or trim.
Della Hansmann
But yeah, there’s no unpainting brick. So please don’t be the person that puts paint onto it for the first time, because not only can no one ever take it back, but you have started the clock on the downfall of that brick. It’s not going to last as long. And it’s not going to last very long with paint on it. It’s going to have moisture issues. And humidity issues, possibly mold. It’s going to spall.
Susan Halla – she/her
It’s, yeah, I was going to say it can lead to health issues for the people in the house. I mean, it really has cascading negative effects. We are just saying this because
Della Hansmann
it’s a sure, but, yeah, it is a style thing, but it’s also a structure thing, and it’s a health quality thing. So I just feel like anybody who’s recommending, why are you giving a nice, fresh coat of paint? Isn’t there some liability around that we need to be able to stop people from giving this terrible advice? Happening
Susan Halla – she/her
Exactly, I think so. And you and I try to do that very often. But you know, we’re only two people, so jump on that bandwagon. Tell your friends and family don’t paint brick.
Della Hansmann
This is the topic that will make you very unpopular at your next dinner party. Spend the entire time talking about why it’s bad idea to paint brick. We’ll put evidence in the show notes below or in the in the comments. But what else is there?
Della Hansmann
Okay, um, there’s some obvious design. Moves that are just associated with other eras. To me, anything brushed nickel chosen for a mid-century house. I know I’ve had some people with original mid-century houses that have brushed nickel. That’s original houses, but it’s so rare, and what you’re going to find today, it never works. Have you ever seen brush nickel work in a mid-century design?
Susan Halla – she/her
Not really, but it at least disguises itself a little bit better than, say, a gold or the newest Hot Topic, black.
Della Hansmann
Yeah. Those are also just not ever going to feel like they fit and they’re in. One thing I think people sometimes do with their best, with the best of intentions, is they think, Oh, I’ve got, you know, I’ve got brass door knobs. So I need new doorknobs. I’m going to go to the supply store and I’m going to ask for brass.
Della Hansmann
No, because the brass you get now is anodized, and it’s going to look Victorian from now until forever, it’s never going to get this patina. It’s never going to get that sort of aged quality. So what you want instead is whatever their marketing is like aged bronze or maybe a it’s going to have a different name at every manufacturer, every window, every hardware, every some lighting fixtures, and they have different name. But you’re looking it already has a patina on it.
Susan Halla – she/her
So get a sample and start walking around and holding it up to things, that sort of thing. But if we’re going to talk about your door back there, let’s also say don’t go through your house and replace all your doors, especially with panel doors.
Della Hansmann
Don’t do it real slab doors with fake six panel doors. Yeah, yes. This happens so often, so many houses that come through my on my design drawing boards have been flipped by a previous owner, and somebody tore out all the original doors and put in fake six panel doors. And they look honestly, they look ridiculous.
Susan Halla – she/her
I can say that because in my I have a finished basement so it didn’t have original doors. But they put in the like really terrible plastic six panel doors in all of the basement rooms. So I’ve slowly been replacing them.
Susan Halla – she/her
And where I live in St Louis, we live on an alley system, and so when people don’t want stuff, they put it out in the alley. They don’t put it in the dumpster so that people can scavenge it. So I have scavenged four doors that I have since replaced four of those six doors I have to replace in my basement.
Susan Halla – she/her
So exactly
Della Hansmann
It’s a shame for those houses, but Hooray for you. Right? Exactly? I definitely my neighbor across the street. Bless her. She’s been making more.
Susan Halla – she/her
I hope she doesn’t watch this.
Della Hansmann
I hope she doesn’t watch this too. Hey, Jamie, she’s been making choices for her house that are not as mid-century oriented. And every time she puts something out on the curb, I really strongly consider just like running over and taking it. I have way too many building supplies in my basement, so I generally don’t but yeah, I’m always sort of looking around the neighborhood.
Della Hansmann
When people do a basement clean out project, I’m like, ooh, those random unfinished pine board shelves. That’s really good old growth wood. I want that so I have a plumber in my basement that’s about shoulder high at this point. No plans.
Susan Halla – she/her
And that’s the reason, what you just said, the old growth wood. That’s another reason to be like very, very careful about replacing things in your home with new modern materials, because new modern materials. Hey, we’re both architects. We build new stuff all the time, but I will say new materials suck.
Della Hansmann
It’s not the same. No pine board for pine board. Slab door for slab door. Now I still recommend, if you have to re replace your doors, you go to the lumber yard and you ask them for their it’s going to be their cheapest, their custom, semi custom slab door. You won’t do it in Pine anymore. It’ll be a maple or a birch, probably for great quality.
Della Hansmann
And then you try to stain it as close to the amber Shellac as you can get. That’s what I did in my basement. It’s medium, you know, it’s better than nothing, but it’s not what’s it’s not original. So yeah, I guess the what’s the bottom line of what not to do is, if you’ve got something original in your house, try not to remove it from the house. See if you can repair it, see if you can restore it, see if you can repurpose it, if nothing else, but yeah, try not to take old growth wood and cover it with paint or throw it out entirely.
Susan Halla – she/her
Or if all things are like, I’m going to do this, I don’t care. I’m going to do this. Take that material somewhere that somebody else can use it or store it. So, for example, my parents live in a mid-century house, and they had a set of doors between their dining room and family room, and they’re getting up there in years, and it’s harder to get around.
Susan Halla – she/her
And so they took them off, but they’re still they’re up in their attic. They’re ready to be reinstalled for the next owner of the house. So they’re still there. But like, I have taken things like, when I have seen somebody put out a pink toilet in the alley, I have taken it to our local place called ReFab St Louis. Shout out to refab, because they have all kinds of things like that.
Susan Halla – she/her
But even your local Habitat for Humanity, there’s places that will take these old materials. Do not send them to a landfill. Your art you’re contributing to, you know, the further degradation of society, yes, take them somewhere that somebody can reuse them.
Della Hansmann
This is a morality what not to do. Don’t dumpster that stuff, donate it, and that might be posting it as a free cycle thing. Facebook marketplace might help connect you with someone. Sometimes people will come. They people will sometimes pay for this stuff, or they will certainly come into the labor of removing it for you.
Della Hansmann
But if you’ve done the labor yourself or your contractor, costs, drop it off at your local material recycling center, please. Someone will be overjoyed to find it and put it back as the missing piece in their basement door set exactly what other red flag materials? Oh, let’s talk about countertops. Since you have a wonderful countertop option, what are the countertop options you least like to see show up in a Zillow listing?
Susan Halla – she/her
Do not put granite countertops in a mid-century home. You may be able to get away with a marble. I have seen some marble in mid-century homes. They tend to be earlier mid-century homes, and they tend to be very high end mid-century homes.
Della Hansmann
Yeah, I mean, marble has been a fancy material since forever. So modern is right too,
Susan Halla – she/her
But granite was never in a mid-century home. Should never be in a mid-century home from here until Kingdom Come. Do not do granite. Now I will say modern materials, such as a quartz countertop, yeah?
Susan Halla – she/her
I mean, because just don’t get anything that has like, weird, fancy OGS on the edges, make sure it’s something that’s very square, square nose, rectilinear, pretty plain. Isn’t trying to be something it’s not. Yeah, that sort of thing,
Della Hansmann
Yeah. Actually, that brings us. We can list materials all day long, but something is also really important about what not to do, and that is not to have those orally ornate shapes. You know, anything that’s got a fluted profile is not going to be the right choice for a mid-century house.
Della Hansmann
So that goes for door trim, Window, Door, crown. Well, you wouldn’t put crown molding in a mid-century house unless you lived in Austria. Unless you lived in Australia, but um, baseboard trim.
Susan Halla – she/her
Unless you’re in a mid-century like Colonial Revival,
Della Hansmann
yes, and you’ll find it, yeah. So again, flipping back to our conversation from a while ago, we were talking about not everything mid-century is mid-century modern, so, but I still think even for a mid-century traditional house, you’re going to see this sort of clamshell, this ranch trim.
Della Hansmann
You’re not going to see this sort of little ornate multiple detail the colonial base, even in a colonial style, modern or a colonial style mid-century home. But yeah, for countertop edges, they’re going to have a catalog book, if you go with a solid surface of like 12 different edge profiles. You pick the squarest one or maybe a half circle, that’s it, door and drawer fronts, slab doors, slab cabinets.
Susan Halla – she/her
Or the slight, slightest eased edge that you would also see in mid-century, but you’re not going to see a paneled door on a cabinet in mid-century. Just not going to happen.
Della Hansmann
No, right? No little curvy top trim pieces. So,
Susan Halla – she/her
and if you have glass in your cabinet, it’s going to probably be a reed glass or a clear glass. It’s not going to be like a seed glass that looks like antique glass or something like that, yeah,
Della Hansmann
yeah. When in doubt, play it simple and simple shapes. You know, some of them are. They can still be very playful, like the atomic clock on your wall there, but they’re going to be made out of geometry you learned in kindergarten, not the sort of scribey, complex forms, swirly things, yeah, yeah. Let’s see. What else, um? I’m sure we could think of some more things.
Susan Halla – she/her
Well, I’d say anything, farmhouse and one thing that is so popular and it blows my mind. We have done unpopular opinion before. This is my unpopular opinion. I hate farmhouse sinks with one can, one section in them. One farmhouse sinks, you wouldn’t have that in a mid-century house.
Susan Halla – she/her
You would not have that front face of the sinks protruding out. You just wouldn’t have it. And I don’t know what do people do with their dishes that are draining? You can’t put everything in the dishwasher. Don’t ask my husband, because my husband thinks you can put everything in the dishwasher, but you can’t, so you always have to have dishes out draining. So where do you put it when you have one sink?
Della Hansmann
I don’t know. I think the, I think the designers of those modern farmhouse sinks do assume that everything goes into dishwasher and it doesn’t fit in one why not two dishwashers? But as a designer of mid-century kitchen remodels, let me tell you, you do not have room. For two dishwashers, right?
Susan Halla – she/her
I’ve seen two dishwashers in a kosher home, in a kosher mid-century home, so that that’s when it would make sense.
Della Hansmann
Yeah, it needs to go to the top of the line, and we need to devote a lot of space to kitchen to make that happen. Yeah, yeah. I think just anything, if it’s labeled farmhouse, if it’s labeled shaker, if it’s labeled, yeah, try you might not.
Della Hansmann
It might not be labeled mid-century, and still be perfectly appropriate. But if it’s labeled that, it’s for another design era, it doesn’t belong in your mid-century house,
Susan Halla – she/her
Right? And if it’s a design trend that you’ve seen a lot of, chances are it doesn’t belong in your house. Two examples that I can think of right away are waterfall edges on countertops, especially on islands. That was a very 2000s thing, 2000 10s thing is the ceramic tile that looks like wood that is like, say, eight by 16 or whatever.
Della Hansmann
Yeah.
Susan Halla – she/her
Not a mid-century thing, you will see it all over the place. Shiplap, you would not see that in a mid-century home. Do not put it in your home. If you want wood on the walls, go for paneling, because that would be in a mid-century house, yeah,
Della Hansmann
Or um, big slabs of plywood also works. So yeah, you can go, you can go with the tongue and groove the what is it? The Pickwick pine, if you really want to go, like 1950s basement or slabs.
Della Hansmann
But, yeah, not, not shiplap. I think it’s if you find yourself flipping through magazines and you see a detail over and over again, and it’s this has happened to me, it starts to light you up. Honestly, if you see it more than three or four times, reevaluate your choice, because that means it’s coming into trend.
Della Hansmann
And anything that comes into trend will go out of trend again,
Susan Halla – she/her
like our last conversation. Like, if it’s those tiles, for example, buy, buy three of them, put them on the floor, live with them for six months. Yeah, testing out if you really like it,
Della Hansmann
I think that’s and get samples. Is this is less of a what not to do, and more of a what to do, but what, especially whenever you’re trying to work with any of the original mid-century materials in the house, everything that comes into the house needs to learn how to play nicely with those pieces.
Della Hansmann
So getting samples of new hardware, new wood stains, new tile finishes, and making sure that they look better in the presence of what’s original and they make what’s original look better. That’s the goal you’re looking for, and that’s a way to think about color as well. When you’re looking at wall colors or fabric colors or any kind of material.
Susan Halla – she/her
Another big trend, don’t do this, and it has to do with color. Don’t stain your wood floors dark brown, slash black. One, it shows all the dirt. So why would you do that? But two, you wouldn’t have that in a mid-century house,
Della Hansmann
yeah. And I mean, this is maybe more borderline, but I feel like a lot of people also strip the warmth out of their original floors and go to stain and I can’t say that’s wrong, wrong, wrong. And I know people worry that their houses are going to be dark, and they want to brighten them up by lightening up the floor, but where possible, you just want to stick to that, that warm honey, that Amber,
Susan Halla – she/her
a shellac type finish, because back in the days, we didn’t have what I say we I was not bored in the 1950s just, I may be old, but I’m not that old, yeah, but we didn’t have polyurethane back then. So you wouldn’t have polyurethane flowers. You would have had probably shellac or something else, and that’s where that warm amber color comes from.
Della Hansmann
Yeah, which can be problematic. It can respond weirdly to light or to water and things like that. But I think when you’re refinishing floors, which what we said at the beginning of the previous chat was you might refinish all your floors before you move into a house.
Della Hansmann
That is actually a moment when you can make, you’re most likely to make a non mid-century choice because you have not leaned into and loved into the mid-century nature of your house yet, perhaps. So that’s, I don’t know if we’re gonna catch anybody in this moment, but if your floor advisor for guy is saying, You know what everybody’s doing these days seeing their floors really dark. Time out. Pause. Don’t do it.
Susan Halla – she/her
Don’t listen to contractors generally. I mean, sorry contractors, but I’ve worked with a lot of you.
Della Hansmann
Yeah, I think you can get everybody’s opinion, but at the end of the day, you got to listen to yourself, and you as a listener to this chat right now are probably someone who’s more into mid-century than any of the construction people, the experts in doing that you’re talking to, and therefore you are the arbiter of what’s the most mid-century choice.
Della Hansmann
And stick to your guns.
Susan Halla – she/her
Exactly. And listen to your house.
Della Hansmann
Listen to your house, and listen to your own preference for mid-century. Be I think that’s maybe that’s a great way to wrap it up. What not to do? Don’t take advice from people who don’t like mid-century as much as you do.
Susan Halla – she/her
Good point.
Della Hansmann
So there you have it. Unless you are in a huge unbeatable rush, try living with your mid-century house at least for a little while, even a few weeks or months in the space can tell you so much about the way it feels, what spaces flow nicely or don’t, where the daylight tempts you to linger, where you’re falling in love with an old built in you thought was super awkward on day one, you will not regret this time.
Della Hansmann
Get the transcript of this chat at mid mod, dash, midwest.com/ 1811 and then pop over to our social media to weigh in. What are your biggest pet peeves about bad mid-century updates? Do you agree with Susan and I do you have your own Susan and I want to hear your thoughts.
Della Hansmann
You’ll find me @midmodmidwest and her @makeitmidcentury on Instagram. Catch you next week for another history deep dive with Adam Stevens. Till then, enjoy living in living with your mid-century home.