November 28, 2019 • 19 mins
We aren't the same people our parents and grandparents were, so we need to tweak their homes a bit to make them facilitate a modern lifestyle.
In today's episode you'll hear ...
- What some of my Mid Mod Instagram community has done to upgrade their mid mod homes. [02:31]
- Some people are more interested in preserving their mid-century homes and others want to update them. Learn more about where you fall on the preservation - update spectrum by taking the Mid-Century Style Quiz to find your personal style! [04:50]
- Kitchens! [06:21]
- Garages and mudrooms [10:00]
- Bathrooms [12:01]
- The secret weapon of a midwestern MCM home ... the unfinished basement. [13:44]
- Common hazards of older homes: Asbestos, Lead and older wiring [16:08]
- General building technology has also improved. Consider upgrading your windows and improving your insulation any time you are doing other work on an MCM home [17:39]
Find full show notes and links to resources mentioned at midmod-midwest.com/003
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We aren't the same people our parents and
grandparents were, so it standsto reason that we might need to
tweak their houses to make surethey work as well now as they
did for their original owners.
(00:10):
Hey there.
Welcome back to Mid Mod Remodel.
You're listening to season oneepisode three.
This is the show about updatingMCM homes, helping you match a
mid-century home to your modernlife.
I'm your host, Della Hansmann,architect and mid-century ranch
enthusiast.
Our last episode got into thehistory of the MCM ranch.
What came before and whatinfluence has added up to make a
(00:31):
ranch, what it was on the day itwas built.
Today, let's talk about what haschanged in the generations that
have passed since thosemid-century ranches were
constructed.
We aren't the same people ourparents and grandparents were,
so we need to tweak their homesa bit to make them facilitate a
modern lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
The big takeaway here is that life has changed in the
intervening five, six or sevendecades since your mid-century
ranch was planned and built.
That means making some changesto your home is not just okay
but necessary.
The secret to a great mid modremodel is to be well informed
about the history of your house,understand why it is the way it
is, and then make your choiceswith a long view in mind.
(01:11):
Focus on what really matters to you and you'll end up with a
home you love, and avoid havingto later regret remuddling
errors made to your house.
This is a concept I'll return toagain and again.
With the right planning andforethought, you can navigate
the complexities of amid-century remodel and end up
with a home that retains itsoriginal character and charm,
but is freshly tailored to theway you live.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
This is something you can accomplish on your own, if
you're willing to invest thetime, energy, research, and self
education, but you don't have todo it alone.
(01:40):
This whole season is actually sponsored by my answer to that
problem.
I created the Mid-CenturySolutions Package, a design
starter kit to help you focusand prioritize your mid-century
update.
If you're planning a mid centuryremodel, you can learn more
about that design package on myservices page.
As always, you can find detailedshow notes at my website, the
notes for this episode or atmidmod-midwest.
(02:03):
com/003.
Are you sensing a trend in thisnaming convention?
Anyway, we've talked about thestakes in a mid mod remodel.
The win is ending up with acharming home that sings its
history but works for you.
The potential loss is pouringyourself into a remodel that
damages MCM features you'llregret later.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
This is often described as a remuddel, a
remodel that hides or destroysthe original design idea.
I've also heard it called aremangle.
Either way it CAN happen, and itcertainly HAS happened in the
past.
(02:31):
I recently asked my Instagram community to share some of the
best upgrades they've made totheir MCM home.
I had got a variety ofresponses, but the one that made
me wince in sympathy was fromAngela Nickerson of at
@midmodernmama who said"the1980s threw up all over our 1958
atomic ranch.
We are slowly peeling back thelayers and instilling an MCM
aesthetic." Best of luck to her.
(02:53):
Other people had more positivestories to share.
A couple of people cited pullingout carpeting and putting in oak
floor, or refinishing, hardwoodthey found underneath carpet as
one of the most valuable thingsthey could do.
Several other people talkedabout their bathrooms@mellyb68
said she restored, did not guther pink bathroom.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
The Jetsons of@ theatomicsupperclub said the
plumbing in their two main bathshad to be replaced, which meant
pulling out the original tile.
They actually recreated twomid-century style bathrooms in
their place- one with pink andthe other with soft blue and
Aqua.
They are preservationistsextraordinaire.
(03:30):
Amanda Pfizer of@ afiesler said her 50s ranch had a lot of
beautiful combed plywood thathad been painted through the
years, and it was impossible forthem to strip the paint from all
the grooves so they actuallysourced new combed plywood from
a mill North of San Franciscoand stained them to match the
original, or what they thoughtthe original would be.
Other people are more willing tomake some changes to their home.
(03:53):
Kimberly Hinckle of@kkathello.
Othello said she gutted herkitchen, but one of her favorite
features and so simple was justto put up mid-century style
light fixtures around the house.
Another fix was to change outcheap generic address numbers
for MCM styles.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Again, her interest was more in creating a
mid-century aesthetic ratherthan restoring or preserving a
specific mid-century thing.
Likewise@modernhomework saidthey had two different
approaches to their front door,and they tore them both out,
regraded the front yard, andadded a wrap- around corner,
concrete stair terminating atgrade.
It was a huge improvement andthe first thing you notice when
(04:26):
you arrive at the house, soagain, they're making a
strategic design move that isn'tnecessarily restorative at all,
but is improving their house.
(04:33):
Other people are still on the fence about whether they're
going to go in a preservationistway, or try to make more updated
changes.
I got a message from@postandbeamva who said they
wanted to know my thoughts onopen versus closed kitchens.
They were wondering should theypreserve their original design
in the house they just bought?
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Should they open it up?
The ended"we have to decide bynext week!"
(04:53):
The point is sometimes you'll end up making changes that are
exactly what the originalhomeowner would have done had
they had the idea or budget, oryou could choose to make
yourself into an amateurpreservationist and try to
restore the house to its exactoriginal glory, but other people
are going to choose to put a2019 spin on their home and just
go from there.
Here's the thing.
In the end, your house is foryou.
(05:13):
You get to make the call aboutwhat's an appropriate attitude
to take when you remodel, howmuch to preserve, how much to
change.
I want you to have decided basedon your feelings and
preferences, not based on whatwas available, easy or what some
contractor advised in a hurriedmoment.
To that end, it really helps tohave a strong internal sense of
your own style.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Awhile ago I put together a style quiz which you
can find at midmod-midwest.com/stylequiz.
Take it, and figure out whereyou fall on the midmod remodel
spectrum.
Are you in it for the midcentury or the modern?
The vintage or the revamp?
It'll categorize you into one ofthree camps: A modern
mid-century fan, a person whowants to take a little bit of
(05:52):
column a and a little bit ofcolumn B, or a hardcore
preservationist.
Of the people who've taken thequiz.
So we've got about 40% full- on'I like modern with a
mid-century flavor'; 40% likemyself in the middle who are
making a fusion effort; andabout a quarter of the people
are full-on vintagepreservationists.
Each of those styles hassomething to argue for them.
(06:12):
One way or the other, you'regoing to end up with a home you
love- if you have made all thechoices based on your own
thoughts and well-researchedpreferences.
So let's talk about then versusnow.
Some things have changed, andsome things have stayed the
same.
In 1950, everyone wasexperiencing a huge housing
crisis.
That actually sounds prettyfamiliar.
People were naming their babies.
(06:33):
Doug and Susan.
Thirty percent of women workedoutside the home, and women did
92 percent of all cooking in thehouse.
Now fast forward to today, 2019.
People are most likely namingtheir kids, Aiden and Anna, and
we are experiencing a hugehousing crisis, but at this
point 62% of women work outsidethe home, and women cover only
(06:55):
67% of the cooking.
I kind of feel like that numbershould have shifted more, but
that's not what this podcast isabout.
In any case, that ties into thekitchen, which is one of the
most obvious places and sort ofpoints of conflict in a
mid-century home lived in by amodern family.
Because the classic ranchkitchen is a command center for
one person- mom- who multitasksthrough the day from that space.
(07:18):
That was an era when cookingtook longer.
Think about brisket, roast,stews simmering.
It was necessary to have acomfortable functional space to
hang out in for a long period oftime.
It was a little hemmed in, oftenenclosed in a separate room to
itself, even in a more openconcept house.
It would have a small range-probably with no vent hood.
T here w ould be a sink lookinga t a kitchen window.
(07:39):
Wall-engaged base cabinets withwall cabinets above for storage.
Kitchens w ere also throughareas, so they often connected
to the backyard, directly to thegarage, or maybe out to a mud
way or breezeway that w ouldconnect to the dining living
room part of the house.
They might also be an accesspoint for the basement.
In my house, there's actually adoor that goes into one of the
(08:01):
bedrooms, the nursery bedroom sothat mom could keep an eye on
the s tew an also check on thebaby at the same time.
But the way we use our kitchenshas really changed.
Cooking requires less time nowthat we can pop things into the
microwave or throw together acollection from blue apron.
But we've turned our kitchensinto a social hub.
They need to hold more people,more cooks, at one time.
(08:25):
They also need to be a hangoutspot.
Now that we don't have oneperson alone with a baby and a
radio for company, we can turnthe kitchen outward to the
house, as well as inwards toitself.
(08:35):
In a classic mid-century kitchen, almost all of the work
surfaces are going to face awall, maybe a window, but
basically they face away fromthe room, which is fine if
you're working alone in a space.
But when you're working withsomeone else, and you turn your
back to them in order to cut ona cutting board or stir
something on the stove- that'sactually a very unfriendly
attitude.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
A multiple cook kitchen, or even a one-cook
kitchen, where other people arehanging out with the cook, you
want to have some work surfacewhere you can face another
person or face the room.
That means a peninsula or anIsland.
(09:07):
If I'm designing a kitchen from first principles these
days, I want it to have a lot ofcounter height work surfaces but
almost no wall-mounted cabinets.
I think we should condense ourstorage into full height
cabinets in limited areas whichgives us more clear wall space,
more space to have windows, andmore space to look out at other
people.
Whenever I get a chance to, Iwant to turn work surfaces in.
Prep services would be anIsland, not a wall-engaged
(09:30):
counter.
The main thing to rememberthough is that your kitchen is a
very personal part of yourhouse, so you need to make a
choice about whether you want todo a full-gut remodel to bring
it into 2019.
If you want to do that in such away that's going to reflect some
of the mid-century stylechoices, even with new
materials, or if you want tostick with your exact, original
(09:52):
kitchen, preserve it as is andcook in it as a mid--century
person would have done.
You can also find a middleground between those two, and
each of those choices might bethe right one.
So much for the kitchen.
Let's talk about garages.
The early ranches were built fora newly car-based world.
They were laid out inneighborhoods with lower
densities, spaced further fromthe city centers, and the garage
(10:15):
was prominent feature of thedesign of the house.
But at the same time, thatgarage was often not connected
directly to the house, or asimple single car garage, or
just much smaller than a modernhomeowner might expect to fit
modern-sized car.
So you do need to address this.
I don't think people inmid-century homes should just be
(10:37):
parking their cars on the streetfor the rest of time, but you
want to fix it in a meaningfulway.
Look at your house specifically.
Do you have a breezeway that youcan absorb into your house space
and use to connect to yourgarage?
As I have done?
Do you have room in your lot toexpand a garage.?
And can you do that in a waythat would make i t a little bit
(10:58):
less prominent or dramatic,rather than just smacking a
two-car garage onto the side ofyour house?
There are a lot of ways you canthink about strategizing the
connection between the garageand the entry.
While I'm a big fan of updatingfront doors, and a front door is
a huge part of the way guestswill enter your home, most
modern homeowners are going toenter their house through the
(11:20):
garage access point.
So when you're updating yourgarage, you want to strategize
your family entrance.
I'm not generally a fan of thelaundry/mudroom, but if that's
the only place you can put yourlaundry on the main floor- do
it.
Washers and dryers have becomesmaller, quieter, and more
efficient.
They shouldn't necessarily bebanished to below grade.
And again, this speaks to achange in lifestyle of the h ome
(11:44):
o wners since the 50s.
When you had one partner stayingat home all day, those chores
that could be part of the rhythmof a whole day or week, now need
to fit into a morning, evening,or weekend routine.
So having easy access to laundryfacilities is paramount when
you're trying to streamlinemodern life in a m id-century
home.
The third area of problems arebathrooms.
(12:05):
Now in a way a mid-centurybathroom has all of the features
- nothing less or more than amodern bathroom does.
It's got an indoor toilet, it'sgot a basin sink, it has a
mirror placement over the sink,and it probably has a shower in
a tub set up.
There's nothing there that needsto change to drag it forward
into modern life.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
At the same time, mid-century bathrooms are often
extremely modest, There's oftenjust one in a house, so it tends
to be more focused on afamily-style design, like a tub
in every bathroom unless it's ahalf bath.
If you add a master bath, youcould choose to have a walk in
(12:48):
shower- a m uch more modern wayto keep on eselves c l ean a n d
u pdate.
If you're going to work on yourmid-century bathroom, you're
going to have to make someimmediate choices about whether
you're preserving originalfixtures, tile, etc., or whether
you're taking those things out.
it's hard to salvage things liketile.
You could probably save andreuse your original fixtures.
(13:10):
Again, it's a personal choice,and I think it's goi ng to co me
down to style, but it shouldalso come down to flexibility
and functionality.
So make sure it's still actuallyworking for you.
(13:20):
And again, to pop back to my great Instagram example, even if
you have to take out all of theplumbing of an existing
bathroom, you can choose whetheryou want to update it in a
modern style, or you can do like@atomic supper club and
basically create a new, oldbathroom- a classic pink tile,
(13:40):
and a new update to your house.
Now one more area to think aboutin a mid-century house in the
Midwest is that it almostcertainly has a basement, and
that basement may either beunfinished or it may have been
finished and actually anintervening period.
I would generally recommend, ifyou're thinking of updating your
(14:02):
home- before you consider anaddition, see if you can re-
occupy some of the space in yourbasement.
Any Midwestern house is going tohave one, a California ranch
won't, and if you do have abasement, it should be upgraded.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It should be basically upgraded both from an
environmental point of view (14:17):
Is it insulated?
Is it comfortable,?
Is it water resistant?
I have very strong feelingsabout how one finishes a
basement.
Now if you are a vintagepreservationist, you can go
ahead and get yourself Pickwickpine siding(it may be a little
hard to track down), and do thatsort of knotty-pine f inished
basement, which is great.
(14:38):
But if you are trying to do aslightly more modern update, I
recommend that you make surethat the basement is finished to
the same level of quality and finish detail as the rest of the
house.
You want to bring in naturallight.
You want to connect it to therest of the, house.
And you want to finish it withthe same kind of flooring, wall
surfaces, ceiling surfaces, andlighting that you have going on
in the rest of your house.
Then it can really become anoccupiable part of your space.
(15:01):
And it's another reflection ofhow modern life has changed.
The first mid-century homes werereally trying to get rid of
formal, seldom-used spaces.
So they had one family gatheringspace: the living room.
Later in the mid- centuryperiod, people tended to have
two spaces (15:16):
a multipurpose room/rec room, and a family
room.
(15:21):
Now, we still aren't living in an era of formal living rooms,
but I think the distinction maynot just be about formal
entertaining anymore.
Modern people might want to havetwo living spaces to try to
restrict the TV from gettinginto all parts of their life, or
it might be about making aseparate space for kids or for a
teenager to hang out in, or forone member of the family to have
a particular hobby space.
(15:42):
So it's definitely something tothink about.
A multipurpose room, a rec room,a basement space.
It's something that, it's notnecessarily the mid-century
moderns wouldn't have wanted it,but they couldn't afford it.
So this might actually fall intothe category of doing the thing
that the original owner wouldhave done, had they had the idea
and budget at that time.
(16:03):
There are also some aspects ofhousing technology that have
really changed since themid-century period.
There are a few dangers to beaware of- most prominently
asbestos tile and glue, and leadpaint.
Also partly an outdated approachto wiring.
If you have asbestos in yourhouse, you want to remediate
that at your earliestconvenience.
(16:24):
If it's asbestos tile oracoustic tile in the ceiling- as
long as you're not touching it,it's not hurting you.
But you need to be aware of it.
If you're going to do anyremodeling- make sure that it is
removed or sealed i n properly.
Contact, a licensed remediatorto handle that.
If you have lead paint in yourhome, this is something you can
(16:44):
test for.
I have created content on t hesubject before.
I'll have links in the shownotes to a video chatting about
lead paint, also blog posts,which have resources for how you
can both deal with it yourselfor find an appropriate person to
deal with it for you.
But one way or another, it's notworth joking around on.
Lead paint exposure and childrencan have life-long detrimental
(17:05):
effects.
And it's very bad for adultstoo.
So this is not even somethingthat people didn't know about in
the mid-century period.
It was just that big businesswas successfully lobbying that
these issues were not a bigdeal.
Now we know better, and we haveto deal with them.
Mid-century wiring i s probablyokay- as long as you're not
changing anything, but theminute youplan to update
(17:27):
something, do budget forupdating your wiring to modern
electrical standards.
Particularly in places like akitchen, y ou're kitchen outlets
are definitely not going to meetcode if they are original s ince
the mid-century period.
Other areas of house technologythat had been improved over time
include windows.
Again, I would not recommendjust coming into a newly
(17:48):
purchased mid-century vintagehouse and tearing out the
windows to replace them.
Old windows can actually performpretty well with proper
maintenance, especially ifyou're still using and have the
original storm windows.
But if you're updating, beaware, we have much better
window insulation technology.
You can also improve yourwindows simply by adding
insulated curtains.
This is a big deal in theMidwest, certainly- where we
(18:10):
talked about heat gain in thesummer and heat loss in the
winter.
You want to control for thosethings.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Likewise, with whole house insulation, we've really
just upped our game.
We have better wall insulationtechniques, we have better attic
insulation techniques.
Often the rim joist in abasement of a mid-century house
won't be insulated at all.
That means that you've got onlya layer of 2x4s and a layer of
siding keeping the outsidetemperature away from your
basement.
That's an easy DIY fix orsomething you can hire someone
(18:37):
to fix for you at a reasonablerate.
(18:39):
Again, you don't need to go tearing out all of the drywall
in your house so that you canput modern insulation into your
walls.
But if you're making changes orreplacing wall surfaces in any
room, make sure you take thetime to add energy efficiency to
your list as you go.
So that's a little overview ofwhat has changed between then
and now when we're talking aboutmid-century vintage homes.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Thanks for listening.
In next week's episode, I'll beenumerating some of my favorite
features common in mid-centuryranches.
We'll talk about maintenance,layout and finish details and
get you all set to recognizewhat's really great about your
mid-century ranch.
(19:15):
As always, you'll find links, images, and a summary of
everything I've just covered onmy website at www.midmod
-midwest.com/ 003.
If you have ideas to share orquestions about your mid-century
home remodel-, drop a comment inthe show notes, or find me on
Instagram.
I'm@midmodmidwest.
To take that style quiz, you cango directly to
midmod-midwest.com/stylequiz, orfind a handy link in the show
(19:38):
notes.
I'd love to know where you fallon the spectrum when you get
your score.
Tag me on Instagram or drop mean email to let me know what
kind of mid mod fan you are.
Catch you next week, mid modremodeler.
We aren't the same people our parents and
grandparents were, so it standsto reason that we might need to
tweak their houses to make surethey work as well now as they
did for their original owners.
(00:10):
Hey there.
Welcome back to Mid Mod Remodel.
You're listening to season oneepisode three.
This is the show about updatingMCM homes, helping you match a
mid-century home to your modernlife.
I'm your host, Della Hansmann,architect and mid-century ranch
enthusiast.
Our last episode got into thehistory of the MCM ranch.
What came before and whatinfluence has added up to make a
(00:31):
ranch, what it was on the day itwas built.
Today, let's talk about what haschanged in the generations that
have passed since thosemid-century ranches were
constructed.
We aren't the same people ourparents and grandparents were,
so we need to tweak their homesa bit to make them facilitate a
modern lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
The big takeaway here is that life has changed in the
intervening five, six or sevendecades since your mid-century
ranch was planned and built.
That means making some changesto your home is not just okay
but necessary.
The secret to a great mid modremodel is to be well informed
about the history of your house,understand why it is the way it
is, and then make your choiceswith a long view in mind.
(01:11):
Focus on what really matters to you and you'll end up with a
home you love, and avoid havingto later regret remuddling
errors made to your house.
This is a concept I'll return toagain and again.
With the right planning andforethought, you can navigate
the complexities of amid-century remodel and end up
with a home that retains itsoriginal character and charm,
but is freshly tailored to theway you live.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
This is something you can accomplish on your own, if
you're willing to invest thetime, energy, research, and self
education, but you don't have todo it alone.
(01:40):
This whole season is actually sponsored by my answer to that
problem.
I created the Mid-CenturySolutions Package, a design
starter kit to help you focusand prioritize your mid-century
update.
If you're planning a mid centuryremodel, you can learn more
about that design package on myservices page.
As always, you can find detailedshow notes at my website, the
notes for this episode or atmidmod-midwest.
(02:03):
com/003.
Are you sensing a trend in thisnaming convention?
Anyway, we've talked about thestakes in a mid mod remodel.
The win is ending up with acharming home that sings its
history but works for you.
The potential loss is pouringyourself into a remodel that
damages MCM features you'llregret later.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
This is often described as a remuddel, a
remodel that hides or destroysthe original design idea.
I've also heard it called aremangle.
Either way it CAN happen, and itcertainly HAS happened in the
past.
(02:31):
I recently asked my Instagram community to share some of the
best upgrades they've made totheir MCM home.
I had got a variety ofresponses, but the one that made
me wince in sympathy was fromAngela Nickerson of at
@midmodernmama who said"the1980s threw up all over our 1958
atomic ranch.
We are slowly peeling back thelayers and instilling an MCM
aesthetic." Best of luck to her.
(02:53):
Other people had more positivestories to share.
A couple of people cited pullingout carpeting and putting in oak
floor, or refinishing, hardwoodthey found underneath carpet as
one of the most valuable thingsthey could do.
Several other people talkedabout their bathrooms@mellyb68
said she restored, did not guther pink bathroom.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
The Jetsons of@ theatomicsupperclub said the
plumbing in their two main bathshad to be replaced, which meant
pulling out the original tile.
They actually recreated twomid-century style bathrooms in
their place- one with pink andthe other with soft blue and
Aqua.
They are preservationistsextraordinaire.
(03:30):
Amanda Pfizer of@ afiesler said her 50s ranch had a lot of
beautiful combed plywood thathad been painted through the
years, and it was impossible forthem to strip the paint from all
the grooves so they actuallysourced new combed plywood from
a mill North of San Franciscoand stained them to match the
original, or what they thoughtthe original would be.
Other people are more willing tomake some changes to their home.
(03:53):
Kimberly Hinckle of@kkathello.
Othello said she gutted herkitchen, but one of her favorite
features and so simple was justto put up mid-century style
light fixtures around the house.
Another fix was to change outcheap generic address numbers
for MCM styles.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Again, her interest was more in creating a
mid-century aesthetic ratherthan restoring or preserving a
specific mid-century thing.
Likewise@modernhomework saidthey had two different
approaches to their front door,and they tore them both out,
regraded the front yard, andadded a wrap- around corner,
concrete stair terminating atgrade.
It was a huge improvement andthe first thing you notice when
(04:26):
you arrive at the house, soagain, they're making a
strategic design move that isn'tnecessarily restorative at all,
but is improving their house.
(04:33):
Other people are still on the fence about whether they're
going to go in a preservationistway, or try to make more updated
changes.
I got a message from@postandbeamva who said they
wanted to know my thoughts onopen versus closed kitchens.
They were wondering should theypreserve their original design
in the house they just bought?
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Should they open it up?
The ended"we have to decide bynext week!"
(04:53):
The point is sometimes you'll end up making changes that are
exactly what the originalhomeowner would have done had
they had the idea or budget, oryou could choose to make
yourself into an amateurpreservationist and try to
restore the house to its exactoriginal glory, but other people
are going to choose to put a2019 spin on their home and just
go from there.
Here's the thing.
In the end, your house is foryou.
(05:13):
You get to make the call aboutwhat's an appropriate attitude
to take when you remodel, howmuch to preserve, how much to
change.
I want you to have decided basedon your feelings and
preferences, not based on whatwas available, easy or what some
contractor advised in a hurriedmoment.
To that end, it really helps tohave a strong internal sense of
your own style.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Awhile ago I put together a style quiz which you
can find at midmod-midwest.com/stylequiz.
Take it, and figure out whereyou fall on the midmod remodel
spectrum.
Are you in it for the midcentury or the modern?
The vintage or the revamp?
It'll categorize you into one ofthree camps: A modern
mid-century fan, a person whowants to take a little bit of
(05:52):
column a and a little bit ofcolumn B, or a hardcore
preservationist.
Of the people who've taken thequiz.
So we've got about 40% full- on'I like modern with a
mid-century flavor'; 40% likemyself in the middle who are
making a fusion effort; andabout a quarter of the people
are full-on vintagepreservationists.
Each of those styles hassomething to argue for them.
(06:12):
One way or the other, you'regoing to end up with a home you
love- if you have made all thechoices based on your own
thoughts and well-researchedpreferences.
So let's talk about then versusnow.
Some things have changed, andsome things have stayed the
same.
In 1950, everyone wasexperiencing a huge housing
crisis.
That actually sounds prettyfamiliar.
People were naming their babies.
(06:33):
Doug and Susan.
Thirty percent of women workedoutside the home, and women did
92 percent of all cooking in thehouse.
Now fast forward to today, 2019.
People are most likely namingtheir kids, Aiden and Anna, and
we are experiencing a hugehousing crisis, but at this
point 62% of women work outsidethe home, and women cover only
(06:55):
67% of the cooking.
I kind of feel like that numbershould have shifted more, but
that's not what this podcast isabout.
In any case, that ties into thekitchen, which is one of the
most obvious places and sort ofpoints of conflict in a
mid-century home lived in by amodern family.
Because the classic ranchkitchen is a command center for
one person- mom- who multitasksthrough the day from that space.
(07:18):
That was an era when cookingtook longer.
Think about brisket, roast,stews simmering.
It was necessary to have acomfortable functional space to
hang out in for a long period oftime.
It was a little hemmed in, oftenenclosed in a separate room to
itself, even in a more openconcept house.
It would have a small range-probably with no vent hood.
T here w ould be a sink lookinga t a kitchen window.
(07:39):
Wall-engaged base cabinets withwall cabinets above for storage.
Kitchens w ere also throughareas, so they often connected
to the backyard, directly to thegarage, or maybe out to a mud
way or breezeway that w ouldconnect to the dining living
room part of the house.
They might also be an accesspoint for the basement.
In my house, there's actually adoor that goes into one of the
(08:01):
bedrooms, the nursery bedroom sothat mom could keep an eye on
the s tew an also check on thebaby at the same time.
But the way we use our kitchenshas really changed.
Cooking requires less time nowthat we can pop things into the
microwave or throw together acollection from blue apron.
But we've turned our kitchensinto a social hub.
They need to hold more people,more cooks, at one time.
(08:25):
They also need to be a hangoutspot.
Now that we don't have oneperson alone with a baby and a
radio for company, we can turnthe kitchen outward to the
house, as well as inwards toitself.
(08:35):
In a classic mid-century kitchen, almost all of the work
surfaces are going to face awall, maybe a window, but
basically they face away fromthe room, which is fine if
you're working alone in a space.
But when you're working withsomeone else, and you turn your
back to them in order to cut ona cutting board or stir
something on the stove- that'sactually a very unfriendly
attitude.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
A multiple cook kitchen, or even a one-cook
kitchen, where other people arehanging out with the cook, you
want to have some work surfacewhere you can face another
person or face the room.
That means a peninsula or anIsland.
(09:07):
If I'm designing a kitchen from first principles these
days, I want it to have a lot ofcounter height work surfaces but
almost no wall-mounted cabinets.
I think we should condense ourstorage into full height
cabinets in limited areas whichgives us more clear wall space,
more space to have windows, andmore space to look out at other
people.
Whenever I get a chance to, Iwant to turn work surfaces in.
Prep services would be anIsland, not a wall-engaged
(09:30):
counter.
The main thing to rememberthough is that your kitchen is a
very personal part of yourhouse, so you need to make a
choice about whether you want todo a full-gut remodel to bring
it into 2019.
If you want to do that in such away that's going to reflect some
of the mid-century stylechoices, even with new
materials, or if you want tostick with your exact, original
(09:52):
kitchen, preserve it as is andcook in it as a mid--century
person would have done.
You can also find a middleground between those two, and
each of those choices might bethe right one.
So much for the kitchen.
Let's talk about garages.
The early ranches were built fora newly car-based world.
They were laid out inneighborhoods with lower
densities, spaced further fromthe city centers, and the garage
(10:15):
was prominent feature of thedesign of the house.
But at the same time, thatgarage was often not connected
directly to the house, or asimple single car garage, or
just much smaller than a modernhomeowner might expect to fit
modern-sized car.
So you do need to address this.
I don't think people inmid-century homes should just be
(10:37):
parking their cars on the streetfor the rest of time, but you
want to fix it in a meaningfulway.
Look at your house specifically.
Do you have a breezeway that youcan absorb into your house space
and use to connect to yourgarage?
As I have done?
Do you have room in your lot toexpand a garage.?
And can you do that in a waythat would make i t a little bit
(10:58):
less prominent or dramatic,rather than just smacking a
two-car garage onto the side ofyour house?
There are a lot of ways you canthink about strategizing the
connection between the garageand the entry.
While I'm a big fan of updatingfront doors, and a front door is
a huge part of the way guestswill enter your home, most
modern homeowners are going toenter their house through the
(11:20):
garage access point.
So when you're updating yourgarage, you want to strategize
your family entrance.
I'm not generally a fan of thelaundry/mudroom, but if that's
the only place you can put yourlaundry on the main floor- do
it.
Washers and dryers have becomesmaller, quieter, and more
efficient.
They shouldn't necessarily bebanished to below grade.
And again, this speaks to achange in lifestyle of the h ome
(11:44):
o wners since the 50s.
When you had one partner stayingat home all day, those chores
that could be part of the rhythmof a whole day or week, now need
to fit into a morning, evening,or weekend routine.
So having easy access to laundryfacilities is paramount when
you're trying to streamlinemodern life in a m id-century
home.
The third area of problems arebathrooms.
(12:05):
Now in a way a mid-centurybathroom has all of the features
- nothing less or more than amodern bathroom does.
It's got an indoor toilet, it'sgot a basin sink, it has a
mirror placement over the sink,and it probably has a shower in
a tub set up.
There's nothing there that needsto change to drag it forward
into modern life.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
At the same time, mid-century bathrooms are often
extremely modest, There's oftenjust one in a house, so it tends
to be more focused on afamily-style design, like a tub
in every bathroom unless it's ahalf bath.
If you add a master bath, youcould choose to have a walk in
(12:48):
shower- a m uch more modern wayto keep on eselves c l ean a n d
u pdate.
If you're going to work on yourmid-century bathroom, you're
going to have to make someimmediate choices about whether
you're preserving originalfixtures, tile, etc., or whether
you're taking those things out.
it's hard to salvage things liketile.
You could probably save andreuse your original fixtures.
(13:10):
Again, it's a personal choice,and I think it's goi ng to co me
down to style, but it shouldalso come down to flexibility
and functionality.
So make sure it's still actuallyworking for you.
(13:20):
And again, to pop back to my great Instagram example, even if
you have to take out all of theplumbing of an existing
bathroom, you can choose whetheryou want to update it in a
modern style, or you can do like@atomic supper club and
basically create a new, oldbathroom- a classic pink tile,
(13:40):
and a new update to your house.
Now one more area to think aboutin a mid-century house in the
Midwest is that it almostcertainly has a basement, and
that basement may either beunfinished or it may have been
finished and actually anintervening period.
I would generally recommend, ifyou're thinking of updating your
(14:02):
home- before you consider anaddition, see if you can re-
occupy some of the space in yourbasement.
Any Midwestern house is going tohave one, a California ranch
won't, and if you do have abasement, it should be upgraded.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It should be basically upgraded both from an
environmental point of view (14:17):
Is it insulated?
Is it comfortable,?
Is it water resistant?
I have very strong feelingsabout how one finishes a
basement.
Now if you are a vintagepreservationist, you can go
ahead and get yourself Pickwickpine siding(it may be a little
hard to track down), and do thatsort of knotty-pine f inished
basement, which is great.
(14:38):
But if you are trying to do aslightly more modern update, I
recommend that you make surethat the basement is finished to
the same level of quality and finish detail as the rest of the
house.
You want to bring in naturallight.
You want to connect it to therest of the, house.
And you want to finish it withthe same kind of flooring, wall
surfaces, ceiling surfaces, andlighting that you have going on
in the rest of your house.
Then it can really become anoccupiable part of your space.
(15:01):
And it's another reflection ofhow modern life has changed.
The first mid-century homes werereally trying to get rid of
formal, seldom-used spaces.
So they had one family gatheringspace: the living room.
Later in the mid- centuryperiod, people tended to have
two spaces (15:16):
a multipurpose room/rec room, and a family
room.
(15:21):
Now, we still aren't living in an era of formal living rooms,
but I think the distinction maynot just be about formal
entertaining anymore.
Modern people might want to havetwo living spaces to try to
restrict the TV from gettinginto all parts of their life, or
it might be about making aseparate space for kids or for a
teenager to hang out in, or forone member of the family to have
a particular hobby space.
(15:42):
So it's definitely something tothink about.
A multipurpose room, a rec room,a basement space.
It's something that, it's notnecessarily the mid-century
moderns wouldn't have wanted it,but they couldn't afford it.
So this might actually fall intothe category of doing the thing
that the original owner wouldhave done, had they had the idea
and budget at that time.
(16:03):
There are also some aspects ofhousing technology that have
really changed since themid-century period.
There are a few dangers to beaware of- most prominently
asbestos tile and glue, and leadpaint.
Also partly an outdated approachto wiring.
If you have asbestos in yourhouse, you want to remediate
that at your earliestconvenience.
(16:24):
If it's asbestos tile oracoustic tile in the ceiling- as
long as you're not touching it,it's not hurting you.
But you need to be aware of it.
If you're going to do anyremodeling- make sure that it is
removed or sealed i n properly.
Contact, a licensed remediatorto handle that.
If you have lead paint in yourhome, this is something you can
(16:44):
test for.
I have created content on t hesubject before.
I'll have links in the shownotes to a video chatting about
lead paint, also blog posts,which have resources for how you
can both deal with it yourselfor find an appropriate person to
deal with it for you.
But one way or another, it's notworth joking around on.
Lead paint exposure and childrencan have life-long detrimental
(17:05):
effects.
And it's very bad for adultstoo.
So this is not even somethingthat people didn't know about in
the mid-century period.
It was just that big businesswas successfully lobbying that
these issues were not a bigdeal.
Now we know better, and we haveto deal with them.
Mid-century wiring i s probablyokay- as long as you're not
changing anything, but theminute youplan to update
(17:27):
something, do budget forupdating your wiring to modern
electrical standards.
Particularly in places like akitchen, y ou're kitchen outlets
are definitely not going to meetcode if they are original s ince
the mid-century period.
Other areas of house technologythat had been improved over time
include windows.
Again, I would not recommendjust coming into a newly
(17:48):
purchased mid-century vintagehouse and tearing out the
windows to replace them.
Old windows can actually performpretty well with proper
maintenance, especially ifyou're still using and have the
original storm windows.
But if you're updating, beaware, we have much better
window insulation technology.
You can also improve yourwindows simply by adding
insulated curtains.
This is a big deal in theMidwest, certainly- where we
(18:10):
talked about heat gain in thesummer and heat loss in the
winter.
You want to control for thosethings.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Likewise, with whole house insulation, we've really
just upped our game.
We have better wall insulationtechniques, we have better attic
insulation techniques.
Often the rim joist in abasement of a mid-century house
won't be insulated at all.
That means that you've got onlya layer of 2x4s and a layer of
siding keeping the outsidetemperature away from your
basement.
That's an easy DIY fix orsomething you can hire someone
(18:37):
to fix for you at a reasonablerate.
(18:39):
Again, you don't need to go tearing out all of the drywall
in your house so that you canput modern insulation into your
walls.
But if you're making changes orreplacing wall surfaces in any
room, make sure you take thetime to add energy efficiency to
your list as you go.
So that's a little overview ofwhat has changed between then
and now when we're talking aboutmid-century vintage homes.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Thanks for listening.
In next week's episode, I'll beenumerating some of my favorite
features common in mid-centuryranches.
We'll talk about maintenance,layout and finish details and
get you all set to recognizewhat's really great about your
mid-century ranch.
(19:15):
As always, you'll find links, images, and a summary of
everything I've just covered onmy website at www.midmod
-midwest.com/ 003.
If you have ideas to share orquestions about your mid-century
home remodel-, drop a comment inthe show notes, or find me on
Instagram.
I'm@midmodmidwest.
To take that style quiz, you cango directly to
midmod-midwest.com/stylequiz, orfind a handy link in the show
(19:38):
notes.
I'd love to know where you fallon the spectrum when you get
your score.
Tag me on Instagram or drop mean email to let me know what
kind of mid mod fan you are.
Catch you next week, mid modremodeler.
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