Lortondale Home

The exterior doesn’t have a great curb appeal, but I think it will look nicer after some updating. I’m thinking about doing some landscaping and painting the siding, beams, and trims in period correct colors. I am going to update a porch light, door, and hardware as well.

Original Parquet Flooring

The first thing I did after closing was to rip out the old carpet in the bedrooms. Each bedroom has the original 9 x 9 oak parquet flooring. I am going to have them refinished to their original glory.

The infamous Pink Room

The entire house is painted in the same “almond” yellowish color (all walls, ceilings, and trim – except two bedrooms which are painted in PINK!). I am picking some colors from Sherwin Williams “Suburban Modern” paint palette.

Livingroom

The living room also has a carpet. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the original flooring under the carpet. I can’t have light colored carpet with two bulimic (?) cats! My plan was to either just have a concrete floor or install cork flooring – until I found 400 square feet worth of the same parquet flooring on eBay. My husband and I drove all the way to Dallas to get them. I am going to prep the floor and install the parquet tiles myself.

Kitchen

The kitchen needs a major makeover. I’d like to restore the original look. The original Lortondale kitchens featured cabinets with sliding doors and laminate “boomerang” pattern countertops in charcoal. My cabinets are original except the doors. So I am planning on installing sliding doors back on and update the counter top with today’s reproduction of Formica’s Charcoal Boomerang countertop.

Original Nutone Hood

The original “Nutone” range hood is still intact. I would like to update the appliances to stainless steel ones.

Original Bath Cabinet

The full bath room features the original cabinet and sink painted in… the same almond color! I am going to keep them, but probably install a new medicine cabinet, light fixture and hardware. I am not sure what to do with the floor tiles yet.

One of the Infamous Light Fixtures

The entire light fixtures need update. I looked on eBay for a while for vintage mid-century modern light fixtures, but decided to buy all new fixtures from Rejuvenation’s Mid-Century Modern Collection.

We are not quite ready to move in yet – as you can tell, the house needs a lot of work. More updates to come, so stay tuned

We must have:

Three bedrooms
Two bathrooms
A large backyard for our dogs
Two living areas (a formal living room and a dog room, aka family room)
A garage or carport

Of course, I’d love a house with original features intact, but that’s hard to come by. I’d rather buy a fixer upper than a “move in ready” house with brand new things/updates (that are not period appropriate or not my taste) installed by a previous owner.

There are quite few neighborhoods feature nice mid-century modern ranch style homes in Tulsa. Among all, Lortondale is definitely my favorite. Lortondale is a mid-century modern neighborhood built between 1954 and 1956 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As of this writing, there are six houses up for sale in Lortondale – all in our price range. Unfortunately, none of these houses are “the one” for us (Don’t get me wrong. These are all great houses – just not a perfect fit for us). Lortondale has its great website filled with its history and pictures – you should check it out!

One of My Favorite Lortondale Houses

Another neighborhood I like is Wedgwood neighboorhood my friend Jennie lives (By the way, Jennie has the coolest house in Wedgwood. Her house will be featured in upcoming Atomic Ranch hardcover book).

Jennie's House

I have been driving around to see the houses I like. This one is for sale at $109,900 in the Redbud neighborhood. I LOVE the way it looks from the outside, but not so much inside… This is one of those “move in ready” houses with not so great updates.

Love this one!

We are not in a hurry to buy a house, so we will keep looking – someday we will find the one!

An Eames Primer by Eames Demetrios

If you are in Tulsa, Oklahoma area, be sure to join the Philbrook Museum of Art’s “3rd Thursday” speaker series event on January 21, 2010. This series of 3rd Thursday will be joined by Eames Demetrios, a filmmaker, director of The Eames Office, author of An Eames Primerand a member of the Eames family. As most of you have already known, he is a grandson of iconic mid century modern designers, Charles and Ray Eames.

Demetrios dedicates his efforts in communicating, preserving, and extending the work of the Eameses. At this event, Eames Demetrios will provide a personal look at the designers, their process, philosophy and influence on the design world in a discussion on design vs. style. He will also be sharing a few treasures from the Eames family archive.

The event is presented in partnership with Art Directors Club of Tulsa and in conjunction with Modern Tulsa, an organization of the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture.

Event Schedule:

Date: January 21, 2010
Place: Philbrook Museum of Art (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Patti Johnson Wilson Hall
Times: 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
5:30 pm: Tickets available from the Admission desk (no advance reservations)
5:30-6:30 pm: Cash bar available and photographer on site for your chance to be a part of the museum’s new ad campaign
6:30-7:30 pm: Lecture begins in Auditorium, Live simulcast near Restaurant
7:30-8 pm: Free posters designed by Eames Demetrios will be available for signing