Open Thread: Retro Renovating with an eye toward resale value: Bringing the 1960s back to a kitchen updated in the 1990s

Here’s a timeless question: Readers Kate and Tom ask how to approach a Retro Renovation of their 1960s kitchen — which was updated by previous owners in another decade’s style — but, with an eye toward being thrifty and toward resale some day. What is your advice? Note: I’ll let readers comment for a while, then, I will follow up with my thoughts and what I learn from you!

Kate and Tom write (edited from two emails for flow):   

Hiya,

This truly is a great resource! I’m pondering ways to re-vintage our 1960s house, which we bought a couple years ago from a couple who had done painstaking renovations of their own (not the original owners) in the 1990s. The house has their flesh-toned fingerprints all over it, and he was a master woodworker, so it’s a very professional 1990s vibe that we have to contend.

We have both lived in older homes that looked more true to their era, and we long for that midcentury look which seems to match the house’s soul. Here is a photo of the kitchen. We just added paint color but dislike hardware, granite, backsplash. 

I’m still just in the visioning stages of trying to picture some remodeling, and need some input about our granite countertops/stainless steel/wood cabinets (cherry? oak) with their wrought iron pulls….Worried about resale value, and expenses just to create an aesthetic when what we’ve got functions well and is “up to date.” 

What are your thoughts? How can we accentuate more of that 1960s vibe in a way that won’t detract from potential resale value?

–Kate and Tom in Minneapolis

Readers, what do you think?
How should Kate and Tom approach a Retro Renovation — also with an eye toward resale and unnecessary expenditures?

 

The post Open Thread: Retro Renovating with an eye toward resale value: Bringing the 1960s back to a kitchen updated in the 1990s appeared first on Retro Renovation.