Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
emilymch

Tiny retro time capsule!

emilymch
7 years ago

How fun is this?!




The kitchen is very cramped but has some great details.

Lots more photos here:

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Baltimore/2105-Erdman-Ave-21218/home/10821025

Comments (24)

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Very cool, although I'd like it better in S FL than any place it snows. But what does the listing mean about it being built in 1915?

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Very interesting. Yes, it does look like a lot of houses used to in Miami Beach, although the furnishings aren't always very appropriate.

  • palimpsest
    6 years ago

    I used the Cowboy wallpaper in the one bedroom in a project.

    The kitchen actually has a built in cooktop at the end of the "unit" that forms one run of cabinets in the kitchen--it looks like one of those GE things from the 1950s--and a freestanding range on the other wall. The built-in one probably died and there is not a lot of room underneath. Friends of mine had to replace it with Miele which was the only thing thin enough.

  • emilymch
    Original Author
    6 years ago
    The cowboy wallpaper is so fun, Pal! Was your project recent? Is the wallpaper still made?
  • bpath
    6 years ago

    Holy cow, I just saw the listing and hopped on here to share it, but you beat me to it! Isn't it cool? Although for me it may be trying too hard on the inside, all that strong paint, and in the bathroom I think the TP would get too many drips from the sink, but what about that cool kitchen with integrated sink AND cooktop! Not so MCM but very crafty and I might steal the idea, is the old louvered closet doors as privacy panels on the porch.

    cute cowboy wallpaper.

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Personally, I think the original decor would have been kind of like Ingrid Bergman's Miami house in Notorious. Softer, more elegant, no plastic:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrXM7dC9PoQ

    Start watching at about 2:48. The bedroom in detail comes after the Key Biscayne drunk driving scene.

  • cawaps
    6 years ago

    The price seems very low. I don't know the Baltimore market specifically, but I know DC housing prices are high.

  • robo (z6a)
    6 years ago

    I really like green but that green...wow. Is the backsplash in the kitchen linoleum samples?

  • emilymch
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    cawaps, for that neighborhood and that size, it's actually high, I think! It's hard to say, since there aren't many houses like that in Baltimore, so I think there's a premium due to style. Consider that this house is a few blocks away and is listed at $265:

    https://www.redfin.com/MD/Baltimore/2230-Lake-Ave-21213/home/10776908

    And if you're okay with a rowhouse, you can find one in that area for under $100 (it'd probably need some repairs, but would be livable - depending on your standards!). Compared to DC, Baltimore is CHEAP.

  • palimpsest
    6 years ago

    The wallpaper is a document paper from the 1940s from a company called Carter and Co.-Mount Diablo Handprints. Most of their paper was Victorian era document paper reproduced from pieces in the California and a few other western States. I am not sure they are in business any more. I think Julian Schnabel's wife had this paper in her living room in an apartment in Manhattan, in a different colorway.

    I think the house would have originally been furnished toward the more sophisticated end of the spectrum in Deco Moderne style.

  • palimpsest
    6 years ago

    Re: Notorious, it's interesting that crossover Priscilla sheers with ruffles were seen in a variety of interior styles in the period.

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    6 years ago

    the more sophisticated end of the spectrum in Deco Moderne style.

    Yeah, I could see that, too. But certainly not so many hard surfaces as the current owner has.

  • cawaps
    6 years ago

    Thanks, emilymch. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so almost everywhere else seems low by comparison. DC, though, is not one of them, and I assumed that spilled over (at least somewhat) to the Baltimore area--but apparently not.

    15 years ago, my brother bought a house in Spokane, WA for less than my savings goal for a down payment. I was only a little bit bitter. I had a co-worker who moved back to a suburb of Pittsburgh, who I think was able to buy a house for under $50K around 2000.

  • User
    6 years ago

    I love the house. It almost makes me long for my previous 1940s home (almost!).

    Re those crossover Priscilla sheers: I adore them, and any old movie in which they're featured in the décor always draws me right in. There's something so wholesome and homey about them.

  • PRO
    Lars/J. Robert Scott
    6 years ago

    I like a lot of it, but the kitchen does seem tight. In the photo with the sink, the cabinets above look rusted, and I don't think the fridge opposite the sink could be opened if you try to stand in front of it.

    Pink flamingos in Baltimore makes me think of John Waters.

    Some of it has a 1980s Memphis feel, which I always liked. I also like the pastel colors in the bathroom.

    I had cowboy wallpaper in my bedroom (in Texas) in the 1950s, which I hated, but mine was more like this. I did not like cowboys as a child but did dress as an Indian when playing cowboys and Indians. I had a chenille bedspread with a cowboy riding a bronco back then which I also hated, but it would probably have camp value today.

  • Fun2BHere
    6 years ago

    I think it would be fun to stay in for a weekend.

  • bbnny
    6 years ago

    I lived in an apartment with one of those one piece GE kitchen units with the matching metal upper cabinets. I loved it! It was turquoise and the inside of the matching fridge was pink. There was even a pull-out dishwasher. The oven was beneath the range in my unit.

  • teeda
    6 years ago

    Love this. The furnishings don't do it any favors though--I think I'd rather see it empty. Would be so much fun to redecorate and rent it out as a retro getaway.

  • schoolhouse_gw
    6 years ago

    I can see where some would think it fun, but not my cup of tea. Don't care for the colors either.

  • palimpsest
    6 years ago

    I think I would prefer it in more typical or appropriate Northern Deco White or pale grey.

  • Lars
    6 years ago

    Schoolhouse, I agree that the teapot collection is not that great - too many that are too similar. I've had roommates with much better, larger, and more varied teapot collections.

  • powermuffin
    6 years ago

    Love it!

  • schoolhouse_gw
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    lol, Lars! - I think you were making a joke, but in case you weren't it wasn't just the tea pot collection that I didn't care for. It's the entire house. In fact, I might go back and check out the pots. : )

    And actually, the shade of green seems appropriate for the style of house.