Home dec sewing is always fun. Unlike clothing, the fruits of your labor is usually seen everyday,  so the return on the investment of time is greater.
When sewing for this retro ‘50’s kitchen, I was enthusiastic but a little leery. Several months into their courtship, my son-in-law Harvey purchased this house, a few miles from my daughter’s career girl house. It looked like they would soon have a more permanent relationship, but when they both asked me to help decorate his ‘50’s retro kitchen I wondered just how much design leeway I would have. I knew Rebecca would give me carte blanche to do as I wished, but I was not so sure the new homeowner himself would be as liberal.  Frankly, I was not much interested in a sewing project that had limitations on my creative expression.
There was another concern. Much as I liked this young man and thought he would make a wonderful husband for my daughter (I WAS SOOOO RIGHT!!!) I was reluctant to invest much time in what could end up as his long-term bachelor pad. But they were both so enthusiastic about the project that I decided to gamble on a long-term investment. Three months later, they were engaged and in 10 months more were married. I wish our investments generated dividends so quickly and so well!
The house and neighborhood remind me of where Wally and The Beaver grew up. The homes are all 1950 vintage, with well kept lawns and laughing children riding bikes and playing in the tree lined streets. For all its charm, the kitchen’s pink and black color scheme posed a significant challenge for a man’s kitchen. Even then, it was clear that this would be gourmet-cook Harvey’s kitchen even if and when they married.
We decided on a flamingo theme, because we had to work with pink and black and it was better than French poodles.  We found three nice coordinating pieces of decorator fabric: black with pink flamingos, a multicolored stripe and a polka dot in the same colors.
The window valance was very easy. A simple straight piece of stripe, lined with the flamingo fabric is tied up with the polka dot. I thought it was contemporary and yet masculine.
The bar stool pads are just remakes of the original faded nondescript cushions. Pot holders, oven mitts and dishtowels were embroidered with flamingos. Embroidery Library www.emblibrary.com has a cute collection of seasonal flamingos featuring their character Flamingo Floyd. Rebecca always keeps one of these timely towels on the counter.
Flamingo Floyd April showers
I was especially pleased with the place mat frames and napkins of which I have no picture. My earlier placemat attempt was made of the flamingo decorator fabric, but they faded badly.  Home fabric is not meant to be heavily or even regularly laundered.
Flamingo Floyd dishtowel
So I made what amounted to a place mat holder out of the striped fabric. It was about 1″ larger than heavy, washable black placentas. The edges of the holder/frame were folded over about 1 1/2″ and mitred at the corners. The placemat then slides into the frame and is easily removed for washing. Everyday black napkins were embroidered with a small pink flamingo. Along the stitches of the 1/2″ hem, a jeans stitch was worked in bright pink thread. The bead-stitch look was effective.
Later, at an antique shop, I found a row of hooks mounted below pink flamingos.  Household keys hang on this. With the very heavy retro chrome waffle iron, blender and pink MixMaster, the addition of seasonal flamingo dishtowels add just the right touch to what could be June Cleaver’s kitchen with a dollop of testosterone.
