Your most important mid century accessory: Monsterosa!

I acquired this photo for a post on mid century wall-to-wall carpeting, but that will have to wait 'til later. Today's post is about arguably your most important retro reno room accessory: a Monsterosa Deliciosa plant!

You can see it in the foreground of this image - to the left of the fireplace. When we first moved into our 1951 ranch, we bought one right away, for our large living room.

Our daughter named it -- PAVA, for Plant And Vine Agent. My husband takes care of it religiously and it's thrived. Just recently he made an awesome moss pole for it. PAVA really makes a huge difference in our interior in terms of giving it an authentic retro feel! Mind you, these do get big, so plan for the space.

Wednesday eBay pick of the day: Vintage Ice Crusher

I have one of these, exact same model, in my kitchen - and it is fantastic...really heavy duty, works great, and terrific looking. My ice crusher is white - but I also really love the color described here...sounds like a light chartreuse, which is a great mid-century color. For example -- scroll down two postings and see how well this would go with yesterday's eBay pick, the barkcloth curtains! Buy them both, and you've got a great basis for a new retro reno kitchen look!

Here's the eBay url: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270174473130&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017#ebayphotohosting