True Home Restorations

08/19/2025

When a house I’ve worked on pops up for sale, it’s bittersweet for me. This was a gem of a project with delightful clients. I can easily assume they’ve outgrown this space as their family has grown, but dang, it’s still so so good!!

In case you’re in the market for a move-in-ready retro ranch. 🙂

$700,000 — https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/860-Allen-Dr-Holland-MI-49423/74197104_zpid/

06/06/2025

I don’t sell midcentury homes, but I do share mostly Michigan MCM homes for sale over at Mid Mod Mich.

Last night I was invited to my first broker open house, which I accepted the invite and met my friend Anna there.

Thanks for the invite, the house tour, and very yummy food & drinks, Elizabeth Oakley Real Estate!

Are you in the market for a Michigan MCM house?? If so, you’ll love my other page too!!

06/04/2025

I swapped out my own porch rug this week and I’m loving the change. The more colorful one is the new one, and the former one went to another cool MCM house right here in Grand Haven!

05/22/2025

If you have ever googled anything about midcentury modernism, you’ve likely come across Della Hansmann on Mid Mod Midwest.

Della does an exceptional job of putting quality MCM content out into the universe. She invited me to talk with her a couple of weeks ago, and if you’re into podcasts, you can hear us chat about midcentury modernism, my MCM-inspired interior design, and terrible midcentury policies that still shape neighborhoods today (mine included), such as redlining.

I wish I could have included all the awesome projects I’ve worked on over the last 10(!!) years, but I could not. I included more of my work here for you to ogle.😜

Here’s the link to her post with the podcast embedded right in it — https://midmod-midwest.com/aletha-vandermaas/

05/04/2025

04/24/2025

It is time to share my inspiration for my own house, v.2, as we plan to kick off mid-June. We bought our home in 2012 and spent a year working on it. I didn’t know much about authentic midcentury design elements, and I wish I had done more research.

I went too trendy and made decisions based on cost. It was a mistake, as now I’ll redo those cheap choices. Paint is easy enough to fix, but the wood floors need to be sanded down, and the tile bathrooms need retiling.

That leads to 2025 — the year I right my design wrongs! Work has slowed down to a snail’s pace (thanks, looming tariffs & general economic instability…) so it’s time I put some effort into my house.

I want a toned down, earthy color palette to go with our warm sandstone fireplace & orange brick. All our cabinetry is orangey-teak, and our floors will be light maple. I have gorgeous chrome lights throughout (one design detail I got right!) and I only plan on swapping the boring white lights in our laundry room.

Here’s the full Pinterest link for anyone else inspired by this palette — https://pin.it/1rkL5hHCY

Anyone else planning a major DIY refresh this year?? I’ve been collecting items secondhand (pinch-pleat drapes! pillows! art!) and plan to work on what I can to make things feel fresh, collected, and vintage.

Happy designing, MidModLovers!!

04/23/2025

Do you know I have a second FB page where I share vintage floor plans AND Michigan MCM homes for sale?!

Come join in the discussions and house fun over at Mid Mod Mich!!

Another sprawling, wide gable roofline for you to ponder! I don’t always love a forward-face garage door, but this one doesn’t bother me as much as others have.

[Also, I want to note, I personally have a forward-facing garage at my own house and it bugs me every day, yet, I have survived. 😜 Just because I mention I don’t love something, doesn’t mean I hate it and want to burn the place down.]

04/21/2025