Casey and Mike Daboll started acquiring vintage furniture and collectibles long before they bought a home. So from the time they first entered what is now their 1954 California ranch-style house in southwest Denver, the couple knew it would be a perfect fit.
For the Dabolls have an affinity for all things retro. She’s a hospital case manager who collects period clothing and dances in local burlesque shows, and he’s a computer systems administrator who sings and plays guitar in the Denver blues-punk band The Omens. The couple was drawn to this house because of its many original details.
The 1,475-square foot, L-shaped abode was designed by California architect Cliff May. He’s largely credited with popularizing ranch-style homes beginning in the 1930s.
The couple says their neighborhood includes 120 such homes, but many have been updated over the years, making period touches such as the brown-and-white Chiclets tiles in the Dabolls’ entryway a rare find.
When the Dabolls saw that the original kitchen was intact, the deal was sealed. Not every potential buyer would appreciate the pink metal cabinets, black countertops, built-in grill and push-button range controls. But these two were thrilled.
“I think houses find their people,” Casey Daboll says. “When we walked in here, we knew this one was the one for us.”
Like all of May’s homes, the Dabolls’ house is designed to be livable, open and filled with light. A low-vaulted ceiling and triangular clerestory windows add sunlight throughout the home, and two sets of large sliding doors just off the family room and dining area connect the interior to the outside. The floor plan offers minimal walls between rooms to give the illusion of more space. “I love how it’s open,” Casey Daboll says. “It feels bigger than it is.”
Once this part-time burlesque performer settled into her pink-and-
black kitchen, she set out to find pieces that complemented the design scheme. One early salvage conquest arrived in a set of square pink Melmac plates and bowls.
“It’s hard to find a complete set,” she says. An even more unusual find was a pale pink dinette set – complete with padded pink vinyl chairs, pink laminated table top and tubular chrome table legs.
In the living room, mix-and-
match pieces achieve cohesion through modern lines and neutral colors. A slim, chocolate-brown vintage sofa was chosen for its built-in end table. The squared-off edges and boxy designs of the walnut coffee table and sage-and-beige lounge chair tie the room together. The sharp, angled lines are softened by a few rounded decorative pieces. Two olive-green glass bottles add contrasting shapes atop a bi-level end table. A reissue of a ’50s-era George Nelson bubble lamp contributes simple, elegant curves to the room.
A vibrant family room displays many of the couple’s unique items. “This is my favorite room,” Casey says. “I wanted a room without a TV, so this is the party room.”
Anchoring the space is a stately and functional 1957 Seeburg Select-O-Matic jukebox stocked with vintage 45s by such artists as Booker T. & the MG’s, Link Wray and Wanda Jackson. “I’ve had this jukebox since I was a little girl,” she says. “But Mike was the first person who ever thought it was cool.”
The room contains several other key pieces: a high-backed Bertoia “Bird” lounge chair and matching ottoman, sculpted from bent-metal rods and covered in original orange upholstery, was a small splurge at more than $1,000.
A white vinyl Overman swivel chair sits opposite the Bertoia chair, and frames the focal point of the room, a bold, splashy abstract painting by David Gibson. Black and white zebra swirls spin dizzily against the bright orange background of the painting, made even more striking against a single lime-
green wall.
Though the furnishings add clean lines and geometric structure to each room’s design, the Dabolls use art and collectibles to add whimsy and personality to each space. “We’ve always been into quirky ’50s stuff, even before we bought this house,” says Mike. “I like things that are oddball and different or even weird, and anything futuristic, atomic, or Jetsons-looking. I get bored with normal stuff.”
One of his favorite discoveries is a pair of small Oriental watercolor prints. “These are typical of the mid-’50s, but I’m proud of them mostly because I got them for $3 at the ARC (thrift store). ”
Casey has a similarly favored collectible. “These are seriously my favorite things,” she says, pointing out two small tiki trinkets, a kitschy ceramic creamer and sugar set shaped into smiling Hawaiian monkeys, garbed in grass skirts and leis. “In a fire, I’d grab the monkeys.”
It’s taken a few years to put all the pieces together, but the Dabolls are pleased with the results of their efforts. Then again, for this couple, collecting vintage treasures is more than a means to an end.
“We still trek around to find new stuff for the house,” says Mike. “It’s sort of a present to ourselves.”
Casey agrees that the goal is more about finding items that suit their style than perfecting the look of the house. “I don’t really try too hard to pull things together. If I like something, I buy it. I can always find a place for it to go.”
