Florida Retro

It was a pink bathroom that convinced Kristen Gubbins and her husband Paul to purchase a small home two years ago in the central Florida community of Avon Park.

“It had 50s features and I could see us living there,” she says. “We just kind of bit the bullet and went for it.”
Earlier that same year, the couple’s Evansville home was featured in the March/April 2014 issue of Evansville Living.

Kristen and Paul — owners of Robot Parade Vintage, a shop on Etsy and Ebay that specializes in vintage clothing and décor — wanted a home in a warmer climate to pass the winter months. Far from the beaches and tourist attractions, the 1,000-square-foot home built in 1959 fits their needs perfectly, says Kristen, and was primed and ready for her and Paul to add their unique Mid Century Modern design.

The Mid Century Modern aesthetic includes many bright colors, says Kristen, as well as clean lines. For their winter home, she balanced the cheery yellows, pinks, and greens with grey and aqua walls. The home has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, features jalousie windows in the kitchen looking out at a garden area, and covered porches on the front and side of the house. Many of the retro décor pieces in the home were already in Kristen’s collection, were overflow from her shop, or found through a local Mid Century Modern Facebook group, Southwestern Indiana Mid Century Modern.
“Mid Century Modern is just something inbred in me,” says Kristen. “I don’t even think about it. It’s just in my DNA.”

The neighborhood the home sits in adds to its quaint charm. A suburban area, the community includes a lake, which is a block from the Gubbins’ home, and the neighbors are “friendly and down to earth.”

“We always say we’re probably the youngest snowbirds in the area,” says Kristen with a laugh. “It’s just really neat that we get to do something like this.”

For more information about the Robot Parade Vintage, visit facebook.com/TheRobotParadeVintage.

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