# I'm so jealous of this lady's 1950's inspired decor. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2012, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742 "2012-06-01T06:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/1 "2012-06-01T06:09:25Z")
I’ve been a fan of the 1950’s home decor all my life. My mom & dad gave me the end tables and coffee table from their first home after marrying in 1958. I refinished the wood years ago. I wasn’t born until the mid 60’s and never really saw the 1950’s decor except on tv shows. I’m drooling at these pictures. Such a gorgeous home decor. Sadly my SO doesn’t share the love. 😛 Won’t be buying Salmon paint anytime soon. Dang it. I love Salmon. I had a battle just keeping my parents end tables and coffee table in the den. Feast your eyes. Such an amazing retro look. > **[A salmon-coloured carpet, avocado green bed cover and blonde wood EVERYWHERE:...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2152154/A-salmon-coloured-carpet-avocado-green-bed-cover-blonde-wood-EVERYWHERE-How-Fifties-fanatic-transformed-home-homage-mid-century-decor.html)** > > Jennie Cluck, 36, and a vintage furniture enthusiast, bought the Tulsa, Oklahoma property seven years ago and set about restoring the original 1950s design. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/2 "2012-06-01T07:37:22Z")
I found one wiki article on mid century design. Basically the 1950’s and early 60’s was all about clean contemporary lines. Modern surfaces like steel, chrome, & plastic laminates. Open floor spaces with no clutter. I especially like the geometric shapes in the lamps of that period. The clean, simple lines in the furniture. If I were to design my home. I’d use a little pop of 1950’s sea green and salmon. I wouldn’t go crazy with it like the article I linked. A little color goes a long way. The contemporary look will never go totally out of style. It’s something I really like. > [@](#): > > Mid-century modernism, however, was much more organic in form and less formal than the International Style. Brazilian and Scandinavian architects were very influential at this time, with a style characterized by clean simplicity and integration with nature. Like many of Wright’s designs, Mid-Century architecture was frequently employed in residential structures with the goal of bringing modernism into America’s post-war suburbs. This style emphasized creating structures with ample windows and open floor-plans with the intention of opening up interior spaces and bringing the outdoors in. Many Mid-century houses utilized then-groundbreaking post and beam architectural design that eliminated bulky support walls in favor of walls seemingly made of glass. Function was as important as form in Mid-Century designs, with an emphasis placed specifically on targeting the needs of the average American family. Examples of residential Mid-Century modern architecture are frequently referred to as the California Modern style. > **[Mid-century modern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Century_modern)** > > Mid-century modern (MCM) is a movement in interior design, product design, graphic design, architecture and urban development that was present in all the world, but more popular in North America, Brazil and Europe from roughly 1945 to 1970 during the United States's post-World War II period. > MCM-style decor and architecture have seen a major resurgence that began in the late 1990s and continues today. > The term was used as early as the mid-1950s, and was defined as a design movement by Cara Gree... ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/3 "2012-06-01T09:45:55Z")
I love the lamps. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/4 "2012-06-01T10:05:19Z")
Cover it with a thick sheen of cigarette smoke and general grime, and it could be my grandfather’s house. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/5 "2012-06-01T11:46:51Z")
Remembering the old apartments I lived in and tried to keep all that bathroom grout clean is making me naustalgic. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/6 "2012-06-01T12:28:49Z")
I was groovin’ until I got to that bathroom wallpaper. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/7 "2012-06-01T12:35:56Z")
It looks like a Lileks article come to life. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/8 "2012-06-01T16:18:01Z")
I love it!!! If you are into this stuff, check out [http://retrorenovation.com/](http://retrorenovation.com/). They have lots of people doing these kinds of renos, and also show pictures of what they call “Time Capsules” up for sale. A Time Capsule is a house that is unchanged from the 50’s, usually because it had the same owner who dies. It’s amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Flip\_Pancake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f1d935/32.png) [@Flip\_Pancake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flip_Pancake)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/9 "2012-06-01T16:19:39Z")
The [Mid-Century Modernist](http://midcenturymodernist.com/category/architecture-and-interiors/houses-homes/) is a nifty blog you might like. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/10 "2012-06-01T16:21:38Z")
I love that style of fireplace. What is it called? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/11 "2012-06-01T17:52:07Z")
As a museum installation - excellent! As a fun place to rent for a weekend vacation - way cool! But living there? I don’t think so - the furniture doesn’t look all that comfortable and some of those patterns and colors would start to drive me bonkers in a short time. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/12 "2012-06-01T17:52:10Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Remembering the old apartments I lived in and tried to keep all that bathroom grout clean is making me **naustalgic**. (emphasis added) Is that like nostalgia for the nausea engendered by those colors? I like the lines of the furniture, expecially the wood tables, but I can’t abide the colors. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/13 "2012-06-01T18:08:23Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Basically the 1950’s and early 60’s was all about clean contemporary lines. The odd thing is that you can _see_ it in the original example - which is much more tasteful than I was expecting - but in the wrong hands it was so easy to turn this kind of minimalism into something awful. E.g James Lilek’s [_Interior Desecrations_](http://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html), which is what I generally associate with mid-century design. Albeit that he’s writing about the fag-end of mid-century design. The dregs. As a British person, I think of the 1950s looking like [_10 Rillington Place_](http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews28/10_rillington_place.htm), or the John Hurt version of _1984_, on account of the bomb damage and the general economic collapse. In America they had Americana, juke boxes and big cars. We had bricks, lots of bricks, and gas mask satchels. I guess the reason for awful kitsch rubbish is that most people didn’t have the time and money to do it _right_, see. Every era’s design looks good when it’s done right - just as every political idea seems good when it’s done right - but it’s not usually done right. The examples in magazines are artificially perfect, just like cooking. The meals in the book are nicer than reality. The women are more attractive in films than real life. Same with the rooms at the top of the page. Also, was literally _everything_ in the late 1960s, early 1970s [mustard](http://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/BHG/chpt4/index.html) and orange and yellow and pea-green? How is it that for a few years every woman looked like [this](http://carlysimonalbumcovers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/no-secrets-1972.html) and then suddenly they didn’t? Some kind of weird genetic aberration? Literally? ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/14 "2012-06-01T18:51:28Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > Also, was literally _everything_ in the late 1960s, early 1970s [mustard](http://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/BHG/chpt4/index.html) and orange and yellow and pea-green? How is it that for a few years every woman looked like [this](http://carlysimonalbumcovers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/no-secrets-1972.html) and then suddenly they didn’t? Some kind of weird genetic aberration? Literally? [This picture](http://www.flickr.com/photos/27108728@N07/4202621458/in/set-72157622916555143) of me in an extremely unsafe yellow high chair in 1976 suggests quite possibly. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/15 "2012-06-01T18:57:49Z")
Nah - I grew up living with that crap, those kinds of designs. That’s why my imaginary dream home is an arts and crafts or mission style cottage, filled with Stickley furniture, Rookwood ceramics, with some Frank Lloyd Wright design thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/16 "2012-06-01T19:14:12Z")
There is no shot of the kitchen. It cannot be authentic unless there are avocado or Harvest gold Formica counter tops. ---
**Author:** ![hunter909](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/439d5e/32.png) [@hunter909](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hunter909)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/17 "2012-06-01T20:16:57Z")
And a giant wooden spoon and fork on the wall ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/18 "2012-06-01T20:50:51Z")
And a plant in a macrame hanger in the kitchen window. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/19 "2012-06-01T21:02:15Z")
It’s not complete without my china pattern: [Starburst pattern by Franciscan China](http://www.replacements.com/webquote/images.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742/20 "2012-06-01T21:37:30Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > I love it!!! If you are into this stuff, check out [http://retrorenovation.com/](http://retrorenovation.com/). They have lots of people doing these kinds of renos, and also show pictures of what they call “Time Capsules” up for sale. A Time Capsule is a house that is unchanged from the 50’s, usually because it had the same owner who dies. It’s amazing. Want. That. Fridge. NOW!!! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-jealous-of-this-ladys-1950s-inspired-decor/623742.md?page=2)