Can you guess what decade this autumn hued home is from?

✯ Day 296 of Vintage 365 ✯

{Image via my Vintage Home Decor Pinterest board; originally sourced from American Vintage Home on Flickr.}

 

It sports a palette of earthy, autumnal hues in shades of woodsy brown, rusty orange, concrete grey, and faded buttercup. Has plenty of blond wood, an unfussy sofa, and includes a bold square pattern fabric in the form of curtains and upholstered chairs. All of these elements working together to channel a sense of the late 1960s

The mood, helped no doubt by the large living room lamp with its eye-catching tangerine hued shade, is warm and mellow - you can almost envision a fondue pot or raclette being carried to the relatively small dining room table any moment now. Surely this room, you're naturally thinking, must be from the 70s.

It's not however, nor is it from the sixties. Though the hues, clean lines and mid-century furniture might have you thinking you're ready for anything from Woodstock to Studio 54, yet fans decades prior to those will be delighted to know that, in fact, this unique (for the period) home hails from 1953.

Indeed, many years before a palette that seemed to partially have its dial tuned to fall time took home decor by storm, this house - complete with dark orange ceilings and kitschy little knickknack shelves in the dining room - foresaw the colour trend that was coming (and which would last for a good part of two decades).

Yet, as one looks really closely, you can sense somehow that it's not a house from the 60s or 70s. There's something, a subtle vibe that's redolent of an earlier era, that lets viewers know they're dealing with the 1950s.

It's little touches like the hanging copper lamp, thick (indoor!) wood shutters, and built-in bookcases that speak of the fifties and the remains of more classic American style that still lingered during the decade.

Though I'm much more of a fan of the pastel and candy hues of the fifties (pink, aqua, mint green, and soft lemon, for example), I found myself instantly and completely drawn to this distinct home. Given how wonderfully suited its colours are to fall and certainly Halloween, too, and that we're knee-deep in October, I tend to think that the time of the year is why such is the case.

Or perhaps, I simply enjoyed the fact that such an unexpected marriage of hues popped up in a house well before the wild days of the 1960s and 70s had even come close to starting.

After all, once a 1950s home decor lover, always a 1950s home decor lover!

A real contender for the pinkest vintage bathroom of all time!

✯ Day 148 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

When I look at the image below, I'm instantly reminded of the classic expression, "in for a penny, in for a pound". However in this instance, the indulgence is not so much one of spending money, but rather of the judicious use of one single hue.

Bursting forth at every seem with a riot of monochromatic colour, this bathroom from 1958 is decked out from head to toe (or more accurately, tub to toilet) in blush pink!

The tiles, the vanity, the matching shower curtain and drapes, the towels - nearly everything is as pink as a stick of bubble gum. And like chewing gum, it has an unmistakable sweetness and appeal that's quick to spot and hard to shake off.

{Incredibly pink vintage bathroom image from the pages of the fall and winter Montgomery Ward catalog of 1958. Image via the terrific pages of saltycotton on Flickr.}

While it takes a lot (!) of commitment to cover any room in your house with just one single bright colour, there's something to be said for - and admired about - those with the decorating moxie to pull it off.

Pink is my absolute favourite colour of all time, but even I would have to stop and really ponder if I could adorn my whole powder room in this girly, pretty, cotton candy inspired hue.

For those who are looking to add a little - or a whole lot - of pink to their vintage inspired and decorated bathrooms, this blazingly pink beauty is certainly one to save for the inspiration file.

While you may not be yearning for quite such a liberal dose of rose, if this is one colour you love and would enjoy adorning your bathroom - or for that matter, any room in your house - with, you'd be hard pressed to find a more pink example of home 1950s home decor anywhere!

A great 1950s example of decorating a dual purpose room

✯ Day 102 of Vintage 365 ✯

While definitely vividly hued and inviting, there's nothing (save perhaps for those cheerful candy cane-esque chairs) that really sets this living-slash-dinning room from 1955 apart from what many similar rooms of the era looked like, and that is precisely why I like it.

This modest sized corner looks homey and cosy. It's lived in and filled with various decor elements, but stops effectively short of being needlessly busy. Instead of being a grandly designed living room or dining room all on its own, this dual purpose room is one that many apartment, condo, and small house owners are very familiar with: the joint dining and living room (in fact, I'm sitting in exactly such as room in my apartment as I type this post).

It can be a challenge to furnish and attractively decorate such a room, as you need to serve at least two functions yet not have it seem either under or over designed. In my humble abode we use the back of the couch as a natural divider between the dinning area (with it's lovely mahogany wood table and chairs) and the living area, which houses the TV, couch, love seat, coffee table and a pretty dark burgundy hued rug (that matches that curtains running across the windows on both halves of the room).

As my husband is keen on pointing out, there isn't a lot of space in this part of the house, however we both agree it doesn't seem cluttered at all (in fact, I think it could use with a few more adornments, but I'm equally content with how it is for the time being) - and I get that same feeling when I look at this cheery 1950s Modern Living Room (which hails from Miss Retro Modern's enjoyable Flickr stream), with it's punchy bursts of lipstick red, cool snowflake white, and creamy pea soup green rugs and sofa.

This strikes me as a young person or couple's room, created as many are with an array of different practical items (table and chairs, shelves, seating, etc) that don't clash, yet also don't seem as though they were purposely purchased to all match perfectly.

They're real and honest. Exactly the sort of pieces and colours I'd imagine many younger folks of the era adorning their homes proudly with - and which still serve as home decor inspiration for people of all ages and house size today.

A stellar 1950s example of effectively using grey in home decor

✯ Day 87 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

Grey is having a moment right now (though, to be fair, it's one of those hues that, to my mind, never goes out of style). It's been huge trend for nails, seen splashed across the display windows of shoe stores, and put to work on a myriad of accessories over the past few fashion seasons. Naturally that means it's also permeating the home decor world.

Yet, despite the fact that so often when a certain colour in limelight is treated as if it's only just been discovered for the first time, there is nothing new about grey. The love child of white and black, this colour is elegant and friendly, for it pairs every bit as well as either of those hues with just about any colour under the sun (including the sun itself; grey and yellow can make for a really standout colour combo!).

I think grey is more a exciting home decor option than beige. Though generally a mellow colour, it seems to have the kind of personality that positively comes alive when you match it up with brighter, notice-me shades (like royal blue, kelly green, coral, and marigold). The last time grey really had an interior design moment was the 1980s, but that was no means the first period in which grey captured the attention of home decor fans.

While we often think of houses from the 1950s as being sprinkled with delightfully confectionary-like hues such as soothing turquoise, butter cream yellow, marshmallow white, and taffy pink (and certainly many homes were decked out in these beautiful shades), there are plenty of lovely examples of homes from the fifties that dared to delve into using bolder colours, too.

 

Take for example, this engaging 1950s kitchen. Though somewhat small in size, its layout manages to effectively squeeze in a lot of different decor elements, from a fully stocked fridge to a utterly delightful writing desk nook (and don't even get me started on how cute that built-in magazine rack is!). Here we see a medium strength grey woven through a room that comes alive thanks to punchy pops of strawberry red and snowy white.

While the designer (or home owner) could have just as easily painted the walls white or cream, they went with grey and the look absolutely works. White and red alone might have made this perky kitchen (the image of which comes via saltycotton on Flickr) too taxing on the eyes, but thanks to the introduction of cool grey, the palette becomes grounded and liveable, but still enjoyably exciting.

If I could, I would snap up the layout and colour scheme of this appealing vintage kitchen in a heartbeat, ensuring that both the colour grey and that seriously awesome magazine rack were part of my kitchen's look. Is grey a colour you're feeling - whether in home decor or fashion - this spring, too?