Vintage Style Files

Posts Tagged ‘retro decor’

A Perfectly Pink 50’s Bathroom

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Pink was THE representative color of the 1950s.  It’s popularity is attributed to first lady, Mamie Eisenhower, who loved the shade so much it became known as “Mamie Pink”.  She even decorated the presidential bedroom in it, right down to the monogrammed wastebasket.  Reporters even started calling the White House the “Pink Palace.” And when she was staying in an adjoining suite at a Denver Hospital, where Ike was recovering from a heart attack, she even had a pink toilet seat flown in.   I guess she figured if  you’re gonna make a stink,   you might as well do it on pink! I know, I know, that was tacky. But  I just couldn’t resist!

Personally, I’d love to have a 50s pink bathroom like the one pictured below.  It’s a nice, soft blush shade  and I’ll bet it would make your complexion look rosier!

The wall/divider with a vanity on each side is a great idea. Of course, you’d have to have quite a bit of space to make this work. But I love how it looks.   Combined with other shades, like the grey and black terrrazo like flooring,  and the woodtone cabinets,  it  makes the pink bathroom look a little less “girly”.  The flooring is actually Armstrong Mosaic Corlon. I’m sure they don’t make that pattern any more. But if they did, I’d put in my kitchen or bathroom in a heartbeat!

So what do you think of a bathroom in pink? Would it be your pick, or just make you sick?

1950s bathroom in "Mamie Pink"

1950s bathroom in "Mamie Pink"

Road Trip

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

It’s that time of year again! I’m on the road, working my way up the east coast, heading for New England in search of groovy and glamorous vintage clothing for my business. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it! Really, how can you not love a job that involves shopping for a living? Plus, the two great girls I have working for me are taking care of business while I’m off tracking down new stuff. So no worries about getting orders out while I’m away. Sweet!

Of course, all the driving I’m doing can be quite exhausting. So it’s imperative I take a break occasionally to poke around in the little out of the way antique shops I find along the way. I don’t always find vintage clothes, but I always find something, even if it’s just the entertainment I get from just looking at all the old, weird and wonderful things I come across.

Take today for instance. I totally struck out in the vintage clothing department. Found a whole booth full of vintage dresses, but unfortuately none were in the kind of condition I prefer to offer on my website. Boo Hoo! It always makes me so sad to see beautiful vintage clothing all distressed, especially when it has high price tags on it!

But I was able to buy myself about ten vintage fashion magazines from the 40s, 50s and 60s for between 3.00 and 6.00 a piece. That kind of cheered me up a bit.

Anyway I took some pictures of some things that caught my eye while I was poking around.

The excrutiatingly adorable vintage wall clock with cherries on it and cute cannister set would be in my car right now if I didn’t already have a perfectly nice vintage clock and kitchen cannister set already. It did make me think about getting rid of the others just to have these. If I could only afford a second home!

Cheery cherry clock

Cheery cherry clock

Vintage kitchen cannister set

Vintage kitchen cannister set

Here are a pair of 1960’s Andrew Geller black patent leather stilletos I had the misfortune of discovering. Misfortune, because no matter how hard I tried I could not squash my feet into them. Note to self. When you get home talk to podiatrist about severing a few toes to accomodate fabulous, but narrow, vintage high heels. (just kidding) But aren’t these amazing with the red dots on them?

60s Andrew Geller black patent leather stilleto heels

60s Andrew Geller black patent leather stilleto heels

This next display brought back some lovely childhood memories. Back in the 60s my mom always kept a bowl of plastic fruit on the table. It was popular back then for people to display plastic fruit for some strange reason.

I remember them so clearly, even though I was very young, because my Mom used them as a disciplinary tool. That’ s right. I was a victim of child fruit abuse. My mom used to wing them at me and my sisters when we pissed her off. Instead of spanking us, she would throw the plastic fruit at us. She missed most of the time, since we always ran away. It’s tough to hit a moving target you know. And we always laughed at her when she was doing it. So apparently this method of behavior modification failed miserably.

But seeing this bowl of fruit today brought back those memories of flying plastic pineapples, plums and peaches and actually made me smile! I sure miss my Mom and I’d give anything to have her here chucking fruit at me again!

Plastic fruit display in vintage bowl

Plastic fruit display in vintage bowl

Of course it was only a matter of time before I came across some creepy and weird things to kill my happy nostalgia buzz. First of all, I don’t like dolls , clowns or trolls. There are too many movies about dolls that come alive and wreak havoc and kill people and stuff, like that one in the Trilogy of Terror series in 1975, never mind the Chucky movies. They’re always just sitting there staring blankly into space. But they don’t fool me. Same with the clowns. They’re up to no good, I tell ya. And trolls are just plain ugly.

These are things nightmares are made of. I’m going to have trouble sleeping tonight because I can’t get these images out of my mind. I mean look at her. And is that the freakish child she spawned that’s sitting next to her? The condition she’s in, she’s bound to have revenge in mind.

This doll has nothing to lose.

This doll has nothing to lose.

Let me guess, a clown mated with a wishnik and now we have this hideous hybrid of the doll world.

A troll/clown hybrid. It can't get worse than this.

A troll/clown hybrid. It can't get worse than this.

And last but not least. I did a double take when I spotted this. Ok, I know it’s a shoemaker. But at first glance, you have to ask yourself, what the heck has he got going on there? Like, “hey, maybe that extra dose of Viagra wasn’t such a good idea after all!” Ok, maybe it’s me.

Old man getting ready to wack away!

Old man getting ready to wack away!

1950s Kitchen Design Inspirations

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Kitchens in the 50s had such an optimistic look about them.   I think that’s why they appeal to me  so much.   All those delicious pastel colors and those cool space age appliances. The war was over, the economy was booming, people were into entertaining.  Their home decorating was a reflection of their postive outlook  on the future.    Maybe that’s why we don’t see so much of that type of cheerful decor anymore!

Here are some scans of 50s kitchens for design inspiration, in case you’re inclined to do a makeover, which I highly recommend.  It’s always nice to come home and unwind in an uplifting retro environment,  after a tough day of  trying to hold onto your job!  And if you can get someone to greet you at the door with an ice cold martini, that would be nice as well.

1956 kitchen. Love the combination of aqua cabinets on top, yellow on the bottom and red floor.

1956 kitchen. These are steel cabinets and I'm loving the yellow and aqua color combination with the red floor.

Cozy little kitchen nook with fabulous 50s dinette set.

Cozy little kitchen nook with fabulous 50s dinette set.

1956 dishwasher. No need to bend over to fill and empty.  My back would like that!

1956 dishwasher. No need to bend over to fill and empty. My back would like that!

1956 Fooderama by Kelvinator.  Anyone whose refrigerator and freezer are that organized need to be heavily medicated.

1956 Foodarama by Kelvinator. Anyone whose refrigerator and freezer are that organized needs to be heavily medicated. But look at all the scrumptious colors it came in.

Note the hanging gelatin molds, which are a very cute  design element for a retro kitchen.  But whatever you do, don’t ever use them! I mean, really, did you ever see some of the nasty, gut curdling stuff that spawned from those molds?  Things like this.

jello

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Anyway, back to 50s kitchens.   I  recently happened upon this fun and informative website called Retro Renovation.  It is  full of great design ideas for decorating in vintage style, with sources for where you can get some of the stuff you’ll need to give your space that authentic retro look. For example, I’ve been trying forever to find that metal edging that wraps around 50s counter tops and they’ve tracked down a company that supplies it.  Pretty much made my day.

Housewives that are living la vida retro

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Ran across this interesting article about three ladies in England who have chosen to completely immerse themselves in the  lifestyle of their favorite eras.

I love the name the author gives them, “Time Warp Wives”. Reminds me of the title of a B science fiction movie.

Here’s an excerpt.

“The credit crunch, a knife crime epidemic - no wonder so many of us are sick of the 21st century. Most of us just grumble, but some women have taken radical action to escape what they see as the soulless grind of modern life. Meet the ‘Time Warp Wives’, who believe that life, especially marriage, was far more straightforward in the Thirties, Forties and Fifties.”

You can read the rest here.

Joanne loves being a 1950s housewife. Love her kitchen!

Joanne feels like she's living in a 50s tv show. Love that kitchen!!

I admire how these women have decorated their homes and  the fact that they always wear vintage clothing.  They never go out without being fully made up and properly accessorized.  It’s  strange that people sometimes laugh at them when they’re out and about.  Obviously I’m biased, but I’d much rather see someone impeccably attired in period fashion, then in the type of  hideously unflattering, trashy or slovenly clothing I observe people wearing on a daily basis.  At least it takes creativity and imagination for these ladies to put their outfits together.  Something that is severely lacking in the wardrobes of the general public today.

Debbie loves the 40s and tries to make her home perfect for her husband.

Debbie loves the 40s and tries to make her home perfect for her husband.

These not so desperate housewives enjoy living in complete domestic bliss, creating a lovely home environment for their breadwinner husbands.  Now the whole retro decor thing and dressing in period fashion is right up my alley.    But as a woman who grew up in the liberating 60s, I’ve never even once entertained the thought of being a traditional housewife.   All around me women were fighting for equal rights, burning their bras and starting careers.  I grew up believing women had to go out into the workplace and prove themselves, that the skills required of a housewife, and mother would never garner the respect that you’d get from some corporate position.   Of course, many years and careers later, myself and many of my female friends now realize you can be unappreciated, unfulfilled and disrespected in just about any job and that managing a household and children, and doing it well, is an amazing accomplishment.  It is nice to know, though, that women now have more options than they did back then.

But  if these ladies have chosen to live the role of a traditional housewife of the past as a way to cope with the present, then who am I to judge?  At least their form of escapism doesn’t involve drugs, alcohol or other destructive behaviors that many people engage in to deal with the stresses of modern day life.

Diane's love affair with the 30's started with the big band music she listened to as a teenager.

Diane's love affair with the 30's started with the big band music she listened to as a teenager.

What do you think? If given the opportunity, would you like to live like these retro housewives? And, if so, what would be your favorite era to relive?

Retro Holiday Gift Picks

Saturday, November 17th, 2007

Looking for cute, inexpensive items to give your retro and vintage loving friends and family? Check out the fun stuff for sale at Retro Redheads .  Here are a few of my favorites, but they’ve got tons of other great things including festive vintage tablecloths, souvenir linens and unique glassware.

Absolutely adore their cherry design switchplates and nightlights . I’m thinking I need to have these for my kitchen to match my vintage fruit print curtains.  Any family members reading this? HINT! HINT!

The single switchplate is only $12.00, the double $15.00 and the nightlight is $19.99. 

Retro_switchplate_1

This sweet candy elf diorama tree ornament would make an especially unique nostagic hostess gift.  Only $13.00 and they have limited quantities.

Elf_ornament

This cheerful vintage style luncheon set , with  red gingham tablecloth and cute matching cherry print napkins in 100% cotton, is quite the bargain at $28.00.

Gingham_luncheon_set

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