Bedroom to dream by

From 1,001 decorating ideas, book 19, 1962

Remember the use of pompons in vintage decors that i showed not too long ago?
Here's another great example of pompom decorating.
The distinctive use of white pompom braids gives this contemporary setting, by designer Edmund Motyka, its look of luxury. Applied in rows, it coordinates a spread and a contrasting valance.

Where's my white pompom braid and my sewing kit?

Mr. Adrian Pearsall

I found this add for the Craft Furniture Company in 1,001 Decorating Ideas Magazine, winter edition 1971.
Roomy and Deliciously colorful. Craft furniture is a slice of life. An environment so warm so inviting, you just can't help feeling sociable at all times.

The ad shows the "Suspension Group". 19 Correlated pieces designed to give dozens of different decorating ideas.

Mister Adrian Pearsall has designed a number of chairs and sofas that i can only dream about.
Mr. Pearsall is known for his innovative designs, including the popular beanbag chair. He was the designer and owner of Craft Associates. The company was founded in 1952 and he made it a big success. He also helped young John Graham to start Comfort Designs. He sold Craft in 1969 to the Lane Company and left in 1972 to become a partner in Comfort Designs. I can only imagine what a big inspiration he was to work for, and since many of his previous employees came with him from Craft to Comfort i think i'm right. He retired from the business in the late 90s.

I'm trying to look into his eyes in the picture. He must have been going through a lot with selling his company and starting up a new one, but still working for his old company, just no longer being the boss. This ad was from that time. Was he happy doing this ad? Did he have anything to say about it? I hope so. I hope he felt good about it.

Pompom Galore

Conso Advertisment from 1,001 decorating ideas, summer book 1973.

I think they tried to put as much round fluffyness in this room as possible.
Where else can we put up stings of pompoms?
I do respect them for balancing the room out very well with the choice of furniture.

I can't help to keep thinking, how wonderful would it be for a playful little kitten to live in that room?

Which is the expensive room?

In 1973 this question was asked in 1,001 decorating ideas.
Glance quickly at the two apartment living rooms shown here. Can you guess which cost more?

You guessed right if you guessed the first, because this room, at the time, cost about $5,000; the second one was less than half that amount. The difference in the two rooms is about $2,700. Esthetically, however, there is very little difference. Notice how the yellow-and-green color scheme plays a major role in giving both rooms the same feeling of elegant informality. The biggest savings were made in furniture and accessories.

Supercalifragilistic

From 1,001 decorating ideas Spring/Summer book 1968.

Why not go all out with one pretty pattern in your kid's bedroom?
The smooth enlarging effect of one print in wallpaper and fabric gives the room an optical illustion of spaciousness.

Picture from same source.

Or rejuvenate an old cellar relic chest using a small patterned wallcovering on both the chest and the adjecent wall. Odd pieces of furniture gain a new life and look less like white elephants when they blend into their surroundings.

Supercalifragilistic...!

Black and White and Polkadots

How i wish this photo was in color! It is my opinion it really was meant to be. I found it in a 1,001 decorating ideas book from back in 1967. And it isn't like there aren't any full color photos in there, there are, so why did they choose to print this one in B&W?
The whole idea of this interior is to show of Black and White 'Plus'. Plus color that is.
"Op, Mod, and YOUNG! The black and white patterns and shocking pink accents in chair seat and pillows are fascinatingly reflected in mirror facets on swinging globes, dressing table and cube for TV."
Guess we just have to imagine the shocking pink accents ourselves.

My dream couch

Call me crazy but i think i found my dream couch.

It's from an ad in an 1,001 decorating ideas book from 1975.
A porcelain tub sofa with green vinyl upholstery.
Just imagine it in a less cluttered space on a dark wooden floor.

The ad says "So relax with Naugahyde for awhile. And make home a more refreshing place to live." Yes please. Make my home more refreshing. If that means i can have that couch.

Green eclecticism

Eclecticism - a marriage of the old with the new, the past with the present, and the native with the foreign. It is a challenging treatment that immediately expresses the owner's personality.

Ok, i love a "challenging treatment" and i'm all for eclecticism, but where did the windows go?

Color Coordinate your Closet Space

Woman's Day July 1969
from the article 100 ways to stretch your storage space

Ok, let's be honest. I want this closet. With all its boxes and clever storage tricks. I want all my closets to look like this. Maybe go a little crazy and pick different color themes for different closets. How i dream to be so stylish and organized!

So what are we learning here? If you have a closet with a bit of room inside, you can do like they did back then, build a frame-and-shelf unit and nail it to the door. A strip of lattice is attached to shelf edges to keep things from sliding off.

And how clever, they clipped painted metal bookends to the door to keep rolls of gift wrap organized! One thing i ask myself when, in my mind, i'm already getting my toolbox out, i wonder where i would ever find those triangle book ends!

Oh, here you go, The Kitchen. Tell me you love it.

Hey wasn't putting empty baby food jars under shelfs a big hit like, last year in the crafting blogs? They were already doing the exact same thing, screwing the lids to the shelf, in 1969!
For the record, i'm not hating, if i had a shelf and a collection of babyfood jars, i would want to make that set up too.

I also like the blue baskets holding the utensils on the left very much, they are set on dowels drilled into pine strips. What? Don't ask me, i'm just reading to you what it says in the magazine.. Continue. Dowel ends are finished with wooden knobs.

I must say, their use of color is sublime. You can love it or hate it, but back then they knew what to do with color.
Put it everywhere!

Paint Power in Yellow

From 1,001 decorating ideas book 33 1970

Brush-On Paint Design
Forget about decorating with wallpaper, pictures and mirrors. Open your eyes - and your mind - to painted wall designs, as designer Lawrence Peabody did here. Notice how the free-form supergraphic on wall flows right onto the conversational seating arrangement.

This room makes me very happy. Yellow as the sun. And it looks like the couch is supersoft! I would love to lay down on a velvet coach. Anything soft is good in my book. As a little girl i often walked around with cotton balls in my hand, just to feel that softness. Weird? Not to me.

And the fact that Mr. Lawrence Peabody painted the wall makes the room even more special. One of the most prominent home furnishings designers of the last half of the 20th century. The daughter of late Mr. Peabody once said his mission in life was to beautify everything. I feel that.

My Pretty Vanity

Look what Love surprised me with!
I always wanted a vintage vanity table like this, so he made me very happy.
And it gets better, it doesn't only look pretty, it's very functional too.
The two sides on the top flip open to reveal two large built in jewelry boxes!
Many velvet covered compartments for all my shiny knick knacks. J'adore!
The front drawer is covered with all velvet inside too.

I just can't stop looking at it.

Wall full of whimsy

From 1,001 decorating ideas spring-summer book 1968

Decorating with pictures.
"Etcetera Art" makes delightful, inexpensive picture wall, including cookie cutters and tiny salt spoons (lower left), pasta painting, woven fly swatters dressed up with cords and tassels, trimmed cheese grater turned into wall planter, wire whisk "balloon", and still life of paper party favors and small artificial fruits.

Result of some Do It Yourself advice

This used to be an ordinary room. With a white ceiling, light wallpaper, cold vinyl on the floor.
Until DoItYourself advised "lets do something with color. Pick out a nice wallpaper, have paint mixed in matching colors and most of all, don't be scared: dare to make combinations"
You see the result in the photo. A nice, warm bedroom, where you can really live!

I am a big fan of Green.
Did you notice the model put on her favorite green outfit for the occasion? Got to love it.

Retro Apartment Space Saver

From 1,001 decorating ideas Spring book 1971

Behind closed doors
The built into a Parsons table idea is easily the easiest solution for a space-staling TV we've seen. Measure your set and attach two sides and a bottom to the front of your table. Be sure to secure back legs for stability. Hinged doors provide a "now you see it" (when it's in use) and a "now you don't" (when it's not) look. Paint the doors to match a color in your room. Here they are matched with a Lee's carpet and a clever Conso trimmed window.

Vintage Decor

Who will join me for a breakfast vintage style? I think my morning cereal would taste so much better sitting at a breakfast table like this!

We will move to the lounge area for some chitchat and coffee. Maybe we'll even do some crafting?

Photos taken from a Dutch book from the seventies about crochet. I adore.

Colorful kids rooms from the 70's

Sharing some colorful inspiration today.

Springtime Room

The Smile Room

Hounds-tooth and Flowers Room

All photos from "Decorating your room - A Do-It-Yourself Guide" by Ellen Liman & Carol Panter 1974

Thrift score!

I discovered this lovely thiftshop in a neighbourhood close to where i live! It's wonderful, exactly how a thriftshop should be. Filled with treasures, kind people and affordable prices (something you don't see in NY often).

The very first thing i saw when i walked inside was this small but uber cute wooden print. It's straight from the seventies, 1978 to be exact by Paula Cutes.

Next i discovered these pretty painted ducks (signed N.J. Bouvia) in between a pile of empty frames. I don't normally buy art with animals on it and now two at once? What to do with it? Lightbulb moment. Our kitchen is in desperate need of some decoration. Great spot for a collection of 70's cute animal art!

I not only love the front, i also really like the character of the backside.

And all the way in the back of the store i discovered this original unopened vintage sheet! I love!

Happy thrifting days.

Visiting grandma

While i was in the Netherlands, i of course visited grandma. My sunglasses in her wonderful vintage interior.

Start of a new collection

As if i don't collect enough things.
I would just love to see a grouping of small gorgeous thrifted white vases. And some green ones too. I found the white one like two weeks ago at the Salvation Army and the green one last week in a small thriftshop in Queens.
So a grouping of small green and white vases would be nice to look at.
Another thing to be on the lookout for when thrifting.

The white one is #175 milk glass bud vase from the E.O. Brody Co. from Cleveland Ohio.
The green is colored glass but has no maker's name or anything on the bottom. Which is a shame, but nonetheless i think it's pretty.

Talking about collections, the vases are now in front of my vintage Sarah Kay tin collection. They are filled with ribbons, buttons and other small craft supplies.

Corner of my home

I am working on my crafts, i really am! Will show new finished projects over the weekend.

For now, this picture of a corner of my home. Photography is creativity too, right?

it's a pair

One of my most precious things in my house is this sweet vintage doggy clock. I have found it maybe two years ago during a thrifting spree. The clock does work, but runs a tad bit slow. So for me the doggies are there for decorative purposes only.
The two glass swans in the foreground were a little surprise gift i got from Love one day.

Interior Decorating of the 70's

with Amazement I'm flipping through the pages of my latest vintage thrift find.
A Dutch edition of "1601 Decorating ideas for modern living". Bare in mind 'modern' is published 1975. It's a yellow fabric covered hard bound book full of beautiful photographs and great ideas from past times.
I have a chair like that! My parents bought it when they were decorating their first apartment.
The photo caption said (translated) "Not too high shelves and cupboards are used more often now, to divide large spaces in two. Here they also serve as support for the couch and the fold out table."














Photo caption translated "In the work of ground breaking designers the furniture, the use of space and the color scheme give us an impression of the future. 'Visiona 3' of Olivier Mourgue consists of living zones on different levels. A sleeping unit, bathroom unit, the lounge area and the kitchen can be placed where you want. The hanging closets (right) and the dividers can be moved along rails attached to the ceiling."
hihi. It gave us a great impression of the future. Who of us Doesn't live like this nowadays? ;)

Vintage at grandma's

This is what you get when I'm spending my Sunday afternoon at my grandmothers house with my camera! Vintage galore!
I love all her old nick-nacks. Some i even remember playing with when i was still a little girl.

Just thought i should share some of the pictures...