Now that we have looked at early 1900s architecture, here I re-construct the early 1900s popular color schemes, flooring, wall coverings, lighting, furniture, and upholstery. I’ll focus on the living room to show three different popular styles from this era: Colonial, Craftsman, and Tudor.
The country was pulling out of Victorian decorating (Queen Victoria died in 1901), which was opulent, heavy, and jewel-toned: the popular Tudor style was used: paneled walls, heavier millwork, a large rug, heavy fireplace mantel, bulbous leg turnings on the desk.
According to antiquehomestyle.com, 1920 is when new materials of the modern decorating style developed. By 1930 Art Deco emerges as a fashionable, sleek, and streamlined way to decorate.
The 1920’s was a decade summed up aptly by one mere word; GLAMOROURS!!
Finishing touches.
And finally, how do you finish off the look? Remember early when we told you to keep the walls simple. Well, if you want to add any adornments to your walls, don’t go overboard. One striking painting is more than enough. Finish off with opulent ornaments, such as a glass chandelier, and you are good to go.
So there you have it; a simple but effective five step process of emulating the stunning and glamorous 1920’s trend in your home. As long as you keep the key element of luxury in the room, buy a statement chair and keep your walls simple you will be fine. It’s up to you how you want to inject the personality; as mentioned earlier anything from oriental rugs to glass chandeliers to wall arts of airplanes will work.
The architecture of these houses has a more uniform and less individual feel,’ she says. ‘A lot of 1930s houses have have a mock “Tudorbethan” style, with half-timbered gables, which can look affected and fussy, and diamond-leaded windows, which can make the interiors – often panelled with wood – feel dark. The houses were also built in a time of austerity in the early years, and political uncertainty in the later years, and the materials, such as pebble dash, sometimes reflect this.’ And yet so many of us live in one – after all, the pre-war housing boom resulted in nearly 300,000 homes being built each year during the 1930s (to put that into context, that’s around double the current annual number – explaining why there are so many of these houses around).
If you’re yearning to create a modern open-plan layout on the ground floor of your 1930s house, there is more good news. The houses built in this era, says Jerry, typically have thinner walls and possibly better foundations than older buildings. ‘It makes them easier to knock around,’ he says.
In addition, 1930s houses were typically decorative kerbside, and plain at the back, so doing something drastic on the garden side of your house will help to preserve character.
If the 1960s are associated with rebellion and the Space Age, they’re also associated with a specific home decor style. Man, did a 1960s living room look different from a 1950s living room! It also looks very different from a contemporary one.
AMAZING FABRIC PATTERNS Sofas, chairs and other furniture covered with fabric truly portrayed the 1960s revolution in the air. While in the 1950s fabric was a quiet backdrop or a tasteful English-influenced floral print, in the 1960s fabric was wild and wonderful, influenced by the hippie movement and psychedelia. Paisley became hugely popular for sofas and chairs. Op art patterns, whose black and white designs fool the eye, became a popular print and a popular fabric for walls. So did Indian prints and patterns derived from Moroccan bazaars. Patterns and colors swirled and swam.
BEAN BAG AND POD CHAIRS The space age and rebellion in general both influenced 1960s home décor. Space age designs often focused on the unusual shapes caused by orbits and lack of gravity. Rebellion focused on molding institutions to fit people, rather than the other way around. Both are reflected in the popularity of bean bag and pod chairs. Both designs cast off conventional wood structure for a softer, looser chair that molded to the person, and would take the shape of the sitter. They also, unconventionally, put the sitter closer to the floor.
BRIGHT COLORS The ‘60s started out with the colors of nature. Avocado and yellow were popular colors for appliances, which broke with the conventional white that had been widespread in the ‘50s. As the decade went on, colors spread and got wilder. Toward the end, bright neon colors were in bloom, in keeping with free expression and unconventional thinking. Mix and match — of bright tangerine, say, and even brighter red with aqua accents — is the signature statement of ‘60s décor.
It’s boho, it’s glam and downright groovy, 1970s style is set to take interiors by storm this year.
From shag pile rugs, to colorful velvet sofas, retro peacock chairs and house plants galore, there’s something to excite everyone about this fun 70s décor style revival.
So, pull out your flared pants, fire up the record player and dust of your macramé patterns, here are seven easy ways to bring some free-spirited 70s vibes into your home.
Bring some swingin’ 70s flare to any room with macramé hangers. Display your fave plant varieties, terrarium or pots in knotted macramé plant holders hung from ceilings, awnings, windowsills, pergolas or verandas. Remember to make sure your cradled pots have adequate drainage to keep the plants happy or bring in fake greenery for no fuss no muss.
Another staple of 70s households set for a comeback is statement wicker furniture. Keep an eye out for oh so glamorous and exotic peacock chairs, hanging egg chairs, elaborate wicker framed mirrors and curvy wicker bed heads in natural and fresh sorbet hues.
Moroccan leather ottomans are another retro feature coming back in vogue from the 1970s. The Moroccan pouf has a variety of great features. Not only does it look rad, it’s a versatile piece of furniture you can scatter just about anywhere. You can use them as a foot stool, a side table to hold magazines, remotes etc. or as extra seating for a larger gathering.
If you’re not willing to commit 100 per cent to a large velvet statement piece, bring in some velvety throw cushions in jewel stone shades like emerald, canary yellow and amethyst, to play with the trend.
The 1980s saw the rise of Ergonomics and the birth of yuppies (and guppies and buppies…). America’s youth learned to Just Say No when it wasn’t watching MTV (Madonna! Michael Jackson! Milli Vanilli!) or the films of John Hughes. Television shows such as Dallas (Who shot JR?) and Falcon Crest were but one source of interior design inspiration. Here are some other gems of the decade:
Country Living Even city dwellers could dream they were sleeping in pastoral England, thanks to Laura Ashley’s matching floral bedding with enough coordinated sheets, duvets, pillowcases, shams, dust ruffles, and throw pillows to fill your white enamel frame bed a thousand times over.
Go (South)west, Young Man So what if the closest you’d been to New Mexico was the local Taco Bell? With paintings of bleached cow skulls and pastel-hued sunsets, every living room could be a portal to the Old West. Take a Seat Was there anything more uncomfortable than a high-backed, carved wooden dining chair? Thankfully, many often had a floral cushion tied on the seat as a distraction.
Looking back, the 2000s may not feel like a decade of great design innovation. Everything was faux-textured (and often shiny), ridiculously oversized, and fabulously beige and brown like Marissa Cooper’s bedroom from The O.C. But the decade inspired a number of design innovations that we take for granted today — like open-plan kitchens and in-home movie theaters. We’re eager for some of these ’00s trends to return … and hope some of them are gone forever.
Who doesn’t want to wake up in an Italian villa? Unfortunately, everyone in the ’00s decided they’d bring the Tuscan countryside home, creating this unique, extremely dated Franken-decor full of bronze finishes, limestone, faux painting, elaborate tapestries, and brown, brown, brown.
This ’00s trend is sneaking its way back — and in small doses, it’s a welcome departure from today’s modern gold and bronze. But ten years ago, oil-rubbed bronze was everywhere, and the effect quickly grew tiring.
Bedspreads were bold back in the ’00s, and damask was the king of them all. This luxurious woven pattern feels like it belongs in a castle — and everyone thought themselves royalty.
Most modern homes have an open kitchen — and we can thank the 2000s for that welcome change. Every homeowner who decided to knock down that kitchen wall deserves a grand hurrah.
