If you landed on this page there is a good chance you are considering a retro style decor for your home. One of the most advantageous reason to go retro is that the style will never go out. There is something about retro style that brings people back generation after generation. So what are we talking about when we say retro.
Only a few years back we were talking about the style that dominated during the 50′s and the following two decades, lately though, as time keeps moving on we have added the 80′s into the fray. With a period starting in the 50′s and lasting to the 80′s needless to say that retro is not a monolithic style. What was popular in the 50′s had changed in later years. To keep things a little more organized in this article I will look at each decade separately.
Retro styles of the 50′s
It’s the age of the “poly thingamajig”. The second world war has brought about the development of new man-made materials like nylon, polystyrene, vinyl, methyl polymethacrylate (to most of us this is plexiglass), fiberglass, polyurethane and much more that I probably cannot spell or pronounce.
Design explodes it becomes aerodynamic, it takes on cold materials but tries to warm them up with bright colors. It is the time of the first satellites in orbit and an interest in astronauts. Furniture makers get inspired by the aerospace happenings and tables get round shapes, furniture lose their right angles and straight lines. Economic situation around the world is getting better, houses are getting larger, we see a larger number of basements space being used, bathrooms and kitchens become larger to accommodate all the new appliances that are available. Another revolution takes place in the ways colors are produced, we can now take advantage of this technology to have any color we want in our home interior. Wood is still used but it is molded in any form you want. Fabric and wood mix easily for comfortable seating.
To adopt a 50′s retro style in your house today is easily done, and if you like bold colors, like yellow and turquoise you will find happiness in this type of decor.
Retro style wallpaper can be found online with turquoise, yellow or with pink which was also a popular color. Red reminiscent of Coca Cola and the jukebox, chartreuse green and lilac can complete your palette of colors. Look for retro fabrics with abstract motifs in pure bright colors.
For your retro style kitchens or bathrooms floors you probably will want to use a black and while checker board tile layout. And of course no retro style kitchen would be complete without formica counter tops.
Your retro style chairs should certainly have chrome legs and the seats covered with vinyl, unless they are molded plastic shells in bright primary colors. Of course your retro style table should match the chairs if at all possible.
Do not neglect your kitchen appliances. You will find online a large market of retro refrigerators, stoves, mixers all of them new and able to satisfy the needs of today’s cooks. Kitchen U is an excellent distributors of such items. Rounded lines retro toasters and tables in the shape of a boomerang will fit perfectly in your kitchen and you can complete the setting with dishes in bright enamel yellow.
Retro styles of the 60′s
The 60′s decade is marked by mass production and consumption. Factories have become much more efficient to work metals (including aluminum), to create glass pieces that are more resistant and less breakable. However the true revolution in the use of plastics that can now be molded at will. Bright colors continue as the world celebrates optimism in a better world. But this consumer society is starting to clash with a movement that is contesting its values, with music, clothing and art.
Designers like Piero Gatti, Paolini and Franco Teodoro are proposing a bag, named appropriately saco, filled with polystyrene that shapes with the body as we sit on it. They had created the first mass produced bean bag chair. It is still in production today and if you want an authentic 60′s retro style living room, you could get one, you can also use one of the many imitations that have been produced since. With that furniture gets closer to the ground, tables are shorter, perhaps so we can smell the flowers, as this segment of population is dubbed the “flower children.” While living room furniture was low to the ground it was okay to have stools in the kitchen and those were fairly high. You can find many retro style bar stools online as they are very popular for today’s high counters and tables.
Wall were more defined by what was hanging on them than by the color they were painted. On white or neutral color walls you will want to hang floral appliques in two or three different colors.
Fabrics for curtains are opaque with bright motifs. For example you could use a white background with bright orange or circles in a variety of sizes. For colors you will opt for orange, brown, white and mustard green. Retro floors still are mostly hard with tiles in a checker board pattern being still very fashionable, but you want to add area rugs. Pop art like Andy Warhol’s paintings are very popular and nothing says retro accessory of the 60′s like a lava lamp. For your retro bedroom you might also consider Hawaiian tikis.
You can find ideas for your 60′s retro style decor on the sites of famous museums like the design museum in London, but then you must act in order to get your own retro home decor. Many of the items you will need are available online for purchase, sometimes you can get ideas just but looking at what is available on the sites. Another great place to find items for your retro living room or retro kitchen is at yard sales, or flea markets. Let’s face it many people who lived during the period are ready to move on to another style. As the baby boomers are aging they are moving away from retro chairs and passing them on at very good prices to the younger generation.
Click on this image to see a gallery of retro furniture from the 50's to give you ideas about what to do
Click on this image to see a gallery of retro furniture from the 60's to give you ideas about what to do