When you were a kid, there was nothing else like the joy of old-fashioned treehouses or forts: a little getaway that you built (maybe with some help) that could be a clubhouse or castle or spaceship or simply a place for a little peace and quiet.
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The mid century conversation pit: A photo timeline of that fascinating 60s and 70s living room trend
Ever since the 80s, the iconic conversation pit has seemed hopelessly out-of-date. Could it be poised for a comeback?
Based on one of the many traditional needlework crafts, these vintage needlepoint designs might just inspire you to get creative in all-new ways!
These little vintage kiddie swimming pools were the perfect size to help introduce babies and children to water fun in the safety of their own shallow wading pools!
This new, revolutionary wall-mounted refrigerator and freezer that hangs from the wall is a completely new and advanced concept of modern living. Truly, it is the most convenient and magnificent refrigerator-freezer ever produced!
The history of Tupperware Parties, Tupperware Ladies & how they moved millions of plastic containers
Starting back in the ’50s, women were encouraged to start their own businesses, hosting Tupperware parties, and demonstrating how to use those popular plastic containers. Here’s a look back!
If you look back at old home photos and these vintage sculptured and textured carpets were seen – three-dimensional carved or twisted patterns – you can pretty much bet you’re looking at decor from the middle of the 20th century.
Want to see what some retro home decor looked like? We collected more than 140 vintage 1950s wallpaper samples, from classic to kitsch, and everything in between.
For decades, it was considered inappropriate for TV or movies to show a married couple sharing a bed. But did married couples really sleep in separate beds back in the ’50s?
Check out these fantastic vintage ’50s bathroom floors that range from the simple to the one-of-a-kind home decor!
Back in the late ’50s and early ’60s, the American Dream could be had – affordably and in style – if people wanted to buy mobile homes (trailers).
What were popular ’50s floors like? They might have bold stripes, checkerboard squares, or many other classic and creative ideas. Take a look back!
Looking at these mid-century bathroom color schemes of the ’50s, you’ll see that the look of white, stark home decor was quickly disappearing. In its wake was a trend toward colorful designs. Take a look!
After WWII, millions of new small starter homes were built all across America. Here, see a collection of these practical, affordable little suburban houses – each one under 1000 square feet.
Here’s a look back at 100 years of vintage Fostoria glass – from candelabra to stemware, in clear crystal or a rainbow of colorful hues – that people have been using and collecting for generations.
Retro pink kitchens like these were super trendy back in the ’50s! Whether peachblow or Mamie pink, bright or pastel, women years ago loved their pink home decor.
Here, see 15 ways homeowners and interior designers back in the 1950s used colorful vintage vinyl floor tiles to create trendy square patterns using a variety of colors, sizes and styles.
Light up your memory with some some great old home décor – more than 200 antique and vintage table lamps from the beginning of the twentieth century to its end!
From the 1950s: Dozens of bright ideas for your home with colorful oilcloth! Create many helpful things for around your home, because the coated fabric surface doesn’t spot or stain, stays color-fresh, wears and wears.
Put together a half dozen pieces of this DIY fun furniture for kids, and your child will have endless play ideas. Made from just one simple box construction, the pieces are great for pretend games, the right size to use as table and chairs.
Way back when, it’s what every girl wanted: A cedar-lined Lane hope chest for linens and her trousseau. In upper-middle-class homes, giving a teen cedar chest was a longstanding tradition — and practically a requirement for marriage.
Books in a home once signaled that the residents were intelligent, worldly, and could afford to collect their favorite volumes. Look back at some vintage bookshelves from the past!
Folk-art painted furniture: Upcycle & renew furniture with tips from famed vintage artist Peter Hunt
For decades, artist Peter Hunt specialized in upcycling furniture and found objects by renewing them with colorful peasant designs. Here are examples of his work, and tips for how you can create your own folk-art painted furniture!
Artist Peter Hunt was known for his colorful peasant-style folk-art paint designs. He insisted that everyone – even people who couldn’t draw a straight line – could create these whimsical designs, using the simple techniques he explains here.
When post-WWII prefab housing was becoming passe, in the ’50s, a new version of the prefab home emerged – the kind of upper-middle-class home with many mid-century modern design ideas that would become popular over the next decade.
Although they lacked the portability factor of hand mixers, the fact that these vintage table mixers could stir and blend and whip on their own was a huge boon for home chefs – as much then as now.
Years ago, old-fashioned clock radios like these were on pretty much every bedside table around America, both lulling us to sleep with music and radio shows, and getting us up for work in the morning.
These vintage zodiac cross-stitch designs could be used as-is, interspersed and contrasted with plain squares, or the designs adapted to many other uses — such as cross-stitch embroidery for table linens.
Here, see some of the colors – like pink and blue – and styles of the most popular vintage 1950s saucepans and kitchenware from the middle of the 20th century.
Take some time to take a look back at these retro wall clocks, shown here in both traditional & mod designs, to meet the needs of every type of vintage home decor style of the mid-20th century.
They toasted! They cooked! And, most important of all: these vintage toaster ovens warmed up TV dinners without needing to heat up the full-size oven. See how the little kitchen appliances evolved over the years, right up through the 1980s.
In the past, a few products – like Borden cheese – made it so their glass jars could be reused later as party or hostess glasses. Since people collected them, it was a smart use of double-duty packaging.
Sometimes we get the sense that people in the fifties lived in black and white. But as you can see in this collection of colorful vintage 1950s home decor photos, they lived with bright and bold hues, too.
See several vintage ways to decorate mid-century entrance halls & foyers – using authentic 1950s and 1950s finishes and colors that made them as practical underfoot as they were pleasing to the eye
If you’re looking to make a bedroom look a little retro, take a look at these DIY headboards with a vintage look! They may be just the inspiration you need for some old-fashioned home decor.
With space-age design elements like starbursts and swooshes, and the large backplates, some of the most popular mid-century modern door hardware was absolutely iconic, and easy to recognize.
Although tile was available in a range of hues, when it came to creating the vintage 1950s bathroom tile design ideas homeowners wanted, the most popular colors were the ones shown here.
See a Scholz Mark 58, a marvelous mid-century modern home built in 1958. From the blue bathroom to the wooden wall paneling, every inch of this reinterpreted California Ranch house screams retro… and we love it.
From the middle of the 20th century, see some classic and some creative vintage 1950s kitchen tile design ideas that were popular decades ago!
If you love the mid-century style, or want to re-create that beautiful vintage backyard feel, get 47 of the best old-fashioned patio, deck & porch ideas here for a little retro inspo.
While not exclusively the domain of the fifties, the popularity of vintage pink bathrooms – including pink toilets, sinks and bathtubs, and other home decor – reached its peak during the middle of the 20th century. Take a look!
If you were planning to get a new kitchen for your home in the 1950s, here are nine of the most popular mid-century kitchen remodels and floorplans you might have checked out!
See two different versions of the Roto-Broil 400 – once America’s favorite infra-red rotisseries – popular kitchen appliances from the ’50s.
This flip-over chair – in the original Hudson Valley version of the 1870s or a colorful adaptation – offers the fun of choosing between two seats with a quick flip of a finger.
You couldn’t tell a ’50s housewife that pastel pink washers & dryers weren’t practical. They didn’t have to be practical – they were pretty.
Just look at the richly-textured patterns in this mid-century modern carpet! And the vintage 3-level pile apparently offered the highlights and shadows in expensive sculptured rugs.
Here, check out 22 vintage kitchen design ideas – from funky fridges to creative cabinetry – plus other retro appliances and home decor we don’t see very often nowadays!
These vintage insect killer ads from the fifties didn’t hold back, using phrases in their vintage marketing like drop dead, declare warfare and mow down insects. The Gulfspray can holding a gun was also a creative touch.
Look back at these 1950s vintage portable electric hand mixers, with the kind of removable beaters that kids loved to lick to sample delicious cake batter and cookie dough.
Step back and time and enjoy these charmingly vintage Christmas scenes celebrations from the 1940s through the 1970s.
Here’s a look back at some authentically vintage ’50s master bedroom decor, featuring things like colorful retro carpets, modernist furniture, and old-fashioned bedspreads.
Look at some old-fashioned gas ranges millions of people had in their homes in the ’50s – right around when electric appliances were about to become popular.
