What’s the difference between linoleum and vinyl flooring? Although we often use these terms interchangeably, linoleum and vinyl are actually two distinctly different flooring products.
home decor
Flash back to 1960 with the Scholz Mark 60, a prefab mid-century modern home! From the blue bathroom to the wooden wall paneling, every inch of this house screams retro
These vintage Princess phones were enormously popular in the sixties, with their compact style and backlit dial. Here’s a look back!
As this girl’s interest and sewing expertise grew, she asked her parents to transform a tiny, unused back room into a super-efficient, light and cheerful sewing room just for her.
From those using flamboyant fabrics to the more sedate styles, here you can peek inside houses from back to the sixties and check out these once-fashionable retro curtains & drapes!
Want to see what some 1950s home decor looked like? We’ve collected more than 140 mid century wallpaper samples, from classic to kitsch, and everything in between.
Beaded curtain comeback? They’ve been here for years Beaded curtains have been in use in Asian culture for over 2,000 years, gracefully partitioning spaces with
The history of fitted sheets: A revolution in bed-making A lot of people may be surprised to know that fitted sheets — ones that weren’t
We’ve rounded up 30 dramatically different examples of 1950s Christmas tree decorations — come be inspired by these lavishly decorated Christmas trees!
This gigantic collection of vintage wall paneling from mid-century (and beyond) makes for a surprisingly delightful scroll down nostalgia lane!
Remember apple head dolls – the early American craft with folk art roots that became popular again in the ’60s and ’70s? Find out how to make these shrunken apple dolls, and more about the art of dollmaking.
Take a look back at these vintage Hide-a-Bed sofa models – fold-out beds tucked into a couch to sleep guests – no spare bedroom needed.
Warm up with a look back at 30 different beautiful vintage fireplaces that were once found in homes across the US.
These vintage dining room sets from the 40s & 50s – bright, cheerful & compact dinettes – were the perfect fit for small post-war houses. Take a look!
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.
Take a seat and look back at these vintage 1960s chairs that used to fill homes – with styles ranging from the minimalist mid-century modern styles to the living room chairs with bold colors and patterns.
What was Walter Matthau’s house like back in the ’70s? His wife Carol said that they gave it a country look and country feeling. Take a peek inside!
What were hostesses with the mostesses setting up on dining tables 40+ years ago? Here’s a look back at some beautiful vintage ’70s table setting ideas!
Based on one of the many traditional needlework crafts, these vintage needlepoint designs might just inspire you to get creative in all-new ways!
Take a look back into the ’70s to remember more than 100 different kinds of retro window curtains, including sheers, tie-backs and cafe curtains!
This vintage mid-century modern model home – the House & Garden magazine Hallmark House for 1963 – offered nearly 5000 square feet of beautiful 60s style.
Vintage Fenton glass – candy dishes, bowls, vases, lamps, baskets and more – came in milk glass and in radiant colors.
How were the most with-it interior design experts decorating kitchens back in the sixties? Here, see many different vintage 1960s kitchen tile designs, colors and styles.
This mid-century modern home design was created for a busy family of five, and in addition to the spacious floorplan, it glows with light, from huge windows and stunning clerestories.
Forget white or stainless steel – these colorful vintage kitchen sinks came in bright and bold colors like red, orange, green, yellow and more!
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.
Check out these fantastic vintage 1950s bathroom floors created with vinyl and linoleum, which range from simple to truly one-of-a-kind retro home decor!
What were popular ’50s floors like? They might have bold stripes, checkerboard squares, or many other classic and creative ideas. Take a look back!
Samuel Colt’s Connecticut mansion also known as Armsmear, was built on a huge plot of land owned by the inventor of the famous gun. See what this grand and spacious Victorian home was like in its heyday!
If you were a child or a parent in the seventies, or are looking to the past to style something new, you’ll love this sunny trip back down memory lane. We’ve tracked down some of the coolest, trendiest vintage kids’ bedroom makeovers from the 1970s. Take a look!
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.
What was old bedroom decor like from the early 1900s? Here are some rooms from just after the turn of the century, from the simple to the super-floral.
There were lots of vintage wall stickers and paper cut-outs available in the sixties and seventies – easy ways to decorate rooms at home, temporarily or long-term, without needing to hire someone to help.
Creativity is not something you are either born with or not: it needs to be discovered, nurtured, and expressed for it to grow. Here are 12 tips from the 1980s that are just as helpful today as ever, plus a look at some creative visions from the past.
We have heard Mathis’ voice for years – but who’s the man behind that rich, smooth sound? Find out more about this extraordinarily talented singer here, and see Johnny Mathis as he lived in his Hollywood home back in the 1970s.
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.
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!
The Campbell Kids appeared in Campbell’s Soup advertising for decades, always with those little round faces. Here, see dozens of vintage toys, cups and more with their images, find out how they began, and meet the artist!
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!
Gorgeous, graceful old-fashioned decorative iron porches & balconies, crafted from intricate metalwork, adorn many homes and other buildings in the Southern states. Here, take a look back at some stunning examples!
If you want to make a tiny bathroom vibrant and colorful, here are some retro ’70s powder rooms for a little vintage inspiration!
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.
Through this rare collection of photographs and other ephemera, see what New York’s classically elegant old Ritz-Carlton Hotel was like once upon a time, starting when it opened in 1911.
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
What’s a Nauga? In the 1960s, the people behind Naugahyde vinyl upholstery found the unlikely answer. It turns out that the Nauga was an adorable monster-like mascot who made furniture a lot more fun.
Back in the eighties, these cute vintage Mr Culver’s Sparklers stained glass air fresheners took the problem of ugly room deodorizers, and made them look like little works of art that you could hang in the window.
Antique early American weathervanes shaped like horses, cows, deer, roosters, angels, ships and even fish were hammered in metal and used as much to decorate rooftops as to note the direction of the wind
In the sixties, homeowners loved using tile in the bathroom, as you can see here in this eclectic collection of vintage 1960s bathroom tile design ideas!
Before photography, you could keep memories of loved ones close by getting portrait miniatures painted. Now they’re highly-collectible antiques! Here’s a look at some of this classic artwork.
Check out this collection of beautiful antique Victorian fireplaces – detailed mantels and classic grates – with an elegant style to suit homes of the late 1800s.
Have you ever thought about using some of the millions of pine needles that fall off the trees to make something useful? Here are more than 20 vintage pine needle crafts & decor ideas!
These pretty and old-fashioned paper Christmas ornaments are so easy to make, kids and adults can work on them together! As a bonus, they’re very cheap to create. Get directions and diagrams here.
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.
Here’s a look back to some of the most colorful examples of popular Kohler bathroom suites from the 1960s and 1970s – bold blues, harvest gold, avocado green, basic black & more.
From the middle of the 20th century, see some classic and some creative vintage 1950s kitchen tile design ideas that were popular decades ago!
For the front and back yards of the ’70s, here are a few vintage 1970s Rubbermaid garden goods. See retro-style plastic borders for the lawn, plus a little something special just for the birds.
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!
With this book, you can color in 44 classic Victorian houses from the 1880s and 1890s, when many elaborately-decorated homes were built in America. See what’s inside!
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.
Keyed for color, comfort and convenience, the retro bathroom decor for two homes in the city and two in the country have been remodeled for maximum relaxation.
These vintage home decorating fabric styles and patterns show you what was popular in 1965, both in terms of what designers were offering, and what everyday folks were buying at popular department stores.
These wonderful, workable kitchen designs from the 60s were said to be a joy to use and to clean. Take a look back at six creative mid-century kitchens here!
Anyone visiting a county fair in the 1890s was likely to bring home a piece of ruby glass as a souvenir. They once sold for a song, and now are finds you’ll treasure.
Old-fashioned orange pomander balls made with cloves first became popular around the 17th century, and have been in use ever since. Here’s how to make your own fragrant decoration!
Early in the 20th century, people started moving from the city out to the suburban districts and small towns. See some classic All-American suburban houses from that era here!
Want some retro-style holiday decor? Find out how to make some vintage Christmas crafts from the ’60s: a burlap wreath, tabletop Christmas trees, a starburst decoration, papier mache ornaments and more.
You can make these super easy wax & tissue paper flowers for Christmas or any time of year! This vintage craft uses basic supplies, but creates a surprisingly beautiful result!
See over 20 historic southern mansions — some tied to slavery, others to politics or education — and how they reflect the South’s changing history.
Decorated vintage bathroom sinks with designs that looked painted or stenciled on had some popularity in the ’60s, until less frilly designs were once again favored.
Here is how the builders of this 1950s small home design made the most of the space they had available! Take a look at the vintage decor and floorplan here.
Take a 1950s home tour of a ‘junior five’ near San Francisco – a small house that had an entry stairway that starts at garage level and leads up to five rooms – bedrooms, kitchen, garage and more.
Here’s a look back at singer and actor Bing Crosby’s house in Holmby Hills, California, as it appeared in 1950.
Decades ago, vintage table lighters like these ‘played an important part in the art of entertaining. The gracious, easy way to get a light if you smoke.’
Take a look back at a few views of the pretty and peaceful backyard and the Kennedy family pool house behind the Virginia home known as Hickory Hill.
Of Gloria Steinem’s apartment in New York, the feminist icon wrote in 1970s that it offered cheerful rooms to live in and a private place to work. Take a look!
Vintage actor James Coburn’s home in 1970 was filled with exotic treasures from around the globe, and colors and patterns to match. Take a look!
Here’s a look at Cary Grant’s home – a 2-story, 12-room stucco house on the exclusive beach at Santa Monica, where the famous actor lived in the 1940s.
How did they decorate small homes back in the 1940s? Here’s a look at how career girl could set up her first apartment back during the post-war years.
These are the vintage alarm clocks – ranging from the mod to the digital – that used to wake people up during the workweek. Take a look!
If you’re remodeling a 1950s home exterior, advice from that decade says to follow a simple, straightforward style. Your house will look better and cost less.
A hundred years ago, needle baths were popular in hotels and luxury homes. They were like a shower, but with a few basic differences. See some here.
Don’t toss your old metal cans – make them into something delightful, like these retro-style night lights with your own punched patterns!
Take a look back at these creative handmade vintage quilts from the ’70s. These are the 51 prize winners out of almost 10,000 entries.
Take a look back at 20+ elegant antique bathrooms and decor from the turn of the century, many of which were intended for luxury homes.
Here’s some bright and bold decor for some colorful ’40s bathrooms – including toilets of colored porcelain and bold wall tiles.
Flair ranges glorify your present kitchen without built-in expense! Combines twin, glass-fronted ovens and a slide-in drawer-style stove.
Here’s how to stencil a tray – transforming an inexpensive metal accessory into a family heirloom, with paint and these included vintage stenciling patterns.
Take these vintage centerpiece ideas from the ’50s, ’60s & ’70s, and put your own spin on them for a modern-day retro-inspired holiday or party table!
Make a fold-up home workshop Plan, work, store, protect with this “fold away” workshop For Dad only . . . a complete, self-contained home workshop
Make a ‘Lazy Susan’ wardrobe Four-season wardrobe selection at the touch of a finger Separate your wardrobe by season . . . by formal and
Vintage dinettes – matching table and chair sets – were popular in the ’60s and ’70s because they were affordable and came in a wide variety of styles. Take a look!
Vintage card tables and other folding furniture were a staple in every home decades ago.
By design, this spacious one-level family-friendly ’70s model home opens graciously from a center linking two living areas. See inside this 1975 house here!
Inside this book, you can take a look back to the 1870s — a time when many of the most ornate and elegant homes were built in America! Not only was the architecture remarkable, so,were their bold colors.
This 1973 House of the Year showcase had a variety of furnishings and fixtures that would be on the market the following year. Take a look inside!
More than just a way to dry off, these retro towels from the 1950s gave vintage bathrooms color and style! Take a look back at this functional fifties decor.
Here’s a collection of beautiful classic vintage stencil designs from the ’30s and earlier, along with patterns inspired by Greek, Roman, Persian and other classical designs.
