In this home, double steel & glass staircases with cantilevered travertine treads rose to an airy open balcony.
retro inspo home
Elegant in every way, this graceful soft grey & white mid century bathroom was styled by an interior designer to appeal to the 1950s women who desired luxury.
Just a peek at this cute, cozy and colorful mid century modern living room will show you how easy it can be to reproduce this look from 1964.
There are lots of elegant wallpaper patterns in this Victorian-style entry hall, giving this room from the late 1940s a real 19th-century look.
This rustic living room decor from 1968 stood out thanks to its high ceiling filled with three gorgeous wood trusses painted black.
This 1970s Beverly Hills homeowner liked to have a few friends in for tea in the curve of this elegant bay window, part of a room filled with antique treasures and classic furnishings.
Light-reflecting textures of white brick walls and terrazzo floor picked up the green tints of foliage through the window wall that dominated this airy and bright 50s living room.
The sweet smells of growing things and the refreshing air of the outdoors were built-in when your house had a vintage atrium courtyard!
A wall of books in this retro dining room library created a warm mood. But what was even more eye-catching than the books? The blue and white canopy hung over the table.
Situated at the bottom of a staircase, this clean & elegant hallway decor featured both Colonial and classical Greek-style elements.
Daintily figured walls and crisp dimity curtains featured in this guest bedroom from the 1920s, with Early American furniture and a floor of deep blue linoleum.
In 1950, a midcentury modern living room designer created a welcoming space that offered distinctive color, buoyant originality, and practicality.
French countryside furnishings, gleaming copper pots, and exposed stained beams on the emerald green ceiling all contribute to the friendly feeling of this rustic retro kitchen from the 60s.
This vintage blue & white bathroom had an all-tile look that was created by combining richly-patterned wallpapers and fabrics with standard floor and wall tiles.
Here, a 1970s interior designer’s dramatic night sky living room took its colors from his discovery of a cotton batik fabric.
Radiant as an April morning, this 1930s guest bedroom extended a warm welcome with shades of coral pink and shimmering silver fabric.
In this 1960s living room, the stucco walls were too damaged to wallpaper, so the homeowners hung printed fabric on the walls in a pattern that looked like a bold black and white tweed.
In this guest bedroom, two plaid-covered four-poster beds got energy from the yellow background of the fabric, as well as how the colored stripes were accented elsewhere in the room.
In this fresh and bright living room decor from the 1960s, the silver walls wrapped bright, clear, Botticelli colors in a shimmer that made them seem even fresher.
Have a peek inside one of the private dining rooms at the Cosmopolitan Club in New York City, as seen back in the 1930s.
In this 1950s home, the kitchen family room decor in grey and blue had a foundation of gray slate floors, and the fireplace brick was even painted gray for color harmony.
Stark white walls and the tangy snap of lime green were remarkably cool and serene in this light-struck retro living room in Miami.
To create an alcove where none existed before, one interior designer got creative with a canopy and crystals, mirrors and material, for a must-see effect.
This charming 1940s dining room owed much of its smartness and originality to the dramatic floor in a Chinese fret design, with a center section of black Marbelle.
High ceilings didn’t make this French country-style kitchen any less cozy – they just offered more space for the charming decor.
This tiny bedroom becomes a real den with wildlife – pink, red and orange zebras and leopards – running riot on the walls. Wicker furniture and a lambskin rug add to the room’s energy.
In this homey informal country living room from the 1940s, coral-reds, greens, chartreuses and blues formed the pattern of the white cretonne used for the sofa, armchair and Dutch curtains.
For this stylishly eclectic living room, the decorators chose a warm scheme of yellows and off-whites “to emphasize a hospitable spirit.”
Straight out of the 70s, here’s a superb year-round party room, keyed to Pineapple Gold, a winter hospitality color, against Designer Hector Grant’s green and white background.
Marvelously spacious, this fresh & airy living room had ceilings 15 feet high, and was created in space that used to be a dark, closed-in garage.
The arched doorway and elegant moldings in this vintage 1920s Colonial-style hallway are in perfect harmony with the wallpaper and dark wood furniture.
By placing two sofabeds in a 50s bedroom like this one, it could be converted into a sitting room – perfect for conversation or watching television with visiting friends.
The bright and bold bursts of color used in this 1930s celebrity home helped make this pink & white vintage living room really stand out.
For this room from the 1960s, a plain vanilla style wasn’t going to cut it. To give this space a fall feel, orange vintage bedroom decor was the place to begin.
This offbeat white-on-white living room shown was an almost total white entity, with opaque and luminous Plexiglas sofa platforms, glossy vinyl, matte walls, and a rug of satiny kidskins.
This deep blue dining room decor, with its navy blue walls, blue ceramic tile floor and shiny round royal blue table, had an effect that was somehow both dramatic and calming.
Several shades of green were in play on this 1960s kitchen island cooking center, in shades so vibrant, it couldn’t help but be the room’s focal point.
In this black & white entry hall from the late 60s, the tile squares were big and bold, and appeared below a a patterned wallpaper that was distinctly different from the floor’s design.
The soaring height of this tall mid century dining room brought light and air to both the main floor as well as to the upper level.
Like most striking rooms, this windowless sitting area’s well-blended elements were surprisingly simple. Here’s a look.
Plum – rich, dark, high-glaze- reflected all whites and brights in this passionately purple family room from the early 1970s.
These vintage glass screen dividers, brilliantly decorated with undersea motifs, offered a beautiful and creative way to visually expand this space without adding a lot of weight.
This elegantly decorated marble bathroom, clad in gold and black stone, was paneled with painted moldings in the Louis XVI style.
Sunshine brightened this cheerful 1930s morning room – a sort of casual sitting room or family room, positioned in the home to catch the morning sun.
Back in the late sixties, the most private room in this 300-year-old remodeled mill in Roxbury, Connecticut, was the relaxing attic retreat on the fourth floor.
This kitchen stands out with its custom peninsula-style mix-bake center, offering everything from space to store and stir, to a cool white marble inset that’s perfect for rolling out dough.
In this home, every space, including the 1970s contemporary living room, had sliding glass doors, decks or balconies that opened up to the outdoors.
One great fabric sparked this great idea for this DIY four-poster bed decor – the unglazed chintz that’s dominant throughout this bedroom, used on the bed, windows and walls.
This 60s boho home had a big swing as the centerpiece in a big space that combined the best of a living room with a family room.
In a bid to make this 1950s tract house more functional – and help it to look a little less ordinary – a sunny living room makeover was in order.
In this gorgeous country-style dining room, the trestle table and ladderback chairs perfectly enhanced the charm of this mullioned window, and took advantage of a beautiful garden view.
Softly glowing textures of golden beige brick walls and silver-gray carpeting gave this large midcentury modern living room an intimate quality.
This shipshape gray-clad tiny guest bedroom for two was cleverly made from just a little bit of space. See how it was done!
This 1960s living room made from a terrace space was filled with bold contrasting animal print patterns that filled nearly every surface, but combined to create a luxuriously exotic tent-like atmosphere.
His homeowner cleverly used framed butterfly prints to dramatize a long, blank wall – a feature common to the kind of calm 1950s living room found in many midcentury houses and apartments.
This beautiful mid-century modern curved mosaic tile bathroom was covered floor, countertops, walls and ceiling in an elegant light green and brown combo.
With the help of an interior decorator back in 1969, this psychedelic bathroom was transformed, by wallpaper and indoor-outdoor carpeting, into a trippy glory of patterned color.
This silvery and shiny bathroom decor from 1969 was once an interior designer’s concept of the ultimate in contemporary bathrooms.
There was nothing run of the mill about the decor of this unusual and enchanting modern living room. Here’s a look!
The walls of a 1950s buffet/bar area were finished with flat walnut paneling. Here’s how the designers created this dining area’s real midcentury modern look!
From boots to saddles, all of the elements of a luxury tack room made an appearance in this western-themed family room, made back in the 1970s for a family of fast-riding horse lovers.
A thick shag area rug sparked the spring-summer mood of the entire green dining nook, creating the kind of fabulously retro room you don’t see much today.
Positioned below a low ceiling’s white beams and planks, the triangular fireplace opening gave this home’s bohemian living room an eyecatching look.
This beautiful boho bathroom decor was created by none other than Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper back in the 70s, using a collection of flower prints she designed.
In this 1920s bedroom was gathered the most elegant of Hepplewhite fine antique furniture, richly inlaid with satinwood.
Beautiful wood ceilings, cabinetry and trim – all with the natural grain shining through – helped define the color scheme and midcentury feel of this 1950s dining area.
In this upbeat and friendly midcentury family room, multi-colored vinyl tile squares laid in a random pattern on the floor provided the fireworks.
A white and pink gingham checked fabric covered just about everything in the room, for a look that was, somehow, not quite as cloying as you might expect.
As seen back in 1967, this cool white apartment decor had decor that was crisp and invigorating – with bursts of yellow and green to warm it up.
The terraced family room was a tall recreation space that was really several rooms in one – a room for partying as well as family living.
The main working area in this bright and bold blueberry blue was designed to handle everything from a toasted cheese sandwich for one to a buffet dinner for fifty.
This colorful 1960s dining room for two took its inspiration from the brilliant shades woven into the wavy striped area rug.
This luxurious bathroom-dressing room was part of a high-end master suite built back in the 1950s, and even the most practical objects were aesthetic delights.
Porch dining – well, almost! A cheerful wallpaper mural gave this eating area off the kitchen an outdoor feeling, and the charm of a Parisian sidewalk cafe.
A fresh pattern on the wall – like this black & white wallpaper – works bigger decorating wonders than almost anything else you can do.
With the help of a daring, creative design team – and using nothing but fabric, paint, wallpaper, and pizazz – this dull old space was transformed into a comfy & colorful dining room.
Using the famous Mondrian-inspired interior design blocks of red, blue, yellow and white, these vintage 1970s cabinets and drawers took on new vibrant life as home decor with real function.
The color in this bedroom’s fanciful canopy-like trellis over the bed repeated the spectacular colors and shapes found in the large-scale floral patterned wallpaper.
In this simple, budget-friendly midcentury modern living room from the 1950s, a range of colors and textures played together harmoniously.
Take a look at these examples of old-fashioned bathroom tile style in one beautifully decorative bathroom from the 1930s.
Here’s a geometric graphic-clad sunken bed in a bright red room! The DIY decor for this 1973 bedroom was made from sheets, towels and carpeting.
A high-ceilinged gray 1940s living room formed the background for this selection of modern furniture with coordinated carpet and fabric.
In the early 1970s, an architect designed this dining room for a serene and luxurious city apartment, transforming the original rectangular shape with curving walls.
As many blues as the waters of the Caribbean was the color treatment of the beautiful 1930s drawing room shown here – a symphony in subtle blues and jade green.
This living room’s 7-panel diamond-patterned screen divider was painted in a variety of muted colors, and could perk up even the blandest space.
Totally carpeted in monochrome beige, this 1960s sunken living room conversation pit in a New York apartment living room provided a cloverleaf well of seating.
The basis of this retro paisley kitchen from 1966 was simple: white appliances and countertops, with teak-fronted cabinet doors. But then it got interesting.
This dusky blue mid century kitchen didn’t just look pretty. When it was built in the mid-1960s, it offered the most modern home conveniences available at the time.
This sweet red and blue prairie-style bedroom decor was echoed all over this space thanks to three different coordinating fabrics.
Black & white checkerboard patterns on the walls, the chairs and the sofas – some straight, some on a diagonal, some with fish-eye bulging effects – dressed up this retro 70s living room with graphic flair.
The decor of this pink and red 70s bedroom was one brilliant melange of peppery hot colors and a mix of exotic patterns – all done with fabrics.
This retro room’s imaginative midcentury modern luxury style decor was the complete package: simple but luxurious, unique but functional.
This beautiful Asian-themed 1950s bathroom decor was grey, white and aqua. The room’s tiles and wallpaper shared the same Chinese motif to great visual effect.
When the sun was shining and glimmering off the beaded glass curtains in this arched window, it almost looked like the entrance to a magical place.
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.
