Different decorating periods in one home...or room?

[zaika]

ha. my apartment is most decidedly, and involuntarily on my part, 1970's. The kitchen and the bathroom are...yellow and green and haven't changed since the place was built in 1974. Yuck.

However, I'd love to have a kitchen straight from a pre-war magazine someday with high ceilings and an old white stove. I think I'd like to have a buttery yellow and sky blue color theme.

The living room would be deco, for sure.

Bathroom would be 1950's light pink and blue like the one I had growing up in my grandmother's house.

Bedroom would be deco, also.

The only room in my apartment now that has any style is the living room. It's an eclectic mix of bohemian and mid-century with my 1960's red couch and piles of books everywhere. I have one blue wall that fits well with the red. To pull it all together, I have my Soviet propaganda collection hanging on the wall along side of the B&W photos my grandfather brought home from the war. A mix of scenes from 1940's Italy and various 'war' shots. It's a small collection...but dear.

I did find a light blue deco couch at an antique store that I'd very much like to have, but I doubt it will still be there by the time I have the funds.

 

[Tommy Katkins]

I have my Soviet propaganda collection hanging on the wall along side of the B&W photos my grandfather brought home from the war.

hello Portland,

I have some of my uncle's North Africa campaign photos up too, being a shoe maker by trade he became the company cobbler in between combat and games of cricket. Now I'd like to see that Soviet propaganda you have in situ, the Cold War never figured heavily in our imaginations that much so you'd never see that stuff in a British vintage room.


TK

 

[Kishtu]

We acquired a couple of Utility armchairs when we first moved into our house (as we have a very small and very old cottage, we can't be too diverse with the decor as it looks weird [huh] with exposed beams and wood floors.)

Does anyone else find that they're the most horrible, uncomfortable, freakily designed things ever, or am I alone in finding them too low to the ground and the arms too high? Flippin useless for sewing or knitting in, unless one wants to do bird impersonations (elbows round ears!)

 

[Tommy Katkins]

We acquired a couple of Utility armchairs when we first moved into our house (as we have a very small and very old cottage, we can't be too diverse with the decor as it looks weird [huh] with exposed beams and wood floors.)

Does anyone else find that they're the most horrible, uncomfortable, freakily designed things ever, or am I alone in finding them too low to the ground and the arms too high? Flippin useless for sewing or knitting in, unless one wants to do bird impersonations (elbows round ears!)

...there were so many different Utility chairs...but I think I've seen photos of the ones you mean. I don't think any Utility item was design more thrown together like two Reliant Robins are used to make one Reliant Robin in a dubious garage. As they're Utility I guess they didn't have frivolities in mind like Knitting and sewing...which were to be done at the kitchen table or standing to attention at the sink.

 

[Tommy Katkins]

...there were so many different Utility chairs...but I think I've seen photos of the ones you mean. I don't think any Utility item was design more thrown together like two Reliant Robins are used to make one Reliant Robin in a dubious garage. As they're Utility I guess they didn't have frivolities in mind like Knitting and sewing...which were to be done at the kitchen table or standing to attention at the sink.

*I mean "Robin Reliant" of course (for our USA friends a dangerously crap three-wheel car from the 1980s).

TK

 

[poetman]

1948 Modernist apartment, twenties through cold war interior - it just happened that way! Desk from Neutra office closing, china cabinet from around horn, dresser made by Grandfather's Grandfather...

Do you have any photos of this? Would you mind posting them? I'd love to see picutres of these apartments mentioned. I really want to decorate my place with a 30's 40's feel, but don't know where to start? Any advice? I love the Ralph Fiennes apartment in the film, "The End of the Affair." Real classic.
Any photos would be great!

Thanks!

 

[Tommy Katkins]

Do you have any photos of this? Would you mind posting them? I'd love to see picutres of these apartments mentioned. I really want to decorate my place with a 30's 40's feel, but don't know where to start? Any advice? I love the Ralph Fiennes apartment in the film, "The End of the Affair." Real classic.
Any photos would be great!

Hi Poetman,

I'm new to these boards and it looks like I am yet to earn my right to post pictures else I for one would oblige gladly. Yes, the apartment in The End of the Affair is truly a sight to behold, but my advice to would include a warning not to attempt to graft a 30s/40s London flat to your Florida home (you do live in Florida right?). I've had a few prolonged visits to Florida and my friends and friends of friends have a lot of 30s and 40s vintage going on that I both enjoyed and envied. If I were you I'd start with your homegrown and local which is in harmony with the scale and shape of Florida houses and the quality of Florida light, then see where it leads you...I found Florida pretty good for vintage fittings and furniture. I've still got a number of things got a flea markets and antique malls around Gainesville and Tallahassee a few years back. A lot of stuff I like about American interiors of that period can be seen in the movies the Cohen Brothers' movies Barton Fink and The Man Who Wasn't There although not all at once or in the same place. Anyways, if you're intent of the Ralph Fiennes' interior you might also want to look at the recent BBC mini series Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky based of the 1935 Patrick Hamilton (a contemporary of and better writer than Graham Greene) novel of the same title, and if you can get it, the late 1970s Dennis Potter series, also produced and released on DVD by the BBC, Pennies From Heaven...

best wishes, and the best of luck to you...

TK

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Hi Poetman,

I'm new to these boards and it looks like I am yet to earn my right to post pictures else I for one would oblige gladly.

TK

Anyone can post pics at any time provided the content is within Fedora Lounge guidelines.

From the FAQ:

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[Miss Brill]

I mix my decor up. I really couldn't imagine having a one decade, or style, room. 99% of what I own was bought second-hand, most is at least vintage, with some antiques, and lots of accessories.

 

[SamMarlowPI]

My kitchen has got a little 50's style goin' on...my bedroom and office suffer from a mix of 20's 30's and 40's, which would really be more realistic if you think about it...but of course there are modern appliances that are necessities...i figure any room with a few pictures, items or whatever of your taste is all you need to be comfortable...when one can acquire a little more dough, then more detail can be added...in my opinion

 

[poetman]

Hi Poetman,

I'm new to these boards and it looks like I am yet to earn my right to post pictures else I for one would oblige gladly. Yes, the apartment in The End of the Affair is truly a sight to behold, but my advice to would include a warning not to attempt to graft a 30s/40s London flat to your Florida home (you do live in Florida right?). I've had a few prolonged visits to Florida and my friends and friends of friends have a lot of 30s and 40s vintage going on that I both enjoyed and envied. If I were you I'd start with your homegrown and local which is in harmony with the scale and shape of Florida houses and the quality of Florida light, then see where it leads you...I found Florida pretty good for vintage fittings and furniture. I've still got a number of things got a flea markets and antique malls around Gainesville and Tallahassee a few years back. A lot of stuff I like about American interiors of that period can be seen in the movies the Cohen Brothers' movies Barton Fink and The Man Who Wasn't There although not all at once or in the same place. Anyways, if you're intent of the Ralph Fiennes' interior you might also want to look at the recent BBC mini series Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky based of the 1935 Patrick Hamilton (a contemporary of and better writer than Graham Greene) novel of the same title, and if you can get it, the late 1970s Dennis Potter series, also produced and released on DVD by the BBC, Pennies From Heaven...

best wishes, and the best of luck to you...

TK

Thanks for the feedback. You can set up a free--and very quick--photobucket account and post the pictures there; then just post a link to the pictures in your Fedora post, if you don't mind. I'll be leaving FL shortly, so I'm not concerned with trying to match the tropical feel. I definitely want something very classic.

 

[Paisley]

I am about to redecorate my bathroom and will probably do it in an era different from the rest of the house (which was builtin 1910). The bathroom isn't authentic to begin with, since the house probably didn't have one in 1910. Bathrooms that did exist in that era tended to have an antisceptic, utilitarian look that I don't want. I'll go for something simple but more inviting that doesn't look especially like one particular era.

 

[Tommy Katkins]

I am about to redecorate my bathroom and will probably do it in an era different from the rest of the house (which was builtin 1910). The bathroom isn't authentic to begin with, since the house probably didn't have one in 1910. Bathrooms that did exist in that era tended to have an antisceptic, utilitarian look that I don't want. I'll go for something simple but more inviting that doesn't look especially like one particular era.

our family house (built in the 1890s, purchased by my grandparents in 1926) didn't have an inside bathroom or...erm "rest room" till 1973/74 when my brother got a special local authority grant to upgrade.this was pretty much par for the course for a lot of pre 1930s British housing stock...I was born in the 1960s so had my first bath times in a tin bath in front of an open fire...and my first solo "number twos" at the outhouse at the bottom of the yard...so anything more is a step up.

 

[Royal]

I prefer the notion of having rooms that flow together stylistically and period-wise. At our apartments we had a bunch of random, mostly inexpensive stuff and now I want something that fits together as a whole.
We've just moved into a house that was built in the 1950s and ever since July (when our offer was accepted) I have been trying to decide on a uniform look. I was originally going to do a bit of a Japanese theme, and I will probably still use a couple of those elements but last night I came back to an idea I previously had of doing something traditionally masculine-looking overall. Lots of dark wood with not much ornamentation. I am going to try to stay away from using brown on the walls and furniture since I prefer black, grey, dark blue, green, and red, and I won't be using any genuine leather furniture or accessories. The rooms I have in mind as style guides are Polly Perkins' office in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", Scottie Ferguson's (James Stewart's) apartment in "Vertigo", Lex Luthor's yacht in "Superman Returns", and Capelli's Barbershop in Seattle.

 

[A.R. McVintage]

Hi, new member, thought I'd introduce myself here. My name is A.R. McRae and I am a quite young author and animated property creator in sunny southern California. I am also a big retro/mid-century enthusiast and am also a member of Tikicentral under the (not-very-clever) moniker, A.R. McTiki. This thread seemed perfect for me to post some of my room. I'll try my best to describe the pictures.

This is my chest of drawers (pardon the tarpaulin, I didn't want nasty mirror reflection). The furniture is from the forties, used by my great grandmother, my grandpa, and now myself. The radio is a modern Emerson cd/radio combo in a 1934 style and the vase at the opposite end is vintage mid fifties. The glasses in the middle are vintage fifties and the decater of tequila is vintage forties but they still work together.

A couple of details shots of the photos stuck between the mirror frame, taken by my grandpa during WWII. Yes, that's Errol Flynn.

And this lovely is the one and only Olivia de Havilland, perhaps best known as Scarlet O'Hara's younger sister.

This is my nightstand, part of the same bedroom set. The phone is a Pottery Barn walk-around in a vintage style (you need a walk-around when dealing with agents) and the lamp which looks perfectly mid-fifties is from Target, shade and all.

 

[AmateisGal]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with the idea to do each room in the house with a different theme.

I love the Regency and Georgian periods, as well, and would love to do my bedroom in that style. My living right now is pretty Victorian-looking, and my kitchen is, well, modern I guess. We're planning to move in the near future so I don't want to pour too much money into it now. But I like adding a few vintage touches here and there.

 

[HadleyH]

My house is all decorated contemporary; lots of light wood, beige cotton sofa covers with bright pillows, rows and rows of books covering the walls (i love that) red/bright tribal carpets, pictures of different sizes and different frames all the way up the wooden straircase to the second floor,,,etc , you know that sort of thing,...but... my bedroom is totally different ... it's 1920s decor!!!!! ... dark wood everywhere, mahogany night tables at each side of the bed with brass lamps, a mahogany tall boy, 1920s pictures on silver frames and one little art deco mirror...it's all in blue ... I love my bedroom
So yes, in my case it's only my beloved bedroom that it's decorated in a different period, the period closest to my heart, only one room in the house.

 

[Miss 1929]

My bathroom...

is in Early Drunken Contractor, I can't wait to redo it! They even walled over one of the doors! Horrid.
I have never been able to choose a single year for furnishings, but try to mix them up a bit. I like 20s Art Deco the best but it is so unaffordable for the real thing (and fakes are not very satisfying). So I have more a traditional 30s style going on. Duncan Phyfe style dining room, waterfall style bedroom furniture, vaguely Spanish revival living room (dictated by the baby grand).
It's nowhere near picture ready, but hopefully I will work on the house over the winter.

 

[Josephine]

Which decade was best known for their "Squashy Armchair" style? That's the one I want. I don't think it was the '60s or the '50s (too modern! ), I'm thinking maybe the '30s and '40s?

 

[Old Mariner]

My style is a mix of - maritime, industrial, minimalist, with some vintage/classic touches thrown in. In past years I used to focus on a time period, but as I changed, so did my tastes and style, and what I have now is pretty much the end point. I tend to prefer that which I have now over what I had before, although putting things together so they worked well was a challenge...but I love a creative challenge.