Ideas for Vintage Decor

[MPicciotto]

Matt,

I think what you're saying is not to take films and/or photos/magazines as being strictly definitive of an era's fashion and style and that the truth was often significantly different from what was depicted by popular culture, and to keep this in-mind when period-decorating.

Yes?

Yup pretty much. For reenacting and living history I have to work harder, studying period photographs of actual locations. For my home decor I'm rather fond of the "modernist" or Art Deco. So I just drool over the pictures and advertisements in 1940's architectural magazines.

Matt

 

[boris4030]

Vintage Decor

Man, the essential ingredient behind Vintage Decor is the fabrics used. Calico prints from the 30's and 40's are also used extensively and they adds special beauty to it. For kitchen , oilcloth tablecloths is mostly used. Sometimes you can also see Cookbooks wrapped around oilcloth. In bedroom , you can alter looks of your traditional linen by crocheted lace to your sheets and pillowcases . Beds should be covered with lot of pillows piled over each other.









_____________
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Venetian blinds

 

[vitanola]

This is exactly right. Especially during the depression and war eras, you would have very very rarely seen a home or office furnished entirely in, say, a "Modernistic" style (which is what most people called Deco at the time), unless you were at the World's Fair. Real-world homes and offices would have had a melange of styles -- some of which would likely date back to the teens or twenties, depending on how old the home or company was. THis would be especially true of durable goods -- in an typical office setting, it would not at all be uncommon for a 1939 secretary to be punching away at a 1915 typewriter, with a 1905 addressograph standing over in the corner, and banged-up wooden desks and filing cabinets that dated back to the days of Grover Cleveland.

The best source, I think, for seeing what the average home or office might have had in it is the Sears catalog. Find one for your target year, and a few going back ten or fifteen years before that, and mix things up, and there's what would give a realistic impression.

My mother was Executive Secretary to the Vice President of Sales of the American Steel And Wire Company between 1939 and 1960. Her photo album shows that the SALES office was always modern, re-decorated (and I DO mean decorated, by a professional designer) every five to seven years. the Legal department was also always stylish, but was more conservative (green leather, old prints, and walnut rather than stainless steel and ash). Engineering was redone every decade, with common Hayworth or Steelcase furniture, false woodgrain in the mid-thirties, dark green in the Forties, gray in 1956 and walnut formica and bright colors in 1965. Then there was PURCHASING. They always were furnished with cast-offs. Until the mid-fifties the purchasing agents in the old Rockefeller Building offices were wearing green eye-shades, sitting at roll-top desks, smoking segars (and spitting into large brass cuspidors) and growling orders into candlestick telephones. Mom recalls that in the mid-fifties Purchasing got the old green furniture from engineering, which they kept until the HQ was transfered to Pittsburgh in 1969.

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

As for the radio, I would look into buying one of the floor standing units. They can be had cheaper than some small ones to be honest. From there, if it does not work, you could replace the speaker with a newer one (without harm to the raidio please) and play the speaker through your computer and a small amp. (Great for streaming OTR for ambiance)

Also, some vintage suitcases can add storage if stacked while adding to the decor (This depends on your style of office)

Try to find ways to hide computer equipment if you have to use it in your office. They make remote TV lifts that could be used behind your desk with your computer screen, but honestly a laptop put away, or on a typewriter lift inside a desk is better.

As others mentioned... the little things like that swingline stapler (I have that same one shown here) Rotary phone, fountain pens, ect all bring the time line in place. Just don't over do it... Many 1940's era offices I have seen photos of tend to look baren compared too a modern desk / office. Clean & simple is the key.

Make sure to post photos when you finish too!

 

[Giftmacher]

Original vintage radio set is a essential accessory. I'm just trying to get working this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60837965@N08/5543458972/sizes/l/in/photostream
Design still evoke the golden era.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

 

[Deco_Green]

You're going to need a wall calendar, '26 '37 and '43 match 2010 and '21, '27, and '38 are a match for 2011

How do you find out which calendar years match? Is there some kind of pattern to it?

 

[R.G. White]

How do you find out which calendar years match? Is there some kind of pattern to it?

Here: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/repeating.html
Go near the bottom of the page.

 

[Deco_Green]

Thanks.

 

[R.G. White]

Thanks.

Of course!

 

[ejbhats]

Binkie;
That Spartan radio is really the cats arse! I mean that is KILLER and oh so rare! (unless it's a repop) I spent a number of years repairing/restoring antique radios and jukeboxes.
A couple names I can drop here for furnishings of classic 40's and earlier style, that you can watch for in antique shops and junk store etc., are Heywood Wakefield. Makers of highly stylized furniture of excellent quality. Solid maple and usually heavy but sometimes a bit more whimsical using bamboo. Heager or Royal Haeger art pottery, as seen in all the old flicks of the period. And lastly, Jay Gould prints. He did primarily brightly colored birds that are typically found in bamboo frames. Of course Haeger made the classic table lamps that might be black panthers, a peacock, a donkey pulling a cart, in high glossy finishes. The icing on the cherry is to find find the metal pleated lamp shades that look like window blinds Take a look at "Mildred Pierces'" home and office.
The Haeger pottery being the easiest to find.
Good Luck

 

[sanjayjagtap]

It is my pleasure to tell you about vintage mosaic tiles. Mosaic tiles not only beautify the house, but are also more durable and longer lasting than ordinary tiles. Mosaic Tiles can be used at places and locations galore, such as Floors, Walls, Pillars, Bathing areas etc. and can make a world of a difference to any space by adding an extra dose of creativity and flair.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

MM! I Smell Spam

 

[KY Gentleman]

A large Globe, perhaps?

 

[Gregg Axley]

I agree Binkie.
Almost psychic, if I believed in that stuff.
There are lots of retro places online, but you have to make sure it's not plastic!