RETRO INTERIOR DESIGN

Retro '50s Decorating Ideas Bathroom

2011-11-16T02:24:00.000-08:00

Retro '50s Decorating Ideas : Bathroom

# The retro bathroom can be a smaller version of the kitchen. Use the same black-and-white tile to decorate the floor. Silver is the perfect color for accents and any metal shelving or door knobs and cabinet handles in the room. Pin-up girl posters or pictures of singers such as Elvis can be framed in a simple black picture frame and hung on the wall. Even if an advertisement is not from the '50s, old metal signs found at junk stores and flea markets will have the same worn look to them. Consider a clear or red plastic shower curtain and choose matching red or white towels. Choosing pink and green or turquoise instead of red, white and black is also an acceptable color scheme from the time period.
Retro Interior Design

Retro Interior '50s Decorating Ideas Bedroom

2011-11-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

Retro Interior '50s Decorating Ideas
Retro Bedroom
# There are two main themes that can be used to evoke '50s style in a bedroom. Either a black-and-red color scheme with silver accents or pink and green with white work well in creating the right atmosphere. Choose your furniture and large items, such as the bedspread and curtains, in a combination of red and black or pink and turquoise. With red and black, use silver or white on the walls. Use stainless steel for accents like picture frames and cabinet handles. Put tile or red carpet on the floor. For the pink and turquoise room, the walls can be painted either pink, turquoise or light green, and the floor can be thick, pink carpet. Matching round plastic chairs will go with either room scheme. The infamous Kit-Cat clock, a black cat whose eyes and tail move back in forth with the seconds, can be used as well. It is available in other colors, such as pink.

Retro '50s Decorating Ideas

2011-11-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

Retro '50s Decorating Ideas
Kitchen
# The kitchen is a popular spot for retro decorations. A black-, white-and-red theme is ideal. Choose chairs or booths for seating in the kitchen or dining area that are made of red vinyl. A hard formica table in a red color can match the chairs and will often be less expensive than a typical wooden kitchen table. Accessorize with old product boxes or vintage signs from flea markets and antique stores. Records can be added to the walls, and black-and-white square tile can be used on the floor. A large clock with a round, silver frame or a frame with a red neon light around the edge is the perfect way to both decorate the kitchen and always know the time.
Retro Interior Design

Retro Color Palettes

2011-10-29T02:19:00.000-07:00

Retro Color Palettes

# Retro color palettes can make a room feel outdated when paired with vintage furniture. Put your favorite retro color with your favorite modern color. Instead of using avocado green and orange try orange and bright white or avocado and brown. Paint will freshen up a vintage look and add a personal touch to the room.
Wallpaper
# Wallpaper was popular in vintage design. Think outside the basic floral patterns. Prime the walls properly so you can easily remove the paper when you want a change. Use a graphic paper with an art deco design or damask print on a wall to create a focal point.
Retro Interior design

Retro Vintage Decorating Ideas Vintage Accessories

2011-10-24T02:19:00.000-07:00

Retro Vintage Decorating Ideas Vintage Accessories

Retro Vintage Accessories
Use old items in new ways. Records make unique wall art, with or without the album cover. Sew vintage
handkerchiefs into a patchwork tablecloth. Turn old postcards or letters into collages. Reframe vintage artwork or posters to give it new life. Preserve the pieces by using acid free materials. Rewire vintage lamps and give the
pieces a new lampshade for a custom piece. Vintage cameras can accessorize a bookshelf. Place a retro dress form in a sewing or living room for a distinct conversation piece.
Retro Interior Design

Retro Vintage Decorating Ideas Modern Conveniences

2011-10-18T02:17:00.000-07:00

Retro Interior Vintage Decorating Ideas Modern Conveniences

Modern Conveniences
You might want a vintage look while maintaining modern conveniences. Place a buffet or credenza underneath a modern flat screen TV to lend a retro flair. The buffet can house video equipment and DVDS. Retro kitchen appliances often came in colors such as avocado green and harvest gold yellow. These colors can be difficult to find on new appliances. Your cabinet maker can install cupboard doors over certain appliances so they disappear.
Retro Interior design

Retro Interior Vintage Decorating Ideas Vintage Furniture

2011-10-14T02:16:00.000-07:00

Retro Interior Vintage Decorating Ideas Vintage Furniture

Vintage Furniture
Furniture designers base modern furniture off of vintage pieces. Get the real thing for less money by going to
thrift stores or garage sales. For decor styles from the 1930s and 1940s, go with wood pieces with carvings and inlay. You may have trouble finding a couch from these eras that are in good condition. Mix your existing sofa in with vintage pieces. Concentrate on finding end tables, bedroom sets and dining room furniture in vintage shops.
Vintage decorating also works if you've inherited pieces from relatives because you can incorporate family heirlooms into the overall design. Use a vintage sewing machine table as a desk. Furniture from the 1960s and 1970s includes plastic and metal pieces with modern lines.
Retro Interior Design

Retro 1950s

2011-10-08T02:13:00.000-07:00

Retro Interior Design 1950s

Step 1

Paint your bedroom walls in pastel shades, and buy a blond bedroom set. The more pieces, the better. Install
1950s-style perforated wall-sconce lamps on each side of the bed (see Resources below). Hang a sunburst (a type of metal sculpture common in the 1950s) on the wall above the bed.

Step 2

Put a chenille bedspread on the bed. Beds in the 1950s usually had only two pillows, which were laid flat. Shop for a round or square white corduroy or silk-covered pillow in a jewel tone, and lay it tilted upward between the two other pillows.

Step 3

Hang two-layer curtains in pastel colors. The inner part should be voile, the outer part in a heavier, coordinating drapery fabric.

Step 4

Find a 1950s-style boxy "slipper chair" covered in yellow, aqua or green leather, and place it in the corner.
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How to Decorate a Retro Bedroom Retro 1960s

2009-07-21T02:11:00.000-07:00

How to Decorate a Retro Bedroom : Retro 1960s
Retro Interior Design of the 1960s

Step 1
Paint your walls purple, red or bright green, and hang artwork by sixties artist Peter Max and posters of the
Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.

Step 2
Drape your windows in batik prints or create swags out of gauzy solids and prints from India.

Step 3
Place one small table next to a pile of brightly covered floor pillows in a corner for meditating. Place an incense burner and a candle on the table next to them.

Step 4
Cover your bed in bright, solid color linens and cover them with a coordinating crocheted afghan. Hang a large, round paper Japanese-style globe near the bed.

Step 5

Find a stereo and sixties albums at a garage sale, and play them while you're relaxing in your retro bedroom.
Retro Interior Design..
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Retro Interior Design Ideas Accessories

2009-07-21T02:05:00.000-07:00

Retro Interior Design Ideas Accessories

Accessories
# Choose a combination of vintage and modern retro interior accessories for your midcentury style home design. In the kitchen, modern reproductions or retro styled pieces are ideal. It is easy to find blenders, toasters, mixers and other kitchen items with a great retro look, especially if you opt for a chrome finish for your kitchen accessories.
Display cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers or old aprons in your retro style kitchen. Vintage items, including lamps, planters, clocks, and mirrors work very well in the bedroom, living room or home office.
Retro Interior Design

Retro Interior Design Ideas Color Schemes

2009-07-21T02:03:00.000-07:00

Retro Interior Design Ideas Color Schemes

Color Schemes
Colors in the mid century home were vivid and bright. New technology made brighter paint and upholstery colors more accessible.
Bright aqua, pink, seafoam green and vivid chartreuse are all common colors in the 1950s home.

Consider pairing cherry red with a butter yellow or aqua blue.
If you are looking for a 1960s retro look, consider orange, gold, rust and brown. You can go all the way with color or simply opt to add retro color touches to a more neutral contemporary room. In the case of either a 1950s or 1960s look, you can consider wood paneling. But be sure to use real wood and keep lighting in mind to keep the space from looking dark and dated.
Retro Interior Design
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Retro Interior Design Ideas Furniture

2009-07-21T02:02:00.000-07:00

Retro Interior Design Ideas Furniture

Furniture

Finding retro interior furniture is easy. Visit thrift stores, secondhand furniture shops, flea markets and antique shops in your area to locate pieces. Midcentury modern furniture remains affordable, particularly wooden case good pieces, including side tables, dressers, bed frames, and dining sets. Consider adapting vintage pieces to a modern use. A low and wide dresser can become a modern entertainment center or a vintage stereo cabinet can be hollowed out to serve as a bar or bookshelf. It can be more difficult to find vintage upholstered pieces in good condition. You can, however, find great retro interior style pieces made today. Look for simple upholstered pieces, and avoid anything overstuffed. Exposed wood frames are ideal for side chairs, and many Danish modern pieces adapt well to a retro design scheme. Look for damasks, mod prints or simple and neutral solids in charcoal, tan or black for your retro room.
Retro Interior Design....
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Interior Design Retro Style

2009-07-21T01:54:00.000-07:00

Interior Design Retro Style

First of all it might help to have an understanding of what a Retro interior design style actually is.

What is Retro?
The post war fifties and psychedelic sixties saw a move towards more brighter and bolder colors most likely as a backlash to doom and gloom of the war torn forties. Basically, Retro interior style of interior design can be described as taking a little bit of the past few decades into the present in order to create a new style of interior design that is both modern and fun. As there is so much material to choose from, what you decide to include will ultimately be your own interpretation of the past, so entirely unique.
During each of the past three decades there have been different materials, shapes, colors, artifacts, and gadgets that have left a lasting impression on all of us. These days, anything from the 50's, 60's or even the 70's is fashionable again. However, because there are so many different ways to go about incorporating a Retro interior style into your home, it can be difficult to know where to start. There isn't a standard look that can be described as Retro and yet everyone is able to recognize it when they see it.

Where to start
The first step would be to browse through magazines and search on the Internet, visit show rooms and exhibitions for the color schemes, furniture, layouts etc. that appeal to you. Ask yourself what artifacts have been used, how the furniture is laid out, what it is made of, look at the lighting and any effect it creates, take note of the color schemes, the ornamental touches and don't forget the wall and floor coverings. From there you can literally mix and match elements that appeal to your own taste to produce a retro style that reflects your own identity with the past.

Getting the look

After the war new materials were being produced that led to a dramatic change in styles during the fifties and
sixties, for example, Formica, plastic, fiberglass and plywood were introduced. The mood of the people was buoyant, and the future looked bright, consequently so were the color schemes. For example:

* Turquoise * Jade * Mint green * Pink * Sunshine yellow * Cherry red * Blue * Black and White

Highly polished chrome was very popular and used for furniture or for ornamental purposes. The furniture was often abstract in style with weird and wonderful shapes. Think of low lying round or oval or kidney shaped coffee tables, or anything in a curvy boomerang type shape. Teak and Pine were popular materials. Blow up furniture was introduced along with disposable materials like cardboard so no longer did furniture have to last for years; it was possible to change the look of your home as often as you felt the urge.

Who could possibly forget GPlan furniture that was all the rage and that revolutionized home interiors? For the first time, people could develop a coordinated look to their home over a period of time and mix and match pieces to create their own style.
Imagine black and white checkered linoleum offset against chrome furniture and black vinyl coverings. What about the wet look wall paper and bold floral patterns? Or even the bright and bold red and black contrasting color schemes.

Geometric patterns and shapes were ever popular and as the space age was well and truly upon us during the fifties and sixties wall hangings, shapes, pictures, lamps, ornaments or anything that was reminiscent of space was well and truly in. For example, rockets, the planets, satellites, and space ships were very trendy and atomic wall clocks were a feature in the most fashionable of homes.

Finally
Visit antique shops or search on eBay to pick up vintage ornaments and objects in order to complete the vintage Retro look. There aren't any hard and fast rules about what you should or shouldn't include and that is what makes the Retro style so excitingly different. Don't be afraid to be bold with your design ideas, as long as it looks good to you and feels right then you can't really go wrong.
Retro Interior Design...

Shopping for Retro Interior Design

2009-07-21T01:49:00.000-07:00

Shopping for Retro Interior Design

Looking for the perfect retro pieces for your home? The following websites is recommended:

* 1950.com – The name says it all! 1950.com has everything you need, from small pieces to large ones, to
recreate the perfect 50s inspired home.
* Circa 50 – Circa 50 offers cool, modern takes on retro styles, and they have free shipping.
* Do Wah Diddy – Do Wah Diddy is good for the little extras and accessories that pull your room together. They also offer a good selection of lamps.
* Hi Lo Modern – Like Circa 50, this site offers modern interpretations of classic retro looks. Lots of fun!
Retro Interior Design.......basics-of-retro-interior-design

The Basics of Retro Interior Design

2009-07-21T01:48:00.000-07:00

The Basics of Retro Interior Design

Two of the best ways to bring retro looks into your decorating scheme are through colors and appliances:

Retro Color

Think of the homes of the mid 20th century – what colors come to mind? Avocado green springs to mind first for most people, and adding this color to your décor is one of the quickest ways to create a basis for your retro look. Also look for mustard yellow, orange, brown and aqua. Forget the kneejerk reaction some people have against these colors – they can be used to great affect in a retro style home and really pull your look together.

Retro Applicances

When it comes to appliances, shape, material and colors matter. During the 50s and 60s especially, round edges were de rigeur for appliances. For a good example, check out retro style Smeg refrigerators. Look for these rounded edges on all of your appliances – you can carry this theme through to your furniture as well. When it comes to materials and colors, chrome is the order of the day. Chrome fridges, countertops, tables, stovetops – as much as you like. If you want to change things up a little bit, swap a few of the chrome appliances for ones that are in the colors of the time period – an avocado stovetop or a mustard yellow dishwasher will also look great.

Other retro inspired design pieces that will bring your look to life include:

* shag carpeting
* round lampshades
* black and white/black, white and red tiles
* bean bag chairs
Retro Interior Design...
shopping-for-retro-interior-design.

Decorating Ideas: Retro Interior Design – What Does It Mean?

2009-07-21T01:46:00.000-07:00

Decorating Ideas: Retro Interior Design – What Does It Mean?

Retro style interior design can be any kind of design that turns to the past for inspiration, technically, but usually the term “retro” is used in connection with design styles that take their cue from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s – although even 80s style is starting to creep in
there.
However, retro interior decorating is more than just trying to recreate your average home from the time period. Retro style is a little bit more over the top. It takes the styles from the time, and then pushes them that little bit further, so there can be no doubt about what look you are trying to create.

For this reason, retro interior style is not for the faint of heart or for people who prefer a more understated and classic interior design look. Indeed, trying to lighten up retro style and go easy on the look can backfire – unless you go all out, your home could simply look outdated. When you go retro, embracing the style shows that planning went into creating your home and that you just haven’t failed to update your décor for a few decades!
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