What do you remember about interior decoration/home design in the 1970s? I'm not talking about the outlandish stuff rich people would have or that was in catalogs, but the stuff YOU remember about your home or that of your peers? What did a 1970s home look like on the inside? What are hallmarks of 70s interior design that you can recall?

Avocado green kitchen appliances (ovens and refrigerators) were ubiquitous in the 1970's.

Wood paneling was still fashionable.  Earth tones ruled (greens, browns, oranges, yellows).  You'd see stuff like rattan anything, bean bags and papasan chairs.  Directors chairs were cool, too.  Later in the decade Teak furniture started getting popular, which would continue into the next decades.  Late in the decade people also started getting into asian styled furnishings, which would be even bigger in the 80's.  Wallpaper was popular - stuff with flowers, yes, but geometrics were even more popular.  And our new refrigerator purchased in '74 was not avocado green - it was harvest yellow (also popular in the 70's).  Plus carpet ruled - shag carpet was definitely in.  :)

http://i63.tinypic.com/16glwsx.jpg
http://i64.tinypic.com/j7w4de.jpg

Some wallpaper from 1972.

Wood paneling was still fashionable.  Earth tones ruled (greens, browns, oranges, yellows).  You'd see stuff like rattan anything, bean bags and papasan chairs.  Directors chairs were cool, too.  Later in the decade Teak furniture started getting popular, which would continue into the next decades.  Late in the decade people also started getting into asian styled furnishings, which would be even bigger in the 80's.  Wallpaper was popular - stuff with flowers, yes, but geometrics were even more popular.  And our new refrigerator purchased in '74 was not avocado green - it was harvest yellow (also popular in the 70's).  Plus carpet ruled - shag carpet was definitely in.  :)


Did you live in one, AG?

Bean bag chairs, orange shag carpets, waterbeds.

This is a blurry pic of my sister. You gotta love the curtains. You can see the paneling. I don't know if you can see the lamp to the left of the pic. The big tv didn't work but the little tv on top was one that I talked about in another thread. The dresser to the left is sitting to my left as I am typing this.



Cat

Did you live in one, AG?


Live in one?  ???  If you mean, did I live in a 70's home during the 70's, the answer is, yes!  ;)

A couple other things I thought of -

In the late 70's I lived in a dorm room - I recall using a lot of plastic stuff, including a plastic framed cork board, and that those white plastic "parsons" tables were a favorite.  In my dorm room I also taped up several posters - many of which came from inside an album (my favorite at that time was from an Earth, Wind and Fire album).  I had a bright yellow bedspread (the cheap kind) and brought a yellow-gold shag carpet area rug from home - it matched the bright yellow accent wall in my otherwise white dorm room.  (If I recall right, its floor was blah colored linoleum.)  And my funky black and white houndstooth patterned director's chair (with a white wood frame) set just the right tone.  8)

This may have been more a 60s thing than a 70s thing, but lots of people used to have these bunches of large glass grapes in their home as a decoration. Anybody remember those? They were actually considered quite elegant. Often they were clear, sometimes greenish or purplish  tinged, there were even blue ones. I used to think they looked like flash bulbs. Flash bulbs being another obsolete thing.  ;)

Another thing were those  ubiquitous paintings of kids with really big eyes. If you ask me, those were definitely tacky.  :D

Live in one?  ???  If you mean, did I live in a 70's home during the 70's, the answer is, yes!  ;)

A couple other things I thought of -

In the late 70's I lived in a dorm room - I recall using a lot of plastic stuff, including a plastic framed cork board, and that those white plastic "parsons" tables were a favorite.  In my dorm room I also taped up several posters - many of which came from inside an album (my favorite at that time was from an Earth, Wind and Fire album).  I had a bright yellow bedspread (the cheap kind) and brought a yellow-gold shag carpet area rug from home - it matched the bright yellow accent wall in my otherwise white dorm room.  (If I recall right, its floor was blah colored linoleum.)  And my funky black and white houndstooth patterned director's chair (with a white wood frame) set just the right tone.  8)


How much were those kind of houses going for? ???

How much were those kind of houses going for? ???


Hmm, I haven't the faintest idea  :-\\  My parents didn't buy a house during the 70's until the very late 70's and I don't know how much they paid for it.  The house I lived in as a teen was purchased in the early 60's (jointly with my Grandmother, as it was a big farmhouse).

Were sundial clocks still big in the 70s?

Were sundial clocks still big in the 70s?


and what about lava lamps too?

https://pl-content-media-production.s3.amazonaws.com/images/70s_mainf.original.jpg

I currently live in a small apartment that definitely hasn't been touched since the 70's, i think the building was built in about 1940 and was reno'd sometime in the late 60's or early 70's..

Our fridge and stove are a red brown sunburst kinda colour, the living room and part of the kitchen have panelling, lots of those old amber glass light fixtures with brass.. floors are old hardwood.

My fiances dad has a pretty neat house, mid century modern style house with big glass windows, real wood panelling not that fake stuff, chrome/ball chandeliers and most of the furniture its retro styled

https://pl-content-media-production.s3.amazonaws.com/images/70s_mainf.original.jpg


Although this is a poplar conception of what 70s decor was like, never did I see anyplace that actually looked like this in the 70s. Maybe bits and pieces of things, like the colorful plastic tables. And that TV is in an awfully impractical location. And what's that rectangular wooden block like contraption in the upper right? Is that some kind of strange musical instrument?

https://pl-content-media-production.s3.amazonaws.com/images/70s_mainf.original.jpg


That looks exactly like Don Draper's apartment in Mad Men that he lived in in the late 1960s. Is it a Hollywood set?  ???

Although this is a poplar conception of what 70s decor was like, never did I see anyplace that actually looked like this in the 70s. Maybe bits and pieces of things, like the colorful plastic tables. And that TV is in an awfully impractical location. And what's that rectangular wooden block like contraption in the upper right? Is that some kind of strange musical instrument?


I think that's a Victrola.

That looks exactly like Don Draper's apartment in Mad Men that he lived in in the late 1960s. Is it a Hollywood set?  ???


It's something I found on the web.