Two pounds of pages and pages of day-glo space age decor. Robert Harling's 1971 Modern Furniture and Decoration is a flashback exploration of the plastic fantastic era in all its eye squinting inducing glory. There's something really wonderful about how adventurous interior decorators and furniture designers set out to be in the late 60's and early 70's. Acrylic, fiberglass, moulded plastics and organic geometrics were boldly paired with primary colours that still resonate today as being "modern". Love it or hate it, this book's 208 pages are filled with unforgettable interiors.
Bookmarked, is an opportunity for ATLA and our readers to revisit some of the triumphs, follies and ideas from decor publications and books from the past. If you've got a great decor photo/image or design idea from an out-of-print source, please send it to la(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com, including the title and publication information.
I will have to agree that many of the interiors of the late 60's through the mid 70's were way over done and way too busy to be practical, but I do love many of the interiors from that period, as well as the more restrained, but still very exuberant modern interiors of the 50's, early 60's.
But like everything else, many people get carried away and what they come up with is just not practical at all.
That said, I do find that there is indeed a place for a great supergraphic design in a well done interior, combined with punches of wild fabric with the walls and flooring in more subdued colors such as tans, browns, whites along with strong punches of bright colors such as red, blue, yellow etc to keep it lively.
But then again, I have a distinct feeling that I'll eventually end up with a place that's a combination of mid century modern, pop/op modern of the 60's-70's with elements of the more restrained 80's perhaps and the occasional antique/unique pieces thrown in for good measure.
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My favorite photo of '70s decor. Gloria Steinem, 1970, in her Upper East Side brownstone. Check out the interplay of the diamonds of that window gate with the wallpaper!
http://nymag.com/images/2/homedesign/06/10/scenesfromthekitchen/10.jpg
It's from New York Magazine, which has a great slideshow of other celebrities in their homes, as well.
view Sea's profile
That picture of the red and white kitchen looks like it could have come straight out of the Ikea catalog of today.
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