1950 Homes

A look back at Living rooms of the '50s

          The 1950s were the glory days of modern design. It lacked unnecessary ornamentation, focusing on the function, “Form follows Function.” And, there is an artistic side to things, such as referencing nature and organic shape.

          Furniture was bulky with rounded edges, a carryover from the pre-war Streamline era, like a Streamliner train.  The style was meant to look like was moving, even when was standing still. In a way, this is not really 1950s style but 1940s. But, when World War II was on, manufacturing of discretionary items like furniture almost came to a complete halt. Immediately after  the war, it seemed that manufacturers pulled out their designs from before the war and started producing them to meet immediate demands. It took a while for new design looks to be introduced. The streamline look was popular from around 1946-1953.

          One wall of exposed brick or stone was popular in 1950s living rooms. You wouldn't see a lot of wooden furniture or fixings as it was very much the fashion in the 50s to have many of the items in your home were made of plastic. Surfaces like the coffee tables were much easier to clean made of plastics. Pastels were integral to the 1950s living room color scheme. Sofas and armchairs tended to be in deep or bold colors like red and orange.

          New technology added to the new homes. Introduced during the 1950s, popcorn ceilings became the norm in home decor. Along with this textured look came new colors, green, gold, orange, and yellow were all popular colors. The invention of no-wax flooring was popular.

          Ranch style architecture was the still the most popular, but split level homes came in a close second.