rodentraiser Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I found this site with tons of decorating ideas if you want to build a 50s dollhouse. Now if only I didn't like pink. http://retrorenovation.com/ If it wasn't so hard to find 50s things in miniature, I'd really consider building a ranch dollhouse from the 50s. As it is, my Victorian is going to be an old family farmhouse updated in the 50s and left there. That will allow me a mix of old and new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Decor-wise the '50s were interesting, depending on which "end" you were at; it spanned the cabbage roses of the '40s, the first go-round of "earth" tones (anyone else remember "loden green"?) and, towards the Edsel days, the pink & charcoal-gray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Being born in the early 40's, the 50's were my awareness years of many things. Yes Holly, my mother painted our living room - one half loden green, the other side was wallpapered in loden and cream stripes. Blech! But it wasn't nearly as awful as the 60's avacado and/or orange! LOL I may turn my laurel and primrose into a 50's.....it is such a neat floor plan and can be either 30's, 40's or 50's and even 60's and newer.....It's a great dollhouse and so versatile! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just One More Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 I remember in 1951 I had a friend who had a kitchen done with ivy wallpaper. It was pretty on just one wall and the rest was paint. The 50's was a mix of things from the 30's and 40's especially in kitchens. A lot of chrome legged tables and chairs, canisters etc. I subscribe to Reminisce magazine and it has all kinds of pictures to help with decorating ideas for the different eras. They used to totally advertising free but lately have had to add a few ads but not anywhere near what other magazines have. I've been taking it since the first issue and have saved all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 My DM made cafe curtains for our kitchen out of a worn-out bedsheet and stencilied ivy on it using Rit and a toothbrush. She used to crochet her dishcloths, she had found a little sundress pattern for them and I used to hate to use them to wash dishes, she fussed when the knives cut the sundresses' straps!lol Of course, she dumped everything in the dishpan, put in the soap & hot water after I'd left for school & before she went in to work, and my job was to wash dishes as soon as I got home from school. Blech! First thing I had to do was dump the nasty stuff out of the dishpan and run fresh soapy water. I still use the bimanual dishwasher! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Songbird Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Thanks for that great link! My real house is a ranch built in 1959 so it was fun to look around the site! We still have bright yellow tiles and a bright peach vanity in the bathroom which I refuse to part with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Does this ivy wallpaper look familiar to anyone? The picture was taken at Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth NH. The paper is from the 1940's. We bought a house in 1960 that had that some wallpaper in the kitchen. In 1956-57 our living room was painted pink with a gray carpet. I don't remember it, my mom said my father brought home the wrong shade of pink and it looked terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItzKathyP Posted October 17, 2008 Share Posted October 17, 2008 Being born in the early 40's, the 50's were my awareness years of many things. I like the way you put this, Gina. I was born in 1945 and remember the first TV in our house when I was about 6 or 7, I guess. It was the first TV on our whole street, and my mother was really proud of that. This was in an old neighborhood in in the city - Chicago. My McKinley has decided it will be a 50's house, though we're still up in the air about exactly when. This was a decade of so many changes, particularly with the advent of television. And yes, I shudder to think of the 60's avocado! I can't believe I bought into that, big time. That and the beehive hat with the purple flowers.................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 OMG! Grazhe, THAT was the stove in our first apartment in Pittsburgh! It cooked wonderfully, but the fridge was a whole different story! One morning I found out how you fry frozen eggs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corwin Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 I recognize some of those appliances, some from high school, some from my child hood home, I think they were seventy's though, a harvest gold fridge we went through three, One vintage dish washer which we replaced and an avacotto stove We also had a really old and uncommon chest freezer in (are you ready for this) WHIT I am 19, there is no exsues for such traumatizing memories., The lazy Suzann in the kitchen was metal and a orngeish yella. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justmesue Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 I remember this furniture also. I was born in 1966, but it could have been 1866! The fifties furniture was our new stuff! LOL We got a cold water tap in 1971, and indoor plumbing in 1979! 79 is also the year we stopped using the old kitchen wood burning cookstove! This question brings back so many memories! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Cooking on my mom's @ 1950 Roper stove was great. The design was wonderful. The simmer was superb, nothing I've cooked on since was ever as good. The broiler was as high as the oven, it had directions on the door for broiling fruit, etc. You could broil a Baked Alaska in there if you wanted to. When she needed to put in a new sink in the late 70's there wasn't enough room left for the big range so she had it moved to the 2nd floor apartment where it continued to function well for another 10 years or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana M. Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Yes, I do like the 50's and 60's! I wish I could go back in time! And I do want to do up my Newburg in 50's-60's. It will be a fun project! Thanks for the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdlnpeabody Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 I was born in 1975, so I'm not aware of anything earlier than '79. Just pictures of tacky styles. Of course every decade looks back at the last one in horror, doesn't it? I have a friend, Lonnie, who was around in the 50's and used to cruise around town in the family car back then. He builds 1/18 and 1/24 scale 50's diners with incredible detail. I thought I was good until I saw his projects. He even made lighted, working juke boxes and neon lighting with lots of chrome trim. He also makes replicas of existing diners that the owners have ordered. We were going to start a business together just building diners but he won't take the steps needed to start the business. Every year he says the same thing, "I want to build a few more prototypes first." The problem is he has two dozen prototypes that are all good (we even figured out how to make working street lights) but he still refuses to start the business. We've even been contacted by venture capitalists who want to invest in the business, the only problem was they wanted to open a sweatshop in China and replace the quality parts with cheap plastic. I would have started my own miniature diner business, but I only know a few of his techniques and it would be wrong to steal his ideas. I just created a new gallery for his diners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 When Lonnie posted on the next-to-old DHM forum I invited him to join here, and he shared many pictures of his incredibly detailed diners here. Thanks for the reminder!the 50's and 60's! I wish I could go back in time!With the level of scientific and medical technologies of those times? No thanks. We still had the social problems we have now, just a lot more of it because there wasn't the media exposure. The focus was on appearances. And return to Jim Crow? No way!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grazhina Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 I do have a 1950's chrome kitchen step/stool listed in my store in case anyone wants one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana M. Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 With the level of scientific and medical technologies of those times? No thanks. We still had the social problems we have now, just a lot more of it because there wasn't the media exposure. The focus was on appearances. And return to Jim Crow? No way!!! I love the decor' and it seemed to be a much easier time, people weren't in such big hurries! I was born in '55. I remember the 60's as a very happy time for our family! You have your opinion and I have mine on that time in history. And what I remember from my childhood was good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chellebelle Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 I love that website! You can see some of their wallpaper in my Bayberry cottage! I printed it off on cardstock and for the floor, I just used matte laminate on it and glued it down. The kitchen walls are from the "save the pink bathroom" section. I just turned 50 this year, and I am planning to do a retro "rumpas room" roombox sometime, like the ones from when I was a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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