The Vintage Home #1

Initially, I was going to title this post "Interior Desecrations" - sort of poking fun at the obnoxious decor so prevalent in the 1970's.  But then, being totally honest, I actually kind of like the 70's style. It's so easy to ridicule because it was so bold; however, they are anything but a "desecration".  They are fun, they are innovative, they are full of life, and, most of all, they are an example of what happens when interior decoratiors smoke a lot of marijuana.

This one sort of reminds me of when Greg Brady got his own room. He converted his dad's study into a psychedelic bachelor pad perfect for heavy smoking and shagging.  I fell in love with it when I first saw it, and have pined for my own sort of room ever since.

What would a 70's home be without wood paneling? The 1970s saw a rise in real wood paneling instead of the laminate paneling of the 1960s.... and it remained popular through the duration of the entire decade! That's why you have so many homes today still with the 70s wood paneling - because it was popular for an entire decade of home construction.

This demonstrates the amazing dichotomy of the 1970's: browns and earth tones were huge - the 70's are often referred to as the "browning of America". Yet, there was also a tendency to spiral out of control in the total opposite direction with an explosion of loud colors. Go figure.

There was also a tendency to make rooms (usually the study or rec room) totally dark. With the dark wood paneling, the brightest light bulb you could find couldn't illuminate these rooms.  They were cozy, in a medieval dungeon sort of way.


  1. oh my good gawd, you wouldn't want to wake up with a hangover in these two rooms.

  2. As a kid of the '70s, I miss that wood-paneled coziness!

  3. That beat the hell outa the '80s chrome & glass style. I recently paneled the end of our basement where our band practices and records. It's about the color of the floor in that red/white checkered photo. It made the area so cozy and groovy feeling.

  4. I remember our kitchen being carpeted like that last pic.

    My Dad had to tear it up when my Mom spilled a tray of hot muffins as she was pulling them out of the oven. The tray fused with the melted carpet.

    I can see how carpeted kitchens were so short lived.

  5. I, too, grew up in this.
    If you weren't alive then, you probably will never get it. By analogy:
    the 60's = hey did you hear about the party?
    the 70's = what a f'n great party
    the 80's = when the party got ugly
    the 90's = the hangover

  6. My parents had a log cabin so it didn't really look like any of these in the 70's. They were fairly conservative.
    That second picture looks like an artsy version of hell. Maybe that's what they were aiming for.

  7. Other than that last photo, the rest of 'em look like they just came out of the latest IKEA catalog!

    I worked in a Home Improvements store from 1980-1986, and trust me--we still sold TONS of paneling (in various colors), along with stuff like glass mirror tile (warnng on the box: "NOT FOR USE ON CEILINGS") & of course, "z-brick" & z-stone. (They really were made of brick and stone, just 1/3" inch thick!) I shudder to think how many homes had walls covered with those stone and brick facades...

  8. That bathroom is something else. At first I thought it had a big shower with plants in it, but then I realised it was a huge glass door. Next to the toilet. Withouth even any frosted glass. Also while reclining in the tub, I really don't want my head resting in what looks to be a creeping Charlie plant. Everyone that I knew in the 70's had a creeping Charlie. A friend of my parents poured some left over beer into hers, and it flourished. After that my mom would always pour beer into ours. We called it drunken Charlie.

  9. apachedug: Hell, my parents put some thin plastic brick around this one area. It had some cool cement that was kinda gritty and looked and felt like mortar when it hardened. They finally painted the dark panelling in the family room a very light color about 20 years ago.

  10. I have GOT to post some pics of house in the 70s.