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Saturday, July 14, 2012

Wall-to-wall

I remember the beautiful hardwood floors and area rugs of my early childhood in the late 1940s and early 1950s...and how eager my grandmother and my mother were to throw out the rugs and cover the hardwood with carpet when it became all the rage in the mid-1950s.

It's interesting how home fashions cycle in and out. Now we retro restorers are pulling up carpet hoping to find hardwood underneath and going back to area rugs. I was fortunate to find the original oak flooring in my home, and it was in excellent condition.

Here are some of the ads that were so enticing to my grandmother and my mother, making them believe that "wall-to-wall carpet" was synonymous with "luxury, elegance and style."

Ad for Firth carpet which includes Paul McCobb Directional furniture
Living magazine, November 1954
ebay.com - americanartarchives
Lee carpet
vintageadbrowser.com
Needletuft carpet
vintageadbrowser.com
Gulistan carpet
vintageadbrowser.com

13 comments:

  1. Believable too! I could handle a bit of turquoise carpet in my home.;)

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    1. That first ad is stunning, isn't it? I wouldn't mind having the Paul McCobb furniture too! :)

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  2. Wild about that crazy purple carpet! I also remember 'sculpted' carpeting. That was bumpy. And then there was shag! Ooooh, and we had 'kitchen' carpet - what were people thinking?

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    1. Oh, yes, I remember the sculpted carpet very well. And I raked many a shag carpet back in the 70s! I have a friend who still laughs about his mother's kitchen carpet. When it finally got gross and nasty, she replaced it with the exact same thing...LOL

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  3. At least it was colorful, not beige.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, some of it was extremely colorful! And many people used a different color in every room.

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  4. I love these old ads! The purple carpet is my fave.

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    1. I think the old ads are so much fun to look at. For me, it brings back so many memories. For my younger readers, I'm sure it's akin to an archaeological dig...LOL

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  5. ads look cool but i m not a fan of carpeting...even in the coldest weather conditions

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    1. I'm with you. After growing up with it and finally realizing how much better my allergies are without it, I'll never have carpet in my house again.

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  6. Fun post! That purple carpet makes me want to reach for my sunglasses :)

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    1. You'd have to REALLY like purple to choose that color, for sure! :)

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