In the 1950s the term “living room” was expanded to include any room in which the American family visited, listened to music, watched TV or otherwise lived and played together.
The concept of a family room or den was growing in popularity then, sometimes replacing a formal living room altogether, while sometimes simply providing a place for children to play, since they usually weren’t allowed in a formal living room except on special occasions.
Initially, these multi-purpose rooms were rather modest, but by the end of the decade, they had grown in importance and in size.
There are more great living room photos to be found on the
Mid-Century Home Style site, so check it out.
Text and images from midcenturyhomestyle.com
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| Armstrong in coral and green, 1950 |
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| Coral and gray living room, 1951 |
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| Modern bungalow, 1953 |
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| Armstrong cork floor, 1953 |
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| Stone fireplace, 1953 |
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| Sun porch, 1953 |
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| Modern Wormley, 1953 |
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| Heywood-Wakefield, 1954 |
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| Armstrong atomic, 1954 |
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| Clerestory windows, 1954 |
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| Armstrong Excelon flooring, 1957 |
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| Scandinavian, 1958 |
Pouring over every pic to see if there are any things I actually own! It happens. Not today though. LOVE the pics - what style!
ReplyDeleteWow - great photos. I love seeing mid-century furniture in its original setting. So neat.
ReplyDelete@DearHelenHartman: I love doing that too. And isn't it fun when you find something that's in your house too? I also like finding out things I didn't know...like the fact that Armstrong was selling cork flooring in 1953. I thought it came on the market decades later than that.
ReplyDelete@Tanya: I like looking at the small details...like what was considered a fashionable height to hang pictures back then or what kinds of plants were popular or what kinds of area rugs they used.
ReplyDeletelovely hues and color palette..loved the room showcased in armstrong cork flooring ad :0)
ReplyDeletei came back to the post a million times today, to check if i had something featured in those pics, and then wanted tospot trends like you said...the more i look at the pics..i know i could have easily lived in the scandinavian room wihtout a doubt!!!
ReplyDelete@Sudha: I want the 1953 stone fireplace room!
ReplyDeleteI like to see how they used color. I have tons of color in my mid-mod/Scandinavian home. Many pictures I see have neutral colored walls. I'm definitely not neutral!
ReplyDelete@Kathleen: I love the use of something other than white or pale gray on the walls too. I especially like the orange ceiling in one room and the deep charcoal walls in another.
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