Yowzer. I love that image.
If you have been waiting for this post I didn't mean to leave you hanging.
I wrote Mad Men Love Part I last week before leaving for Las Vegas.
I knew, of course, that I would be gone for a few days but I don't like to make that announcement public until after I get back.
I did schedule my post to publish while I was gone.
That's a sweet option that I will be using again.
I also wanted to do my Motivated Monday again this past weekend while I was in Vegas but didn't have time... too busy shopping. :-)
Vegas is a designer's dream and I'm anxious o share some decorating inspiration from the Wynn Hotel soon.
I digress.... again.
So where were we?
Last week I featured the clothes from this innovative television series and today I thought it would be fun to share some of the furniture and decor.
A number of these items I would love to have in my home today
and it is obvious that these pieces of the 50's and 60's inspired many of the design elements we see today.
Then again, some of it was just so horrifically wrong.
For those of you that don't watch the show it is the story of Madison Avenue advertising executives and the lives they lead in the early 1960's.
The story revolves around one of these executives, Don Draper, and his family.
In an ad agency you would expect the furniture and art work to be cutting edge and the set here certainly doesn't disappoint.
The orange upholstered pieces and that grey wall could be just as easily found in an office today - fifty years later.
What was modern then is timeless now.
To me that is the essence of great design.
That chair, actually both of them, are swoon worthy. They wouldn't fit into my home easily but I can still love them.
The lamps from this era are fierce.
It is a look that has been reemerging in recent years.
I'm a definite fan.
As for the wood paneled walls?
Well, not so much.
This folding screen reminds me of one that was in our house back in the late 60's when a previous homeowner lived here.
This is the one in Mad Men -
and this is the one that was our living room 40 plus years ago -
I'm not a big follower of Asian style so this isn't for me but it is an enduring look just the same.
One of my favorite elements in the Sterling Cooper Agency is this white table.
Apparently, I am not alone.
It is being recreated by furniture manufacturers for today's buyers.
The Danish Modern designs of the offices where the handsome Don Draper works are a definite counterpoint to the Colonial Revival style of his home.
Really?
Not a good look.
Some things are better left in the past.
I'm sure it is historically correct
from the pine cabinets
to the printed cafe curtains
and that nasty plaid wallpaper.
The built in dishwasher, though, must have been state of the art.
I'm pretty sure we had that same brushed gold light fixture above our kitchen table and my brother had a youth chair very similar to this one.
The avocado green wall oven reminds me of one in my friend's house.
I also remember my grandma having a metal banded countertop much like this in her kitchen but I think her counters were red.
During the first season of Mad Men the Draper living room looked like this.
Do you remember stereo cabinets like that one in front of the window?
I do.
In a later episode Don's wife, Betty, and an interior decorator bring the living room to its 1963 look.
Those chairs would be just as at home in 2010 as they are then.
Love that fabric.
I'm not sure I'm feeling that orange in the sofa for our home but its lines are fabulous.
I am envisioning it in a creme fabric or a chocolate brown.
As for the glass top coffee table we also had one much like this.
Maybe that is one of the reasons that this show appeals to me so much.
I am vicariously reliving my childhood as I reminisce about the home where I grew up.
The Draper bedroom has also evolved from the first seasons where it looked like this.
I read where upholstered headboards have made a huge resurgence and the designers are crediting it to this show and this particular bed.
I remember our neighbors, the Wadington's, having those sheer tie back curtains in every room of their house
and
I think all of our grandmas had lamps and bedside tables like these.
This season the bedroom has a new bed and a new man in that bed. :)
Ahh, the drama.
A number of these decor looks are just old enough to be stylish again.
Like the washes of aqua that were as popular then as they are now.
Aqua is obviously prevalent in Joan's kitchen,
(which I like so much better than Betty's by the way).
It can be seen again in the pillows on her couch,
in the graphic printed window curtains that just dust the base boards,
and in the carpet,
Aqua is also used in the Draper foyer.
When it came to window treatments blinds were ubiquitous.
Privacy must have been a big issue.
If you are going for a vintage look be sure to include the tapes in your blinds.
This treatment can also be seen layered behind the sheers I talked about earlier.
The clean lined look of the blinds in the office are counterbalanced again in the home with by the softer, lush look and opulent folds of fabric in the tie back draperies and highly stylized valences layered over sheers.
We had Austrian valences just like these in our home too when I was growing up.
Maybe those sheers aren't such a bad idea.
It sure would cut down on window washing.
:-)
Recently I've been thinking about a new sofa for our living room.
I've always gone for the traditional camel back look.
Now I think I am ready for something else entirely.
I am a casual traditionalist at heart but the clean lines in these sofas have opened my mind to all kinds of new possibilities.
So maybe not anything quite this contemporary but a more sophisticated linear look at least.
The sofa below seems iconic of that era with its attached end table.
If I had a contemporary home I would love this.
If you watch the show you know that it was apparently customary to be on your second pack of cigarettes and your third scotch by 10 AM.
I'm not sure I could keep up with that but I am drawn to the decanter set in the Draper living room
or this one at Sterling Cooper.
I think something like this will be finding its way into my home very soon.
This nod to alcohol within arms reach can also be seen in the gilded bamboo bar cart with the aqua gold rimmed glasses in Joan's apartment.
I nice solution if you don't have a lot of space.
I can't end this post with out saying something about the art work too.
There are some great pieces featured throughout the show.
From the equestrian print and the modern giraffe work featured in Pete and Trudy Campbell's place
to the edgy pop art that appeared this season at Sterling Cooper.
These are again examples of a decade in transition socially, politically, and artistically.
You have to love the attention to details when it comes to this show.
Did you notice Sally reading a Highlights magazine when she went to the doctor?
That took me back.
I used to love Goofus and Gallant. :)
Check out this clock behind Joan's head.
Another proof that
what was old is new again.
I also noticed that so many of the restaurant scenes have these little candle lamps at the center of the table.
Go into an older supper club that hasn't been redecorated in a couple of decades and you may still find these shaded ambience enhancers.
Whether it is furniture, design, fashion or just handsome men and beautiful women that makes your heart race a bit faster this series delivers.
Happy viewing.
On another note, my Traveling Door sale/show is only fifty two days away so not much television viewing in my immediate future.
Thank God for Tivo.
I will be busy painting, embellishing, and decoupaging my butt off.
Hopefully I will have some items to share with you in the coming days.
XOXO,
P
