Bright ideas for the home

Posted on Mon, 4 Feb 2008 by midcenturyjo


Retro time! Yes we take a short break in our tasteful transmission to bring you DIY ideas from the 70s for your swinging pad. Per Dalsgaard and Elisabeth Erichsen are responsible for these decorating ideas and do you know what? Some of them aren’t that bad 30 years later. OK some of them haven’t quite made the journey to the 21st century like that bondage sausage floor lounge (so unbelievable I just had to supersize it) or the very 70s concept of a velvet patchwork round bed for you and your friends. Enjoy these scans from Bright Ideas for the Home, Per Dalsgaard and Elisabeth Erichsen, Macmillan London, 1978.

kim. says:

Great post! And you’re right about some of these being bright ideas – the kitchen photo with the case hung up on the wall is hilarious, and the desks with images under glass is genius. The white wicker chair photo is so pretty (although not loving the choice of wallpaper). The mural of 3 chicks scares me quite frankly. 🙂

Ah, I *love* this book! I bought my copy about a year ago and I remember paying an ungodly amount of money for it ($40?) because I wanted it so bad…and it was totally worth it! Surely I’m not the only fan of gaudy 70’s decor out there? 😉

pia says:

oh yeah baby! you know i do recall my mum telling me that when her and dad got married they had no money for furniture so she made some sausage lounge thing, i reckon that first photo must be it!!

Karen says:

I just recently found this book (and looked through it again last night) … if any of your readers are interested in the book, let me know, it’s up for grabs (although it’s missing one bedroom section). And I agree, some of these ideas still work today, they were definitely ahead of the times!

“Bondage sausage” – ha ha ha ha ha!

I don’t know why decorators in the 70s couldn’t grasp the simplest concepts of balance and harmony (I mean, they should have been up to it, being hippies and all!).

Take the white wicker picture. That over-the-top floral wallpaper actually works, thanks to plain white dado paneling, the classic wicker furniture and the plain scrubbed pine floorboards. However, how the hell did they manage to find cushions in the one colour that DOESN’T appear in the wallpaper? The two have no relationship at all!

And let us not even consider the lampshade, at least not without a good stiff drink.

casapinka says:

Fab post – i could do each and everyone and live in 70s nirvana for the rest of my life.

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