One of the things that Aunt Pam had me do when I visited and learned the blog this summer, was to start to go through her vintage decorating magazines. This cleanings pick: Advertisements from five 1940s home decorating magazine. This job was actually very entertaining (most of the jobs get gives me are), many of the advertisements were very comical. Don’t get me wrong, there were tons of great images in these issues — I only picked out a the color ones to share. With the rise in the economy and surplus of money after WWII, people were very eager to update their houses. Lots of new companies focused on interior decorating & DIY ideas for mid century homes began to form and market their wares.
These Frigidaire electric range ads promote the new happy demeanor of households after the war. This one shows a wife impressing her mother-in-law with her cooking skills. She demonstrates how easily it can bake biscuits and the MIL claps her hands in approval.
This image shows a woman gossiping with her friend how her new Frigidaire electric range really provided for a happy husband — and everyone knows a happy husband is a happy marriage. I don’t know how well that motto would go over today.
Hotpoint was another popular company that made and marketed electric ranges. It is not too often today that you see advertising of new products featuring the older generation. Look at this wife tell her husband how she has waited her whole life to be able to cook like she is able to now. (Pam adds: Remember, before the war many many folks did not have electricity in their home. They were heating and cooking with wood, oil, or coal. But asks: Does anyone understand the pre-war cooking fuels for sure?)
While all the men were off fighting in the war, the women had to go out into the working world. Appearance and glamour grew to a height it had never been to before. Every product that could be made was being made. Here are some women’s beauty products from General Electric. On the bottom they say “June in January” with your new GE Sunlamp.
This ad is for a gas range and water heater, but I’m more interested in these yellow kitchen cabinets. It looks like some type of bead-board was used… I like it. Notice the glass blocks above the sink and the tall standing clock built into the stove. The blue counter tops and dark hardware really bring a boldness this kitchen.
Flooring was coming into a whole new era as well. Everyone wanted to redo some part of their home. Back in the day, you see a lot of focus on doing one project at a time… Until about 1953, folks were still very very conservative about spending their hard-earned cash. These ads from Armstrong Linoleum show many options you had when it came to redoing a room. They say, “ linoleum every floor of the house” and you really could would all the designs and texture they have to choose from.
The second Armstrong Linoleum advertisement shows a room never considered in a home before- the kitchen/office. “A woman’s work is never done? That’s what I used to think!” There is a whole glass block wall behind the desk area. The polka dot upholstery on those vanity chairs is a nice touch. 
I love, love, love this red & white kitchen shown in this Pabco Linoleum Flooring ad. Check out the red trim on the floor going around with the cabinets and the circular island/bar. Totally the kitchen of my dreams.
Painting, whether interior or exterior, was now a much easier task then decades before. With new products and tools one could completely change the look of a room, heck a whole house, in a weekend. The Pittsburgh Paints ad shows how they pulled inspiration from colorful organisms in nature to design the rooms at the bottom. I personally like the blue jay dining room. 
This Dutch Boy White Lead exterior paint shows just how easily it was to wipe away the years worth of mother nature your home, along with the country, had endured.
After going through all the designated magazines, I had a little collection of Cannon Towel ads — babies are always popular. Hey, if it’s soft enough for them, it’s soft enough for me right? 
Even during the war, you saw a focus on little touches like towels, as a way to add prettiness to rooms.
Families who couldn’t afford automobile transportation because of the Great Depression were now able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, with extra left over. Long, road trip like vacations were becoming more and more accessible, if not necessary to escape from the new industrial lifestyle. Towels made specifically for the beach or pool came on the market. Nowadays beach tiles have their own aisle at the store.
Last but not least is this ad for Old Dutch Cleanser where a woman’s friend asks her if she bought a brand new tub. She answers, “No, I’ve just cleaned it with the new Old Dutch.” Frugality — “Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Do without” — still reined in the psyche of the Depression and WWII generation.
To view slide show, click on the first thumbnail, and move forward or back via the arrows below each image.
71 kitchens, bathrooms & more in 1940s photo gallery 
21 ideas for your 1940s ranch, bungalow or cape – 40s kitchens, living rooms, bathrooms and more 
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Thanks for sharing these! All I can say is More, Please! How do you do a curved red linoleum border, anyway? Were the floral designs on the towels screen printed or woven into the fabric? The ingenuity on display is insprirational. One last thought – this was before easy credit financing, so that’s why they paid cash and had to do things one at a time. It’s also why not all of it matched. It wasn’t uncommon to have a house back in the day with different color carpet in every room. Not like today with everthing matchy-matchy. That came later, like in the 70′s & 80′s.
Amy – I direct you to talk to a linoleum install pro to find out how to do a curve…
I love linoleum floors, especially with the coved bases. I was thrilled when I found the directions on how to do the cove and other linoleum tricks in an old Popular Mechanics book. Not that I’ll ever do it, but it was fun to read . . .
I have a stove very much like those in my backyard. It was in my kitchen, but my passive/agressive husband never liked it, so he put in another one. If anyone in the Memphis area can use it, please let me know via this site, and you can have it. It will need some tlc, but all worked when he took it out but one burner.
Just lovely. Love the pattens of those towels. And, I, too want to be young….electrically!
I LOVED this post!!!! I think it is important to look back and see where we were and how we have arrived. My house still has it’s original kitchen. Everyone who visits asks if we are ever going to enlarge it. UGH I really hate hearing that. It is going to be remodeled because we discovered the sub floor is a mess but it will be retro-renovated and made to look like a whole new 1940s era kitchen and will more than likely remain the same size. It’s big enough. Actually, much larger than most vintage homes.
Tera, Sound like you are doing what we are doing. Let me know how it goes, we will begin this spring on ours, too much snow now. Vicki
What fun these old ads are! We have one framed in our kitchen, for Brer Rabbit Molasses. It is hysterical! Jackie, the husband, is stepping out on Saturday nights. The implied idea is that since his wife can’t cook, the poor husband is forced to find companionship elsewhere! (Nice!) Luckily, Peg’s sister in law tips her off that the “surest way to lose a husband is giving him poor cooking” — and gives her a great gingerbread recipe. Jackie loves it, of course! The ad ends with Peg swearing that “if a little thing like gingerbread can keep him happy, I’ll see to it that my husband never strays again!”
LOVE old ads! (Best ever is the Phantom Kotex “so-called because no one knows it’s there!) Sorry, not old house related, I know…. But soooooooo funny!
Thanks for these awesome ads. I especially loved the pink and navy kitchen. I love that color combination. And the polka-dot accents are a fabulous twist to the typical kitchen accents of fruit and vegetables, etc. My original 1953 kitchen is in need of some remodeling/repair, and I wanted to add pink to the color scheme…maybe I’ll go with pink and navy, hum….
Hi Barbara, I was just admiring those polka dots myself. I think that doing them against navy makes the whole thing not tooooo twee.
I worked in the NY office for Cannon Mills for a few years in the ’70′s. The towels they made in Kannaoplis NC were truly gorgeous – in most cases the designs were woven in on the jacquard looms. There were multi colored designs printed on towel blanks but most of the towels shown above look to be woven.
Thanks, Vee. I have a few vintage towel sets that include woven-in designs, and I agree: They are gorgeous!
I think the 20 potted plants are either African violets or, ta da, geranium cuttings to be overwintered in a sunny kitchen.
PK — do you think that 40s houses sometimes had narrower base cabinets? Like the 12 to 15 depth of wall mount cabs?
Yes, MbS, I think there could have been narrower cabinets. In midcentury homes wood cabinets often were “built in place” by the builder. They were not “stock” like today. So, the depth could easily be varied. That said, sinks were likely a common size, as were stoves and fridges, so that would have dictated a certain commonish depth…
Just wanted to say “yes” to your question about shallower base cabinets. Years ago we lived in a house what was built in the 40′s and the cabinet depth was definitely shallower than the standard of today. The uppers were also placed lower on the wall, so we couldn’t put most of our appliances on the counter because of that. Even the things that COULD fit, left us such little counter space, that we ended up keeping most of the counters empty, except for strategically-placed cannisters to hide cracked tiles.
No, to your question, The cabinets we will e replacing are deeper than the ones you get, so we are having our made by a custom cabinet maker that is familiar with the period (1940s).
Vicki
Love the polka dots! I haven’t seen many polka dot kitchens.
I just bought a 1910 home. It was last decorated in the late 40′s. Have this great Crosley double oven electric range that is fully functional. I have been using it for the last month to do all my cooking. There is a broiler coil style broiler element missing from the small oven. I am looking for a parts source for this and for any future repairs that might come up. Anyone have any ideas.
Maureen, there are other online sites that focus on this kind of info. I think if you do some more online searching you might find them…. good luck.
Try antiqueappliances.com
I have a cr 1653 home in the Boston area. I am making the downstairs room represent the different era of the families that had the house. I did the kitchen in 1940 period, for the family we brought the house from. They had purchased the house in 1938 and modernized the kitchen in late 1940 or 50′s. I took it back to the 1940, evening restoring the 1938 hardwick strove. We wish to replace the wood floor with a period appropriate linoleum. I obtained a sample book from an antique dealer with samples of oil rag floor and linoleum. I cannot locate anyone that carries the styles from that period, do you know any that are not too expense?
victoria, see my Kitchen / Flooring category. There are at least three companies that make linoleum.
Great site!
I found a partially filled bottle of Pabco Linoleum Cleaner. Probably late 40s. It so fits with some of these pics! I’d send u a pic in you are interested.
S
Just stumbled across your site and am loving what I found! I was wondering, though, if you could share which magazines you got these images from. Are any of them archived online? Thanks!
sorry, some of my sources are my secret
i think you can get popular mechanic, popular science, life — and even old sears catalogs — archived, though!
Hi Pam, I’ve been following your site for a number of years, and retro-updating when time/budget permits. I’m the second owner of a late 30′s Deco-to-Moderne bungalow in Southern California. I happened upon a number of Armstrong Linoleum Pattern Books from one of their salesman for this era at an estate sale here, which I’m using to update the house/colors. Is there any information you’d like from them?