So last night I had to take Astro to the doggie emergency room.
He was choking and wretching and otherwise making me hysterical.
Fortunately, the wonderful vet at Pittsfield Veterinary Hospital figured out almost immediately that the boy had eaten burdocks.
Those are thistles, essentially, that had caught in his paw and beard. He and I went for a long hike in Kennedy Park Saturday afternoon, so I am sure he got them there. Bad Mom. I did not even see them. They kind of blended in with his shaggy dog coat, and I am not a helicopter dog-Mom.
As a result, I did not get time to finish this post. I had loaded in the photos and was sitting in front of the computer about to start captioning them when all this drama started.
Now I am whipped. I think I will have a drink. Seriously.
Aren’t these 1976 sofas and loveseats and chairs and interiors from Kroehler an absolute gas? I welcome reader comments and captions expounding upon them. As all I can think about right now is Season 3 of Dexter on Netcast and a long tall cold vodka and orange juice.
To view the gallery, click on the first thumbnail … the image will enlarge on your screen … use the arrows below to move forward or back … you may start or restart at any slide:
This is one of the best posts ever — reality TV meets retro renovation blog. Hope Astro — and you — are recovered.
As for the furniture: A month or so ago, I bought a love seat for $10 at Goodwill for my kids’ apartment, covered in what might be the same fabric as shown in photo #3. Kids at first said the fabric was so awful they were going to cover it with a sheet. Then they decided they liked it, and they’ve left it uncovered. It certainly provides some oomph to their rather beige apartment.
Lately I have been on the hunt for a sofa in the style of photos #5 and #6, preferably in a tweedy fabric rather than a print. But I could handle a small plaid. I’ve gotten rid of a sofa that was the bigger, bulkier shape made for today’s bigger houses, that was just too big for our living room.
Hi Pam, hate to say it but the 70′s decade is my least favorite. It’s looking all to, what’s the word you used, Greige-ee.
Glad to hear your dog is ok.
John
Personally I prefer the sets from “High Society” by Cedric Gibbons (which I saw last night) to these 70′s creations.
I will admit we did have the leather patchwork Kroehler sofa set in the lead photograph, and lots of copper and exposed brick in our giant family room.
Good memories, but I think I’ve moved on- backward, most likely!!
I am sorry you had to race to the Vet- problems with pets can be downright heart-breaking.
The older I get….I miss well done 70′s rooms with sofa #2. “Fern Bar” style. Some exposed brick, Jane Avril poster and a corn plant. A strip of track lighting.
“The Eyes of Laura Mars” is free on Comcast this month. Great living/bedroom. The best 70′s rooms are starring in “Shampoo” w/ Warren Beatty.
Why is it that flowered sofas look awesome in the showroom, yet when you get them home it is: “I can’t believe I bought a flowered sofa!” ?
Oooo, thanks for that reminder, Gavin. I’m going to set up a double bill of both those films for a night this week. Haven’t seen them in years, but remember both as having great set design, and also being good movies. Plus I miss Raul Julia.
Yes no doubt! Back in 2000, I bought a couch from Sofa Express that was beige and had big floral print of magnolias all over….same thing. When I got home…YUK! LOL
Gavin – If you like the sofa / conversation pit in pic #2, check out Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams’ Dr. Pitt set. IIRC, they sell the pieces separately, so you don’t have to have the middle completely filled in with ottomans, but you can.
I am sorry about Astro, but love his name! And this post. Your trauma inserted between these couches with such traumatic fabric is classic!
But isn’t that the point?
tee hee
Now I need to know–how did the vet get the burdocks out of his throat? I hope that he’s home and burdock-free now.
Well, sorry I was not more clear on the outcome of the burdocks. Dogs are renowned for eating these… the burdocks scratch their throat and otherwise are extremely uncomfortable going down… hence all the gagging and wretching. Apparently there are no long term effects, just discomfort for a day or so. Also he swallowed a lot of air during the gagging and wretching so he was hiccupping and burping and breathing funny. Ultimately, the burdocks just get pooped out, all ready to flower again next spring. This is their method of propagation and spreading! My boy is part of the circle of biodiversity! He is still coughing a bit this morning, but seems 100% fine. Also, I have to say, that the doggie ER at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night is another story altogether. Talk about surreal. THEY need a reality TV show. Hmmmm. P.S. Vodka is Good.
So glad to hear Astro is ok!
I know what you mean about the doggie ER at 9 pm. We had a similar experience with our dog Boo when she swallowed a wash cloth while we were bathing our 1 yr old son. I felt so bad for the other animals at the ER when we arrived. It was horrifying! Anyway, our dog Boo recovered since they induced vomiting (gross) and the wash cloth came up. We decided to throw it out after that
. But we learned a lot about not leaving anything on the floor that Boo could somehow swallow. And, I hope I never have to go to the doggie ER at 9 pm again on any day of the week.
I find that 1976 crib couch in crushed velvet very interesting, but what would one use a crib couch for?
Before my narrative turned to doggie drama, I was contemplating how to politely position a discussion of The Pill, Women’s Lib, and Free Love as the explanation for the crushed velvet crib couch and several of the other photos. Wink wink nudge nudge.
The center pieces get moved around the room for additional seating.
Blushing about memories of evenings spent on a crib couch……………ahem, yes Pam, the pill, sexual liberation, come on, use your imagination. I certainly wasnt sitting around looking at pictures of couches on the internet back then. : O
hehe, wild saturday night!
Image 4 is totally a LOVE PIT. Sexual liberation for everyone!
I was going to call it Romper Room….
Oh Pam I hope Astro is doing better and the post is fine. I love the furniture. Especially the chairs with the skirts at the bottom. Brings me back to birthdays parties in the basement at my parents house!
I like the setup with the floral couch and the oval braided rug. I’m looking for a rug like that. I have tried that place that makes them, but they don’t have quite the right colors of a vintage braid. We had one exactly those colors when I was growing up – my parents bought it in the late ’50s or early ’60s so it had been around a while when I made the scene.
Estate sales: I see the ALL THE TIME. Cheap.
Google:
Thorndyke Mills Braided Rugs. They make those colorways and the rugs are actual braided wool strips, not yarn covered cords. Lifespan of at least 100 years!
Great find, Gavin! Goin’ on the blog, for sure. And so close to us! Road trip?
My neighbor whose husband was a ship captain, has a room that looks like the photo labeled “Cape Cod”. It’s very dark with similar furniture and lots of nautical items.
Hope Astro has a better day today!
I had a sofa in the late 70′s just like #8; the novelty print sofa. By 1987, though, my then 7 year old decided it was also very ugly and he set fire to it in our living room. The only fatality was the sofa!
My goodness, that is a good story!
My parents had the sofa in Photo #5!! In an orange, brown, and beige plaid. It was so sturdy, they had it re-upholstered–in gold tweed–rather than get a new one. Then it moved with me to my first apartment some sixteen years after they first bought it. That sofa features prominently in holiday photos for most of my life.
Finally, the seat springs gave out and we decided to get rid of it. Within ten minutes of our dragging it outside, some frat boys walking by snagged it. God knows where it is now!!
What on earth will frat boys (and college students in general) sit on when all the brown and orange plaid sofas are gone!
Wow, I am glad Astro is all right! I’ve made a few midnight runs to the vet myself. Good times.
Poor Astro! Poor Mom! : (
I’m glad that he’s okay though. I hope that you got your vodka too. I really actually like the vintage photos mixed in with modern day commentary. It’s kind of rad.
Once again, Pam, you’ve successfully taken me back to another time. It wasn’t necessarily the best of times, but the bi-centennial theme is apparent in Cape Cod, and somewhat in the two following it. As “frightful” as much of the 70′s was, there was SOME coziness at times. Thanks for the good post … and glad Astro is doing better. Luger, my almost 14-year-old German Shepherd, is going through the doggy aging process, and trips to the Vet aren’t fun anymore.
Well, one thing’s for sure…The 70′s weren’t greige…
Love the bell bottoms and the huge collar on the blonde’s pant suit in the Cape Cod room.
Just another slice of heaven!
I’m glad Astro is doing better. He’s such a sweet little pooch!
In the 70′s I got married, graduated from college, and had our first child. Our decorating style could best be described as hippie-antique meets Laura Ashley. Lots of antique oak and polished cotton chintz. Definitely nothing like the stuff pictured in these ads, which we would have thought as totally unhip, something out of our parents’ generation. I thought it was ugly then, and still think so today.
But your commentary rocked. Glad Astro is fine!
Laugh all you want at the Cape Cod couch, but my brother is the thrid owner in the family of one and it’s better made than the couches you can buy today. I’m not sure it’s the exact same brand, but it’s the same style with the upholstery like one of the chairs. If you like things that are well made, it’s an awesome couch to lay down and stretch out out on and sleep…nice and wide. I wish the average person could buy something of that quality of workmanship today made in the USA at a reasonable price. Some things about the good ‘ole days really were good.
Poor Astro! I hope those things don’t hurt coming out. I don’t like going to the emergency vet at all, but thank goodness for them, and that it wasn’t serious.
As for the pix, I did a double take at the second one, the fabric looked so familiar. My son made a stuffed owl pillow in either summer camp or an art class when he was 6 or 7, 1976 or 7, and it was that material! I still have it, and it would have looked perfect on a plain accent chair in the same room as that sofa. I might just have to add it to my decor again.
Well Pam! I’m sorry for poor little Astro, but really it was truly a great sofa conversation…I felt like I was sitting on each of those wonderful sofas while you told me of your day’s trauma! And wiggling my toes in that fur-like carpet under the flowered sofas. Thank you for sharing the photos and hopefully Astro’s digestive tract is doing better now.
Totally gross! I was a kid back in the 70′s, and I didn’t like this stuff then. There’s still plenty of older folks in my neighborhood that still own living room sets like these. They’re definitely NOT the “time capsules” anyone would like – trust me on this one, Pam! Polyester and Crushed Velour definitely do not get better with the passing of time.
Image #4 is like a hot tub made out of couches.
Happy to hear Astro’s doing better!
I wonder how many of those “crib sofas” were purchased by producers of…ahem..independent films.
We had the sofa set or something very similar to the one in #6.
Okay, here is the perfect background song for this post:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXtpoO_DlDM
My sorority house had a sofa similar to the “crib” couch- only it was rust and minus so many ottomans. On Saturday and Sunday mornings after big parties we would totally turn it into a bed so at least a dozen of us could vegetate in front of the TV. So comfy but a BAD idea for a house where boys weren’t allowed upstairs. I will leave it at that!
All of those sofas make me think two things: 1–Grandma’s basement 2–GROOVY Marsha!
been there, done that (go orange and brown!!)
Oh, the giant couch pit! Fun for kids, fun for teenagers. Until the sections move apart and someone start to fall into a crack.
I want the grey couch! LOL.
When my husband and I were still dating, he inherited an avocado sofa and matching chair from his maternal grandmother. I LOVED them. They were put in the apartment above his folk’s garage, that we were going to finish and live in. While we were on a family vacation with my folks, his mom got a hair somewhere… and burned the chair and all the cushions to the couch! She would have burned that too, but couldn’t move it by herself.
Her reason? She was angling us to take her Orange/Gold/Brown plaid sofa/sleeper set off her hands. For a studio apartment! I’ve since forgiven her moment of insanity, but one day, I will have my avacado set!!! (If mom would have burned the Lane coffee table and end tables that he got from grandma too… well, her and I may still have issues. LOL!)
Just got the new Restoration Hardware catalogue yesterday. Started thumbing through it and gasped out loud. Yes, there was a pit! It was absolutely gorgeous. You could live in that thing! Check it out!