This 1952 living room dining room comes courtesy the interior designers at Armstrong Flooring. To be sure, this company had a massive influence via their advertising in establishing the postwar look. Seems like they were among the first to figure out that if you employed interior designers to finish a whole room — especially as it was a new look for America — it would be lots easier to sell the pieces — starting with the floor.

There is so much to love about this room, including:

• The floor, of course – interesting how the neutral grey works just fine with the orange and chartreuse paint, fabric and accessories
• The fireplace wall is cork, the ad says. Very cool
• The wall-to-floor pinch-pleat draperies are retro necessities
• I love the built in just left of the chartreuse slipper chair, foreground left
• The plants are very modern – remember, a Monsterosa is a must for any god fearing mid century interior!
• That’s a paneled room behind the drapery to the left.
• And check out the headless statue in the extreme foreground at the right. Freaky!

Freaky head aside – how could you NOT be happy in this room? Banish the beige, guys!

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Let’s start with this amazing living room dining room from 1952. The color combination is simply mesmerizing – to me, at least. This particular shade of pink (touch of salmon?) is so inviting…its relationship to the paneled wall is brilliant – I would never have thought of trying this…and the ‘peek’ into the aquamarine kitchen is terrific, too.

Notice also how they’ve matched the floor-to-ceiling pinch pleat draperies to at least one chair, a classic designer trick. And last, I think it’s so wonderful how — again — they’ve included colonial details like the gorgeous oil painting and the dining room table (laquered in black to modernize it). This addition of the unexpected…makes this room all the more perfect.

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One of my pet peeves is that decorating pundits always seem to associate 50s with only modern…atomic. In fact, colonial was wicked hot and even French provincial was extremely popular. It’s not that I don’t love atomic — I do. It’s just that, well — it didn’t rule. Those of us with Capes and Colonial and Split Levels — and the eclectic quasi traditional decor to go with them — are proudly postwar, too.

Those cool illustrations from 1958 showed housewives how they could take the same furniture and through accessories — swing either Modern or Provincial.

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