Group Therapy: Is your significant other into retro renovation and all things vintage as much as you are — or is your life a retro battleground? Has this interest strengthened bonds — or do you have to compromise (or finagle) to make it work? (Example: Like the couple in this 1948 GE advertisement, David and I juggle pretty well, but I admit, I have the estate-sale bug very bad and the number of things I constantly squirrel into the house is a source of conflict, to say it nicely…) Share your stories and tactics! This should be fun!
Reader Interactions
90 comments
Alison says
Thankfully, my husband shares me love of thrifting and antiquing. Maybe because I get a ton of fun mid-century stuff and he comes out with a couple bags worth of books, I don’t know. I have my degree in Interior Design too, so I get the final say but he has a good eye for mid-century stuff. Between how I decorate our home and his love of 50s music & fedoras, we’re a pretty good match. He even supports my vintage Etsy store 🙂
Eartha says
What a great discussion thread! I’ve taught my husband to love the Mid-Century designs but he’s still got a little something in him that draws him to the old fashioned. We fought for two years over this huge wooden Victorian wall plaque that said, “Tables for Ladies”. Oh, how I hated that thing and it’s gold gilded, scalloped edges! : ) I noticed the other day that it’s in his workshop with the power tools. Nice contrast.
Sara in AZ – You have GOT to go to the yard sale. We went last year and found so much good 50’s stuff that we ended up running out of money. : )
mcmeg says
I can say that my dear hubby tolerates my obsession up to a point. Since we live in a 1959 rancher with orginal bath and kitchen, I try to couch my ideas in terms of thriftiness. For example, “Let’s get some vintage wallpaper in this bathroom so that we don’t have to tear the whole thing out and start over.” I compromise and we meet in the middle. I think I’m making progress, though. hehehe.
PugFreek says
moon shine shades! It finally got on here!I don’t have a
other.My parents though, My mum could live in a house full of it, along with queen anne and french provincial. My dad he just wants a big t.v
Sara in AZ says
I have to say my hubby is the absolute BEST!!! He will not hesitate to go to any thrift store, antique mall, flea market, garage sale – you name it. I think he loves the thrill of the hunt as much as I do, though he may not be as OBSESSED with all things 50’s – he is really great about all of my collecting obsessions, quirky as they may be. I am sure he was getting a bit worried when it took me about 4 years to refinish our Heywood dining table and chairs, and the whole thing was in pieces – and half sanded down all over our dining room – but he LOVES it now that it is finished. And, I’m sure he wonders when I bring home the umpteenth 50’s Ladies Home Journal, but he never says a word and is just so great about it! I have crazy things all over the house like spaghetti poodles and Paint by Numbers and I think he gets a kick out of it. His parents joke that our house is like a ‘Museum’! Anyway, hubby promised me that he would take me on the ‘Worlds Longest Yard Sale’ sometime, the sale in Aug. that goes through Kentucky and Tennessee. etc… etc… I can’t wait!!!
Maddy says
Great question! I’m the one with the mid-century interest, but my husband seems to have been somewhat converted to my way of thinking (Bwah ha ha). I bought a cool starburst clock and a very stylish 60s lamp, and some atomic-ish accessories for our dining room, and I think he liked the way it all came together. Later, we bought a beautiful 50/60s console stereo from Craigslist. Mostly I do the shopping, but he went with me for the Craiglist stereo, since I couldn’t handle that by myself. I do most of the antiquing/thrift stores on my own. But if I see something great that I think is too expensive for me to just buy, I’ll ask him to take a look. Loved reading about everyone else’s experiences in this regard.
Darla says
Late last year, I completely transformed my home office into a mid-century modern dream room. (Well, as dreamy as I could get on a tight budget!) My husband was skeptical at first, but he now fully gets it.
Last night, he came home from work to see that I’d replaced a generic framed picture in the living room with a set of brass flying seagulls that I’d scored at an antique mall. His reaction: “I think your office is starting to spill out into the rest of the house.”
Me: “What? Nah.” (As I secretly rubbed my hands together in a sinister fashion.) 🙂
Femme1 says
I must admit that I read with envy those stories of couples that both have a real enthusiasm for MCM design. My husband is one of those “guy” guys…he’s in the building industry and is practical above all else. Plus he doesn’t think much about design elements. I can’t even imagine him going along with me to junk stores to look for old stoves.
However, he’s always let me do whatever I want with the house, although I may get a grumble or two when I bring home another light fixture from the ReStore for him to put in. He even makes jokes about how I’m the idea person and he’s the muscle. And he does like how the house looks and gives credit to me whenever anyone compliments it.
And I can’t really complain, he just built a fantastic MCM screen for the front of our house to hide some unsightly pipes. (But if he didn’t “give in” to my design ideas, I’m not sure how long we would have lasted!!!)
Sputnik Sandi says
My husband used to be merely supportive my my mid-century tastes, and although he wasn’t as enthusiastic as I was, he found the whole thing interesting. That was until we purchased our current home, and I started dreaming in Heywood Wakefield. He was so impressed with the modern lines and solid construction that I think he’s worse than me now! You should see him light up when people compliment our home, and he starts telling the stories behind our treasures; he’s been bitten by the MCM bug – BAD!
atomicbowler says
Wow! Glamorlux, your story is way cool! Sort of like Elvis, I have the deal where Laura has a degree (the first one, that is) in interior design and once upon a long time ago had a pretty successful company in Tulsa…so she maintains veto power, which is why all my monkeypod wood stuff usually ends up on ebay! LoL!
Our first date was to a Goodwill store and the second to a ReStore. We both have always had a love affair with what I always called the ‘Post-War Modern’ look, neither of us ever had another person in our lives who was down with it too. Still don’t have the atomic house of our dreams, but we sure have all the junk to put in it and then some!
We now have a big red boomerang painted on the wall over the chrome dining table and a silver foam-backed cutout of a big Buck Rodgers rocket in the arc of the boomerang.
As I said in my first post, we both like bowling an awful lot and both bowl old-time equipment. I recently found an e-bay seller who has a pile of new-old-stock high-end bowling shoes. It was great to have someone in my life who understands WHY I had to buy BOTH pairs the person had in my size…of course Waldo (that’s Laura for her tendency to get lost from view in the thrift stores) got a spanky brand-new pair in electric green to alternate with her usual lipstick-red ones!
It is fun, isn’t it?
Dave