Miss Retro Modern looks at the "Atomic" interior decorating designs of the 50's and early 60's.

I love the modern furnishing styles of the 50's and early 60's, which often looked simple yet comfortable and cheerful. Here are some samples:

From Miss Retro Modern's Atomic Decorating collection:














And the sensible pastel colored kitchens with all the counter space:







Homes in the 50's and early sixties looked very... comfortable, and easy on the eyes. But then, about the mid 60's into the 70's, a lot of bold experimentation started, with wild colors and crazy patterns. Sometimes the results were shockingly hideous:




I've previously posted about some of the weird, horrible, and sometimes wonderful decorating experiments of the groovy 60's and swingin' 70's:

Groovy Interior Decorating of the 70's

Amusing Interior Designs of the 60's and 70's

You have to wonder, what exactly happened to the collective human consciousness in those 20 years? Drugs, I think, were a large part of it. Of course it wasn't all bad either, I feel quite nostalgic for some of it. Go visit Miss Retro Modern's 60's and 70's pages and see for yourself:

Your Swingin' Pad

Many of the photos are shocking, but you are also bound to find something you like. And be sure to scroll down below each picture to read the comments left by MRM and her visitors. Some of them are very entertaining and hilarious.

Miss Retro Modern also has other numerous collections of vintage photographs on an assortment of subjects, if you care to check them out:

Miss Retro Modern's photostream