Better Homes and Gardenshas covered interior design since the dawn of the Jazz Age.
“There was an exuberance of having fought this great war and being done with war forever.
The future was bright.
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Industrial design heavily influenced furniture design.
“You see a streamlined aesthetic that comes from cars and trains expressed incurvy furniture,” Gatlin says.
The curvy Parisian club chairwhich inspired Pottery Barn’s monster hitManhattan club chairfour generations lateris peak Art Deco.
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Starburst designs were also popular in upholstery, wallpaper, tiles, and light fixtures.
“That’s directly related to the idea of radio waves and crackling electricity,” Gatlin says.
Bauhaus Beginnings
But 1920s interior design was not all glitz and curves.
Bauhausthe German school of industrial design that decreed form should follow functionwas also born in this era.
That’s why they used steel, glass, plywood, and plastic in their creations.
While unconventional materials at the time, they fit with the Bauhaus ethos of practicality.
Ultimately, however, the 1920s were all about the bling.
“The Jazz Age was glamour and glitz.”
1930s
And just like that, the nation plunged into the Great Depression.
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In 1929, the stock market crashed, the banking system collapsed, and the party ended.
At the height of the Great Depression,nearly 25% of the total workforce was unemployed.
Austerity quickly replaced Art Deco glamour.
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Compared to homes in the 1920s, rooms were more open and spacious because people had fewer belongings.
There was a cleaner, less cluttered look, with little to no art on the walls.
Colors became more subdued to soothe the somber mood of the era and included soothing neutrals and cheerful pastels.
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“Art Moderne was a celebration of mass-produced and machine-made,” Gatlin says.
By 1938, theHomer Laughlin China Company had produced more than 12 million piecesof the simple bright-colored pottery.
“It was everyday art,” Gatlin says.
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“It had sculptural shapes and was in the fashionable colors of the day.”
All that Depression-era austerity didn’t kill high design, though.
Their arrival set the stage for a revolution in American interior design.
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When the war ended in 1945, a new era began.
“There’s a huge boom in residential building.”
Most homes built in the late 1940s had two bedrooms and averagedjust under 1,000 square feet.
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Since steel and other metals were in short supply, wood became the material of choice.
Knotty pine paneling was added to nearly every room of a house.
“It was an inexpensive material that a DIYer could install,” Gatlin says.
Those appliances were almost uniformly white.
Ultimately, the 1940s were a transitional period.
The space-age look of the 1950s was still on the horizon and modernism was just beginning to move mainstream.
American wages soared, unemployment fell, and there was money to spend again.
And what did many Americans want?
Consumer goods, like houses, cars, and furniture.
Charles and Ray Eames with fiberglass side chairs, a frame from the Eames film Kaleidoscope Jazz Chair, 1960.Credit: Courtesy of Eames Office, LLC
Many also wanted kids, and the baby boom exploded withnearly 37 million children born in the 1950s.
Bright, happy colors were in every room of the house.
Popular hues included turquoise, coral, pale yellow, mint green, and light blue.
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Pink was also peak 1950s.
“You see pink everywhere, in kitchens, bedrooms, but especially in bathrooms,” Gatlin says.
First Lady Mamie Eisenhower loved pink and America loved Mamie.
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Scandinavian furniturewith light wood and organic, minimalist lines replaced the heavy, ornate seating of the past.
This was due both to modernism’s forward-looking aesthetic as well as the optimism of the era.
Additionally, minimalist modern furniture could be mass-produced to meet the well-funded middle-class desire to shop.
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Terrazzo floors, which originated in the Bauhaus era, went mainstream in the 1950s.
There was an abundance of land, so houses could spread out,” Gomez-Lanier says.
Houses got larger, too, as the baby boom continued to explode.
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The newly prosperous American middle class had leisure time and increasingly spent it on their home patio.
The labor movement regulated office hours, so Americans had free time on weekends and evenings.
Plastic dishware like melamine allowed for casual outdoor entertaining with the neighbors.
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It defined the era.
Much like the 1920s, transportation and new technologies drove design.
“Only this time, we’re inspired by rockets,” Gatlin says.
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“We were going to space.”
Everything from fashion tohome decorbecame more dynamic, graphic, and colorful.
“There’s a playful aspect to the 1960s,” Gatlin says.
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To accommodate a baby boom, families sought larger homes.
By the end of the decade, the average house size creeps up to1,500 square feet.
Homes had an airy feel with open shelving and floating staircases.
“Instead of solid walls, you see screens or shelves used to divide spaces,” Gomez-Lanier says.
“The effect is to make houses more transparent, more open to the outdoors.”
“The materials designers were using to make mainstream furniture were much more innovative,” Gomez-Lanier says.
America’s continuing economic prosperity drove tastes, too.
Hippies and counterculture rose in opposition to the Vietnam War, influencing interior design.
Vibrant colors and patterns influenced by Morocco and India showed up on accessories, influenced by the Beatles’White Albumera.
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However, all that groovy peace and love stemmed from something less than sunny.
This inward turn was in part a reaction to bad news.
The environmentalism movement was born with the first Earth Day in 1970.
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These events had a profound effect on interior design.
However, there was also an attitude of melancholy, says Gomez-Lanier.
Americans fell out of love with machines and the future, instead embracing nature and a romanticized past.
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Maximalism replaced the clean lines of modernist furniture and finishes that had reigned for generations.
Houseplants, woven textiles, andmacrame owlsmany handmadefilled homes.
“People wanted to express themselves creatively, so they made simple objects for fun,” Gatlin says.
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Nature-inspired finishes like stone, granite, and wicker were also popular.
Many houses built in the 1970s had massive, rough-hewn stone fireplaces or stone exterior siding.
Wood paneling hit peak popularity, the shiplap of its day.
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Terra-cotta tile floors were also popular, and sunken living rooms replaced patios as the place to socialize.
Studio 54 was born in this era, after all.
Yes, the design dissonance was as powerful as the cultural dissonance.
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Maximalism was in; minimalism was out.
Decorating styles were diverse, but excess was the underlying theme.
Earth tones and the longing for nature ended.
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Instead, we embraced bright colors, including soft pastels inspired byMiami Viceand the primary colors of Memphis design.
A surge of luxe colors reflected the affluence and optimism of the time.
It showed up as far as the eye could see and cut across a range of styles.
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“It rejected the stripped-down look of modernism and overstated the ornamentation,” Gatlin says.
This edgy style showed up in homes in the form of playful objects that favored form over function.
Monograms on pillows and chinoiserie lamps completed a look that took its inspiration from old money.
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Houses got larger, with the average reaching 2,000 square feet by the end of the decade.
The World Wide Web entered the mainstream, andtechno and grungemusic rose to prominence.
Since much of pop culture came from the Pacific Northwest, color palettes became more muted.
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Loft apartments withexposed brickworkand metal finishes also took off.
“You see an industrial look, leaving things as they are.
You see a lot of adaptive reuse in design and decor.”
Another outcome of repurposing items, the shabby-chic aesthetic combined flea market finds into a thoroughly eclectic style.
Hallmarks included chalk-painted furniture, white slipcovered sofas, worn crystal chandeliers, and iron beds with canopies.
“It completely opposed the Memphis design of the 1980s,” Gatlin says.
Chunky wood tables flaunted Provencal tablecloths in French blue and gold, and oversized wood cabinets featured ornate molding.
When it came to walls, texture was tops.
McMansions filled the suburbs, with the average house measuring 2,300 square feetdouble that of just two generations earlier.
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Houses were built with open floor plans, high ceilings, bonus rooms, and even home theaters.
As kitchens got bigger, islands became a staple, allowing for a more open layout and additional workspace.
Stainless steel became the must-have appliance material, appearing on everything from ovens to refrigerators to toasters to microwaves.
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That shiny steel was appealingly futuristic.
Another reason for the stainless-steel surge: More men were cooking.
Unlike the pink kitchens of the 1950s, stainless steel was gender-neutral.
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Granite was the finish of choice for countertopsand backsplashes in both the kitchen and bathrooms.
After watershed moments like Y2K and 9/11, Americans looked for warmth and calm at home.
To fill vast rooms in huge houses, furniture got the super-size treatment.
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However, not everything was larger than life.
Tailored, tight-back sofas made a comeback, replacing the slouchy, pillow-backed sofas of the previous era.
“You’re seeing a new interest in midcentury mod style and cleaner lines,” Gatlin says.
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“Excess was giving way to another round of minimalism.”
Flat-screen TVs hung over the fireplace where art used to be.
The platform provided a wealth of home ideas and offered a place to post photos of personal design accomplishments.
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The Gaines Effect
One of the era’s most notable interior touchstones,Fixer Upperpremiered in 2014.
Stainless-steel appliances continued their reign and hardwood was the flooring of choice.
In short, tech was getting tiring.
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Withmodern farmhouse stylecame barn doors installed on closets, pantries, bathrooms, and more.
The 2010s also saw the return of houseplants, which had fallen by the wayside after the 1970s.
This young, eco-conscious generation brought nature indoors through plants to create their own urban jungles.
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By 2015,houses averaged nearly 2,700 square feet, three times the size in 1950.
“That’s going back to Mamie Eisenhower pink,” Gatlin says.
We’re just two years into the 2020s, but one thing is certain: Maximalism is back.
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Even kitchen cabinets are getting a color treatment.
Meanwhile,grandmillennial stylea twist on traditionalresurrected mauve, florals, patterned wallpaper, and rich colors.
We’ve gone from the restrained styling of open shelves to houseplant-packed urban jungles courtesy ofHilton Carter.
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“To say that we live in stressful times is an understatement,” Gatlin says.
With a rise in remote work, designated home offices have become a necessity.
As eco-minded millennials and Gen Z look to the future, a mix-and-match aesthetic has firm footing.
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Weary of disposable furniture, the next generations fill their homes with thrift store finds and upcycled antiques.
“There’s a concern that buying new everything is no longer sustainable,” Gatlin says.
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