Good morning!
What kind of a Friday would it be with that the photos of another family should grace this humble blog? I so loved the color and splash of the pictures from this flickr stream that they were an obvious choice for inclusion in this week's batch. Folks! Come for glamour, stay for the hairstyles.
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| Two words: Lamp. SHADES. |
The woman in the red dress on the sofa, holding the little baby, is I think Sharon (if I'm decoding the family Christmas card right), who is married to Bob. And what an adorable 1950's and 60's couple they make! How lovely their family looks gathered together in these full-color snapshots. Because I used the search term "mom 1962", I came up with a number of well dressed women in lipstick and pearls, but this one could give Wanda Jackson a run for her money in the brunette good looks (she's temporarily blonde in the above photo) and style, style, style.
Want proof? Look at her hair in the photo on the left, below. That bouffant, bangs, lipstick, and painted eyebrows combination is so spot-on for a glamazon of the time.
The house in the first picture appears to be one of the other ladies' in the picture (maybe the older woman?), as Sharon's house is MCM to the nines'. See the sunburst clock on the wall? The gold pleat pinch drapes and the red Eames-ish saucer chair of the photo on the right? OH, there is so much more in the background of other photos (the aforementioned chair set, this sectional, for example, for which I would give my eyeteeth). Sometimes I think about what thrift stores and second hand stores must have been filled with in the seventies' or eighties', when the more progressive of mid-century people would have scrapped the Danish modern look for something more decade-appropriate. I know there were plenty of stalwarts, as we can tell from going to time capsule estate sales in which nothing is out of place for a 1956 built home, but think of the others who were out with the old and in with the new!
Above are two perfectly composed family-in-the-yard-on-a-holiday shots. In the photo on the right, Sharon is actually pregnant with her third child, Rob, who appears in his father's arms in the slightly later photo on the left. Have you seen a more glamorous maternity ensemble? Until I really looked and saw the next photos in the set were in a hospital with a newborn, I didn't even notice she was expecting! The blue hat atop the bouffant, the sling back heels, and the purse of my dreams are all killing it. And how about the two little girls coordinating and matching (respectively) ensembles? These dresses look just like something Cindy Brady would wear (high praise in my book).
What a cute little girls' room! See the matching dust ruffles-to-curtains, and the blue duvets? See the oversized stuffed animals flopping over on the little storage piece in the corner? See Sharon's thong sandals, white cigarette pants, and lavender top?
The obligatory "by the mantle" photo of the husband and wife, and then the whole gang, including two pups! I am unendingly jealous that the little pre-teens on the right got to wear black go-go style boots and pleather jumper ensembles. They look like tiny Nancy Siantras! See how the dad, Bob, has suits in both forest green and a golden rod tan color, and looks slick as can be in either of them. And the carpet! And the carpet. I have determined from close study that this is the exact carpet in my grandmother's house, except hers was an avocado green color. Did your grandparents have nutty carpeting like this in their house? I love the statement it makes, especially compared to boring, boring off white and taupe in 100% of new construction houses these days.
Speaking of new construction houses:
While none of these photos were captioned, they look like pages from the 2013 "Houses Lisa Would Like to Live in" catalog (buy now!). And the landscaping!! Those yucca looking plants near the door! The ivy along the perimeter of the yard and that perfectly manicured plot of grass in front! Here's the same place in a "before" shot....see what a difference carefully landscaping can make? It's cute even without all the foilage, but whoo wee, how lush it looks with it!
I think this may have been the duplex they lived in prior to the new house above? Or maybe it's somebody else's house, I have no idea. I do know that I am hopelessly in love with this confection of a pink-stucco building. See the pretty tilt of the roof that does a kind of mansard-like thing at the front? CUTE. AS. A. BUTTON.
At any rate, there's your full color photos this Friday! Which snap is your favorite? Did you and your siblings have any matching or coordinated outfits in your youth? Did you live in a particularly "of the era" house or did your parents roll with the changes pretty well as one decorating school of thought gave way to another over the decades? Which one of these outfits or homes would you like for your very own? Do tell.
That's all for today, kiddos! I will see you back here on Monday with my crazy, crazy Craigslist find (anticipation level: high, haha). :) Til then!
HA! I ripped that same carpet...along with a robins egg and white semi shag and a velvet red sculpted out of my house just a few months ago. They were all original to the house and unfortunately in really bad condition. The red dye had even hitched a ride on people's feet and deposited itself down the hallway a bit! The one consolation though, is that the original avocado green sculpted in the master bedroom was in perfect condition. It literally looks as though it was put down yesterday! And don't even get me started on the brown and white starburst/flower power patterned super low pile in the luandry room that was able to be saved! I love it! I just wish my grandparents hadn't taken out the carpet in the dining room and kitchen in the late '80s. I'd always remembered it being tacky fab and when we changed out my stove, we found a perfect square of the original underneath. And it was every bit as tacky fabulous as I remembered! Super low pile, Moroccan tile print in oranges, yellows, and browns. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOh, that's the worst-- I bet those patterns you described were so gorgeous in their original, new-to-the-house state. But at least the one in the master bedroom is still intact! Also, I love that you have taught me the word "sculpted" to refer to carpets; the kind my grandmother had was exactly that, but I didn't know the word for it!! Also, when I googled that term, I found the exact carpet my parents had installed circa ~1983 in the house I live in now (long gone, but...maybe it's for the best?). Nostalgia!
DeleteThis is one stylish family! I only wish I could see all of that powder blue car parked in the driveway of the house. It looks sweet.
ReplyDeleteSharp eye! Now I'm curious, too! :)
DeleteThe best part of the pictures for me is that Bob's socks *perfectly* match his golden rod suit. AMAZING.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I have one picture in coordinating neon splattered t-shirts with side ponytails on the tops of our heads and it probably is one of my favourites. It's so perfectly adorably 80s.
My readers have eyes like eagles! I am just now noticing the socks you mentioned.
DeleteI think my sister and I might have had similar matching tshirts, but with our weird, cult member bowl cuts that we sported for most of the late eighties/early nineties. I hope in ten more years I can look back on these photos fondly!
You are KILLING me with the Craigslist score tease!! All of these photos are so, so beautiful. And wow, I'm pretty sure that I could never look as good as she did while pregnant. One of our elderly neighbors has those exact same lampshades and believe it or not, we've been to her house twice and the Mister says that he's never noticed them!! Gonna have to get his eyes checked...
ReplyDeleteThe vintage maternity outfit is killing me. She had another two or three over the years in those photos, and every one was just as to-the-nines. Can you imagine? I love to think that I might look like that when I'm in a "delicate" condition, but will actually probably be wearing an oversized "Run with the Big Dogs" t shirt, stretch leggings, and oversized Reeboks for any and all terms of pregnancy, haha! We'll have to see someday.
DeleteAlso, I love those after-the-fact conversations where someone has missed something fundamental. And you're all "Ok, I know what we're both thinking...what about those lampshades!!!!!!" and he's "Uh, what lampshades?" You know it'll be the first thing he sees next time he does see them!
These are so great. This woman's hairdos! Incredible. I'm pretty sure my grandma's house had that same carpet - in the same color. And as someone who works with children, I have to wonder how many head injuries that yellow bi-level table in the girls' room was the cause of!
ReplyDeleteThose sharp edges are at exactly forehead level, too! Poor little gals. And I am cuckoo about the hairdos, especially that one bouffant. I need to cut my hair so it's more congenial to that kind of teasing!
DeleteOhhhh, the bedroom shot reminded me so much of my grandma's house that I could actually smell it! Her house is an amazing 1970s new-build with so much great furniture and drapery and duvets and carpets and almost everything perfectly of the era...
ReplyDeleteI love time capsule houses like that. There's something to them being the same when you were a tiny and still the same now that you're grown that is just so comforting. Also, lawdamercy the furniture of that era, in state, perfectly as it was-- I want that for my house!
DeleteI swear that could be my little brother in the picture with the baby-it looks just like him! He was born in 1966, so thankfully no baby switching, just VERY SIMILAR!!
ReplyDeleteI adore these multi-generational pictures, you see the whole gambit of fashion. I also love how the older generation actually owned the fact they were older, they weren't trying to look like they were 35!
Haha, so sweet! And that's a cute little guy, too!
DeleteAnd isn't that the TRUTH about people dressing appropriately for their age. I'm twenty seven and I've actually had moments in the dressing room where I was like "Am I too old for this *particular* spaghetti strap top?" Not all spaghetti straps ever, mind you, just the one I was trying on. And I think I was! I'm not asking all women over thirty to dress like Whistler's mother...just not like their own daughters, at the very least!