An A-Z Guide to ’70s Decor

Share:

The 1970s was an exciting time in the world of design. Architects and engineers were competing to build the tallest building in the world. Buckminster Fuller perfected “Spaceship Earth.” Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers “turned the architecture world upside down” with the inside-out Centre George Pompidou in Paris. And as we discovered via our favorite passport to another time, Retronaut, Graystone Press published a massive, eighteen volume anthology known as The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement . Arranged alphabetically by topic, the books cover everything from “how to select chairs that are comfortable and durable” to “how to arrange collections to create focus and visual rhythms” to “why the ancients used color.”

We were so inspired by the quirky range of entries that we had to make our own abridged version of our new favorite design reference. Let us know in the comments what has you wanting to invest in some avocado green accent pieces or give couching a whirl.

Astroturf

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Baby blue

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Couching

Image credit: ouno design

Dual-purpose furniture

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Evelyn Ackerman wood panels

Image credit: Midcenturia

Flokati rugs

Image credit: ouno design

Goldenrod

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Harry Bertoia chairs

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Isamu Noguchi lights

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Juhl (Finn) sets of drawers

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Knoll furniture

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Leopard

Image credit: Lunger Girl

Murals

Image credit: ouno design

Neon pink

Image credit: ouno design

Outdoor rooms

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Petrified wood

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Quasi space station bathrooms

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Relief wall treatments

Image credit: ouno design

Sewing rooms

Image credit: Pattern Junkie

Trompe l’oeil

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Ultra modern chrome tubular steel

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Vent hoods

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Wall units

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Xanthic yellow

Image credit: Naughty Secretary Club

Yellow, avocado and orange

Image credit: Sandi Vincent

Zebra rugs

Image credit: ouno design