Get back to 70s Style, Interior Design, Furniture Patterns

The 70’s are back, but better!

For those of you who lived through the 70s, you know it was a revolutionary era in every field. From politics to culture to new ways of living, it was a part of history that has brought radical changes and that has seen success in the field of furniture and colored solutions: more functional and with a more attentive eye to style and design.

Many speak of the 70s and 80s as the years in which bad taste was in fashion, but this is not the case at all, especially when it comes to interior design! Starting in 1970, the architects of the time moved to a new level of home design and alternative use of revolutionary colors and materials for those years. The windows became larger and the concept of “open space” was born, together with double-height spaces, false ceilings and entrances that gave directly onto the living room, the first spiral or suspended staircases appear as functional and furnishing elements. Furnishing in the style of the 70s, nowadays, means having style and the desire to dare and amaze anyone who crosses the threshold of your home, whose rooms will be an explosion of color.

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What characterizes the 70s style are, without a doubt, the strong shades of color, the graphic and floral games of the fabrics and wallpaper and the shiny furniture and accessories, made of glass or colored plastic.

Those who furnished their house in the 70s, began to have greater economic resources; therefore, to stand out with some particular choices, including flashy and gaudy elements, was quite normal. Hence the success of furniture with particular colors or patterns, with futuristic hints and that shone especially in the living room.

70’s furniture: characteristics

For those who want to take a step back in time and retrace a special and particular era, the furnishings of the 70s were characterized by their being unconventional, provocative and determined to break the classic schemes. To furnish your home in full 70s style, there are some rules to follow and some things not to be missed. Let’s see which ones:

• Bold colors

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What distinguishes the 70s style the most, as we have said, are the very bold colors, pop and bright hues such as acid green, orange, bright pink, mustard and bright yellow, purple, blue and brown. The color contrasts of the 70’s represent the freedom and transgression of the times and the watchword is to dare without fear, even with combinations that seem too risky to you both for the walls and for the furnishings and objects.

• Patterned wallpaper

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Wallpaper is an element that cannot be missing, especially if made of geometric patterns or floral prints. You can completely cover the walls of the house or, in order not to make the environment look too busy, even just one or more walls. Wallpaper is a different choice compared to painting and which allows you to adopt 70s design patterns, textures and designs that are most in fashion and that can represent an immediate visual statement to the observer.

• Unusual materials

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Enough with wood and natural materials. The 70s style is made of plastic and glass, preferably super colored. The furniture will be shiny and with a rounded design but, at the same time, essential. The shape of the furniture often varied over the course of the decade, on the emotional wave that often changing your mind was a symptom of freedom, a way of personalizing.

Chairs become an essential element, as the designers are unleashed in creating and outlining particular chairs that will then become icons of furniture.

• Technology and progress

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Progress brings technology into the home: stereo systems become increasingly common, while the television is present in almost all living rooms, the protagonist of the evenings with still limited but attractive programming.

After man’s first trip to the moon, the trend of futuristic homes started, which found expression in home automation and meant simplifying home life. The furnishings acquire greater functionality, being equipped with numerous removable drawers and shelves suitable for containing more and more objects.

How to furnish your home in the 70s style

Furnishing your home in the 70s style, in its entirety, may seem difficult but, in reality, it is enough to follow a very specific thread and, with the return of vintage and retro style, it will not be too difficult for you to find what you need. Here’s how to furnish every room in your home in the 70s style:

• Living room

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This is the room where you can indulge yourself the most. Let’s start with the sofa, the nerve center of any self-respecting living room. In the 1970s, the sofa in dark leather, with rounded lines, or in very colorful fabric with a minimal shape, was very popular. What will give a unique touch to this piece of furniture will be the ultra-colored cushions and geometric patterns or the large comforters to be placed on the backrest to give more personality to your sofa. The colors of the sofa, however, will then be recalled by the curtains, even better if with geometric or polka dot and colored motifs. The chandeliers will be very large but with more muted or even neutral colors and pop and abstract paintings and decorations.

• Kitchen

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The 70s kitchens are spacious and with large cupboards that serve as a pantry, in dark and shiny wood or even very colorful. The protagonists, however, are the stools with a high back and rigorously covered in decorated vinyl. Colorful and visible plate racks are also very fashionable. It was in these years that the breakfast area was born, which nowadays has been replaced with the island.

• Bedroom

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Very fashionable in the 70s was the carpet, especially in the bedroom, preferably in bright colors. The protagonists are large and soft bedspreads and accessories with graphic and very cheerful motifs.

• Bathroom

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The 70s-style bathrooms are very “extreme”, in the sense that they are entirely covered with tiles that could create an environment that is a little too much for today’s standards. But this does not mean that you have to give up the style you have chosen for your home: you can still compromise by filling a single wall, or even just a few details, with these tiles with graphic designs.

What else to add?

• Polychromy

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Exaggeration is the watchword in the 70s and the success of orange is a staple of the decade, as it is the color that had been considered transgressive and out of place in every area until then.

The TV series that arrive from America bring color combinations that seem like mistakes to Europe. Orange goes well with everything; it creates sparkling and fantastic combinations with all sorts of colors, as long as the contrast is always exuberant. It is the triumph of bright colors, as the judgment of others does not curb the instincts of freedom.

The imagination in designing particular armchairs and sofas asserts itself: the seats, while still marked by comfort, become fascinating design objects to look at and touch, so much so that some armchairs will enter the history of design and furnishings.

The hairdresser’s chair is the first form of comfortable chaise longue that is placed in the living room or in the relaxation area, detached from the rest of the room, to remain isolated.

At the same time, the pouf takes on squared lines and shapes, suitable for seating and becoming a comfortable footrest.

Round and oval shapes dampen the rigor because the house must always be welcoming: spending money on furniture is no longer just a thing for the rich.

• Ethnic style

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People begin to travel more and to distant places: the knowledge of lands such as Africa and the Far East brings with it, upon returning home, new ways of living, mixing in a harmonious or confusing way plants, furnishings in handcrafted wood, prints, carpets and tapestries that embellish the home even more.

It becomes normal to have a modern and hi-tech furniture in the same environment together with a wicker stool rather than a Persian carpet. Even today, mixing is a pleasant way to furnish, to really feel at home.

• Modern

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The volume of the apartments changes and adapt, with the creation of open spaces, to the advantage of the living room where people begin to invite friends and organize parties.

The library is transformed and from the models that seem to be borrowed from libraries come the wardrobe container which will then evolve into the equipped wall. Sliding doors appear for the first time and eliminate the problems connected to lack of space.

Some homes of the 70s really anticipate times: a large peninsula sofa or a chaise longue is still one of the most common elements present in the living room. Carpets with simple geometries have the function of decoration even in luxury apartments of today.

• Pop art

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Pop art asserts itself: the walls are decorated with images of iconic characters instead of classic paintings of undoubtedly greater value.

Areas of the house that today we would refer to as typically adolescent, are instead covered with posters of singers, actors and Hollywood stars, created in a particular way by artists of a trend that finds its maximum splendor in the 70s.