These Decorating Ideas from 1970 are Still Just as Good Today
I grew up on books, and, as soon as I was old enough to (almost) appreciate this sort of thing, the decorating books my mom bought at garage sales. They came from eras unknown to me — the late 1960s and early '70s, where bright colors and unusual shapes and a kind of unabashed exuberance reigned . I drank them in, the same way I did my parents' oversize National Geographic atlas, fascinated by the hints of faraway lands I found therein. As an adult, I've inherited some of these books. My favorite among them is House & Garden's Complete Guide to Interior Decoration (1970), which has somehow managed to transition with me from Texas to a rather tiny apartment in New York's West Village. Recently, while perusing it, I noticed that it seemed less wild than I remembered — but also, surprisingly, that there were quite a few interiors there that had stood the test of time — and even a few design lessons that still have resonance today. Let's take a look: I'm...