(groovy music) (record scratching)
- Hi guys, welcome back. Today we're going over one of the grooviest design styles
of all, mid-century modern. You have been asking for it! (cheerful music) So guys, I'm so excited to talk to you all about mid-century modern today. But mid-century is not as
simple as you might think. There's a couple of
things we need to know. And so we're gonna take a
look at some great film sets, in particular, "Queen's Gambit", "Mad Men" and "Down With Love" for our little excursion today. So now before we dive
in deep, we need to jump into our history book for
just a little context. Now, the mid-century modern
period actually spans from postwar, which is late
'40s, all the way to 1969. And it morphs several
times during that period. So it's important to
understand what's happening with the cultural references
that are going on at that time so we understand why it changes. Now World War II had just ended. So we were just after the war. So kind of late '40s
looking, you definitely had some reference points like
tons of floral wall covering, knotty pine, lots of pinks,
those kinds of things. Then we were also dealing
with the atomic age which was born right around that time. And so that was beginning
to really make the shift in the direction, think Vegas, think, you
know, starburst patterns. Gosh, they were everywhere. And you had kind of
boomerang shaped furniture, that was very big. Then you also had the space
age kind of coinciding with the atomic age, because in 1957 the Sputnik was launched and that was the first
thing into the orbit. And that made a big difference. So everybody started looking at kind of zoomy, Jetson-y
things, that was happening. And then you also had kind of the rise of what we now call the pop culture. And so that was influences like, you know, the Beatles and look
at these groovy dresses and amazing reprises of kind
of that international style from the earlier periods
of the 20th century. And they just really all
coincided beautifully. But it meant that there
was a lot going on. So let's first take a look at the "Queen's Gambit" series
that was so fun to watch. Those sets were amazing. Now they ran the gamut of the
mid-century modern period. So postwar like you see in her house when she's first adopted, that's very sort of postwar with the kind of darker, murky colors. Then when she becomes an adult you see her in these very
sort of groovy late '50s, very kind of groovy,
out there hotel rooms. I love this one in Vegas with all the big diamonds. That was (speaking foreign language) that was really, really great mid-century. Another great series that
epitomizes the mid-century modern is of course, "Mad Men". So many people really
loved and watched that. Now the interesting thing about "Mad Men" is that it spans the
arc of the design style by showing us two different homes. Don Draper's home when he
was first married to Betty at the beginning of the season is all that sort of postwar look. It's got all that knotty pine, oh gosh, colonial reprisal for days. But then skip forward to the end of the series
where he's remarried and he's living in this
slick, new, urbane, kind of batch pad-esque, and it's got a groovy sunken living room and you know, a great
little place for cocktails. And it's just super fabulous
late mid-century modern. So that's another great set to look at. Now let's take a look at "Down With Love". So "Down With Love" is this
very sort of period romcom that was really sweet,
done with Renee Zellweger. And it's just got exquisite,
to die over costumes and sets. I adored his, Ewan McGregor
is the main character. His batch pad in the city was, oh so perfectly late mid-century modern. It's just groovy. It even has a sofa that
folds out into a bed. He's ready for anything, girls. Then if you switch over to her character, she's got this gorgeous kind of penthouse with very girly kind of feminine pieces. But she's doing a lot of those
iconic international pieces. She's got two Womb chairs upholstered in pink, which are fabulous. And then there's lots of
kind of pop art, references, and colors in there. And clean, lots of lines, no wood, none of those kind of
dreary early '50s looks. So they kind of represent both ends of the spectrum of
mid-century modern as well. So enough with the movies,
that's the screen, that's them. How can we get mid-century
modern that works for you guys in the best way possible? I'll tell you the simplest
way to do that is to focus on the looks you love the most. So now ultimately it comes
down to two iconic expressions. You've either got that '50s sort of Jetsons atomic age feel, or you're popping up to the
'60s, which is that groovy, sleek, urbane, modern pop art look. And you wanna just pick
a lane to make your space feel the most intentional
and read the best. Now from a planning
perspective to get your space you're gonna wanna focus
on the following five tips. First one is to be aware
of your architectural cues. Now, if you live in a
classic mid-century home, like it's an Eichler or somebody that's got soaring ceilings, you're golden, it's easy. You're gonna play off of those lines. But if you live in kind of a square or box or something simpler then you're gonna have
to really sort of work with your interior's cues to
really strengthen that message. Like for instance, this guy here with the floating fireplace, that's a fantastic
architectural statement. Very early '50s,
definitely takes you there. But for instance this picture has a
little bit less of that. It's kind of a box. And what they've done is they've
really pushed kind of color and the thematic story of the furnishings to sort of dig that
style statement right in and make it work. The second most important
thing is to select one or two iconic furniture pieces that you're gonna use
per space, and that's it. Everything else that goes into the space wants to be kind of quieter,
a little bit softer lines that tie in with those two
iconic pieces, but that's it. Otherwise, you're gonna look
like you're living in a museum and you don't really wanna
overkill the statement that way. For instance, take a look
at this gorgeous space with just two exquisite Barcelona chairs. That's an amazing statement. Or this Eames lounger with
the lovely '50s floor lamp. That's a fabulous look as well. But here's another area where
they've blended a third piece. They've got that lovely walnut paneling and a great '50s floor lamp. But that credenza doesn't say exactly '50s but the lines are right on it. And so it blends in with that very well and the style statement is clearly made and it looks fantastic. So now tip number three is
all about the color palette. Now there's two ways to go with this. If you're doing that '50s thing you're definitely gonna live kind of in these wonderful,
woodsy earth tones, right? You've got tons of walnut paneling. Oh, I love that sort of subtle green chair right out in front of that. Or maybe you're looking at, you know, more walnut types of paneling
with just like a little pop, but it's of a space age turquoise. It's not super bright. That's a great statement for earth tones and for that early '50s. Now, if you're pushing up into the '60s you're definitely gonna kind of fly those colors up just a hair. You're gonna really think
about kind of the Peter Max, the colors from the artwork of the period. And you can really push bright colors and blend a lot of them in together. Or, oh my God, look at
this entire green room in a Platner chair, that's exquisite. Or you can push all the way
to a monochromatic statement. I love this little black and white piece and that's a gorgeous piece that was done. And that feel, very monochromatic. Because if you think back to those dresses that we saw,
they either had that very sort of cool black and
white houndstooth check, that was a great look. Or they went bright, poppy classic colors. So again, pick your lane for the style you're looking for and it'll definitely help
smooth that statement along. So now your next tip that's
super important to consider is paying attention to your lighting. Because starting in the '50s we were beginning to use post and beam construction residentially. What does that mean to you? What that means is big windows, baby! It was groovy time for daylight. So you wanna make sure that if you're doing window treatments they're super light or skip
'em all together if you can. Look at these beautiful spaces like with this Platner chair,
oh my gosh, those are great. And those windows are completely bare. Or I love this piece that's
mixed in with the stone wall and that great wood on
the chair on the side. Oh, that's fantastic. And there's all that texture being lit by that huge wall of glass. So you want light in your mid-century modern
spaces to be groovy. So the fifth tip, and this
is like many style statements that you're going to work with
is that your art and decor drills down and finishes
the statement always. So with mid-century modern mainly you wanna think about artwork because artwork was super
important at this period. So you wanna keep it intentional and important and rather spare if you're doing either
period, '50s or '60s. But like for instance, with this piece, with that massive contemporary
piece in the background, that's a major art statement. And it still feels very
sort of groovy and '60s. That's great. I love also this one
with the walnut paneling and just a couple of small
black and white pieces and a little bit of a
plant next to those chairs. Those are fantastic. So that's one way to look at it. Or if you wanna grab the
groovy and drive it home, you're gonna go pop art maximalism. Oh my gosh, look at this space. You've got this modular seating going on. And of course, all of these
kind of crazy art pieces, think Peter Max, Andy
Warhol, oh (bleeping), who was the other guy? And that other artist that I
can't remember at the moment, but they were all fabulous. And so you're gonna definitely
wanna like blow that up with that look, and you can
go a lot of places with that. So that's the way you
drive your style statement all the way home with your art and decor. Oh, and one more thing
with your decor statement is be sure you include plants. Again, remember that post and beam detail where we get lots of window lights? Oh, we were bringing nature in. That was a big, big element
of mid-century modern. So if you wanna learn more
about bringing plants indoors, be sure and check out my plant video where I talk about things
that live in low light and plants that are classic
for your style statement. Now those are the five tips. But before you rush out and start buying things to put
into your mid-century space I'm gonna show you a few iconic pieces from each of the periods
that you're definitely gonna wanna think about
including, for instance, if you're gonna rock
that groovy '60s period you definitely wanna be looking at things like the Platner steel
tables or the Womb chair. And of course, everybody
loves that iconic tulip table and tulip chairs. The Vaselli, the Barcelona,
even the Arco lamp. Those are fantastic '60s international classic
style statement pieces that you cannot go wrong with. If you're pushing a little
bit earlier towards the '50s and that kind of space, atomic age thing we gotta reprise the Sputnik chandelier. So we've definitely got looks like that. Or you can do one where it's
a surface mount like this one, the Eames chair designed
in 1949 and was the classic for the entire '50s was a thing. You almost have to have one. You almost have to have an
atomic clock of some sort, something that feels like it's exploding. And then consider this
beautiful Florence Noel sofa which is so tailored with the tufting. And don't forget the
iconic wishbone chair. Oh my God, it screams mid-century modern. So with all those pieces
I'm gonna link down below. We'll also have them
available in our club store. So make sure you grab a
couple of these pieces. Now, what I want you
to do right now though is go over to this video,
which is mega modern. One of the best videos we've done in ages that talks all about modern
and contemporary styles. And I'll see you guys next week. Have a groovy week! (group murmuring)
