mood board: Mid-century Style
Alexia Rossetti Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 11:00AM 
Mid-century style is back in full force! If pop culture is an indicator of the times, then television shows such as Mad Men is driving the the trend back to the safety and innocence of the mid-century era. Some might argue it never really went away, especially for those who inherited their parents’ slowly fading living room set from the 1950s.
Fear not! Designers always know how to revive a past style and give it vibrant new life. As part of our series on Mood Boards, this month's selection is the mid-century style. The worldwide economic downturn and overall belt tightening has made many people yearn for the good old days of the 1950s and 1960s and its promises of a rosy future. The style of these years reflected the honest, simple values of the times: solid wood furniture with simplified lines, muted colors of ochres and olive greens, and highly functional and efficient furniture with little excess detailing.
Our first mood board above shows typical furnishings for a mid-century living room. The walnut lounge chair from the 1950s is from designer Paul McCobb offered by Las Venus of 1st Dibbs. The chair is given a facelift with a new cotton velvet upholstery, transforming it to a more contemporary piece that would feel at home in today's living room. The Italian modernist rosewood dresser from Craig van den Brulle complements the lounge chair with its slender and elegant wood legs. The side table with inlaid marquetry by Erno Fabry adds a whimsical charm as well as the atomic wall clock by Frederick Weinberg. Providing an elegant air, the Boris Lacroix chandelier from France completes the mid-century room.
Our second mood board is a mid-century dining room. The walnut dining table from Gustavo Olivieri shows off slender splayed legs. The Ico Parisi mahogany dining chair from Boo Radley is a perfect match for the dining table. Its elegant slender legs and back seat match the delicate lines of the table. The long lines of the Van Keppel Green light fixture is in harmony too with the dining furniture. Multi-colored glass was a very popular choice for homeowners in the '50s and '60s. The wall mounted stained glass walnut cabinet from Glo adds bright colors to relieve the tedium of the brown woods. A Murano blue swirl vase and a yellow vase from Crate & Barrel picks up the colors of the wall cabinet.
Many of the furniture from this period took its cue from Scandinavian designs. Leading designers like Saarinen and Arne Jacobsen produced clean, simple, but elegant furniture that Americans quickly adopted for their own homes. To this day, their designs are being reproduced or reinvented for today's interiors.
Interested in learning how to create mood boards? Take a look at Sheffield School's Complete Course in Interior Design. At Sheffield, you will learn how to transform a space, create color schemes, and select furniture, lighting, and accessories.
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