The Retro Blog

I’m always keeping my eyes open for inexpensive ways to go retro, so this atomic style clock made from easily found items jumped out at me. Very cute! [via craft]

I live in on the far SW side of San Francisco, which is practically Daly City. Most people think Daly City is decidedly uncool, but I beg to differ. On my occasional trips to Trader Joe’s I’m always finding myself wondering what people hate so much about Daly City. It has far more awesome retro houses than [...]

Ok, so maybe it’s a little late to be getting a 2008 calendar, but hey, they’re free and they feature some nice mid-century designs. While there you can check out other Blue Ant Studio products like posters featuring retro furniture silhouettes. [via apartment therapy]

Want to spend double what you would on a new big screen plasma on a small screened bulky set? Then Brionvega televisions are for you! These aren’t so much TV’s as they are museum pieces. I guess they’re really just for arty New York types who want to be able to say “well I wouldn’t [...]

Road trips are starting to seem a little pointless. These days it seems like you can go to pretty much any small to medium sized American town along a highway and it’s the same as the last one. Main Street USA consists of a bunch of chain restaurants and gas stations, and it has been [...]

If you want to see stylish retro fabric, you can always count on barkcloth to look fabulous. Here’s a little history on the material.

Say you’re watching a little HGTV. The couple on screen is walking through a fairly non descript little suburban home. You’re about ready to switch up to the travel channel when you see it: a gorgeous, untouched, pink 1950’s bathroom. The lights brighten, the angels sing, etc. Then the designer says “well, this has to [...]

“MTV Cribs” has gotten really tiresome. At first it was a nice little guilty pleasure to go through some one hit wonder rapper’s McMansion and see how much money he’s already blown on a white grand piano he’ll never play and can’t actually afford because his record company is sucking up 99% of the profits [...]

Speaking of bullet planters, Apartment Therapy has pointed out that Hip Haven is having a sale on their retro reproduction plant holders. Enter the code “HIPHAVENPLANTER” at checkout now through July 7th to save 15%

Last night I saw Wall-E, the latest Pixar film, and I highly recommend it to just about everyone. Pixar has a long tradition of retro influence in their films. Wall-E is a rare exception, but they made up for it with these exquisite posters by artist Eric Tan. Modeled after the old Disney ride [...]

Old electronics are some of the easiest retro items to find at garage sales, thrift stores and the like. People are quick to do away with their vintage electronics because they seem so incompatible with modern technology. If you’re in the mood for a little “do it yourself,” however, there are a lot of great [...]

I’ve waxed poetic about my preference for retro tv styles in the past, but here’s one way to get a retro look while staying high tech. The Wilkerson M21 is a flat panel LCD tv built into a vintage style wooden stand. Looks like an excellent idea for getting your HDTV to match your Danish [...]

Isamu Noguchi was a Japanese-American artist whose designs were influenced by the best elements of both cultures. Take his 1950’s Akari light sculptures for example. They give off the lovely diffused light of Japanese paper lanterns, but also have the incredible retro style of a 1950’s modern design. With lovely atomic legs, these lamps [...]

When you hear “business up front, party in the back,” you probably think of everybody’s favorite haircut, the mullet. In the pre-mullet days, you might have thought of this lovely desk. Gunn Furniture Co. invented this double duty piece of 1940’s hardware that acts like a normal desk during business hours, but the opposite side [...]

You know what stinks about those snazzy flat screen televisions everybody seems to be in a rush to buy? There’s no place to put a lamp on them. TV lamps were invented in the 1950’sto reduce “eye strain.” Seems that many people thought watching television in dim rooms was bad for you, so manufacturers rushed [...]

A lot of people seem to think of Jayne Mansfield as the poor man’s Marilyn Monroe. Her roles were a little more on the cheesy and spicy side than Miss Monroe, and she might have followed Monroe in to the beds of various Kennedy’s, but I think that’s not to say that Marilyn was better. [...]

Does seeing this shelving unit make you start to drool? Do you love the gorgeous vintage wood, airy design, and playful curves. Would it match just perfectly with your teak Danish modern coffee table? Are you dying to know the price? So am I. You have to register to the website to find out, which [...]

Have you ever found yourself singing and dancing because you love your kitchen soooo much? Well you live in the future, so you should. Treehugger has a post featuring 1950’s films about kitchens of the future, and they are simply wonderful.
Here’s a sample:

The other day my sister was telling me about how she got ripped off on some fabric she bought at a store in Seattle. My response is the internet is your friend. Reprodepot fabrics has been around for awhile, and although their selection of mid-century designs has declined in the last few years, it still [...]

1865 is probably a little too retro, so although it’s beyond the typical scope of this blog, I couldn’t bear (hardy har har) to pass up posting this grizzly bear chair. Bizarrely consisting of two grizzly bears sewn together, it makes me think of a bear sitting on a bear leg bench while wearing [...]

There’s a new site called Vintagraph that has an excellent collection of retro PSA’s, military posters, illustrations, travel posters, and more. The site gives you information about how and why the poster was produced (a rarity these days) and makes them available to purchase as fine art prints on museum quality paper for quite reasonable [...]

Tired of being unable to afford revamping your house with stylish designer furniture? Well at least you can enact your dreams in miniature. I found large collections of dollhouse sized mid-century modern furniture at Tokyu Hands, a chain department store in Japan specializing in a DIY lifestyle. I guess the DIY part here is how [...]

Most modern novelty phones are out of the realm of this blog. They’re typically a bit tacky. Go to most “retro” stores and you’ll find loads of Coke phones and cats with swinging tale phones. This Marilyn Monroe phone, however goes beyond just the usual flavor of tacky to extreme tacky, and therefore I will [...]

Maybe one of the reasons I look to the postwar era with so much admiration is that everything you hear about it gives you a sense that when you reached your twenties they pretty much handed you a house. Now, as a 22 year old in San Francisco, I’ve pretty much come to accept that [...]

Need tips on giving your home some mid-century flare? The folks over at Populuxe Books are here to help. They’ve been collecting 1950’s and 60’s interior design, architecture, art, and DIY books from thrift stores. I’m sure they put in long, hard hours digging through the dreck at Goodwill so you don’t have to. They’ve [...]

Having recently made my opinions about Design Within Reach known, I went looking for alternatives. One of the easiest ways to make yourself some instant mid-century cred is to stick some of these hair pin legs on just about anything. Any coffee table, side table, sofa, or credenza gets an instant 50’s restyling simply [...]

Design Within Reach, eh? Kind of a misnomer. I like mid century furniture, and I know it’s nice to support designers and all that stuff, but hey, they’re dead. I’m not spending $9600 on a chair. Yes, one chair. And that’s the sale price. Ikea rips off pretty much all these designers anyway, so you [...]

These days, my tv is generally deemed “vintage” just because it’s three dimensional and has a tube in it. Forget plasmas and LCDs, I want something with some panache. My favorite retro television brand is Philco, makers of the Predicta. Its rotating tube and stylish curves make the modern flat black boxes all the less [...]

I’m always seeing cheap old suitcases at thrift stores and estate sales, and they’re hard to pass up. I mostly use them for stylish storage, but I’ve found some more creative ideas I’d like to try. They’re great for transforming into cat beds, tables, and ottomans. Now I can feel ok when I grab yet [...]

Polaroid recently announced that it is going to end all production of instant film. Although this isn’t as devastating to me as two years ago when Kodak slit the throat of Kodachrome (how I love thee, super 8), but there’s still something sad about losing a unique method of creating images. Pre digital, there was [...]

While most people are abuzz with rumors about the upcoming Batman film, there are some of us who still prefer our dark knight with Adam West and more than a touch of camp. I can’t really picture Christian Bale saying “let’s go, Robin. We’ve set another youth on the road to a brighter tomorrow,” which [...]

Quack has a designer table concept inspired by our favorite era. There’s so much to love about it: atomic legs, flying saucer top, snacks! [via mocoloco]

Flickr user ignutzz posted a step by step slideshow demonstrating how she updated some vintage food canisters. It’s a simple and inspiring DIY project to give your kitchen a retro touch. They’re gorgeous and encourage shopping in the bulk items bin; therefore I heart. Her mixer’s eye candy too.