Retro Style

As one who made it through the 70’s and barely survived the 80’s the idea of “going retro” doesn’t always appeal to me – I get the idea, but I’ve lived it once and there are just some mistakes one doesn’t wish to repeat. That said those in their teens and 20’s missed out on all this good stuff and just LOVE the retro vibe. I mean take a look a the fashions these days, if you don’t think somebody just stepped out of Midnight Cowboy or is doing an early Madonna impression, you most certainly don’t remember those two decades. With that in mind a lot of decorating in first apartments, dorm rooms and other hip pads have practically come full circle with lime greens, lava lamps, shag area rugs, and other nostalgic memorabilia.

Decorating with this style in mind can be fun if you remember a few tips:

1. While Mary Tyler Moore’s hip Minneapolis apartment was cool for 1974, doing an exact remake is going to look a bit weird. Take a few of the fun things and translate them into today’s fabrics, colors, and textures. Basically, don’t go overboard.

2. Look for patterns and textures that are reminiscent of the past, but are exact copies. A really easy example of this can be found with the New Beetle; it certainly makes you think of the original, but it’s a more up-to-date version of that classic.

3. Use newer colors. Avacado and Harvest Gold might have been 70’s staples, but the greens and golds of now look a bit fresher.

4. Don’t be afraid to mix eras. The lava lamp was a big hit in the 60’s and shag carpet was HUGE in the 70’s – nothing wrong with mixing it up and using a lava lamp and a fun shag rug in a room.
5. Whatever you do, make sure you have fun. Retro style is meant to be fun and exciting, don’t get too bogged down trying to be perfect. Enjoy!

Okay, you’ve read a few of the tips, now for the rugs (you knew this was coming didn’t you?) Rugs to My Door has a lot of rugs that can be considered “retro” with everything from the good ole shag rug, to patterns and color combinations that make you think several decades ago. I’ll show you some of them, but feel free to look around and see what you come up with.

How is this for a shag rug? From the Mary Kate and Ashley Collection from Shaw Living, this rug embodies the fun of Retro while using updated color ways. This rug comes in 3 easy to use sizes and 6 fun and bright colors.

Another icon of the 70's, Andy Warhol is a good place to look for Retro looks. Sphinx by Oriental Weavers has taken a lot of his design ideas and translated them into area rugs. They come in both wool and polypropelene making it easy to find a rug, a style, and a pattern that fits your budget. The one to the right is called Flowers, talk about a great Retro pattern!

There you go, a couple of examples to stimulate your imagination, but don't let it stop there, browse through our contemporary section to find more great examples of "Going Retro"!