That 60s Book

One of my favourite thrifted books is "Design for Modern Living" by Gerd and Ursula Hatje published in 1962.  It is full of contemporary design as envisaged in the 60s. There are some really fantastic pictures of modern homes of the time, some look incredibly dated now, others still look fantastically modern even by today's standards.

This lovely study wouldn't look out of place in a modern home today, I have seen many of a similar style in the Flickr Corners of my Home pool.

A very charming dining area.

A fun way of fitting 3 kids' beds into one room.

My boys would love these bunk beds!

I love this one - 3 children sit eating quietly whilst Mother works in kitchen and risks whacking her head above those ever so fashionable overhanging units once again!

What a gorgeous spot to sit and look out at a lovely garden.

This dining ensemble would still look contemporary today.

As I said some of the rooms do look very dated now but still have that lovely 60s charm:

There are some great ideas for neatly integrating mod-cons such as cassette recorders :-) into your home, and check out the built-in drinks cabinet!! That would such a 60s/70s/80s feature, all houses had a drinks cabinet with a range of spirits to offer friends who dropped in, no bringing your own esky of beer in those days!

There are some nice paragraphs on design classics such as the Eames and Barcelona chairs below, you can regularly see reproductions of these classics today on eBay and in furniture stores, I am a huge fan of the Eames 1952 steel framed chair and the 1929 Van der Rohe Barcelona chair, they make such a design statement when placed in the modern interiors of today's home but seem to be just part of the room when placed in 1960s surroundings.