Post WWII until the mid 70's is when the MCM "style" was sold in stores.

IOW, caveat emptor? A lot like how people selling anything that's not new will label it 'vintage'.

I lean toward the idea that it comes from a place of ignorance more than anything else...

I think it's funny some people value stuff from the 30s-60s but consider the 70s and 80s "shlock" :D

I always loved MCM stuff, even as a kid. However, my parents had a lot of mid-century colonial furniture, which was not cool. That was the mid-century stuff I saw more in my extended family and my parents' friends' homes. Remember all the bicentennial stuff? We even had bicentennial wallpaper.

Yes! My mother went the Early American antique look, altho there are still a number of Danish Modern pieces from my parents' first apartment in the 1950s & I have them now. So I was forever yearning after futuristic 'cool' designs & I was super happy when we got avocado untwisted shag carpeting in the early 70s because it was cool. Of course it rapidly became a matted down eyesore, but there was a period of time when our house looked super 'cool' = J

& of course, my mom's antiques have only become more valuable.

At least that faux colonial and bicentennial stuff all gets chalk painted and used again. The ikea stuff ends up in the landfill.

Ikea does not equal Danish Modern or MCM.

Check out this mid century living room set on my CL with the plastic wrap still on everything . One sofa and three chairs. Is this fruitwood?

http://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/fuo/5629635377.html

Is the above considered French provincial? Call me crazy but I like it.

I love that stuff, Justerrilynn!

Me too Cattles! It would be fun to slap down a big zebra rug (sort of predictable I know) and do an eclectic room with big colorful art.

But back to your rant Shushi. I actually contacted a CL person who was driving me up the wall with his multiple postings of early 1990's cheap chairs ...he kept posting over and over and over as mid century. I knew the chairs. I told him the year. He didn't care and continued on .

Wow, that is a pristine set.

I bet the foam is shot under that plastic. But that set could look good almost anywhere and the fabrics aren't too "dated" either.

That would be a shame if the foam were ruined. That old toxic foam lasted so much longer.

JT - maybe Italian provincial?

Definitely Italian provincial. Either fruitwood or pecan color. My parents had that couch in green. I loved the trapunto design on the seat backs. I have a variation of the dark blue chair in my house. Mine have caned backs.

Thanks Bluebird and Delilah! Hmmm, trapunto, I will have to learn more about that. And, now I will have to change the art for my imaginary purchase. I do love seeing different things like this on CL as it always gets my mind going on how I would decorate in a way that it would work today.

Also forgot to mention I have a similar drum table to the one in the picture. Not MCM, but just about mid-60s. And my mid-60s Thomasville pecan dining room table and chairs have that same Italian Provincial leg. I'm pretty vintage myself ;-)

Amazing that set Justerilynn posted. I really don't care for it but I feel like I am back in high school visiting some friends. Most people had plastic covers.......... I grew up in a middle class neightborhood apartment in Brooklyn. We had one of the largest apartments with THREE bedrooms ( and of course, one bath). No one had dens or family rooms. The living rooms were the public rooms- the show rooms. So plastic covers really did preserve the furniture ( as you can see). I only remember actually having the for a little bit and I am prettty sure they were removed in the summer. But what fond memories.

I am with sushipup though, not a real fan.

I'm watching an on demand Brother versus Brother season 4. Everything is Mid Century OMG. Cheap beds from Wayfair? A sliding "barn door???" Mid Century has jumped the shark. I declare the trend on the way out. You heard it here first!

Sheilaaus122, I'm almost afraid to ask...what neighborhood in Brooklyn? I also grew up in a middle class neighborhood in Brooklyn and we also had a large 3 br apartment with 1 bathroom...we were in Flatbush. And my mother's couch retained its plastic cover summer and winter. Of course, we were never allowed to sit on it in the living room, so was kept pristine.

hi blubird- I thought I would message you but I don't see where I can. Anyway...... Sheepshead Bay.:)

Here's my mid-century chair similar to the dark blue one above. It started off life in my MIL'S house somewhere in the 1950s as off white painted with gold accents, hand caned back and a silk fabric seat. I had it redone in the 1980s to its current fruitwood color, recaned with machine caning and a gold fabric seat, which did not hold up well. I recovered it myself in the 90s and it's still in great condition, in regular use as dining room side chairs.

Waving to fellow Brooklynite, Sheilaaus.