Actually i think ti was more the late 60's and 70's....the style I remember about the 50's was hard rock maple, ruffled lamp shades and braided rugs..
And it was not "real" Victorian style but rather the Belter look...not Eastlake or Gothic at all.

I said 50s because someone comments that it was "50s Victorian" but yes, I do remember the mid to late 60s where that Martha M furniture ad was in the back of every decorating magazine. And I think you're seeing a lot of that furniture now which people take as "real" -- and it is old -- 50+ years -- just not the 19th century!

But I guess my question is still "why" -- Victorian homes were not "big" in the 60s -- people were not rushing out to buy the big old houses -- so were they putting that "Victorian" look into ranch houses?

The 1940s saw a Victorian revival in fashion, IIRC - which likely spilled over into 50s. It was certainly popular in the movies - I think of "Little Women" & "The Secret Garden" & "Meet Me In St. Louis", for example.

I also think of 1950s haute couture which certainly hearkened back to Victorian fashions w/ nipped in waists & voluminous skirts, picture hats.

Young people furnishing their homes in the 50s had parents from that era. Nostalgia may've been an influencing factor too...?

But....I was a "young person" in the 50's furnishing my home....friends who could afford to buy new bought "Early American". I bought Victorian because it was cheap at auctions and 2nd hand shops.
I remember going to a party at the home of the people who owned the "Colonial furniture" store. They would buy the old stuff that people were replacing with "Early American"...their huge basement "rec room" had about 6 sets of clawfoot round oak tables with matching sets of pressed back chairs painted in bright colors like chrome yellow and turquoise.
When we bought the house I live in now, in 1971....a 2 story cape cod, the owners had a pair of new Victorian Mr and Mrs chairs upholstered in bright yellow velvet....AARGH!
Genuine Victorian was out....faux Victorian was in.

Yes!

My mom decorated in the Early American theme as well, & also bought a lot of Victorian era dressers & other items @ auction in upstate New York. They were not considered valuable back then & she has always believed they weren't worth much. I think that may have changed now that they're so much older...

LOL My parent's livingroom is still Early American, they did in early 70s

Early American = pure hideousness.

but won't be surprised if it becomes the new darling after MCM stuff.

Ever see a maple "wagon wheel" clonial living room couch & chair set? ;/n

How about a wagon wheel light over the kitchen table?
It was also called "colonial". I think that was when the abomination of lamps made from things like coffee grinders and old candle molds came into being.
The good quality stuff wasn't too bad...if you got rid of the kitsch....but the cheap stuff with the ruffles on the sofa cushions and on the lamp shades....ewww!

Haha - we still have several lamps my dad made: 1 from a huge coffee grinder & a couple from old wooden planers. I've always liked them - they all have natural burlap covered drum shades - no ruffles or frills for us! My sisters & I used to play w/ the coffee grinder all the time when we were little.

carolb -- well, as long as it's natural burlap, not poly*

Agree, Lindac92. The ruffles on the sofa cushions were to make it look fancy = classy, like Miss Piggy's French cut carrots and veggies. She used a special knife that gave a if fled edge. The ruffled skirt at the bottom was to help hide the toys and magazines when company stopped by.

A few years ago I was cleaning out a place with a pretty-solid maple wagon wheel coffee table. I almost kept it, but instead offered it on Craigslist. No takers. It ended up at a recycle swap center.

I came across this set, selling for $3,500 or so. Well, at least it looks like gen-U- INE leather.

That's not "Early American"...That's "Western Chuck Wagon"....eww! And the faux cobbler's bench coffee table and the farrier's bench end table.

I just seen some pics in another thread that showed someone's sofa with throw pillows ...ruffled throw pillows. Gag

....shudder......

50s/60s was hard rock maple -- "Colonial" -- 70's was dark pine "Early American", I think. And all of those dark pine dining room hutches are being utilized now -- but they're painted first! You see them all the time on blogs. And I think, Oh, I remember when you could buy them new! The good thing is that at least they were wood!

Bossyvossy where is the plastic slip covers ? I think my parents still have them on couch and chair. In summer you would stick to them

Ha, they took them off for photo

My parents had the 50s maple early American, complete with braided rug. Solid furniture, and it lasted forever. Not my thing, though.

Yes, I had maple colonial bedroom furniture, including a 4-poster, as a child in the 60s and that stuff was incredibly well-made. I still have the dresser and I wish I had the bed but my mom sold it after I moved away. They kept the desk as long as they lived as a kitchen desk, but had it white-washed in the 80s. But when mom died it was as solid as the day they bought it.

I must say I don't love the traditional colonial maple finish color, but a lot of that furniture was high-quality stuff and well-designed, nothing like the pic above.

I'm a bit confused by the conflation of Early American and Victorian in this thread, incidentally.

This is what I was thinking of as Early American from the 70s

Oh geez bossyvossy. You're bringing back nightmares of my first job out of college. I was a home furnishings textile designer and we had to create those flocked fabrics for merchandisers like JC Penney and Sears. Farmhouse scenes with tractors and wooden fences were popular, as were geese and ponds.

And what you show is one of the nicer color ways. The typical one was orange, harvest gold and browns.

How does one pose an "anti like" on this site....flocked fabric....ewww!