Americana Living Room, Somewhere, USA, 1967
An upper-class suburban-scale picture window diffused with shears provides a warm backdrop for a bespectacled Andy Griffith wannabe and a lovely young lady that proves how well plaid stands out against yards of floral upholstery fabric. Her black bow-tied puritan collar on that short-sleeved shift is a stark contrast to that sassy Vidal Sassoon inspired hair-do. A smart red bag and matching shoes complete her good-girl-gone-mod look.
Their legs are crossed in opposite directions and they don’t seem terribly comfortable. Drinks have been served. He holds his in his lap while hers sits on a coaster protecting the maple finish on that classic early American coffee table decorated with an eye-catching bouquet of mass-produced plastic fantasy flowers and two milk glass dishes, one of which contains roasted peanuts for them to nibble on.
In case the not-so-cozy couple need to flick some ashes that is not a problem. On the matching end table are not one, but two ashtrays and an XL Hummel figurine of an old world country boy.
And in case you didn’t notice they are flanked by a pair of early American fantasy lamps. Why collectively as a society have we all turned our backs on ruffled lampshades?
Here’s the Early Americana, ruffled lampshades and YOU!
Those are some ballsy lampshades!!
(and they are sheers, not shears.)
Love,
Your High School English Teacher
OMG,
that looks just like a photo taken of me from the same year. Wow, I remember all those things and the drop down table. Also those ruffled table lamp shades were a special touch if you were in fashion too. Thanks for the memories.. Cherryl
Oh my, I graduated in 1967 and I wore my hair like that and I think I had a plaid shift like the one she has on! I’m a vintage clothing dealer and I don’t forget my clothes! My Mother loved milk glass and I see lots of little milk glass accents too. I wonder if they got married and had nerdy kids?
That picture looks just like pictures I have of my parents! My mom progressed from that hairstyle to a Marlo Thomas flip. That’s a wonderful picture!
My great uncle currently lives in a house with a room very much the same. His bay window is also adorned with the classic combo of sheers with heavy draperies (that word seems much weightier than ‘curtains’) to the side. And much like the home-owners in this pic, he has never once, in all his years of owning the house, openned the sheers to let in sunlight, or closed the draperies to block it. They have remained in the same position in which they were hung way back when.
I miss the convention of matching shoes and handbags *sigh* I think the lampshade will make a mighty fun party hat, later in the evening.
Cheers!
When I was a kid, this kind of lampshade scared me. It still does!
i was born in 1967. but i remember, when i was about 6, my parents were retiring/replacing their early american furniture and my dad burned the floral print couch in the back driveway.
I remember those lamps with the shades! Ours were in kelly green and white. Also remember
the dress the young woman is wearing and ashtrays – remember them? (No longer in my home
or in any of my friends’ homes). It’s so wonderful to see all this and know that I really didn’t dream those beautiful days in
LA in the fifties and early sixties.
I love the past. Always looking for pictures or stories. thank you.
That dress looks like she may have ordered it from the Sears Roebuck 1967 Fall Big Book. This was the same year that I had bright yellow patent leather mary janes and a matching pocketbook.
Now I know what happened to my dress !!
Of course,Joanna, you have to match your shoes with your purse !! The Fashion Police were out there !!
My grandfather still has a lamp with a shade like that!