'70s Living

From Avocado Kitchens to Orange Shag Carpets

The '70s were not without color; what a wild and explosive decade it was, and our standards of living were just as vibrant when it came to home furnishings. Personal taste became a matter of personal style, and thick plush multi-colored shag rugs, beaded doorways, and tapestry wall hangings were a part that style. Furniture styles and colors were just as wild as the carpeting, and even in the most conservative homes, color was in.

The world was plugged in to fashion, style, color, and attitude. The '70s decade seemed to be all about reclaiming one's own sense of individuality. Though the '60s hippie movement ushered in these attitudes, the '70s refined them. Ornate furniture was in: large stereo consoles, TV sets and bulky furniture were common in most households.

From Shag, to Swag

'70s living just wasn't complete without the swag lamps and orange shag carpets. We were living in a new era, an era of bean bag chairs, wild decor, and a new freedom look that suited the "Me Generation" nicely! The emergence of the microwave oven caused a bit of trepidation in most American households for fear that they could leak radiation. Nuclear power in the kitchen was something that not all of us were on board with.

Far Out — Over and Out

Apple Crate Chic

I loved dripping different colors of candle wax on an old wine bottle while The Doors' "L.A. Woman" played in the background. The "hippie poor" style was wonderful, and during my '70s years at home, my room became a perfect hippie house. I put my mattress on the floor retiring the bedframe forever, and my apple crate tables suited me just fine. Cheap deco was wonderful; the smells of burning incense was in many households of people under 30 years old. 30 years of age was the reputed cut-off point where a person goes from being one of the "freaks" to a part of "the establishment."

Beaded doorways were also common (though I found them to be more annoying than anything), and black light posters were more popular than ever.

Decopage was the rage; posters mounted on hand-carved driftwood, or cedar frames, and covered with myriad coats of gloss varnish hung on peoples' walls. Again, these were a part of the ornate look that was so prevalent in the '70s. The "harem look" was also in with floor living: throw pillows of various sizes (and wild colors) were scattered on floors and furniture. Bean bag chairs were popular, and wild flowing wall tapestries with macrame plant hangings foretold a '70s future. Many of these furnishings were dirt cheap and could be bought at a specialty store called "Pier 1 Imports". I bought many tapestries there, plus wall hangings, wind chimes, and other decor that suited my hippie living lifestyle.

Waterbeds

I never had a waterbed, though I did want one at one point. Everybody it seemed had one. They too were often adorned with the same type of ornate headboards, and like the decopage posters, the popular style was a carved driftwood soaked with high varnish. I had known a few risky individuals who couldn't afford a frame, so they just planted their beds on the floor as-is. This was not a good idea as these beds had the potential to magically spring a leak at any time.

'70s Electronics

"You need to hear this through headphones!", I've said to friends on many ocassions. My first aural straight-between-the-ears experience was with a set of Koss headphones. I was listening to Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Pictures at an Exhibition", and it was like hearing the LP for the very first time!

Big stereos and components were THE thing to have. The power and glory of these magnificent sound systems were beyond explanation. These component sets were guaranteed to both set your inner music soul on fire and have apartment house managers pounding on your door. My own set consisted of a Marantz 1070 amplifier and a BSR McDonald turntable. Turntables seemed to have their own sets of problems and I went through a few of them until the late '70s when I settled with a Toshiba that was a champion performer.

The Future is Here: Home Video Recorders!

Wow, watch TV while recording your favorite shows on another channel! How could this be? Few inventions were ever so magnificent as the home video recording system.Going back as far as the '60s, home video recording was in its experimental stages. The Telcan (Television in a Can) goes back as early as 1963, and could only record a 20 minutes at a time. By 1972, videocassettes of movies had become available for home use through Cartrivision. The Cartrivision format wasn't very popular as home video players were just too expensive. Movie Cassettes intended for home use were encased in black plastic, and could be rewound by a home recorder, but rental cassettes could not be rewound, and had to be returned to the retailer in order to be rewound.

By 1979, the home VCR was a realistic (if not still very expensive) notion. Next up was the Betamax machine, which was reputed to be more technically advantageous producing a higher quality recording, but I personally never saw a difference. JVC developed a new system, "VHS" (Video Home System) which became the home standard.