Beyond the Book: The Fifties

Hello and welcome to this week's Beyond the Book post, Elaine's way of keeping you up to date on her characters after the book ends. I'm Liesel Wolf, Elaine's heroine in her novel Never Trust a Pretty Wolf. I like to cook and often experiment with recipes to change them for the better. The last two weeks we've been talking about 1950's receipes, but today I'm deviating from the recipes to share a picture of my house with you. My husband Andy already lived in the house when we got married. It was built in 1956, and I do love it.

During the 1950's people flocked to the suburbs where they lived in smaller, plainer homes than they had before the war. New furniture styles were developed to fit the new houses. This new style was influenced by technolgy and 'future' themes. Synthetic materials, many of which had been developed in World War II was used to create clean, simple designs. The furniture had straight lines, simple curves, and little ornamentation. It was often mass produced from things like plywood, wire, and moded plastic. The idea was to create things that were useful, affordable, and uncomplicated. Even today a 1950's home-a midcentury modern design-looks best with furniture that evolved right alongside it.  See the chairs in this picture? They're a good example of that midcentury modern style. I don't know if they are original or not, but you get the idea anyway. 

Come back next week, and I'll talk some more about the fifties.  See you then.