by Catriona Mills

Making the Living Room Look Like A Retro Space Ship

Posted 14 June 2008 in by Catriona

Well, it’s one way to make Nick interested in interior decorating—for a creative man and a designer, he has remarkably little interest in the appearance of his domestic environment.

But there is a reason why his design company is called RetroRocket, so this might work.

The chairs do look rather as though they should be part of the interior of the Discovery One, but they also suit my fondness for sleek, 1960s’ design.

Sure, there’s some lovely, sleek design work being produced now, but I like the clean lines of good 1960s’ and 1970s’ design, so these also mesh well with my little plastic nested tables and the plethora of old lamps that I keep picking up at auctions and in antique centres.

Best of all, I can get rid of the hideously uncomfortable sofa that made its way here from my first share house—it’s always called “the black sofa,” despite the fact that all three of our sofas are actually black.

(On a similar principle, we have a table called “the swan table” that is completely free of any kind of swan or swan-shaped object. That’s the table in the back corner in the first photo—see, completely swan-free.)

But the black sofa (now a pleasing shade of light green) has been relegated to the back verandah, where it gives the space the slightly dissolute air of a student house (which I suppose it isn’t, now. How sad.)

I think Nick was a little uncertain about this, but it’s great—we moved it out this morning, before going to pick the new chairs up, and I’ve been sprawling on it at intervals throughout the day, basking in the sun.

I don’t think I’ll care to bask in the sun in summer, but in winter I think I’ll get a lot of use out of my verandah sofa.

Share your thoughts [3]

1

Matthew Smith wrote at Jun 17, 02:16 am

The chairs are awesome – it’s a shame they aren’t red.

2

Catriona wrote at Jun 17, 02:25 am

They could be red, but I’m tentative about altering things from their original colour if I don’t have to—this is something about which Nick’s mother and I cordially disagree, since she likes everything painted white—a legitimate approach, of course—and I like the natural colours of the woods and fabrics.

But in this case, the original vinyl is in good shape, so I think I’ll leave them as is—especially since they’re not precisely a matched pair (very similar but not quite) so they add a pleasingly asymmetrical air to the room.

3

Catriona wrote at Jun 17, 05:00 am

What I should have said—and what the photographs don’t show—is that they’re tilted back, as well. They’re not rockers, but they’re on quite a backward angle.

Extremely comfortable.

Bless Ebay, I say.

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