Here’s a modern living-dining area with hanging buffet table, and all the upholstery and curtaining is from Donald Brothers, the furniture by Gordon Andrews, and the painting by Frank Hodgkinson. The photograph itself was taken by Max Dupain. All those names together, that’s impressive!

In this room, the desk and goat’s head sculpture are by Gordon Andrews, the chairs by Bill Lucas, the table by Mathieu Mategot, and the painting by Rachel Roxburgh.

A cottage renovation by interior designer Marion Hall Best, ‘one of Australia’s most important and influential 20th century interior designers’. Sofas and coffee table made by E. A. Moulen, iron chair by Bill Lucas, more Donald Brothers upholstery, the mural on the wall by Dora Sweetapple (Hall Best’s sister), and the paintings by Michael Kmit.

Information on the designers here seems to be missing. I love the purple sofa and chairs.

Danish style modernist chair and sideboard/buffet. And that deep deep turquoise carpet. I don’t think it’s Feltex this time.

Kitchen advertisement for Tygan wallpapers. This is one … interesting … kitchen. Tartan wallpaper! Speckled lino floor! Dark green cupboards! Troughton and Young modernist light fittings! Floral curtains! It’s like a little bit of every style popular in the 50s all in the one room.

This is an ad for one of the Staffordshire pottery studios. I can’t recall which one. Casual dining for the well-off in 1958. They’ll come in from a game of tennis any second now.

Advertisement for Vynex upholstery. Vinyl-coated chairs aren’t very nice in the Australian summer. Those women are actually stuck to the chairs.

Herre’s a sitting room with the ever-popular Venetian blinds, in red; barkcloth curtains; Fler or Snelling style chairs, sofa and desk; Feltex carpet, and what might be an Albert Namatjira watercolour print on the wall.

A bedroom, with the very popular skirted bedspread; teak bed head; more of that deep green Feltex; and another Fler or Snelling type chair.

What’s that on the floor? Why, it’s more dark green Feltex! That stuff was everywhere. Some more of those chairs too, and a matching coffee table on what looks like a chenille rug. Seems it was fairly popular to have a mix of modern and antique style furniture and homewares, there are lots of pictures in my vintage home magazines of rooms like this. Is that a Renoir print hanging on the wall?

Tiki time! Cane furniture with a bamboo or palm frond print upholstery,  yellow Venetians and ceiling with dark turquoise walls. I like the rug, and I love the ‘crazy paving’ fireplace.

Found at Salvos in Fyshwick, a Danish-style mid-century modern chest of drawers. It’s got solid teak trim and handles, and an unusual plywood veneer. One of the drawers is stamped inside with “Gainsborough” and the company address in Melbourne. Needs a bit of cleaning up, but it’s still very nice! I put some felt under the TV so it won’t cause any damage. The little vase on the left was a Trash and Treasure find – the lady I bought it from reckoned it was an unmarked Diana factory second (there’s a little bit of the glaze missing). Either way, it’s pretty.

I also got these excellent dishes:

One was from Vinnies in Dickson, and the other from Vinnies in Queanbeyan. Nice weighty ceramic, signed “CT” on the bottom. I’m not really a pottery/ceramics person, so I have no idea who CT could be. If anyone knows, please tell! There are pictures of dishes like these in some of my mid-50s home decorating magazines. They’re in great condition, they look like they’ve sat in somebody’s display unit for the past 40,50, 60? years.

A March 1955 special feature on Canberra. Canberra was a relatively new city, and after WWII, modern architecture sprang up everywhere alongside the original Californian bungalows and (almost Arts and Crafts) cottages. There are many excellent examples, and the best place to read about them is the Canberra House blog. One of these excellent houses is actually up for sale: an Alex Jelinek house at 10 Gawler St, Deakin. It comes with its custom made Krimper furniture! Price is ‘by negotiation’. Canberra prices are pretty outrageous even for ordinary houses, but if I was the kind of person who had a lot of money to spend on a house, I’d be up for this one. Looking at the pictures, I wonder if those are the original bathrooms. The fittings look kind of 1978 and out-of-place.

Anyway, the Home Beautiful feature has sections on public architecture, such as at ANU; private homes, including floor plans and interiors; and local craftspeople making pottery and furniture. I’ve put it all into a PDF for download, it’s 30MB: Home Beautiful Goes to Canberra – March 1955.

in an online catalogue from Shapiro Auctioneers. The description suggests it’s likely to have been designed by Clement Meadmore, a famous Australian-American sculptor, who was designing furniture in the early 1950s. You may have seen his sculpture at the National Gallery:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pvk/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

He originally studied industrial design (with a strong interest in aeronautical engineering) at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and you can see that industrial-atomic-spaceage look throughout his designs:

These chairs were made in 1950, and sold for about $5000 in 2008.

Here’s an ad for these bedspreads, from Van Winkle, as printed in Australian Home Beautiful for September 1955. The text reads:

“Now.. Bedspreads in the Manhattan Manner”   In Manhattan Penthouses, 5th Avenue Mansions, and Long Island Estates, tailored, quilted Spreads are high fashion. Now Van Winkle brings this trend to Australia. Flawlessly quilted, generously flounced, faultlessly tailored to an original American design, a Van Winkle Spread is bedroom beauty at a budget price. Six fashion-favoured colours: Mexican Rose, Hollywood Green, Miami Sand, Kentucky Blue, Florida Rose, Pacific Blue.

The room in the ad’s got it all! An Eames-ish chair (and balcony furniture), a pouffe, designer lamp, barkcloth curtains, and tiki style sculptures.

(Click to enlarge)

I had a lilac bedspread like this when I was a small child, way back inna seventies, I’m not sure what happened to it.

Salvos in Tuggeranong had a bunch of pretty glassware and ceramics. I got this oval pink ceramic plate, it looks 1950s but could be newer. There’s no “Dishwasher and Microwave safe” label on the underside, in fact there are no markings at all. Mystery!

I also got these very cute space-age themed drinking glasses.

And these 1970s blue glass bits. They’re not really wide enough to be parfait or dessert dishes, so they’re probably brandy or liqueur glasses. They came in a shiny black PVC box with a YSL Parfum label inside (obviously a gift pack of some kind).

I also bought some very deco-looking EPNS bits, but I’ll post photos of those after I remember to buy some Silvo.