1950s Home Interiors - The Way It Was

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Home buying ad from 1958.

This is the house in Akron, Ohio where I grew up. I lived there from birth until the age of 17. 1951-1968.

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Hello! I'm Mr. Ed

Blog Created: 4-13-2025

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I was raised in a 1950s household. Back then, there were no microwave ovens, no Mr. Coffee, color TV, air fryers, cell phones, computers, ipads, internet service, social media, Ring Doorbells, cassette players, DVD players, VCRs, DVRs, or anything else that electrics had to offer. Television sets were made of wood or metal. There was no cable TV services, no streaming service and no hot links. To get the news, we watched a nightly 15-minute TV news cast or read a newspaper or heard it from a neighbor.

On television, we watched black and white programs and after 1:00 am, there was nothing to watch but a test pattern. On Friday and Saturday nights the TV service continued until 3:00 am with old movies.

There was no battery operated home appliances and NO rechargeables. Everything electric was plugged in. There were no "reality" shows on TV. We watched the Untouchables, The Real McCoys, I Love Lucy, Peter Gunn, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Andy Griffith Show, Maverick and the Ed Sullivan Show. As I remember, Bonanza was the first show that switched to color. But with a black and white set, it made no difference to us. Many of us had party lines on the telephone. At our house, we had a three party line. So we had to wait our turn. The rates were cheaper if you had a party line but every so often, picking up the phone would result in hearing someone's conversation. One of the party lines we had were two elderly women. They would use the phone on Sunday and would talk for hours about the corns on their feet or an old boyfriend from the 1920s, or the cute doctor they saw that week. Everyone let them talk because we had lives and on Sundays we were busy with other things.

The rec room was catching on and it seemed that everyone who was anyone had a home bar. If you wanted music, you had two options. Radio or record player. Some folks had a piano or an organ for sing-alongs. Our house was heated with a coal furnace. I have many memories of my father stoking the furnace and adding a few shovels of coal into the furnace around 6:00 am every day during the winter before he left for work at Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. in Akron, Ohio. The coal would burn all day long and another shovel full was added at 10:00 pm to burn over night. There was no fan forced heat. It simply worked on a gravity principal. I remember never being chilly during the winter months. We lived in a three story home with a full basement. The heat raised to the second floor bedrooms very well. It was 1962 when our furnace was converted to gas.

The coal was delivered about every three months. A dump truck arrived with two men. They backed over our side yard and put a shoot down through the basement window that had a hinged steel cover over it. The truck bed raised and the coal ran into our "coal room" in the cellar that was right across from the furnace.

The kitchen of the house was complete with everything needed at that time period. The standard appliances included a refrigerator, stove, and sink. If you wanted a meal, it took around 30 to 40 minutes to prepare. No quick heat-ups. Even a cup of coffee was worth, at least, 15-minutes.

Most homes, including ours, was equipped with a standard bathtub. Some families had a shower, but most had simply a bathtub. We did not have an attached garage. Most older homes of the times had a garage that was about 100 to 150 feet from the house. People still worried about the car catching fire in the garage. We had one car. At that time, most women did not drive. The car was used for the husband to go to work or he would drive the family around to the grocery store, visiting friends or vacation trips. The women who drove were single ladies or a few that were married. Very few families had a second car.

In the '50s, there were very few items made of plastic. Tools, cars, toys and most other things were made of metal. Even radios were either wood or metal. And with all of this, we actually lived very comfortable. Kids had no video games which meant we had to go outside and play. There were few fat kids. We rode bikes, ran around and played cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. We were physical in just about everything. We had board games and played a lot of card games. My father had a home workshop in the basement and another smaller one in the garage. Home workshops had gotten popular sometime in the 1940s.

Hobbies of that period included model building, guns, stamp collecting, fishing, hunting, knitting, sewing, etc. My dad was a hunter and a gun collector. He had a small arsenal in the basement where he reloaded all his own ammunition. I remember that our basement windows were all barred. Yes! In the '50s there were people you couldn't trust. My mother enjoyed fishing and sewing. She also knitted.

My grandparent's home was simple, clean and neat. My grandfather also had a home workshop as did many of my father's friends. My dad had a friend named Fred who had a two and a half car garage behind his home that he used solely as a workshop. His car sat outside. I used to love going there and walking around his shop. It was packed tight with benches, tools, stacks of lumber and an endless supply of old food jars filled with every kind of screws, nuts and bolts. Today I also have workshops in our basement and garage. No fancy bought benches for me. My workbenches, shelving, etc., I built. I have styled my shops after the ones I saw in the '50s.

So, life was a little harder back then but we didn't know it. We had no idea of all the stuff that was to be created in the future. We had a good life. We were comfortable and we were all well fed. Mom was a good cook. Dad was good provider.

This blog features home designs and styles from the 1950s. Homes then were built better, lasted longer and were very cozy. Sometimes I wish I could go back even for just a day.

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In the 1950s, every housewife was a Martha Stewart.

After a day of cleaning, it was time for that Martini and cigarette.

The '50s offered new homes with larger windows for more sun to come in. Sun rooms became popular during the 1950s.

Fireplaces were still a favorite feature. But the styles became more modern.

I bet this guy was wishing they had one of those new fangled TV sets. His wife was wishing for a trip to Florida.

Families mostly gathered in the living room.

Teen girls listened to music in the living room when they weren't doing it in their bedroom.

Sectional sofas were all the rage.

Early American style furniture became popular during the 1950s. My mother loved it. Many would filter in a few antiques to complete the style.

I don't remember many having a tiger or leopard rug. But these folks did.

The '50s was the age of color and many used it.

The second favorite room in the house had to be the kitchen. After all, it's where we got our food and meals were prepared.

Most kitchens were fairly plain. A toaster and blender was about all the counter-top appliances that we had.

Wow! That was a really thin sandwich.

Kitchen colors ranged from blue, yellow, red, white, green and even pink.

Yes! Pink kitchens were a favorite of housewives at the time. Hey! They had a milkshake machine. I have one too.

Some kitchens just had a splash of pink to off-set the décor.

But, in most cases, the kitchen was heavily pink.

Pink kitchen or not, I want some of that ham.

Other than pink, women liked yellow.

Stoves and refrigerators were colored to match the kitchen shades.

Besides pink and yellow, there were many colors that were selected for kitchens.

But, if you weren't into bright colors, the old standard wood worked well too. Early American designs looked good in the kitchen as well.

Wood was also used in more modern kitchen designs.

But, no matter the color of the room, the meals that mom pumped out every evening were still great!

And those meals had to be enjoyed somewhere. The dinning room in many homes was the perfect setting.

In most cases, breakfast and lunch was ate at a small dinette table in the kitchen or breakfast room. The dinning room was reserved for dinner or formal affairs when friends and family visited.

If you really wanted to get wild, this dinning set was for you. But be warned, it could kill your apatite.

I guess they thought the flower centerpiece would help.

After working all day, coming home to that dinner of ham and then watching some TV shows like Spin and Marty, the Untouchables and the Jack Benny Show, it was time to hit the bathroom before bed and get a shower.

This was another room where pink was a selected color.

Robin Egg Blue was also used in bathrooms.

I remember well that my grandparent's bathroom was pink and black.

After that shower, shave and...other thing from the bathroom, it was time for bed.

First, make sure the kids are tucked in for the night.

Oh crap! There's that pink again.

The bedroom was also a nice place to go to be alone and read.

Blonde furniture was popular in the bedroom.

Pink! Pink! PINK!

The boy's bedroom was mostly western. A favorite were bunk beds. This worked well when two brothers were sharing a room or when the boy had a friend stay over.

A bunk bed or trundle bed allowed the boy to have more space in the room.

As far as the girls, as long as they were young, sharing a bedroom was not a big deal.

But, once they got older, snoring could be a problem.

The girl's bedroom was their sanctuary.

It's where they learned each other's secrets.

It's was where they studied for that big exam.

A girl's bedroom always had a record player so t hey could hear the latest tunes in that new realm called "Rock & Roll".

It's where they discussed the hottest topics such as boys, clothes, gossip and boys.

Their bedroom was where they could go to be alone.

And, once the time came, the bedroom was where they would dress for their wedding.

And after the wedding, and while on her honeymoon, a motel bedroom was where she would...well...you know.

Another "new concept" for the 1950s was the family room, recreation room or, rec room.

The rec room was, in many cases, in the basement of the home and featured a lounge area, gameing such as a pool table, ping-pong table and record player and, possibly, a TV set.

It was a gathering place for teens to drink Coca Cola, eat potato chips and spin the discs. I mean records, not CD or DVD discs.

Rec rooms were simply cozy, comfortable spaces.

Families got together down in the rec room for a game of cards. This was a time when board games became popular.

Rec rooms was a favorite place for teenagers to hang out. You never wanted to be around parents. Let's get real man!

Hoida Ad, October 26, 1957, Page 13 - Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Rec rooms were good places to do some necking too.

And, you didn't need a big dance floor to get it on.

And, what rec room was complete without a home bar?

A home bar meant you could get sauced right at home and not have to deal with the cops for a drunk driving charge. Unless you were visiting friends who had a home bar..

Some home bars were as nice as the bar down the street.

It depended on how big a drinker you were as to how big your bar was.

My parents were not drinkers. So we didn't have a home bar.

Some homes of the 1950s had a home office, den or study. These were more prominent in homes of lawyers, doctors and businessmen.

The idea of the home workshop came to light sometimes in the 1940s. Men had always enjoyed working or things andbuilding things and needed a place to do it at home.

Men began collecting tools and materials. The result was the home workshop.

The home workshop was mostly in the basement. But another good place was in the garage.

A collection of tools seemed to grow like weeds. You had to have a place for them all.

There was no shortage of tools being offered at the time.

When I think of all the tools that have been created since the 1950s, my mind blows a gasket.

My dad had a lot of tools. He had built several houses from the ground up. He also did a lot of electrical work and plumbing plus carpentry. He died in 1967 when I was 16. I wonder, if he could come back and see all the tools today how amazed he would be. I would be amazed to see him come back.

At many 1950s homes, in a section of the basement or underground in the back yard, there was a fallout shelter. This is where you would go in the event we got attacked by the Ruskies. My dad never built one. He said if we got attacked, we probably wouldn't be home anyway and we would just die.

Dad also remarked that he didn't want to have to re-build the world after a Russian attack. He said he was getting too old for that sort of work.

Television in the '50s was a fairly new concept. It came to light in the late 1940s.

TV, radio and stereo combinations were enjoyed back then.

If you had three kids with three difference interests, a triple set was the answer. But how could you separate the sound?

TVs were getting crazier all the time.

And if you got a tape deck, it was a reel-to-reel tape deck.

TV shops were growing then like the video shops did decades later.

They came in all sizes, colors and cabinet styles.

And who could ever forget the TV repairman? He would come to your house in that panel van, take the back off the set, most likely only have to replace a burned out tube and would have one in that big, heavy case he carried and have the old set working before the 5:00 news. Today, we throw our old set on t he curb and buy a new one.

We would even pose with our TV set. That's how important it was to us. Next to the automobile, it was THE thing to have.

The whole family would gather around the set.

But, Saturdays were for us kids. A whole morning of cartoon shows on all three channels and then an afternoon of watching cowboy shows.

Saturday mornings were packed with Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Tweedy and Sylvester and Batman. Then it was on to the afternoon full of the Lone Ranger, Hoalong Cassidy, the Range Rider, Cisco Kid, Annie Oakley and then the 3-Stooges.

In the 1950s, radio was still a favored concept.

Those little transistor radios from Japan were all the rage. Now you could carry your favorite radio station with you anywhere you went.

You could hear Elvis, Frank and all the rest everywhere. Even in church. The earphone kept it quite from others.

Radios could be bought from $12 to over $100.

Today we have high definition. In the 1950s we had high fidelity. Records sounded much better on these players.

Radio - stereo combos were popular...but costly.

But, with all the fancy systems that there were out there, all any teenage girl needed was a standard record player to wear out her records on.

Dad had his own system. He enjoyed reel-to-reel tapes.

With this, you could also record your own music or whatever.

And yes, there were battery operated reel-to-reel units that could fit in a coat pocket.

Yes! You could buy a stereo with a blonde cabinet. But NOT PINK!

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STANDARD HOME PRICES OF THE 1950S ~

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One More Thing Before I Go ~

Back in the 1970s, I worked for Sokol Furniture Company in Akron, Ohio. It was a very large family owned furniture store on East Market street that had been founded in 1925. The building was around 100-years old at that time and was huge with many separated rooms upstairs that were used for storage. The general public were not allowed in these areas of the building.

I worked at Sokol's for around six years. Several of the rooms upstairs were packed to the ceilings with large cardboard boxes. We never paid any attention to them. But one day, the owner told us that we were going to get rid of all that stuff.

As it turned out, these rooms were stuffed with merchandise that had been stocked back between 1955 and 1959. It was all furniture such as end tables, bedroom suits, dinning sets, living room sets, kitchen appliances and, yes, even television sets and stereo systems. Three of us employees were selected to be in charge of unpacking this stuff and getting it downstairs for a big sale. They were going to sell it all as vintage furniture. Which it was.

It was like Christmas morning unpacking it all. You never knew what you would find. The boxes were old and all were still sealed. I have no idea why these items were never sold but they were all stacked in five of these large rooms.

It took us eight days to get it all done. The furniture was the old tweed upholstered living room furniture, blonde end tables, walnut TV cabinets and glass table and floor lamps. You could have furnished a 1950s themed hotel with all this stuff. We set everything up in a section of the warehouse and it was all prices fairly high. And, after six days, most of it was gone. After the sale I got a free set of blonde end tables and an old over stuffed lounge chair. I have to admit, that was a fun two weeks.