Home décor has evolved over the years, and in the 1970s, the trend was about colorful pieces of furniture and decorations that are groovy and cool. However, the home décor items in the 70s were not just about style, as they also have function since they are comfortable to use and look at. To know more, here is a list of the best 70s home décor items.
Bean Bag Chair
One of the most comfortable home décor items that became popular in the 1970s is the bean bag chair. The bean bag chair, also called the Sacco chair, is a type of soft chair that has a fabric or leather exterior and is filled with pellets or beans that are made of polystyrene (a type of plastic). Bean bag chairs are typically placed on the floor.
The bean bag chair was designed by three furniture designers named Franco Teodoro, Cesare Paolini, and Piero Gatti in 1968. After releasing the bean bag chair in the late 1960s, it quickly became one of the best-selling chairs in the 1970s.
Lava Lamp
The lava lamp is a groovy home décor item that features a container that has two liquids with different densities and colors inside. The two liquids move upward and downward, and because they have different densities, one of the liquids (which is usually made of liquid wax) would look like lava that floats in different directions.
The lava lamp was invented by a British entrepreneur named Edward Craven Walker in 1963. In order to sell the lava lamp, Craven Walker founded the lighting company Mathmos, which was established in Dorset, United Kingdom. As of 2023, Mathmos is still selling lava lamps in different colors and designs. If you are planning on giving a lava lamp as a gift to a friend or family member, check out our Nostalgic 70s Gift Ideas to know more about what 70s-themed items you can give besides a lava lamp.
Velvet Drapes
Velvet furniture and home décor were the craze during the 1970s, and luckily, velvet is still a pretty popular type of fabric that is still used as decoration for homes today. However, unlike today’s velvet furniture which is neutral and subtle in color, the velvet used in the 1970s was much more vibrant and colorful. One of the most popular types of velvet home décor during the 70s was the velvet drape or curtain. Not only do velvet drapes elevate the look of the windows, but they can also serve as blackout curtains if people don’t want sunlight inside their homes.
Checker Prints
Checker prints were popular patterns used on walls or floors of homes in the 1970s. The checker prints used during that time were colorful and would often have shades of green, orange, or yellow in them. Checker prints are more commonly used as floor paneling for homes, but they are also used as wallpaper by some homeowners to elevate the look of their living room or other areas of the house. If you are going to use checker prints for your home in today’s era, you may want to settle with prints that have softer or lighter colors since subtlety is trendier.
Macrame-Style Decorations
Macrame is a form of textile wherein strands of yarn are tied into knots to form different shapes or patterns. Macrame-style decorations were trendy during the 70s, and they would often help elevate the look of walls in the living room or bathroom. Most macrame-style decorations in the 1970s were white or cream in color, although other colors were also available, although they are not as popular.
Macrame wall hangings are considered to be the best and most popular macrame-style decorations, and these wall hangings are typically hung on walls using nails or hooks. A popular form of macrame wall hanging is the dreamcatcher, an item that is composed of numerous circular webs or nets that serve as protective charms.
Shag Rugs
Shag rugs were also quite popular in the 70s, and they were also available in colors or shades that were trendy during that time period, including green, orange, yellow, and brown. If you don’t know what shag rugs are, they are normally hairier and rougher in texture compared to other types of rugs and carpets.
During the 17th century, the term “shag” is used to define a type of inferior silk material that feels rougher and less refined compared to premium silk. Today, you can still find plenty of shag rugs in online shops and furniture stores, although they are not as popular as other kinds of carpets or rugs since they are more difficult to maintain and clean.
Vinyl Record Player
Vinyl albums were the most popular collectible form of audio in the 1970s, and fortunately, the vinyl market is experiencing a resurgence in popularity recently. So, collecting vinyl albums and buying a vinyl record player is relatively easy nowadays since they are becoming popular and trendy again. In case you don’t know, a vinyl record player is an audio device that enables you to play vinyl albums, which are circular in shape and have grooves on their surface where the needle of the vinyl record player will travel. In those grooves are the audio recordings of a specific band or artist.
Today, there are already plenty of vinyl record players that have modern features like Bluetooth connectivity and the ability to download audio from vinyl to MP3. However, there are also several vintage-style vinyl record players available if you want to play albums the way people played them in the 1970s. For more information on vinyl record players and other 70s home décor, you can read our Nostalgic 70s Home Décor Ideas.
The best 70s home décor items that we have mentioned above are still available today, although some of them aren’t trendy enough. But if you want to make your home look like it came straight out of the 70s, then you are free to decorate the house with many 70s home décor items.