Inside Story

That sad part is, you could likely fit my entire house into the kitchen depicted at the top of the page. [sulks more]

Cynthia does a good job of keeping it under wraps, but you can just tell she's incensed that Marian is late getting there with the Mai Tai fixings-- again!

A color scheme that says, Christmas Every Day!! if you're into that sort of thing.

I always like to leave a sexy life-size silhouette in the kitchen when I'm gone, to keep the family company. From the February issue of Household magazine.

And the "Smart Buffet Cart" doubles as a gurney for your passed-out party guests!

"All right, Darling. But tomorrow night, it's my turn to wear the heels and apron." "Of course, Dear." From the February issue of Household magazine.

A purple chair or carpet was very much like Bigfoot at that time. Sure, maybe you heard other people talking about it in hushed tones, but you never actually saw it for yourself. From the November issue of American Home magazine.

For an added feeling of spaciousness, why not purchase the wire pineapple, too? From Sunset magazine.

"Furnishings by L.S. Ayres & Co., Indianapolis, IN." I love any color in my house, so long as it's brown! (Sorry I couldn't pinpoint the date a little better. The company's own homepage says these doors were first unveiled at the 1939 Chicago World's Fair. link And the logo with the debutante was in use by 1954, so...) Several (mostly outer) sections from a two-sided foldout published by New Castle of Greenfield (?), Indiana.

My favorite effect here is the Dali-esque melting vanity-clock-mirror in the last row of rooms, center image.

Anyone want to field questions about the lamp? I know that I don't.

"Chaste clean lines and delicately executed details such as the slender chrome legs sheathed in grey-ebony plastic tips and the fine-line metal edged top... encased in enduring Duran [Reg U.S. Trademark] in the new pattern 'Nobby," which resembles a handloomed modern texture... Design by Jakdeser/Theriot." They sure knew how to make sitting down to cornflakes and instant coffee seem sexy.

I don't see how any of this makes up for the absent magazine rack. Also, did they hide the toilet paper in that copper spray bottle thing, or what? From the June issue of Good Housekeeping magazine.

Looking at those chairs up top makes me hungry for molded salmon loaf. I don't know why. From the February issue of Good Housekeeping magazine.

Her dearth of lacquered helmet-hair and her ungirdled thorax must have caused quite a scandal back then.

That black stuff near his face isn't a defect in the image. I think it symbolizes that he's humming along with the wall-mounted reeds. Also, I have no idea what he's holding on his lap. Maybe a really big thumb piano? From the April issue of House Beautiful magazine.

The show bathroom, like the famed "guest" towel, is never meant to be clouded by the presence of actual human beings. From the August issue of Sunset magazine.

Of course, everyone who's ever tasted Con-Huge Co.'s line of "homemade" icings already knows of the connection between dessert and house paints. From the October issue of Household magazine.