What is Retro Furniture?
The term 'retro' is being thrown about quite casually nowadays but there are actually very few people who know what it actually means. To go retro means to go into the past and see how people back then thought the future would be like. That means, you delve into the past and check out the impressions of people living in those times about our living present. Retro is actually short for retrospect. It is quite interesting as a concept really (Personally, I enjoy everything retro - films, music, literature). And now we have a chance to bring the future of the past in our homes. Yes, I am talking of retro furniture, the newest big thing going on in most American houses. American, because retro fashion is quite big in Uncle Sam's country.
Retro furniture is furniture that looks right from the old times, but unmistakably has that attitude of carrying impressions for the future. Basically, the furniture from the times of the sixties through the eighties (the Baby Boomer generation) is hot property. And that includes gramophones, retro loveseats and sofas, retro coffee tables, retro jukeboxes, entertainment centers, bars and stools and retro dance floors. Most retro furniture takes us back to those times - the furniture looks as though it has popped right out of the house of our dear Lucille Ball (Lucy for most of us) in those rip-roarious series of hers with her husband.
How does Retro Furniture Look?
Let us not make a mistake here. Most retro furniture that you get today in the markets is not actually ancient furniture. It is made now, in our times, but is designed just to look like the furniture that was popular in Charlie Chaplin's times. You will have dinner tables and chairs, chaise lounges, fireplaces with mantelpieces, carpets and rugs, grandfather clocks and those pesky but adorable canary clocks, everything that will take our grandparents down Nostalgiaville. Even the colors are the bright ones used in those times, and not the placid colors people prefer nowadays. The sixties, seventies and the eighties were actually the Shout-Out generation, with even the furniture having a lot of accents. And you will find that back in your retro furniture. People in those times wanted their furniture to make sure it stood up and take notice when visitors came in. Today's retro furniture tries to achieve the same thing.
Wood is the material of choice in making retro furniture, because that was the era of wood. Other materials for furniture were virtually unthinkable of. Retro furniture does have futuristic designs for the era they are made, but you must consider that those designs will still be outdated in today's times.
Retro Furniture for Entertainment
Of particular mention are the retro entertainment centers and other assorted amusement furniture from those adorable times. These entertainment centers actually come with records (not disks, mind you!) that will play, not Beyoncé, but Rogers and Hammerstein! Be sure to get your Fred Astaire shoes on, and put up a Grace Kelly (sorry, Princess Grace Kelly) picture up on the salon wall. You can place a jukebox on a side of the room, and put a coffee table with copies of Archie and MAD Magazine strewn about. Every component of the black and white era can be found if you go retro shopping.
Retro Furniture for a Whole New Ambience within the Home
People who have good money (and big houses) are considering adding a retro room to their houses. Since making the whole home a retro home may not be such a good idea, a single retro room is what people are doing nowadays. And it works great as a theme room. Packed with retro furniture, it is the place you can go to if you want some solace from your routine times. Or, you can call your friends over and have a retro party with Elvis goading them on. Tell them to come in their turtlenecks and checkered bellbottoms and it will be a party to cherish. And you can even add a retro arcade center with Super Mario Brothers and Contra on it to really get teleported in those times.
Quite predictably, retro furniture does not come cheap. A piece of retro furniture will cost much more than a similar present day piece. The price is added greatly because of the concept of the furniture, and the special labor required in making it. But that is what is making retro furniture so very unique. If you have the money and the taste for all things past, you will surely enjoy retro furniture within your home.
