The Fabulous Fifties

Click on the pics to enlarge for a trip back to the 50's!

I had absolutely no issues about turning 50 three years ago - just another decade of fun & good times I figured. And for the most part it's been exactly that. I was almost 4 when 1960 arrived with all the associated razzle-dazzle, & I still remember moving into a brand new house that January with my parents. We'd been living in an old Edwardian cottage up to then, very cold, damp & tiny & complete with outside loo & laundry, not Mum's style at all. The new house had been completed a month earlier in December 1959. It was ranch-style, long & skinny, with open plan living areas & the biggest bathroom I'd ever seen. My darling Mum cried tears of joy the day we moved in.

She slowly, but systematically gave away all our old furniture & went on to furnish the new house with contemporary pieces, many of them Danish, which complimented the sparse lines of the house well. We'd come down to Adelaide twice a year & Mum would spend hours in furniture stores like Watermans @ Kilkenny, Jaffers of Port Adelaide & Zak & Rog stalking their Scandinavian catalogues. I still pass that house very occasionally when we're up in the Clare Valley & let me tell you, sadly age has not been kind to it.

But how about this beauty straight out of the early fifties & still looking sublimely gorgeous! The copper fireplace is original & those high ceilings & glass walls, oh la la! According to the blurb, most of the original features are still intact, & I reckon the architect responsible was a whizz. I do believe that between me & this stunner we're doing OK for a couple of gals in our fabulous fifties.

Images: R.T. Edgar