Home, Home on the Ranch
By Demetra Aposporos
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Photo courtesy of Atomic Ranch by Michelle Gingeri-Brown
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If you've just bought a great mid-century house, your next task will probably be finding period-appropriate furnishings to warm up the décor. The good news is that the home-decor market is flush with both antiques and authentic reproductions from this era. But where do you begin?
For starters, think funky shapes like triangles, boomerangs, and amoebas. These forms, inspired by fascination with a nuclear age, began appearing everywhere in the 1950s. They permeated everything from wallpapers and countertops (think boomerang-patterned Formica), lights and dishes. You could even argue that some of the era's most memorable furniture designs, like Eero Saarinen's executive chair and Arne Jacobson's egg chair, play off of amoebic forms.
Many original items from this era can be found at vintage stores, of course, but some of the most famous designs are in production once again. Yep, even the Formica's back—and so are George Nelson's bubble lamps, as well as those funky fiberglass bullet planters supported by a trinity of black iron legs. Today, streamlined stacking chairs with triangulated backs are so commonplace, you many not realize how cutting-edge they were in the 1950s.
But even the more mainstream items from the era can also make a big statement in mid-century houses—think an angular, rectangular sofa like the one seen every week in the living room on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Any of these period items, planted on a shaggy rug, will help your ranch channel a 1950s groove.
Ready to start shopping? Check out our photo gallery of out-of-this-world atomic age decor.
 Atomic Doodle reproduction wallpaper, $71 per roll Bradbury and Bradbury(707) 746-1900, www.bradbury.com
 Aqua Boomerang laminate countertop Formica(800) 367-6422, www.formica.com
 Eero Saarinen executive chair in leather with metal legs, $1,917 to $2,046 Design Within Reach(800) 944-2233, www.dwr.com
 Arne Jacobsen egg chair, $4,892 to $5,407 Design Within Reach(800) 944-2233, www.dwr.com
 George Nelson bubble lamps, $195 to $1,2000 Modernicawww.modernica.net
 Retro Bullet planter, $150 to $160 Hip Havenwww.hiphaven.com
 Stackable bentwood chairs, $99 to $349 West Elm(888) 922-4119, www.westelm.com
 Petrie sofa, $1,459 to $1,499 Crate and Barrel(800) 967-6696, www.crateandbarrel.com
 Flokati rug, $29.99 to $79.99 Ikea(800) 434-4532, www.ikea.com
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