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The Modern Jetsons Pad
I'm a design and food-obsessed freelance writer and market research analyst, and a stay-at-home mom.
I'm a design and food-obsessed freelance writer and market research analyst,... More »
I come by my obsession with all things "vintage future" honestly - I watched a lot of cartoons as a kid, and The Jetsons were my favorite. On top of that, the second I set foot in Tomorrowland at Disney World - when I was five - I was hooked by the late 1920's vision of the fabulous future. Bold blues and reds, sweeping lines and a Russian collectivist vibe (not that I was familiar with that particular genre back when I was five) - it hooked me. I've spent a lot of time in the years since admiring interiors that capture the same cool energy and aesthetic.
Here are some of my favorite examples of the Jetsons style - including the famous cartoon family themselves:
Here are some of my favorite examples of the Jetsons style - including the famous cartoon family themselves:
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The Jetsons at home. The perfect early '60's nuclear family, in the perfect 21st century home. Its all about color and shape and glass and metal - and crazy functionality.
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Eero Arnio created the Ball chair in 1966 - just a few years after the Jetsons made their prime time debut. To my eye, the shape and white/color combo perfectly capture the future-centric vibe of the time. Here, I love the combination of the deep pinkish red with the cool, slightly spacey blue wallpaper. Plus, the retro phone is a funny reminder that those imagining the future got a few details wrong.
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In the Jetson's family room, I love the crazy purple sculpture. This bedroom includes a more real-modern take on that artwork, with a simple circular wall sculpture over the bed. I like this room as an example of how current design borrows from, but also departs from the 1960's imagined future. One big thing that mid-century futurists missed was our current appreciation for the earth and sustainable design. The simple earthy colors here are definitely not space-age, but they are 21st century.
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Overall, this room is perfectly at home today, but it's got a cool mid-century futuristic vibe thanks to three key elements: natural light pouring through those windows, that amazing green carpet and the lines of the Arco-like lamp.
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This cool combination of color and spherical shapes has such a 60's retro vibe - I love it. The Pucci-patterned pillow would fit perfectly on the cartoon's sofa and the lines of the lamp, echoed in the chair, are, like the Ball chair, total mid-century futurism.
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| The Jetsons' creators picked up on mid-century architects love for open interiors - and that is not an obsession that's disappeared. This space is a great example of a wide open space, full of clean lines and natural light, that's also neatly divided into usable living spaces.
Plus, how great are those orange chairs? While the show's color palette leaned more on blues, greens and purples, in recent years, orange has felt like a color that's retro, but also current. |
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| The Jetsons' home is wall-to-wall window - like this amazing bathroom. Of course, in the imagined 2062, taking a bath in this room would probably be a little risky, what with the flying cars and all. |
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This image always reminds me of Julian Shulman's amazing photographs of Pierre Koenig's case study house. It's got that evening-falls-over-the-city vibe and just feels like a martini waiting to happen.
Martinis, of course, were suspiciously absent from The Jetsons, but the aesthetics of the show are all tied up with the cool mid-century LA look.
Martinis, of course, were suspiciously absent from The Jetsons, but the aesthetics of the show are all tied up with the cool mid-century LA look.
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In the Jetsons' house, Rosie the robot provided much of the metal heft. In modern homes, kitchens full of stainless steel make up for the lack of empathetic robot maids. Even nearly 50 years after the show aired, metal still has the corner on the "futuristic" look.
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| Like telephone technology, the creators of the Jetsons also missed out on the telecommuting trend. This home office captures some of the technology that the Jetsons might have imagined - and that we're all still waiting for. I, for one, am ready for holographic computer screens. |
Ideabook updated on Sept. 7, 2009.
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