From Mad Men to Maisel: Midcentury Vintage Design in Media

Few styles are more intuitively recognizable to the modern furniture connoisseur than midcentury vintage design. Furniture from the period is characterized by strong colors and modern shapes, but with a focus on simplicity and monotone.

In today’s blog, we want to explore the iconic vintage style using stills from popular television shows set in the 1950s and 1960s: Mad Men (AMC) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime). By connecting the aesthetic to our catalog, we want to provide you with inspiration for how you can capture some of the magic of midcentury in your own home.

If you’re looking to be inspired in different ways, be sure to check out our coverage of 2022 design trends from last week. Or learn how to design the perfect winter getaway using antique and modern furniture! You don’t have to visit flea markets to find original treasures!

Mad Men and Midcentury Vintage: From Office to Lounge Space

Lounge

Upon entering an office in Mad Men, we are met with a glamorous interpretation of the midcentury vintage style. Each room features a different color scheme, with personality expressed in materials and palette.

The entry lounge of the office complex invites us in with furniture of muted green and beige tones. The couches and chairs provide matching elegance, not least with their classic midcentury frame design. Simple geometry is incorporated in bold combinations with clean lines that make

Texturally, the chairs showcase a soft pattern in the fabric, that adds to the perceived lightness of the pieces. Against the classic brown walls of the mid-century period, the furniture pops out like abstract plant life, providing a refreshing aura to the room.

Note, too the shape of the lighting fixtures in the back. These handsome pieces add dimensions to the space with their metallic shade.

Build your own midcentury sitting area with this gorgeous side table and chairs like this orange armchair, which has the same monochromatic potential as the armchairs in the picture. For a more textural feel, choose a chair like this patterned one.

Office

When you step into a Mad Men office, the wood makes itself known immediately. Note the wood-paneled walls and their connection to the wood frames on many of the chairs. Wooden tables, wood desk, wood drawers: a medium-dark wood tone is the operative color in this interior.

As a designer, you want to look for ways to counterbalance that heaviness. In mid-century modern style, a popular strategy is to incorporate wicker textures into certain chairs. Together with bright pillows and plant life, the space is kept cozy without seeming dark and dull.

If you like the wicker design of the chairs showcased in this still, you might just love this original Hans Wegner-style chair. The rope weaving is in strong original condition, making this a particularly rare find.

Combine it in a home office with all the trappings of a beautiful midcentury office: a stunning desk with beautiful handle details and a Casala Chair, which features one of our very favorite wood-back designs ever!

The Mid-century modern era design is full of bright, bold experiments as well as sturdy craftsmanship and wood-forward features. That makes it the perfect style to experiment with within your contemporary home.

The Comforts of Home: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Midcentury Vintage

Living Room

In the Amazon Prime show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a 1950s New York housewife becomes a standup comic. On her journey, Midge Maisel interacts with splendid interiors of all sorts. Most impressive may be her home, designed with a glamorous, Upper West Side style in mind.

Her living room features a plush sofa that could be perceived as modern. Note the wood feet: that’s where the mid-century modern furniture is revealed. Just like in the case of the Mad Men office, Midge elevates her darker hues with bright pillows. But it’s the orange footstool that’s really the focal point of this room.

Exceptionally bright, but without feeling out of place, it allows connections between its gold frame and the surrounding décor. The orange color grows out of that connection with bold levity and immediate charm.

You can achieve a very similar effect in your own home by letting colors speak for themselves. This Lesniewski Chair offers a crystalline blue hue, promising to elevate your living room in a naturally elegant fashion.

Or go bold in more than just color: nothing screams bold design like this Halabala Club Chair, offering a completely unique design with accompanying warmth. And these Radomsko armchairs are so bold in their design that they’re bound to change the face of your room for the better. Think of them as potential accent pieces or focal points themselves.

Kitchen and Other Design

Mrs. Maisel spends a lot of time in her kitchen, and what a kitchen it is. Red-lined white cabinets and chrome appliances bring the midcentury vintage design to the fore. And while we don’t offer appliances on Styylish, we do have a wonderful collection of furniture to transform your kitchen nook into a Midcentury Heaven.

These peacock-inspired chairs feel casual enough for a kitchen space without abandoning the more creative qualities of the period. Combine it effortlessly with this Danish bar cart, for instance. It’s a light, handsomely crafted piece that’s an original of the period, but feels completely modern. Bring it out to your dining room with ease!

If you want to replicate the chrome-white simplicity of Mrs. Maisel’s kitchen, however, be sure to check out our Bauhaus vintage furniture. These Marcel Breuer chairs feel like direct antecedents to midcentury vintage design, least of all in their wicker backing. Bauhaus followed the Art Deco period and draws inspiration from the industrial aesthetic of materials.

The Wonderful World of Midcentury Sets

Television series and movies can certainly be a wonderful source of design inspiration. Analyzing stills like this can give you a good idea of how involved production design is: and how precious each and every piece in a well-designed room can be.

We wish you happy browsing for your dream modern design and midcentury vintage pieces. Make your dream home come to life with ease, as pictured on the silver screen.