There Are a Few of My Favorite Things

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Interior Design Time Capsules Going Back to the 1970s

When it comes to interior design, at any given point, most home owners are renovating some aspect of their home to incorporate a new aesthetic style, accommodate the trendiest fixtures, or keep up with whatever is trading well in the resale market. Recently outdated homes tend to be the first candidates for a facelift, rendering accompanying furniture and decor obsolete as well.  Like any trend, there’s always a refractory period after its time in vogue during which it’s widely disdained; however in due time, it always comes back with a vengeance. Example: the worst of 1990s fashion is being furiously revived by Gen Z as we speak. 

However, some owners hold out and don’t renovate. They ride through the despondent days where having wall-to-wall shag carpeting is a valid challenge to one’s emotional stability. When they become the butt of jokes for their mirrored ceilings, they hold strong. And to those people who hold tight onto a generational trend and keep it beautifully maintained throughout the years, you are the ones who make my job fun. Yes, I know many of you are in Florida.

At 175 E 62nd Street, hidden inside apartment 14A, you will find the most immaculately preserved time capsule back to the height of the cosmopolitan 1970s. Not one but two rooms showcase mirrored ceilings (notably in the bedroom, ensuring no deed goes un-watched), and wall-to-wall-and-also-on-the-walls  beige carpeting encompasses 80% of the space. Furthermore, you’ll find: Baughman-esque swivel-seats in the den; a peach, geometric fabric-covered bed; lucite-legged dining chairs; cream, flourescent-lit kitchen; and a giant, tan J-shaped sofa in the living room. The expansive foyer feels straight out of the pre-renovated Hall of Gems at the Natural History Museum.

Because the doors to these type of apartments open with such rarity, I enlisted one of my best friends – who of course showed up as a dead ringer for Penny Lane in Almost Famous – to join me. Once in the elevator cab, we were Back to the Future:

Now please, I implore you, just try to sift through these photos and not be hit with the slight desire to sneak some of this aesthetic into your current homes:

To give a bit of perspective into what a true time capsule this was, there, on the counter, was the original New York Times from the Moon Landing in 1969
That’s right, ladies and gentleman – 
A MIRRORED WET BAR IN THE LIVING ROOM.