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Embracing the 1970s interior design trend

Is it because 70s and 80s houses are all that’s left on the market?
Timothy Buck via Unsplash

With interior design trends moving on from mid-century modern to embrace the arts and crafts movement of the following decade of the 1970s, we pause to consider the origins of this trend and what they may be attributed to.

“There’s a move towards environmentally sustainable interiors with homeowners and renovators using what’s available to them in the home”

Rachel Peters, HB senior stylist

These new and first homeowners are embracing the 70’s style, with a colour palette driven by the materials of timber and rattan. Populating rooms are accessories and soft furnishings that include plant life, both in printed fabrics and in the real in potted specimens, large and small.

Trending earthy tones of mustard, ochres, tans and browns form the colour palette, with finishes such as timber, brick, slate and the enormous resurgence of terrazzo all throwing back to the interior style of 1970s and 1980s interiors.

“The look,” says HB senior stylist Rachel Peters, “Is a sophisticated, retro-meets-bohemian style, with a pared back, refined take on the earlier bohemian look that had more layers, textures and elements going on in a space. “It’s more considered.”

1970s House Renovation

The style has been embraced by one couple as they renovate their 1970s home in the Byron Bay hinterland, working hard to salvage what they can from the well-built exisiting brick home, whilst making renovations with knocking out walls, rebuilding the kitchen and installing custom shelving in a downstairs rumpus room.

Take a tour:

The couple have retained the original structure home and renovated interior spaces with a new layout and applied cosmetic finishes of painting and decorating to compliment the original style. 

Lighting fixtures removed from the living room were reworked and upcycled as pendants over the kitchen bench.

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