From the Archive: This Is What Every Bedroom Looked Like in the 1970s

"Snow white—lots of it—crisped with cool blue, green, and the tangy zest of citron." That's how editor Lester Grundy described this home, the work of designer Rosemary Robinson, on Florida's Gulf Coast, featured in our August 1972 issue. In this gulf-front guest bedroom, two faux-bamboo four-poster beds were painted "to approximate the misty blue seascape," while tall shutters "control light and keep the tempo cool."

"Cheerful!" is how one editor described this Manhattan bedroom featured in our September 1974 issue: "[It] reflects a yearning that city slickers often have for life in the country. And designer Renny Saltzman's friendly mix of floral patterns with tiny red-and-white checks, cozy stuffed chair, and diminutive desk offer a welcome refuge when correspondence or a good book awaits."

Designer Rubén de Saavedra was given "carte blanche with JCPenney furnishings" to decorate this home in Long Island, New York, according to House Beautiful editor Lester Grundy in our September 1974 issue. "Frankly feminine" is how he described the primary bedroom: "Giving the bedroom an unexpected scale, the ersatz four-poster hung with a hushed floral chintz and lined in a brilliant cyclamen pink. The four-poster is actually a tester attached to the ceiling with a wooden framework."

As the part-time home of legendary actor Henry Fonda and his family, this New York City townhouse was decorated in a stately fashion. "There's a definite reverence for traditional lines, fine art, and privacy in the Fonda household," said House Beautiful editor Marjorie Fox Hilton in the story from our April 1975 issue. A guest room—originally belonging to one Jane Fonda, the actor's daughter—epitomizes this: "No clutter, no strong abstractions, no clichés. It's all a pungent mix of classic color with family treasures."

Done up in "moody, summery colors set off by leafy greenery," as described by an editor in our September 1976 issue, this Manhattan bedroom provided a place of escape in the home of artist S. J. Berkowitz. Designed by James Le Castre, the room features a 19th-century brass bed hung with "creamy muslin summertime hangings," which are taken down in the winter for "a crisper, more glittering look to go with the brisker look of the winter city beyond the uncurtained windows."

"Color—clear, pure, and primary—highlights the Manhattan duplex designed by Richard Ohrbach and Lynn Jacobson, both ASID, of Creative Perspectives, for Mrs. Jacobson and her husband, Steven," wrote House Beautiful editor Ruth Weil in our February 1977 issue. The primary bedroom features flannel-upholstered walls and matching grey carpet—as well as a carpeted platform bed—under a Paul Jenkins painting.

"In the blue-and-white bedroom, Indonesian batiks blend with antique and reproduction porcelains and furniture," wrote an editor in our October 1978 issue about this Louis Bromante-designed bedroom in a "contemporary suburban" New York house. The owners requested "warmth and livability," which was met with loads of pattern, squashy upholstery, and multiple seating areas.

Jointly designed by the Dorothy Draper Co. and Carleton Varney Design Group, this blue gingham bedroom was done up for the Opera Society Showcase in Wilmington, Delaware, and published in our January 1979 issue. It's the original high/low: A collection of matching custom linens—dust ruffle, canopy, and upholstery—was created specifically to coordinate with the store-bought sheets from Carleton Varney for St. Mary's.