Re-purposing old playing cards into greeting cards is quite a common trick but these Biba cards from Our Shop are just too nice to be passed over.
Each card uses a Biba playing card that's been mounted onto brown kraft card as its focal point. Though the playing cards date to the 1960s, they've definitely got more of a 50s pin-up look. For obvious reasons, there's just one of each design with a wide range of attractive girls to pick from.
The cards cost £5.10 each.
Buy them online
Your little darlings are probably more likely to do their homework on a laptop than writing in an exercise book, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still give them a good old-fashioned desk to sit at, like this Ethan School Desk.
Inspired by school desks from the 1950s and 1960s, the design has been updated by using a sleek white finish. The tilt and height of the desk can be adjusted, so your kids won’t outgrow it too quickly. It is currently on sale with the price reduced from£322 to £229.98.
Buy it online at Furniture123.
If the scenes in Mad Men are to be believed, everyone n the 1960s smoked and they did it everywhere. That may be why the period also produced stylishly designed ashtrays, the likes of which have provided the inspiration behind this Smoking Post from Matalan.
The smoking post is made from a combination of cyan plastic and silver metal and stands at 59cm high.It costs just £10.
Buy it online at the Matalan website.
Regular readers will remember we featured this house around 18 months back, when it first went up for sale. Well, for any number of reasons, this stunning Melville Aubin-designed Sunpark 1930s art deco house in Brixham, Devon didn't sell – and is now heading to auction at a much-reduced guide price.
Sunpark is an incredibly distinctive, grade II-listed property, which dates back to 1935 and comes with plenty of features dating back to that original era too – always important when it comes to art deco homes. That includes the white asymmetric exterior, the distinctive radius bay windows, a stair case with polished Chrome handrail, parquet flooring throughout, original fireplaces and what every art deco home needed, a solarium.
Dedicated fifties-devotee Natasha Bailie has been selling original vintage clothing on her treasure trove of a website for some time now. The Callie dress is marks Natasha's first move into reproduction frocks.
The Callie is cut with the ever-popular 50s full skirt, ideal for wearing with or without a petticoat. The low back finished with an oversized bow elevates it from the usual classic prom dress. The Callie is just one of five reproduction, Mad Men-inspired frocks available from Natasha Bailie, each of which is limited edition, so budding Betty Drapers will need to act quickly to get their hands on one.
Available in sizes 8 to 14 for £120. Visit the Natasha Bailie website for more details.
Hopper & Space have some of the best examples of reconditioned mid-century furniture out there and this G-Plan Wingback Sofa in particular has caught our eye.
The original G-Plan piece has been rejuvenated with a fresh coat of varnish on the oak legs and reupholstered in striking period-perfect powder blue brushed linen & cream cotton. Perhaps not the sort of colours advisable for our readers with children, pets or particularly grubby household members but an excellent original piece lovingly restored to it's former glory that any retro devotee will no doubt treasure for years to come.
As you might expect, the sofa doesn't come cheap. If you love enough to part with your hard earned cash, it'll set you back £1295 from the Hopper & Space website.
