Danemodsandy: Ah, someone else who remembers the '50s and '60s accurately! People who watch "Mad Men" or old Rat Pack movies have no idea what it was really like to live in that world. People didn't have nearly as much as they have today. Air conditioning was a luxury; many people experienced it only when they went to the movies or a restaurant. Of those who had it at home, many had it only in the bedroom, to promote better sleep.
The lack of A/C meant that most people lived with their windows wide open in summer. That brought in dust and grit galore, which helped to wear out fabrics and rugs with appalling rapidity. Using window fans for cooling only accelerated the rate at which schmutz came into the house. The smoking habits of the era (anytime, anywhere, as much as you pleased) contributed nicotine stains. The paint colours of the time- usually greyed-down blues and tans instead of clear, bright colours- were designed to hide the ravages of smoking. Upholstery fabrics were generally dark, to hide soiling.
In spite of the cheery, "can-do" tone of magazine advertising of the period, some tasks were nearly impossible to accomplish. One of the biggies was upholstery cleaning. Most methods were based on laying down detergent foam, letting it dry, and vacuuming up the residue, which- it was hoped- would contain the dirt. It was only somewhat effective, and detergent left in the fabric attracted more dirt.
Cleaning an oven was a task so dreadful, it really could be used in Hell as an eternal punishment for particularly grievous sins. You had a glass jar of Easy-Off with a little brush clipped to its cap; the brush was maybe three-quarters of an inch wide. Painting the oven cleaner evenly onto the entire inner surface of an oven took forever.
People today don't understand how hard it was to do things like washing dishes in summer heat. You'd have been hot all day, you were tired from it, and here you were, facing an hour over a hot, steamy dishpan.
It really was difficult to keep a house truly clean, if you were in a major city. Not until the later '60s, when central air became a possibility for more people, did you begin to see life take the form we know today. With air, you could have light-coloured paint and carpeting. You could pick white-and-gold damask for the living room sofa, and know that it would survive for a while.
Don't get me started about '50s cars. For all that glamour and all those tailfins, those cars were old at 75,000 miles, all but worn out, because they were so cheaply built, and because oil and gasoline were so poorly refined by today's standards.
A different time.
