As I mentioned last week, I was obsessed with Get Smart as a kid. For the uninitiated, this is a late 60s Mel Brooks spy comedy starring Don Adams and Barbara Feldon. Here’s a full episode I found on YouTube.
If you loved Inspector Gadget, you will adore this. Maxwell Smart, the titular character, had this amazing, colorful, very mod apartment in New York that really informed my sensibilities. While the time period in which this show is set is contemporaneous with Mad Men, it’s a lot more exuberant and expressive than you see on those sets, probably because it’s supposed to be a joke about the 60s. I dreamed of an apartment like this when I was little, and even though I now know I can’t have the exploding telephone or the bullet-proof invisible wall. Sigh.
And patriotic, too.
The whole show is just an explosion of color blocking, sharp lines, fake eyelashes, and Cold War-era humor. It’s a big winner. Fun fact: Agent 99 and Max Smart get married in the fourth season and have kids, and she became the first working mother on television. Like I said: this show was hugely influential for me. Let’s move into the Smarts apartment after the jump.
Alright, non-negotiable: the blue sectional couch.
This is the central part of the room, and I love it. Some sharp, preppy pillows in red and white will mimic their look, but keep it from looking theme-y, overly patriotic, or dated.
I can’t find a still photograph of their fireplace, so I’ll try to explain how it looked. They took the grate and all those things out, and pulled everything out. From there, they wallpapered it in a contrasting wallpaper to the rest of the wallpaper. I don’t recommend that much, but it could be cool do a blue wall with bright white chair rails and trim, and then something like this inside the former fireplace. In their little fauxplace, they displayed some goofy white statues. The focal point of this show isn’t really the home decor, so they don’t show the details. I think it would be fun to put a bunch of those white ceramic animals of different sizes in there at a variety of heights.
A subtle, gray and white chevron rug like this will keep your floor warm, and it’s affordable, too.
They had almost this exact table, but I would paint it blue or red to keep with my color scheme and to make it pop. Put this ashtray on top, even if you quit smoking years ago, and drink your bourbon out of these vintage doubles glasses. If I were you, I’d start dressing like Barbara Feldon, too, because she is a stone cold fox. Don Adams was a sharp-dressed man, too.
Men might want to go the sharp suit route, like this one from Indochino. Top it off with a fedora and a tie bar (ALWAYS a tie bar), and I’m asking you to marry me.
Okay, so what do you think? Want to move into Get Smart? Love the big sunglasses and tiny dresses? Hate the sharp lines and very, very slick hair? Nostalgic for the Cold War? Let me know.
I was obsessed with Get Smart, too! I even had a “shoe phone” but it was attached to the wall. No cell phones yet. :) I’d love to move into Get Smart. I always loved 99’s style.
She was always so classy and chic, and that hair! So glad you enjoyed!