Category:
Interior Decorating

Dead Opossum Design

Reported in the Los Angeles Times (June 3, 1980). Sounds like an urban legend to me. But maybe there really was a lady in Riverside who was matching her home furnishings to her dead opossum.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 08, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Telephones, Interior Decorating

People who know… buy Bigelow

The carpet for when you just got back from the clown convention and feel like lying on the floor.

House Beautiful - Oct 1968



Or for topless, indoor sunbathing.

House & Garden - Mar 1966

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 17, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, Interior Decorating, 1960s

Burlap Interior Design

Much as the enthusiastic Mr. Namkin or the dapper corporate icon Mr. Deburco wished it, burlap was not fated to become the next hot interior design fabric. As we all know, burlap was too closely associated with beatniks to be wholly respectable.





Article source: The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) 01 Oct 1954, Fri Page 24




Article source: The Monroe News-Star (Monroe, Louisiana) 06 Mar 1962, Tue Page 12



Article source: The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 30 Jan 1960, Sat Page 6






Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 08, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Fads, Interior Decorating, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1950s

American Look

Your head will be spinning with Midcentury Modern designs by the end of this film. A Utopia that never was.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 03, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Business, Design and Designers, Recreation, Interior Decorating, 1950s, Cars, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Candle Tunnelling

Candle tunnelling is the phenomenon of candles burning down in a tunnel around the wick, rather than burning down evenly across the entire top surface.

image source: reddit



Tunnelling occurs if, the very first time the candle was burned, it wasn't allowed to melt all the wax on top. This creates a "memory ring" in the wax. The candle will subsequently tunnel down this ring.

The solution, therefore, is to make sure the 'first burn' is done correctly. According to osmology.co:

Our biggest recommendation for the first burn, is to make sure that the pool of melted wax reaches the edges of your candle before you snuff the flame. We generally aim for the wax pool to be about 1cm deep at the edges before we put it out.
How long this takes depends on the diameter of the candle.

I realize now that I've been burning candles wrong my entire life.

I learned about this phenomenon via tywkiwdbi.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 25, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Domestic, Interior Decorating, Weird Facts

Follies of the Madmen #443



A toilet seat is never, ever going to resonate with "jewels."

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 10, 2019 - Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Domestic, Interior Decorating, Body Fluids, Excrement, Flatulence, 1960s

Cannabliss Wallpaper

Scratch-and-sniff wallpaper that smells like marijuana. Available from Flavor Paper.

Just a wild guess: most of the people who will buy this already have rooms that smell like marijuana.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 20, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Drugs, Smoking and Tobacco, Interior Decorating

Footprint Rugs

A fad in the early 1970s. I can't find them available for sale anywhere now, however.



Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 20, 2018 - Comments (7)
Category: Interior Decorating, 1970s

The Advertising Chair



When the chair rocked, visible adverts scrolled in the arms of the chair. So much for our age having a monopoly on intrusive ads.



Complete patent here.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 12, 2018 - Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Technology, Advertising, Interior Decorating, 1900s

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Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

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