I love kitschy decor like that...
while we have classic MCM '60s Swedish teak in the LR & DR etc., I've set aside the den for our own special celebration of '50s Early American Revival, right down to the black eagle on the pine panel wall, dough-box magazine collector, highboy-hutch, hobnail lights, beer trays and glider-rocker with wings (still looking for just the right Eagle & Liberty Bell fabric for the cushions or drapes)... everything in glorious hard rock maple! Yes it's deco-kitsch personified, but even though it's somewhat tongue-in-cheek, there's something about it that warms the cockles of my heart. I guess it's because it was everywhere growing up, and I had a good childhood. Most people, at least in much of the country, had family, relatives, friends and neighbors that had EM decor, and even Pam Kuehber over at
www.retrorenovation.com has written about it, along with knotty pine kitchens, which I also happen to love. It's all about home, hearth, warmth and nostalgia in some funny way. And after all, it's easy to display good taste, but cheesy can be fun too! Baltimoreans tend to be off kilter: John Waters, Frank Zappa, EA Poe), so that must explain my love of EM.
BTW: funny mention of John Waters, both he and Divine (Glenn Milstead - RIP) went to my high school in Towson, 2 yrs ahead of me, and Pink Flamingos was filmed on the farm of a friend of mine out in Hampstead. Another friend lived the the same Apt building as John, off Mt Royal Ave in Balto in the early 70s... love JW, he's coolest guy ever.