100+ fabulous 50s floors of linoleum & vinyl

Retro ’50s floors: Simple linoleum tile (1954)

This spring, the whole house has found a fresh and functional fashion in hard surface floors.

Easy upkeep materials from the kitchen and the nursery, like linoleum, vinyl and cork, have appeared in sophisticated new colorings and patterns that make handsome floors for modern or traditional settings.

Many of these come in square tile shapes, making them easy to install yourself, although yard goods and complex tile arrangements are still best left to professionals.

The creative possibilities of tile designs are unlimited, and can be adapted to elegant or informal tastes.

Bold stripes, oversize checkerboard squares, or random arrangements can be used to give small rooms an open look, set apart the dining area from the living space, or concentrate decorative interest.

Since each kind of flooring material is designed to perform certain jobs well, a wise selection depends as much upon the location of the floor to be covered, and the kind of wear it will receive as upon decorative appeal or price.

The latest linoleums provide a restful backdrop of quiet pattern that suits every kind of room. Texture, this year‘s fashion keynote, appears in a new linoleum that combines a warm, three-dimensional look with a smooth, easy-care surface.

A practical feature is a pattern that goes all the way through to the backing, so that heavy traffic spots in kitchens and entrances always match the rest of the floor.

Bright shades, sturdy wear, and maintenance ease, are offered by vinyl, newest comer to the flooring family. A perfect choice for kitchens because it never stains with grease, acids or alkalis, its non-porous soil-shedding surface is a homemaking help anywhere.

Vinyl tiles can be found in dignified marbles, interesting rope-twist and crystal designs. New beige and brown colorings, often accented with white or pumpkin, make these a good starting point for fashionable wood-toned room schemes. – Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Arizona) – April 11, 1954

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Armstrong sheet plastic flooring for dining room and hallway

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Pretty vinyl Congoleum ’50s floors

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Retro vinyl flooring from 1959 in Tessera Colron

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Vintage blue and white midcentury modern living room floor from the 1950s

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Grey and black checkerboard with multicolored lines (1955)

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Dining room with blue/aqua vintage vinyl floors

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’50s floors in a living & dining room

A creative confetti-style pattern decorates this mid-century modern room

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Floor pattern samples: Vintage Gold Seal Vinylbest Tile

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Costs no more to choose “the loveliest linoleum in all the land”

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California originals: Redwood linoleum pattern from 1953

You step into distinctive room harmony with a Pabco floor. The warm inviting Redwood linoleum pattern you see here is just one of many Pabco exclusives— far-from-ordinary creations styled to make your home both charming and practical.

There are Pabco floor coverings to fit all your plans, to please any purse: Inlaid Linoleums patterned or marbleized in unusual color-blends. Plastic as well as Linoleum 9-inch tiles anybody can easily install.

Printed Goods at pin-money prices, by the yard and in sparkling room-sized rugs you merely unroll, guaranteed for years. For outstanding beauty, minimum upkeep, long wear, and low cost — it will pay you to see Pabco first.

ALSO SEE: We are (surprisingly!) obsessed by the vintage wall paneling in these 58 mid-century rooms

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Retro home decor & floors: Gold Seal vinyl inlaids

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Retro teal and white speckled flooring

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’50s floors of Gold Seal Vinyltile – catalog pages

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Shiny green retro flooring from the 1950s

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Flooring from the fifties: The modern fashion in floors (1955)

They must have realized that in this photo, the floor is not likely to be what most draws the viewer’s attention. First, there’s that enormous fireplace/oven area, which is connected to one of the world’s tiniest kitchens. (And we can’t forget a little nod to the retro fan hood over the stove portion.)

Here’s the pitch on this one. “One of the most delightful things about most new homes today is their look of spaciousness. Eliminating partitions, letting rooms flow into each other, using one big expanse of color on the floor — all help make houses look much larger than they actually are. In this trend toward open planning, more and more people are choosing floors of Armstrong’s Linoleum.”

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Put yourself at ease with this wonderful flooring!

A green and white 1950s vinyl tile floors from Goodyear

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For a care-free room (1950)

The super-popular floor in the ’50s — grey & white marbled neutral style. Apparently, people thought it would work with any color of kitchen decor.

“New vinyl plastic-coated floor and wall coverings. If you’ve dreamed of a kitchen — or bath or nursery — that will stay gay, sparkling, and fresh as the day it was finished, then cover your floors with Sandran, your walls with Sandura-Wall from Montgomery Ward.”

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Flooring from the fifties: This room is even tinier than it looks (1957)

“The right floor design can make a room seem longer or wider. The room… was made to seem bigger than it is by clever decorating with Armstrong Excelon Tile…”

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Flooring from fifties: The “I Love Lucy” bedroom! (1953)

Take a flooring tip from the “I Love Lucy” bedroom! When Lucy told Ricky their home could be beautified from the floor up — he looked interested. The windup was the “I Love Lucy home.”

See the ultimate in linoleum — Master Linoleum — now, a 3-dimension textured look! At last — the effect sought in linoleum for decades… a look of three-dimension, textured charm.

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A green square tile floor gets a boost of flair with inlaid circles in a different color

“Delightfully ingenious and so refreshing! This charming stepping stone floor…”

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’50s floors: Traditional jade green striped linoleum floor tiles get a yellow geometric inlay

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1957 Psychological planning for home decorating – Boys room

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Flooring with stars from 1955

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A classic popular kitchen color scheme

People loved ’50s floors like these — a white lino tile border, and white with red tile on the inside

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Asphalt tiles used to decorate a basement in 1950

Vintage basement decor from the ’40s & ’50s: See 25 creative remodels

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Now! Terraflex vinyl asbestos in beautiful Terrazzo colors!

Terraflex Tile and this new J-M Design Book are all you need to create a beautiful floor of your own design.

You can choose from the 10 exciting new Terrace Terrazzo colors shown here, or from 27 other Terraflex colors — rich cork type, gay spatter and marbleized tile. The book tells you how Terraflex defies grease and dirt, stays first-day fresh, with only a damp mopping to keep it spick and span.

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Now! A no-scrub floor for every room in your house

MORE: See why people loved these elegant & affordable linoleum floors and vinyl flooring from the 1960s

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Smooth shiny sky blue retro 50s floor for a living room

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Retro flagstone-effect colored lino from the 50s

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Retro woman from 1955 checking out white and green vinyl tile floor