The Soviet Union is a truly epochal state. During the history of its existence, this country had to go through several rounds of development, each of which differed significantly from one another. Moreover, the changes concerned not only the state itself and the geopolitical ambitions and plans of its leadership, but also ordinary Soviet citizens. And all because the main person in that distant power, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, single-handedly made many decisions that very often had a direct bearing on the life of the townsfolk. In today's article, we will just consider the conditions in which the citizens of the Soviet Union lived, or rather, we will recall the atmosphere of their apartments and houses, first of all, the famous Soviet walls.
Samples of Soviet-era furniture are still easy to find in typical Khrushchev and "Czech" houses. Often these are products produced in the last years of the existence of the state, whose name is the USSR. This country has been gone for a quarter of a century, but, as it turned out, it is an excellent manufacturer of furniture that still serves people, like,in fact, and many other things of that time.
Historical digression
In the first years of the formation of the Union, the Soviets hardly thought about the conditions of the dwellings of workers and peasants. Those decades after the revolution were difficult for everyone, people had to use the furniture that they already had. Then even in the future there was no such thing as "Soviet walls".
All production capacities were directed to the formation of the state as such, after - to meet the needs of the front. During these years, the main furniture manufacturer in the country was woodworking plants and factories, sawmills, small artels, where interior items were made by hand. The decor of the rich houses of that time was distinguished by pretentiousness and pomposity, it supported the canons of the pre-revolutionary years. Wardrobes, sideboards, chests of drawers and dressing tables were solid, massive, they were made of wood, often of valuable species, decorated with beautiful carvings and paintings. Few could afford this, and therefore it is these examples of Soviet-era furniture that are now the most valuable.
Simple townsfolk were content with rather rough cabinets and cabinets, knocked together from what was at hand. There was no question of any aesthetics and luxury then.
Ten years after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the party decided that it was necessary to abandon excesses in construction. This situation also concerned the personal space of citizens, and hence the interior of their homes.
Grandma's antiques
The population of the country at that distant time was put in rather harsh conditions of existence. At that time, mass migration of people from villages to cities began, including the capital of the Union. They had to settle in communal apartments, dormitories or separate rooms, which were allocated by the townspeople for "limits" in order to obtain additional income.
Tightness forced many to get rid of massive furnishings that cluttered living quarters, and therefore high-quality and beautiful furniture, as well as headsets that survived the revolution, inherited by people, were mercilessly thrown away.
Those who were allowed to keep old furniture by square meters did not fail, because it subsequently became the envy of many, especially in the conditions of the inaccessibility of modern analogues at that time. Soviet walls were a scarce commodity, a priority for many in the list of necessary purchases. For them, people signed up in the queue, in addition, families saved up money for a long time for new headsets and sofas.
Not single apartments
Mass production of goods from the category of consumer goods, which included cabinets, walls, sideboards, dining sets, sofas and armchairs, did not exist at that time. However, the ruling mentioned above changed the existing order of things. The government decided that it was necessary to provide the population with simple and affordable furniture.
This happened at a time when the mass resettlement of people in separate apartments began. A lot of houses were built then, but the quality of apartments in themleft much to be desired. However, small, often adjoining rooms with low ceilings were still the ultimate dream for many.
Soviet furniture of that time was quite interesting. Factories have abandoned the use of natural wood for its manufacture, replacing this material with fiberboard and MDF. Designers then offered consumers products in the style of minimalism. If we describe the first Soviet walls, then they can be described as small modules, which consisted of two or three sections.
Unfairly forgotten past
One such set housed a small wardrobe with hangers and shelves, closed with hinged doors, several open shelves or niches, and a glazed sideboard. The design was installed on simple legs, most often they had a somewhat futuristic rounded shape and were located at an angle. Some models have been supplemented with square mezzanines.
The walls of the Soviet era, namely the 50-60s, had a laconic color, These were several shades of brown, imitating natural wood (walnut, ash, oak). It was then that lacquer coating came into fashion. True, the first samples of such sets for the living room were of good quality. The gloss on many of them has not cracked to this day, even after half a century.
A typical Soviet (lacquered) wall, according to its minimalist style, was equipped with laconic fittings. Its facades were smooth - no carving or relief. The handles were also distinguished by restraint, they were either in the form of narrow brackets made ofmetal, or were voluminous washers made of black or white plastic.
Last Soviet furniture
Alas, but this design was abandoned rather quickly. Moreover, the choice was made in the direction of even worse furniture options. In 1962, a special bureau was created to develop furniture, which has the status of an All-Union Design Institute. The work of its employees was greatly complicated by the state bureaucracy and nomenklatura. Having formed a good design project, the designer had to remake it to fit the existing parts and materials that were currently in the state.
Starting from the 80s, one could already forget about the notorious high quality of Soviet furniture, as, in fact, about its normal appearance. It is these Soviet-made walls that have survived to our times for the most part. These are the notorious "Albina", "Prostor", "Domino", "Orpheus" and other headsets produced by Odessa, Zaporozhye, Zhytomyr furniture factories.
The description of these "design masterpieces" is very colorful. There were also models with quite suitable appearance among the samples, mainly if their creators managed to do without excessive varnishing and decor. However, it was mainly the decorations that spoiled the facades of cabinets, cabinets and mezzanines. Often it was a stucco stylization made of thin plastic. The ornate pattern also received support in the door handles, which were lavishly decorated with monograms and sometimes gold.
The Soviet wall of the 80s is very massivea structure that was usually placed along the longest wall in the room, most often in the living room. The standard equipment included tall modules for various purposes. For example, one such vertical ruler could consist of a lower pedestal, on top of which a glass sideboard was installed, and a mezzanine, placed just under the ceiling, crowned the wardrobe. The wall was formed from 3-5 such structures. Among them were narrow cases, in which theoretically there should have been a bar, but people put everything that came to hand in this compartment.
The depth of the cabinets of this period caused a lot of criticism from consumers, because they often did not even fit standard hangers.
From DIY to mass stamping
The main furniture manufacturer in the Soviet Union is state-owned enterprises. They were located mostly in the European part of the country (on the territory of present-day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus). Mills were grouped near the largest cities in terms of population, such as Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, Kharkov. Each set had a factory name, but among the people the furniture walls received a different name associated with the place where they were made: the wall “Zhytomyr”, “Odessa”, “Moscow”, “Yugoslav”, “Czech”.
Large enterprises made prefabricated furniture, which was sold in packaged form, while the owner independently assembled his "constructor". It should be noted that the development of headsets was carried out taking into account typical calculations of residential premises, andthe wall itself had to enter the room as harmoniously as possible.
Those who had the opportunity bought custom-made items, quarried antique furniture or restored what they inherited from we althy ancestors.
"Our" imports
Sometimes imported walls were on sale. Moreover, these were even those products that were from very close abroad - the GDR, Yugoslavia. To get and buy such furniture was the ultimate dream of any owner of his own home. It served as an ideal occasion for pride and boasting of the owners in front of guests, relatives and neighbors.
It is worth noting that such Soviet walls in the interior looked the most advantageous. In addition, their quality was a level higher than that of the products of factories of their own production located on the territory of the USSR, especially if we take into account the furniture made immediately on the eve of the collapse of the Union.
goods were no worse than imported ones. By the way, furniture in minimalist design, common in our country in the 50-70s, was the prototype of goods from the Swedish Ikea, which already then began its operation in Europe.
Interior miracle
To meet the furniture of the times of the USSR is not so difficult now. It is especially common in apartments where elderly and elderly people live. For the most part, young people are trying to get rid of this "miracle" that smacks of mothballs. It is rare that a wall still looks tolerable, and even more so, it has managed to survive in its original form.
In the open spaces of thematic design forums, one can often meet a call for help from those who happen to become the "happy" owner of a bulky Soviet wall. People are mainly interested in how to fit it into the interior as competently as possible. Experts advise, first of all, to get rid of stereotypical thinking and not to expose the headset exactly as a “wall”, dispersing the modules in the corners, or even to partially get rid of them. First of all, this applies to sideboards filled with crystal and obsolete sets.
Change cannot be thrown away
Of course, good furniture now costs a lot of money, not everyone can afford to buy it, and therefore many have to put up with the neighborhood of grandmother's walls. But after all, these are far from always headsets of poor quality, with ill-conceived functionality and sagging doors. People who took care of their furniture repaired it in a timely manner, preserved and still use these cabinets and cabinets with pleasure.
Besides, if you were lucky enough to become the owner of a wall in the style of minimalism, art deco, or even the “Stalinist Empire style”, which was released before the 80s, then after restorationit will be able to serve for more than a dozen years, and in appearance it will be difficult to distinguish it from modern imported furniture.
Second life
Of course, then readers may have a perfectly reasonable question about how to update the old Soviet wall. It all depends on how well the furniture is preserved, what condition its fittings are in, and what it is made of.
If, by and large, everything is fine with her, and only the facades of cabinets require restoration, then you need to turn on your imagination and work on creating a new look for already rather boring furniture. There are special organizations that do this kind of work, their designers share the secrets of their work and tell in what directions you can work:
- permutation;
- color change;
- decor.
All these actions can be performed separately or together. Then surely you will get completely different furniture. The decor of the Soviet wall is made by changing the fittings. Sometimes it is enough to change the door handles in the closet, and this completely changes its appearance. You can also work more radically by changing the style of the facades. Textiles, stones, and paints for painting are used as an auxiliary material.
Reboot
A complete redesign of the old Soviet wall is a complex and painstaking task that requires more than one day of work. Before getting down to business, it is important to fully consider the location of the furniture after the restoration,as well as her style. The headset can be redesigned so that only the frame remains of it, and all other parts will be completely or partially replaced and updated.
just piled on top of each other.
The next step may be to eliminate other possible flaws - puttying holes, cracks and other defects. However, if the plans include painting the furniture in a new color, you need to remove its top coating, especially if it is a lacquered product. They usually paint with nitro enamel on a pre-primed surface.
The placement of the wall itself plays an important role. The downside of such furniture is that huge gaps gape picturesquely between the cabinets, this greatly spoils its appearance. This can be avoided by bolting the sections on top.
