[ mid 20th century ]
Of course, a themed Hood doesn't have to have ONLY Fifites things. RL people may buy furniture to last all their lives... even clothes, sometimes, may last many seasons. So my links are to a mixture of mid-20th Century items. The main thing is nothing Later than about 1960. But of course Simmies would prefer the "latest fashion". To get a feel for this time, watch some films of the period...
In Western society, in the US and Europe at this time, there was a rampant consumerist drive... society was driven by the economic need to create consumers, many of them "housewives" or "homemakers" who would buy the items made in the factories by their husbands men who worked there.
You can get an idea of a dream house from this period in the film of the musical "Little Shop of Horrors".
often bungalows or smaller houses in cities, ideally with neatly clipped, if sometimes very small, lawns, privet hedges, and rose bushes, and as open-plan as possible.
no fireplaces. Wall-mounted heaters or more likely central heating systems - underfloor or hot air systems.
Prefabricated houses in the UK.
The Burt Committee and the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944, and the demolition of much slum accommodation, the need to provide housing for many men returning home after the war, led to whole estates of prefabs. Almost 160,000 had been built in the UK by 1948 at a cost of close to £216 million. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabricated_buildings).
Vehicles - most homes would not have had garages. Many people lived in rented accomodation. Only the fairly well off would have ONE family car.
Kitchens - fitted with painted units, large fridges in strong colours. Formica tops on cabinets and tables. Chrome appliances, chrome toasters, kettles, mixers etc. Kitchen cupboards were often repainted every year to "freshen them up".
Decor - flowery wallpapers and wallcoverings with vegetables for the kitchen. Split level floors were popular as well. Vinyl or lino tiles were very popular in plain colours and white. Polished hardwood floors and carpet squares would be most common in living rooms.
Kitsch was an important fashion for decor. Over-sweet, luscious pinks and golds, lots of silver and gold and frills.
Colours - brights - scarlet red, lime green, canary yellow, black, and delicious icecream shades such as pistachio green, bubblegum pink, lemon and pale blue.
Fabrics - Bright colours with abstract patterns, some science-inspired imagery such as calyxes, starbursts, atoms, double helix. Pretty, sprigged florals set against polka dots or stripes in sugary pinks, reds, blues and yellows. Animal prints, especially zebra stripes and leopard spots for cushions, rugs and throws in fake fur.
THERE WERE NO COMPUTERS! The Hacker career will not work... and they will have to use the newspaper to get jobs.
Hollywood was very big though and so Superstar play works.
Skirts were a little longer than in the war years, and initially narrow ("pencil-skirts or hobble-skirts"). Coming up toward the Sixties skirts for younger women became very full and ski-pants and slacks became popular.
Trenchcoats were popular for men.
Tweed jackets, Harris tweed, matching plain coloured trousers in linen or twill.
Knitwear was cheap and popular, specially twinsets (plain cardigan and matching plain round-necked, short-sleeved sweater) for women, Fair Isle V-neck sleeveless pullovers worn with a shirt for men. Or plain Vneck sleeveless pullovers - a relic from the war years when the Fair Isle knits used up small amounts of various colours and so was an economical way to make a sweater. Also long-sleeved "fisherman's sweaters" - what we would now call Arran.
Stockings! No tights! nylon flesh-coloured stockings, or short white "Bobby" socks or bare legs for women.
Names
References
Tutorial-Using NPC Replacer to create themed NPCs
Mailboxes
mailbox replacements at Magic Sims
Carpool
Townies