The Cleavers' Living Room-always ready for a magazine shot

[stevea]

Does your living room look like this? Always clean, and immaculate, like no one is living in it.

Does your kitchen look like theirs? Never a dirty dish in sight, even though they don't even have a dishwasher.

What about bedrooms? The boys' beds are always made, except when they're in them, no mess strewn around. Do your bedrooms look like that?

I'll answer later, once I see some other answers!

[Tankeryanker]

The house I grew up in looked like this in the living room and kitchen. In the family room and our bedrooms, not so much. Bathrooms were clean at most times. Both of my parents were professionals and we lived much like the Cleavers, except my mom was not home all day.
I was the dishwasher and the lawnmower.

[Scrabjan1]

Every aspect of the house was pristine. You don’t even see a book or newspaper lying on the sofa. There is a place for everything in the Cleaver house. The only time we see any mess in the boys’ room is when they’re cleaning like in Wally’s Test. I guess with June home all day she spends it picking up. I marvel at how June looked at breakfast and later at night. Like she was modeling new outfits in every episode. I would have liked to have seen both Ward and June at least in casual clothes at night as they read on the sofa. By the 5th season the show was so scripted and totally unrealistic.

My house way back and now never looked like the Cleaver house. I wish I had a place for everything but I don’t.

I still like in A Night In The Woods how Gilbert’s father had this planned to take them camping for a
month and at the last minute he has to go to a wedding? shotgun wedding?

[MRPITT]

Originally Posted by stevea

Does your living room look like this? Always clean, and immaculate, like no one is living in it.

Does your kitchen look like theirs? Never a dirty dish in sight, even though they don't even have a dishwasher.

What about bedrooms? The boys' beds are always made, except when they're in them, no mess strewn around. Do your bedrooms look like that?

I'll answer later, once I see some other answers!

My house growing up looked like this and my house now does too. Not really that hard to keep up if every one picks up after themselves.

[stevea]

Originally Posted by MRPITT

My house growing up looked like this and my house now does too. Not really that hard to keep up if every one picks up after themselves.

I'm in awe!

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Scrabjan1

I still like in A Night In The Woods how Gilbert’s father had this planned to take them camping for a
month and at the last minute he has to go to a wedding? shotgun wedding?

And Mr. Whitney and Ward just happened to be working, even though according to Whitey, Mr. Whitney hadn't worked on a Saturday in two years.

The writers could have just had Wally take them in the first place. He could have said, Sure, Beav, I don't have any plans. Then then could have done all the other stuff with Eddie and Lumpy, as written.

I also agree about the casual clothes. Imagine sitting around in the evening dressed to the hilt. It did get worse in the later seasons.

In the episode where Gilbert stayed overnight (and Wally stayed at Lumpy's) June said, come downstairs in your pajamas, at breakfast. Oh, the shame!

[Tankeryanker]

Originally Posted by stevea

.

I also agree about the casual clothes. Imagine sitting around in the evening dressed to the hilt. It did get worse in the later seasons.

I don't see them dressed to the hilt. My parents stayed in their work clothes until bedtime. They both wore suits. They would have removed their coats, but not the button up shirts or slacks or skirt.

[Scrabjan1]

Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

I don't see them dressed to the hilt. My parents stayed in their work clothes until bedtime. They both wore suits. They would have removed their coats, but not the button up shirts or slacks or skirt.

Ward and June for the most part are way overdressed at night. Sometimes Ward does wear a sweater over his shirt at night like in Stocks and Bonds but June still has the nice dress, high heels and pearls even late at night. She looked like she was on her way to a formal affair instead of going to bed. Of course it was just a tv show and they probably tried to generate revenue for DeDe Johnson’s fashions. I love in Party Spoiler when June says they’re going out to get the ice cream and cake. She looked like she was going to the White House for an evening with Pablo Casals. I liked in the early seasons when Beaver could act and they dressed like normal people.

My mother taught school and she would change clothes when she got home. She didn’t have a lot of nice clothes so had to take care of them.

[Tankeryanker]

I guess it depends on the environment that you were raised in. We know why June wore the necklaces which gave her the going out, look, but her clothes were normal and not ritzy in our home.

Here, Barbara explains that the clothes are mostly from Penny's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4j1dGrdo4E

[stevea]

To each her or his own--I was fortunate not to ever have to wear a suit and tie to work. If I did, I'm sure getting out of it would be first priority, in the evening.

Yes, the pearl necklace explanation is well-known.

One of the most obvious things when they cycle back to old episodes is the more-casual look, even though it's 1957 casual.

[Scrabjan1]

Maybe it’s just me but I found Ward at night sitting on the sofa dressed in a suit reading a book rather unusual and way too uncomfortable.

[RetroGuy2000]

Yes, they were overdressed. My grandparents, who were from that era, would make fun of the way Ward and June were dressed for casual things, such as getting some ice cream or cleaning the house. June should not have been wearing pearls to do housework. Ward should not have been wearing a suit while reading the evening paper.

Their house was sterile, the definition of a Stepford house. It wasn't reality, it was an idealized, sanitized version of reality, like much of the 1950s/early 1960s.