Decorating trends from the '80s or '90s- What don't you miss?

[disykat]

My house is very dated with its wallpaper, but I am not ready to part with it because I still like it. I know my DDIL goes crazy everytime she comes over and keeps offering to help me redecorate, but I LOVE my Debbie Mumm wallpaper and I'm not planning on moving anytime soon.

Good for you! Being surrounded by things you love never goes out of style!

I figure if people are happy with their things, all the more power to them for not following every fad.

I totally agree. I've had people try to tell me my neutral tones are out of style. Tough! I like them and when everyone else is repainting I'm perfectly happy with the choices I made.

The one thing I regret about my house that was built in the early 90's are the light colored floors. I still have 'almost white with little flowers in the edges of the linoleum tiles' in my bathrooms.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

My mom had these BIG black...like...OVAL shaped fans hanging on the walls.

She also had some wierd spray painted leaves/palm fronds in huge urn like vases.

And mirrors everywhere

 

[DisneyBeagle]

My mom had these BIG black...like...OVAL shaped fans hanging on the walls.

She also had some wierd spray painted leaves/palm fronds in huge urn like vases.

And mirrors everywhere

Wall fans...I had forgotten about those.

 

[moon]

Black lacquer furniture.

Lucite. My uncle dated a woman whose entire home was mauve everything, rounded arch doorways to everyroom (like the Simpsons house) and a curve stairway to the second floor with a Lucite banister.

I'll admit that I like everything in this picture. But I've always liked black laquered furniture.

 

[DaisyLynn]

I really don't see how natural stone (granite) could go out of style..... but I guess "Urban Renewal" proved even beautiful antique buildings can go out of style. Urban Renewal was the work of the Devil btw.

I hear ya on the whole "Urban Renewal" thing - Bangor looked like it used to be such a pretty city (in the pictures I've seen, I was born in '80)!

I am house shopping right now, and let me tell you - I'm finding A LOT of houses that need updating from that 80's-early 90's nonsense...there is NOTHING I hate more than wall-to-wall seafoam green carpeting.

The southwest theme also makes me vomit in my mouth a little. It's so ugly - but that is one of those trends that I always thought was ugly. I remember my brother loved it when we were younger and he HAD to have this Bed-in-a-Bag set that had that kind of design.

As others have said, I'm all for people decorating their homes in a way that makes them feel good. My one confession: in my single years (a few years back), I had this apartment that I LOVED and my favorite part was the kitchen. The appliances were all HARVEST GOLD and in absolutely perfect condition...they were solid, worked great, and I was able to decorate around them and the color just pulled it all together. Completely loved that kitchen!

 

[Hillbeans]

Wallpaper Borders -When we bought our house it had a wallpaper border of a picket fence around the perimeter of the downstairs family room....ugh!

Another trend were Gold or Silver colored vertical blinds.

 

[castleview]

Satin heart mobiles.

 

[southernbohemian]

I worry that granite is just a fad that will be very dated in 20 years - mostly because it is a natural resource that took millions of years to create - and it'll just end up in landfills when people get turned on to something else. Think of all the people who put up wood paneling and thought that was timeless. "After all honey - it looks like a wood cabin - those have been around for centuries! It'll never go out of style!"

I hate wallpaper borders and the shiny brass that was throughout my parent's house growing up. But now I kind of like a shiny brass against a dark blue painted piece of furniture.

Hate that golden pine (currently sanding the heck out of golden pine dresser to refinish) and faux oak - ugh!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I miss some of the country trends. My house still has lots of antiques and most all are primitive or work around that model. They'll prize my early 19th century primitive furniture out of my cold dead fingers!

 

[mamajoan]

TOLE PAINTING and yes I had it everywhere! Hearts in dusty pinks, Cows and geese! checkerboards

When we moved here to Illinois from California in 2005 sooo many of the house we looked at had TONS of Wallpaper and Hunter Green countertops... oh my! not my thing at all.


As far as the stainless and granite debate. I think it is a trend, a high end trend ( and very pretty imho). However, for those of us who lived with the geese, the mauve, the teal, the mirrors and euro cabinets and shiny brass... well we know that trends are trends that is AOK. and sometimes what is old is new again! Different strokes for different folks!

 

[cybrkitn]

and sometimes what is old is new again! Different strokes for different folks!

I'm noticing that with the fashion trends as well. What I wore as a teen in the 80's (which I liked, btw) is now becoming popular again. The style of certain shirts and other clothes are coming back.

 

[onelilspark]

You mean these cabinets??

I hate the look. It doesn't bother me enough to re-do the cabinets though...they're in good shape.

Back in '88 my Mom put in those cabinets at the place we lived at in Jersey. She loved them. Currently, it's one of her favorite features of my house, she still loves them!

 

[czycropper]

My house was built in 1988 and it was decorated VERY country - including the kitchen that has bluish tile with flowers in every other one with oak cabinets (those don't bother me as much) and it had brown carpet EVERYWHERE & brown 2" tiles in the bathrooms .

We now have wood floor in the downstairs and my DD is working on the stairs. The upstairs bedrooms all have cream carpet but my scraproom (4th bedroom) is half wood since that's the room that my DD is starting to put flooring in upstairs.

My kitchen still has to get re-done so my solution is to have lots of stuff (micro, canister set, coffee maker, etc) on the counters against the tile so you don't see it as much

 

[cybrkitn]

You mean these cabinets??

I hate those style cabinets

Here's another one that I'm still not sure if I like or dislike - fake stained glass motif for a bar area in the house.

 

[DisneyBeagle]

I hate those style cabinets

Here's another one that I'm still not sure if I like or dislike - fake stained glass motif for a bar area in the house.

Do you mean the Gallery Glass do-it-yourself stained glass kits? I remember those being popular 10-15 years ago. It consisted of tubes of paint that you painted on glass to resemble stained glass.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

You mean these cabinets??

I hate the look. It doesn't bother me enough to re-do the cabinets though...they're in good shape.

Back in '88 my Mom put in those cabinets at the place we lived at in Jersey. She loved them. Currently, it's one of her favorite features of my house, she still loves them!

Ack! Those are the EXACT same cabinets DBF has in his condo! He thought they were the originals from when the complex was built in the 60s...

Wonder how hard it is to reface or rehang cabinets ourselves. We definitely won't be able to afford a complete remodel.

He still has almond appliances as well...

 

[Jeafl]

Balloon valances and pleated shades. Also, vertical blinds on sliding glass patio doors. Unfortunately, there isn't much else you can put on sliding glass doors if you need privacy. I solved that problem with putting in French doors that have tiny horizontal blinds embedded in between 2 panes of glass. They are open all day and then I close them at night.

I also was guilty of the dusty rose/dusty blue color scheme in the early 90's. I was really happy to see that go when we moved in 1995.

 

[castleview]

Balloon valances and pleated shades. Also, vertical blinds on sliding glass patio doors. Unfortunately, there isn't much else you can put on sliding glass doors if you need privacy. I solved that problem with putting in French doors that have tiny horizontal blinds embedded in between 2 panes of glass. They are open all day and then I close them at night.

I also was guilty of the dusty rose/dusty blue color scheme in the early 90's. I was really happy to see that go when we moved in 1995.

Balloon valances OMG!! My step mother had those throughout the house along with lots of wallpaper.

 

[castleview]

Mauve and colonial blue. My aunt still decorates with those colors...she loves them!

I did a creamy colonial blue with yellow a few years ago. I was going for a Swedish flag look. Am I forgiven?

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I did a creamy colonial blue with yellow a few years ago. I was going for a Swedish flag look. Am I forgiven?

Actually, blue's been back for about 3 years. I got rid of my greens and went to blues about then. I went for a down at the heels Cape Cod sort of look.