Your interior is going to look less dated if it keeps in line with the architecture of the house. In your case, a country french interior is going to age well in a classic Southern home (which architecture probably has it's inspiration from classical architecture). All the things you see in the magazine are trendy items that will scream 2010 so while I'm not opposed to picking them up for fun, those items are best left for inexpensive, throw away purchases.

In the May issue of "House Beautiful..the Big Advice Issue", there is a home featured in an article entitled, "Slurge on the Details". The author asks the homeowner, "So what makes a room feel fresh and now"? Her answer is this:

"A pop of the unexpected. The more catalogs and Web sites there are, the harder it is to find things that people haven't already been saturated with. You have to stumble upon it......." She goes on to talk about the tulip lamps she recently purchased.

I think there's so much truth to the saturation issue. We see a certain style in a magazine and then on a website, then here. It's the "in" style. However, that doesn't mean that your house has to have seagrass or sisel (ouch!) and slipcovered sofas with a zebra throw!

Go with your gut, go with what you like, keeping in mind that you do live in a lovely, traditional home. I wouldn't change a thing if I were you.

Where I live tradition rules. Not everyone has jumped on the seagrass, slip-covered sofa bandwagon!

Hi Bonniee.

What do I do to keep my decor looking current & not dated? Simple: nothing. And for a simple reason: everybody's got a different definition of "dated". While some people consider all of the things that you mention--the white slipcovers, the sisal, the sea grass, the aqua, the zebra rugs--to be part of a new trend, a lot of other people see those very same things as already being done to death and OVER. Dated. So which group to listen to when it comes time to make a decorating choice for your own home?

Here's my advice: don't pay any attention to either one. Slouchy white slipcovers have been in the mass-marketers' catalogs for going on 2O years now. Sisal has been around for a decades and it's friendlier cousin, seagrass--well, my grandmother laid down a seagrass rug in her sitting room every summer from the 194Os on and it was considered a safe, choice even then--certainly nothing new. The decorator Elsie De Wolfe was using zebra rugs back in the 193Os & they come into & fall out of fashion according to the cycles of the planets or something. And aquamarine & pale blues were big a hundred years ago, again in the 193Os, again in the late 195Os & early 196Os, and they came back on the scene about ten years ago, after one of the big shelter magazines had a cover with a room whose owners had matched to the blue of a Tiffany box. In other words, like is says in the Good Book, "There is nothing new under the sun." Everything's been done before. That new wave you see? It's already an old wave to somebody else.

So instead of seeking out whatever gimmick the marketers are trying to foist off on us as the Hottest New Trend, why not just focus on what you like, rather than paying too much attention to what other people are doing to try to play decorating catch up with the Madison Avenue boys? If people like your house the way that you've decorated it, great. If they think it's dated, oh, well.

Remember when the stuff they were hyping as "Tuscan"--even though it wasn't--was everywhere? The blotchy plaster! The rusty scrollwork! The plastic grapes! The fringe! Try to find a store that's pushing that look today. And that was only ten years ago. The people who really loved that stuff will keep it for years and be perfectly happy with it, but all the folks who ditched their Southwest pastels for Tuscan Red-&-Gold just because it was the hot new thing may feel differently about that look now. A while back, ther was a a lot of talk about CHANGE, but, really not all change is improvement. And once you climb on the decorating treadmill, you have to run just to stay in the same place. It can be exhausting, both to people & to their checkbooks. And for what?

This doesn't mean that anybody's decor should be frozen in time--even in a Southern Colonial house. A strictly period decor can be very handsome, but it's seldom right for the kind of lives we lead today, and if we bar the door to all change in our houses, eventually our decor fossilizes into a museum exhibit of Y2K or whatever. Fascinating for our great-grandchildren, I'm sure, but not so much in the meantime. But if you allow the changes to happen on their own, naturally, incrementally, rather than force them in order to keep up with everyone else, it will turn out better in the long run.

Regards,
Magnaverde.

The only updating we do is selective buying of antiques. If it was made before 1920, it's the right amount of trendy for us!

As a result, we have been buying American and buying quality.

My taste changed over time and also with houses. I'm fonder of bright colors than I used to be, and as I live in a loft, my little bits and pieces don't "read"--bolder shapes and textures look more at home. Proportion means more to me than it used to when I lived in my Storybook/Craftsman/Victorian/Spanish Revival houses.

I'm drawn less to chintz (but I still love lashings of toile in a bedroom) and more appreciative of Mid-Century modern than I was.

Shopping second-hand has been really great for me because I am not seduced by fancy displays and complete designer looks. The things I find are more likely to be something I love, not something I "should" love. :O)

Bonnie,
I have thought about about this issue myself. The blogs & magazines are full of the look you described, however, this has not hit my area(the south) as the "it" thing. Pricier antique stores are showcasing some Sweedish pieces but most of it is still American and English antiques.

I have thought about not taking any design mags & reading blogs so that I could stop being influenced. When everyone was talking about IF we are in a recession or not in the beginning of the down turn, I had to stop watching the news channel and talk radio. It was bringing me dooooowwwwnnnn.

I still like traditional and am especially drawn to a more English Country "look." I am drawn to the laid back lifestyle around nature and animals. Guess I am a country girl but not "country chic." I have tried to fill this house with items that mean something to me - not something I just got to fill a space. I think when a house reflects the personality of the people that live there, nothing is considered dated. There are some fine genteel women that kept their chintz in their homes and I never thought it looked dated - it fit them.

I just got my HB today. Here is a quote about things to do in a day to update your house....Kevin Isbell, "Tradition and shine are back, so if you want to update your home without slipcovering everything in sight, add a pair of pillows in a glazed cabbage-rose chintz or a beautiful Edwardian floral." Others suggested changing pillows - dimmers on lights - layered lights - rearranging bookshelves - cleaning your windows- moving furniture around the house - new towels - and fresh flowers (which could mean purging any dusty fakes around the house!)

Smiles:)

I have been shopping for a house lately so I get to peek at many decorating styles. IMO, unless you are a very talented decorator, having lots of things/clutter, heavy furniture and complicated window treatments will date a house. The other thing that dates a house (to me) is if you do a room all at one time. Many houses that we went in to were decorated nicely 10 or 15 years ago and then the rooms were left alone. Time warp! If you are continually tweaking, I think you can avoid that trap.

One thing I do is to remember that the magazines are trying to get us to buy stuff. I dislike being manipulated by the media, so while I enjoy looking at pictures of lovely rooms, I do not try to imitate those rooms by running out and buying stuff.

The thing is, sort of like Magnaverde, that I buy things for my home that I like. If I like them, I'm not going to want to get rid of them, just because a new fad has swept through. I'm going to want to keep them, because I like them. So I'm very picky about what I buy (which is why I've needed a dining room table for two years and still don't have one).

I have no problem with a room that looks as if it were decorated 20 years ago. If that's what the people who live there like, that's a good thing! They've found what works for them.

My grandparents decorated their house gradually after they moved in the 1930s and then left things alone. Yes, their living room looked, in the 1970s, as if it had been decorated in the 1930s. But it was attractive, comfortable, could hold the entire extended family on holidays--and they liked the way it looked. Things got replaced when they wore out or got broken. Chairs got slipcovers when the upholstery wore out. The rooms aged, but they aged well.

It's a little like wardrobe planning. You can divide people into two groups--the trend followers and the traditionalists. The trend followers are constantly updating their wardrobes with the latest trends. They follow the fads, they have the latest "in" color, they have the most hip styles.

The traditionalists buy more classic clothing and give a nod to the trends by buying a few pieces in the latest color, or a trendy pair of shoes or a new handbag, but the core pieces of their wardrobes, the classic, neutral suit, the plain shirtdress, etc., stay the same and get a bit of an update with accessories.

You can spend about the same amount of money either way--the trendier person might by lower quality, less expensive clothing because they don't expect or want it to last for more than a year or two. So they are constantly buying new things.

The traditionalist might buy more expensive, better made clothing, because she wants it to last for years and years. The T-shirt in the new hip color--that might be a bargain buy. But the classic leather pump--that would cost a lot more.

Sometimes you have to make a choice--will you buy lots of Ikea-type furniture and keep updating it? A good choice if you like to follow the trends and like a lot of change. Or will you hunt for the "perfect" sofa, get it in a neutral color and spend a significant chunk of change on it, and update it, and your living room, with new pillows and a throw every few years? Neither way is better or worse than the other--it really depends what you like and how you want to spend your money.

I like red in my kitchen. Have done since I first moved out of my parents' home, over 20 years ago, so I think red in the kitchen is going to be something I like for the rest of my life. There have been times when I couldn't find a red dish towel or kitchen accessory anywhere. There have been times when red kitchen stuff was all over the place. Right now, it's out there in sufficient quantities that I can find what I want with a little searching. I try to buy what I need and a little extra, so that when the tide turns again and red kitchen things are non-existent, I'll have enough to carry me through until red becomes popular again.

What all that boils down to is, if you like the way your home looks now, there's no need to change anything. If you like the way your home looks now, but you are itching to update a little, examine the current trends and decide which ones work for you and your home. Then go out and find some accessories that will give your home a nod to the trends, while keeping the original style that you like.

I am a lover and horder of every shelter mag under the sun and I always admire lots of different looks presented in these magazines. But, when it comes to me, although I love looking at pictures of homes decorated in the swedish gustavian blue, grays, and warm whites, shabby chic vintage rooms with the white slips and seagrass, it just isn't me! My taste is traditional, a look I learned from my mother and it is where I am most comfortable. That's what makes my home warm and cozy. A look that is me!

Nothing screams new like a sparkling clean house, shinny mirrors with fresh flowers and wonderful smelling linens.

To make my home less 'trend' but still update it and keep it me I put the magazines away and turn off the decorating shows for awhile. I stay out of the home retail stores and hit the flea markets, yard sales, antiques dealers, and thrift shops for any piece larger than a knick-knack.

I also keep my eyes open for DR tables in the alley trash :0)!

I shop my basement and attic for cast-offs that landed there 10yrs prior and forgot about.

THEN I pick up the mags again and I might head off to TJ Maxx or something for a little 'something' befitting of my home for under $10. Like my white ceramic birds. They just seemed to 'fit', weren't much money and gave a fun modern twist on something that was a little Victorian. Other than that I've gotten 2 new lamps for much needed light and some new storage boxes (nothing being replaced - just finally made a decision). Same hand-me-down furniture and antiques passed down and many found and rescued pieces. For the summer my ratty rugs have been rolled up to show the wood floors.

This past year somebody commented that my style was very Pottery Barn. I think that it was in reference to my gallery walls and black and white photos. Funny thing was that I've had that same style for over 20yrs and quite a few of those photos are over 100yrs old.

Truer words couldn't have been said:
"Nothing screams new like a sparkling clean house, shinny mirrors with fresh flowers and wonderful smelling linens."

I'm hanging onto that one!

Magnaverde does such an aces job of teaching that I am reluctant to chime in and repeat it all.

The only think I might add is to say that if you begin by asking "Is this in/out?" or "Can I use X when everyone is using Y?", then you will doom yourself to things that aren't really yours, and will not continue to satisfy when they aren't the cool (or hot...I never know which...!) thing. Sometimes things look appealing just because they seem new. Like romances. Then they show up wearing their pants too short or something, and the bloom is off the rose...

But one thing I do to refresh and clear my eye, after too much of the marketing onslaught, is to go to my stash of 10 to 20 year old shelter books. I have several generations of House & Garden (including the HG period), and a pile of House Beautiful issues when Louis Oliver Gropp was the editor (I think Stephen Drucker is wonderful, but LOG was something special), and old Southern Accents and Veranda...like that.

The things they are selling are either no longer available, or are technologically obsolete or just plain silly-looking after time. The rooms that still look wonderful reflect choices with legs, and often have things to teach about (dare I say it?) timelessness. If it still looks terrific after that many years, it's going to look terrific in your house.

Great topic! I find accessories can really date a room/home, so I always try to keep them updated and fresh. As mentioned above, my accessories are "throw away". And edit, edit, edit. Less is more, in my opinion, and I try to stay away from small items which tend to visually clutter and date a room.

I think a picture is worth a thousand words - the pics below are from the book Sixty Years of Interior Design--The Worl of McMillen and were done by the firm.

The book was published in 1982 and I'll make the assumption these room pics are from the late 70's or the very early 80's.
IMO - These rooms would still be fine today or with some minor tweaks some 30yrs later.
Notice the accessories used, the orchid plants, Asian/Oriiental-style lamps & rugs,plates, seashell/botanical prints,Or etc - you still see these offered in upscale catalogs today.

Jim

Bronwynsmom, you are so right about the value of looking at old magazines. The deceptive allure of newness can lend a surface appeal to rooms that aren't really all that good, and sometimes, when looking at new magazines, it's hard to tell what's good from what's merely popular, but the additioional perspective that a few decades adds always clears up the confusion. Like Abraham Lincoln said, you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Country geese, anyone?

Chijim's pics demonstrate that perfectly. The only thing wrong with a few of those rooms is the generic overall lighting, and that's the photgrapher's fault, not the decorator's. But there's nothing at all wrong with that green room with the Raeburn. I'd be glad to move into that place today.

Thank you all.........that was so fun to read! I learned alot about all of you & how to weed thru the blogs retaining what I like & don't like! The pictures were beautiful & classis...thanks for adding them also. Very good suggestions everyone & thanks again for adding your reply. Each one was very helpful to me!!! Bonnie

All I can say is...thank goodness for animal prints, thrift stores and dogs posed on comfortable furniture...it's all good!!!

Chijim's pix are always so right on...
Bonnie...your home is lovely, traditional elegance!!

Ditto on learning from Magnaverde, Bronwynsmom, and ChiJim ( in order of their postings)! thanks for the lesson
I listen and cut and paste.
30+ years ago I was taken by the white slipcovered furniture in a college friends very very well to do ( and famous)family. To me it said be comfy in this room of generations of priceless antiques.(except I knew never to touch the lamps) That is what I aspire to do in my way( except the priceless is in my heart not an appraiser!)
I grew up in a modern house with no history- everything new.
I like the history of living to be apparent in my house.

Oh, thank you so sweetly, Lori Bee! You know I love yours too!!!!
Bonnie

IMO, Pottery Barn and similar stores are the *new* changes in traditional decor, at least among the younger generation who do not want traditional and timeless, let alone antiques. For the life of me, *I* certainly don't want to compete with *those* Jones'.

M'verde, chijim, and others are right on the money. The pictures shown could be in next months' Traditional Home, even though they were taken years before. Good design never changes. ;o)

Bonnie, you have a beautiful home. If you still love it then don't let what you see in blogs and magazines influence you. I've long since stopped looking at design magazines because I've never been the type to follow trends. Okay, well other than country decor in the eighties. I happened to love it at the time so I've forgiven myself for allowing myself to be swayed by trends.
I now call my style MEE. My Eccentric Eclecticism. I like what I like and don't worry what others think. It's always nice when someone else likes it and complements me, but that's not why I decorate our home the way I do. I do so as a reflection of my family and myself. What works for us. Period.

Yes Bonnie, I'll echo Loribee and say your HOME is beautiful, and I'm sure whatever personal changes you make will be perfect! Love Mag's "decorating treadmill" and Jim's pic's, both responses show good taste is never trendy.

I think those of us who enjoy decorating love ~eye candy~ whether in pic's, showrooms, or our own homes, the key may be a total re-arrange, re-purpose, or re-design using what we already have.

Speaking for my self though Bonnie, I find nothing changes and freshens decor faster and more affordably than a coat of paint. Yes it's time consuming and tedious, but one shade up over or down from what you already have can breathe fresh air in to a home without an signing up for a "decorating marathon"! I also have rediscovered sheers, they look so fresh and airy even during our our 6 months of NE winters, when I usually close the heavy curtains and wait for spring!!!

Thank you sweetly neverending & justgotabme for your sweet compliments on my home! That is about all we are doing lately is painting for changes, ha! I did decorate the mantle with birds, a big double fake topiary that was beautiful, moss balls & urns for a fresh Spring look then bought two big urns for the upstairs balcony console table. We have our daughter's room to redecorate soom as she is thru college & living in an apartment in the town she works in. That will by my DH's office (he works from home & travels some too) and will move office furniture out of the guestroom. Then we will have a guestroom to itself & an office upstairs. Right now he is sharing the guestroom with office........but we haven't picked out a paint color yet. The dancing green color (even though beautiful) will have to go....not his speed. Probably will end up painting the bathroom & probably end up redoing the whole upstairs.........ha! I have those beautiful blue & white checked french country drapes with fringe and yellow flower in the middle of the check from the other house & no where to put them so have thought about re-using them in the guestroom. We decided to take a breather for alittle while since my mom had one surgery , then the next week another one. Floral arranging class starts next week and we live on lake so getting things ready for Memorial day. I am thinking for the office a color like a grayed down green.....something my DH can concentrate easily around. Stay tuned! Thanks again, everyone!

Thank you all for the great lessons.....
Magnaverde you are priceless as always......
Chijim, I must really be fouled up...In our home, I have an element shown in nearly every picture you posted!! oops...