I do not see a problem. If the interior walls are the right color, why not?
If you find a too ornated house, that will be too much with your kind of decor. You can always apply wallcovering at some areas to tie everything together.

The same way they use contemporary decor in very old apartments in NY, you can do the opposite.
Contemporary and clasic can be together. Take a look at the Louvre (see link), I love it!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Just to clarify, are you talking about contemporary styling -- stucco, rounded corners in the rooms, high ceilings, or mid-century modern, characterized by large expanses of glass windows and sliding glass doors?

If you're talking about the former, that is an easy breezy style to work with. You can add mouldings and door casings without having them look out of place, and pretty much any furniture style, curtain, or color combination will work in those spaces -- from antique, Euro styles, country, modern, or contemporary.

If you're talking about the latter, those houses can work with more traditional and/or antique furnishings, but it does take a bit more work to blend the two together. I have a similar problem with my current house. She and I have a sort of love-hate relationship. Love the giant yard and the pretty views, hate the giant $#@# windows shoved into the corners that are so hard to arrange furniture around. And don't get me started on the World's Ugliest Faux Modern 1964 Suburbia Fireplace.

I agree with sarachlos. Our house is about 35 years old and we recently remodeled it. We did add more trimwork and moldings which I feel can go with a variety of looks.

For instance I would classify our family room as transitional while our LR/DR/entry are all more traditional.

Personally, I'd have a hard time decorating a mid-century modern house with antiques. Not to say it could not be done, just I don't have the vision to see it. Given the very open floorplans, lots of natural light and rectilinear nature of those homes, I'd prefer to see either a modern or transitional decor there.

We've had a 1939 art moderne home & a mid-century modern home. We never had the $$$ to buy period-appropriate furniture for the homes, but we were able to make our traditional furniture work. We kept wall colors light and the decor mostly monochromatic to emphasize the architecture. No fussy fabrics on the upholstered pieces; we used solids to emphasize the furniture shape. Window treatments were minimal as well: blinds that rolled out of view & added an architectural element when lowered. The windows were very large, so we made sure the views were the wow factor in the rooms. We did have one art deco lyre-shaped console that was visually strong enough to anchor a room & add a modern element. A traditional sofa, chairs, and an oriental rug rounded out the room. We also had traditional dining furniture and an antique mirror. We had lots of compliments on how the traditional furniture worked well in the houses. It was a refresshing change-up from the expected.

So I guess in a nutshell, emphasize architecture, windows, furniture shapes & space instead of fussy prints, pictures, & accessories.

marthaelena wrote: "The same way they use contemporary decor in very old apartments in NY, you can do the opposite." Excellent point! I never thought of it that way.

sarschlos_remodeler/ valinsv, the type of house isn't mid-century modern....more 1980's ugly! Well, maybe that's a bit harsh. I love an old farm house so big open spaces with balconies and two story great rooms are foreign to me.

awm03, great advice about emphasizing the architecture & windows. Lucily since I have a touch of OCD in me I don't like too much clutter and even though my tastes are more traditional I like a clean look. My mom on the other hand is very Victorian and like a lot of frill and fuss.

You can do pretty much anything you want with a 1980s house with a volume ceiling. No, it's not a beautiful antique farmhouse, but it's very adaptable. Here's my former living room in a 1985 2-story stucco house with volume ceiling and open loft above. Our furniture is an eclectic mix, but most of it is vintage or older. You can't see the art deco china cabinet that we put in the opposite corner.

Here's our former family room in our 1980s 2-story. Again, very traditional furniture.

Here's the kitchen (I painted the cabinets, added the hardware to the old honey oak cabs, replaced the faucet, appliances and lighting):

Here's the hall bathroom we redid with marble counter, harlequin paint on the walls, new stain and hardware on the vanity, new sink, mirror and ORB fixtures (please disregard the "before" paint in the hallway):

Hope that helps.

sarschlos_remodeler, your kitchen looks fantastic! Do you mind sharing how you did this repaint project?