My advice would be to mix a lot of things together, so things can be added and subtracted as time goes by. I don't think an individual item "dates" so much as combinations of things.

As long as your sofa is relatively simple in line, it should be good for the long haul. If you buy furniture pieces that have some historic precedent rather than a shape that has appeared in the last couple of decades...they will also stand the test of time. I am not saying you have to have antique reproductions, but the basic shapes of things should be pretty classic. I don't think that dark wood is necessarily a trend, but very dark contemporary furniture is. The almost black finish has been available on certain types of furniture always, but the espresso finished contemporary/modern look of West Elm and IKEA is relatively recent, that is the trend...a very dark 19th century piece or Craftsman inspired piece is not really a trend.

Sofa's with straight lines have been around for a long time. If you love it you won't regret it. I would keep the expensive things neutral because the aqua color (or any color) that is popular now may be gone in a short time. I would use that for accessories instead.

My advise would be to take your time and find things that you like instead of rushing around to fill the house.

Congrats on your new home!

We have been looking at furniture for a while. There's only so much in our price range. We found a sofa and a dining set that we really like... but I wasn't sure if they were "trendy" or "timeless". What do you think? BTW, for the sofa, we would be going with a light beige/canvas color.

The sofa is date neutral and would look great in my eclectic home as well as my victorian. It's an easy style to work with.

The dining room set is fairly trendy...meaning If I saw that in a new him I would immediately say it's new. BUT if it's quality and you like it, don't let that stop you. Just embrace it and love it.

the sofa doesn't look "trendy" to me at all....

and, the dining table/chairs reminds me abit of the kitchen set my parents bought in the early 50's!! (of course, theirs was the blonde maple tho........) i would say, if you really like it get it! as already said, you can update your look over the years with accessories/lamps,etc,etc.

I'm 44 now. Most of the things I've picked over the years I still like-- my sofa and chairs are getting a little dingy, but I don't want to change them :) When I look at my clippings from my 20s I still like the stuff I liked then. So if taste is relatively stable you should be okay.
If you truly mad love it, you will probably still like it seven years from now.

EVERYTHING trends in and out of fashion, even the most classic of things. And then they trend back in. You are looking to avoid fads.

You can avoid the dated look, I think, by buying things over time so the styles span the trends and can be adapted, like a sofa that is easy to slipcover and dining room chairs whose seats can be recovered.

How do I know that the things I love now aren't just a "trend"?
One way would be to see if the major elements of that style were popular in the past.

Just one piece of advice on the sofa - make sure the back is not made of loose cushions. It will spare you hours of cushion straightening.

I don't worry about whether or not something is trendy...if I love it I buy it. My LR sofa was my mother's in 1970. I had it lengthened the last time we had it re-upholstered.

Two of our LR chairs (the comfy chairs) we bought shortly after moving to this house...1997 or 1998.

My DR "set" is a table I found on ebay that likely dates from the 1950's/early 1960's...the chairs are from the late 60's early 70's (recovered). Buy what you love, it will be fine.

Both of your selections are transitional. I have seen sofas like that since the early 90s anyway, so its not trendy, really.

The table reads the most trendy to me. The chairs have a splat back that references a number of historical styles even though they, too, are transitional. The table is pretty simple though so it should work well whatever direction your tastes head in the future.

Congratulations on your house! I think if you buy good, quality pieces, they will survive the test of time. Like someone else said, if you love them now, you'll still love them in 30 years. And in 30 years, you probably won't really care if your house is outdated or not. It will still be what you love.

If you have young kids, your sofa, any sofa, may not hold up as well as the wood pieces, and you might be better off replacing when they are older teens than trying to have them reupholstered. Again, depends on the quality.

I've lived through enough trends that what is popular today actually seems very dated to me - because I remember it from the 1950's. The only thing that is really popular today that I think will be short-lived are painted pieces. Not that I don't like them, I just think in 10 years, it will be like sponge-painting was in the 1980's.

Maybe a better analogy would have been to compare painted wood furniture today to the pickled wood of the 1990's. It was wildly popular at that time, sold at stores and done in kitchens by homeowners and professionals, where sponge-painting was more a crafting thing.

Here's what helped me:

Go to the library and check out/reserve the oldest decorating books you can find (maybe from the 60s or 70s, or earlier if they have them). Look through the books and identify what rooms looks dated and what doesn't look as dated, or what parts of the room look dated.

The decor that doesn't look as dated is probably not trendy. The things that scream "Whoa that's totally retro"...probably trendy :-)

Buy what YOU like. If you plan on being there for 30 years, who the heck cares if dark woods are "out" and light woods are "in".

The cheap "pottery barn" opaquely stained mystery wood and painted MDF is going out of style. The similar-looking walnut - real walnut - or mahogany, or other woods of identifiable species aren't going anywhere.

Nothing shriek's 1980s like those rumpled "pillow-back" leather sofas ... but a clean-lined square design will be saying "I'm conservatively mid-century modern" in 20 years.

That sofa was trendy in the 1930s!

It has the classic curvy Art-Deco lines. Shocking when it was a new style, but it's been in and out of fashion so long that it's now a classic.

I can tell you that in 20 years of homeownership, the only pieces of furniture I haven't fallen out of love with are the pieces I've bought in antique stores and flea markets... which also happen to be among the least-expensive pieces I've bought. So I encourage you to shop flea markets or good consignment shops for things like end tables, accent pieces, etc.

We have replaced sofas only because we bought them "cheap" and they fell apart or looked like heck only a few years after purchase. Finally, now that I'm 46, I just spent Real Money on a sofa that I hope will last us at least 15 years!

I think both of your choices above look good and I think you could easily change the 'mood' of your dining set by recovering seats (if you ever wanted to) and of your sofa by changing the pillows.

If dark wood is going out of style, then I'm in trouble. I can't believe that's true (and honestly, I don't care if it is!). I think darker woods are much more 'timeless' than light/blonde woods.

sueb20, I think you are right about dark and light woods. I like both, but have always liked darker best.

Probably good advice on the consignment shops, etc, although I still like our bedroom furniture, bought new 35 years ago. Solid wood, dovetailed, etc. But I don't think furniture is made as well today, or at least, affordable furniture. What we've seen lately is a lot of veneer on plywood or mdf. We bought a sofa in 1978 when we bought our first house, and it lasted until 2004 even though it was not expensive at the time. The frame was beginning to sag though so it wasn't worth recovering. It was beige, very simple lines, and I still see similar ones today. I didn't buy it for longevity though, it just happened to be the only one dh & I could agree on. The side chairs we bought with it were not timeless, and looked very dated by the time we got rid of them 15 years later. If they hadn't been the victims of baby liquids from all orifices, I still would have kept them.

If you like them, that's what matters as far as the lines...and I think it's interesting that your sofa arm and dining chair back, both angle out in the same way. Therefore, you must be attracted to that look.

The quality of furniture is harder to tell, unless you get underneath and look at how it's constructed. Does it have good quality fasteners, or just glued? Are there reinforcing pieces on the chair legs, or are they solid enough not to need them? Is the sofa hand-tied, how good is the quality of the foam/cushion? These are things that a furniture salesperson should be able to show you and explain to you....yes, I did this for a brief time. LOL

If you still aren't sure about these things, go to a store that sells Ethan Allen or Thomasville furniture...and look at the way the furniture is constructed. Go ahead and ask one of the salespeople to explain it to you. If these pieces are out of your price range, at least you'll learn more about furniture and maybe see one splurge piece that you'd like to add, later.

While I do have an armoire at Ethan Allen I've been looking at for years, all of my favorite pieces came from antique stores and thrift shops. They've all held up beautifully and are very well constructed...otherwise, they wouldn't have made it to the antique store :)

As for colors, styles, design, etc. as someone said earlier, stick with neutral colors on the big pieces and keep your color on accessories. Unless you have a really tall ceiling, it's easier to paint the walls, then reupholster furniture. Color is a fun way to define your style, but you'll probably be happier with a neutral sofa, or a couple of fun slipcovers!

Lots of good advice here.

My rule on "trendy vs timeless" is this question: Would I have liked this 5 years ago?

If NO, because it was too retro, modern, old lady, or weird, then I assume that even if it is HOT now, that in 5 years when styles change that I won't like in anymore.

I do buy some trendy things, but in things like table runners, accessories, and pillows. I would buy a toile pillow, but not a toile sofa. Because a pillow can make my couch look updated, but I would get sick of the couch. I would buy a MCM tablecloth, but not curtains or bedding. Just too much for me.

I also agree about the antique mall/estate sale things being very good to round out the look and not be pricy.

Thank you so much for all the great feedback!

The impression that I am getting is that the sofa has classic lines, and the table is a little trendier looking, but still has a simple enough design that it can hold its own as time changes.

Sounds good to me :)

We have been looking at furniture for a while. Pretty much since we knew we would be looking for a house... so a few months at least. There really aren't that many furniture stores that are in our price range... and I am afraid to buy furniture online. The store we would be buying these from is a little more "high end" than we are used to, and these pieces are a little more than we would normally like to spend, but the furniture we have now is totally shot, and we only bought it 2 years ago. We bought el-cheapo and got el-cheapo. I want to make sure that the pieces we buy for our new home will last a lot longer.

The table is solid wood, and nice and sturdy... and the guy said that have been selling that same set almost 10 years now. I figure that's a good sign. With the couch, I can ask about the construction... but it definitely feels more sturdy than the piece-o-doodoo couch we have currently. The back is nice and tight, which is something that I definitely wanted since I got a pillow back couch last time, and it's sagging so bad, I have to tuck the extra fabric behind the cushions.