I like pickled maple, I know it's pink, but I still like it.

Likewise. My parents had my old colonial maple bedroom furniture pickled back in the 80s and I still have the dresser and still like the way it recedes.

Oh, yeah, tile countertops! I'll bet tile installers everywhere cringed when those went out of fashion.

I love my orange knotty pine armoire and chest of drawers from the late 80s still and I love my yellow/orange floors, which came with my house, but I chose to keep them as is.

Hmm. I just tiled my new bathroom in minty green and grey. It was part of an addition that involved putting in MORE glass blocks to match the old ones...

My house is not MCM. It's just MC.

I haven't opened the list yet so am winging it. I hated shag carpet, ball fringe (those balls creeped me out for some reason), avocado green appliances (what were we thinking), decorating with pink and blue ducks and geese (never did that one because heck Ex-DH had the real taxidermied ones), and the faux Mediterranean phase (yeah, I had some in early married life).

It's interesting though, while many people seem to hate avocado and harvest gold bathrooms and kitchen appliances, about 6 years or so ago BM Baby Turtle, and some olive colors were a "go to", and if real estate photos here are any indication, yellows in that harvest gold sort of category are extremely popular for wall color. I am not sure why certain colors get singled out as terrible only in certain situations.

I abhor ducks, geese and antlers.

carolb wrote:

The powder blue & mauve 'country crafts' of the 80s doesn't exactly make me cringe, but it does depress me. The colors just look dingy & faded & sad, for some reason.

Exactly. It makes me sad too. I passed a shop the other day that still was selling a lot of this kind of stuff. I didn't go inside, but as I passed by I could smell the old potpourri and it just depressed me.

I love my tile counter tops (1980's home). I know they are outdated and they need to be replaced, but if I ever decide I can find the gumption to redo my kitchen, I'll get tile counters again. Probably a larger format with bombproof grout. I love that I can put hot things down anywhere, can cut or gouge something and not affect the tile, etc. I did put limestone in my master bath update, but chose tiles for that, too.

Cracker Barrel is full of it for sale. We rarely if ever stop there when we are traveling, but even getting through it all in the entrance is depressing.

It's funny how the pink and blue country crafts (ducks, geese, etc.) have a depressing effect. I'll admit I feel that way, too. I wonder why people weren't depressed by them when they first came out? Were the colors brighter or something? I feel that way now (depressed) about wall art that is words and/or sayings, even though they are often intended to be uplifting or inspirational. They aren't.

The powder blue & mauve 'country crafts' of the 80s doesn't exactly make me cringe, but it does depress me. The colors just look dingy & faded & sad, for some reason.

Yes, that's true. I never liked those colors, either, except that they were a great relief at the time in contrast to the endless earth tones that came just before. But it was irritating only to have colonial blue, mauve, and country gray to choose from when you wanted red kitchen gadgets, for example.

But it's kind of the same now. Look at this new ikea cabinet color that is drawing praise over in kitchens. I find it incredibly depressing, myself, very old hospital:

I'll take country blue and avocado green (together even!) over the sad splintery gray of anything Restoration Hardware.

I loved the country decor of the 80s! I wonder why it's depressing? It's only depressing that it's not still in style for me. I even have mauve and blue wallpaper that came with the house (no ducks though, wasn't crazy about the ducks) when we bought it and I love it, I will not replace it any time soon!

I'm not saying I don't (or didn't) like avocado or olive green, just didn't care for it in appliances. We currently have a good bit of a deep olive green in our sofa (an olive/black herringbone tweed) and some olive in a side chair. And accents in our bedroom with cream and beige.

Never could get into gray decor although there is a bit of warm gray in our glass tile accent tile in our master bath.

Some great comments. One person's fad is another person's love. :)

OT: Palimpsest, I do the Rittenhouse Outdoor Art show each fall. It's the third weekend in September. I'll be in booth 114 across from Parc. I'm the still life colored pencil artist. Come say hi.

Oh, please remind me when the time comes.... I'd love to meet up. We just moved here this spring from California, and are now just outside the Chestnut Hill end of town.

I don't necessarily think we need to avoid Anything if we like it, just try to decide whether you really like it, or are attracted to the trend.

I so agree with this statement. I feel too many are too attracted to certain things because they're trendy. Not that they consciously say, "I'm getting that because it's trendy," but because we start seeing it all over, and our eye becomes accustomed to the look and then we want to have it too.

I didn't notice pre avacado the copper tone appliances.

I made, and sold, many macrame owls way back then.

The only time I meet carpet on walls was at a rehearsal dinner at the home of my brother's in-laws. Another brother came out of the bathroom and said he didn't realize he had fallen down, but he must have because his head was on the carpet. Alcohol was involved.

Much of what we like and dislike today of yesterday is tied to specific, positive memories. My first sofa was of decent quality ( Rowe) and bought from a furniture store going out of business. I loved it the moment I saw it and still did when I sold it ten years later for $200. I had paid $600 for the sofa.

Quintessential pink and blue paisley. At the time, all of 22, I thought why would anyone by some horrid, brown thing, when they could have this!

It's all context.

I remember everything gray and pink in the late 70's, early 80's. Before that it was orange, brown and gold. Remember the murals on the walls? When we bought our first home in the late 80's I painted my living room walls dusty rose. And yes, remember wallpaper borders?

And I still like lace curtains.

Lilysmom, the mint green appliances are new and by Big Chill . We have a Big Chill fridge in Beach Blue.

I don't think that any of these things were considered "classic" at the time they were trendy, at least by most people. I lived through some of those trends and I certainly didn't consider them classic.

I have the wood tile floors now. Never even had a moments thought that they were classic when I put them in last year. I just want something that would keep my house cool (in Phoenix), looked nice and that I thought would be liked for long enough to put it in the house. I like how it looks so I figure it will be here for quite a few years and after that, if I still live here and start to tire of it I will change it with the only qualm being to pay for new flooring.

I'm finding the water bed really funny. All the rest of the trends are decorating. A water bed is not a decorative thing. The style of the water bed may be. I had a water bed when we were first married (DH bought the bag and particle board to build a frame for $50 total) and we covered it with a quilt that his mom made for us. You never would have known it was a water bed till you were on it.

When I finally went back to the link, I had to laugh at this....'The only thing good about shag carpet was that it made an epic jungle for army men.' Our kids did this on the shag we had in the 70's, and I can definitely remember the stray green army men left behind that I would step on. Ouch!

I made my share of macrame plant hangers. They seem to have left out those enormous bean bag 'chairs'. Although I think they had their place. We bought a couple of small ones when our grandkids were small and they loved plopping in them to watch a movie.

It is interesting, I have never liked pickled wood even when it was on trend. The previous owner of my house apparently loved it as she used it in her kitchen remodel which was done way after the trend faded. Although she may have used the pickled wood as the kitchen is small and dark. Can not wait to redo those cabinets, probably just paint for now.

About ten years ago I went into an open house whose kitchen was a time capsule: knotty pine cabinets and paneling, with a still-functional matched set of Petal Pink GE appliances! There was even a wall oven in the set.

I told the RE agent that in a way it was a shame one couldn't keep the entire room intact - at the time I think everybody was into sage greens and natural wood tones. I have never liked pink at all, but one had to admire just the fact that the kitchen had remained "as is" for over 50 yrs.

This article made for an interesting read: the history of colored appliances:

http://www.startribune.com/appliance-colors-tell-kitchen-history/183530031/

Interesting article, but not very accurate. Mint green and cream was very hot for appliances in the late 20s/early 30s, for instance, and gas ranges came in lots of great colors in the 30s/40s. There was color before the 50s, long before.

1930 Hotpoint range (my dream stove):

Furniture tends are the biggest changes that I see taking place. Gone are the days of anything with a curved leg, or in a stain that isn't espresso. Anything which remotely resembles an antique is also passe'. I will stay in my little rut, and just cover myself over with a warm blankie in an out-of-trend colot, and wait for the return of curved legs and antiques to make a return.....NOT. ;)

I think that furniture design (accessible furniture, anyway) is in a complete rut, and has been since the 1980s. The entire Memphis Movement of furniture started as a statement that it had all been done, so let's do the absurd, and there hasn't been much of anything since, (and much of that furniture was intentionally designed to be minimally useful at best).

There have been some great modernist pieces that are available to the masses, and there have been some very fine couture furniture, not available to the masses, produced in the past several decades, but most "new" furniture is a transitional style rehash of what's already out there. And "transitional" is now a specific style of furniture, when what that used to mean was that it was a mix of periods and didn't have a particular identity of its own. It still doesn't have any identity, but it is now a very identifiable style of furniture even though it doesn't look like anything too much.

So I don't know what's going to happen until they come up with some new material or method of creating furniture that is accessible price wise and design wise to the common man, because that's how new styles seem to spring forth.

The same thing has happened in art. once art was reduced to the white canvas there was no more minimal way to go. Digital work is so ubiquitous that people have trouble identifying anything digital as true art. At some point there may be a divergence like there has been between fine art photography and snapshots but it hasn't happened yet.

I have a 50's home, and one of the bedrooms is knotty pine - horrible! I really don't know how to make it not look like a cave. The only solution is to drywall over it I think. Oh well.

For all those who adore the 50s looks-colored bathrooms, tiled counters etc....have you lived with original 50s bathrooms and kitchens? I have, and was MORE than happy when I could bid those tired old rooms adieu. It's not much fun trying to clean uber busy small tile floors, or grout that's been chipped and stained for 60 years on a kitchen counter. Nope, I'll take today's styles for the win.

I live with a pink '50s tiled bathroom. I guess I'm lucky that the floor tile is 4x4s! It's a great bathroom, and durable. I copied it in my new bathroom (not pink! but colored).

Let's talk to the future buyers of today's kitchens and baths on trend with porous natural stone, and tiny stone and glass mosaics and see if they agree. Although I'd never have a tile counter, I agree. But I think thst was regional anyway. Formica or cultured marble were king where I live

Before my remodel I had a tile counter. It would have been fine (white), but it was 6 inches with dark gray grout. But I would happily return to a tile counter if it looked like this (only I'd have square tiles in the backsplash too):

I read it all with great interest, because I come from a totally different part of the world..of course there were some things that were "in" but they were hard to get..actually everything was kinda hard to get. It was manufactured or imported of course , but somehow disappeared half-way there..)) instead of hitting the stores

I don't think we even had decor magazines. Because we subscribed to a lot of magazines and newspapers, and I'm sure if decor and design magazines existed-my Grandma would make sure to subscribe to it)) We did have one book though. It was called "The modern apartment"))

But mostly you got what you could get. I guess we had something highly eclectic)) Luckily my Grandma had a great taste.

I don't even recall tiles in homes..public buildings -yes, of course..Public buildings got to be very beautiful sometimes. Mosaics, whatnot.

Otherwise I think it was just paint. In kitchens and bathrooms. Color of the tiles? What color? What tiles?

Of course some things were very beautiful. Like herringbone parquet? It was a norm, if you lived in an older building. The ceilings were pretty high..again, if you lived in an older building.

The older buildings were beautiful too.

The newer ones..let's say didn't strike with their architecture lol. But you wouldn't see these in downtown..these were new neighborhoods.

I don't recall appliances had some color..they were white I guess? Or almond?

I do remember the wallpaper though. Vividly as yesterday. My Grandma wallpapered all the apartment when we finally got to live in a separate apartment ( meaning without sharing kitchen and bathroom with neighbors) and it made her extremely happy. It's nice to be able to finally renovate something that's almost your own when you're 75 years old.

katrina_ellen, about the ugly paneling...my neighbor had ugly paneling all over his house and what he used is like a heavy wallpaper that makes it look exactly like sheet rock, then you can paint it just like a sheet rock wall. It looks fabulous! He said he bought it at Lowe's.

Lily'smom thank you for reading...I become annoyingly talkative when I drink my coffee..))

I remember one summer, in the early 90's when I was in college, my mom let me help her re-do the hall bath in our home. It had previously been earth tones, medium wood vanity, etc. I hated it. I chose white square tiles for the shower and countertop, painted the vanity white, choose white paint for the trim and dark green walls with the ubiquitous Waverly ivy fabric for the curtains and shower curtain. We had the draperies & shower curtain custom made & they were gorgeous.

Now, 20+ years later, that room is obviously very dated, but I swear, it still feels so pretty & fresh when you walk in it! The dark green & white just look really good, and I think the fact that we spent to have the drapes & shower curtain well lined and detailed helped. I STILL like going in that room! ;) I can't say that about many other things from that time frame!

Our neighbor had carpeted walls in his home office, so he could do work from home without the people on the other end of phone hearing his four kids. He was a "millionaire" back when that was wondrous to us kids.

I would love 1950's colorfully tiled bathrooms, still-- and when I did have them, I loved them and left them as they were: gray and wine in one bath, yellow and blue in another.

I wouldn't mind colored appliances at all. The old copper color or even harvest gold would work for me!

Remember the shag carpeting that was different colors mixed together? Our den had rust, brown and black all throughout. Just think about all the vacuuming and stain removal that wasn't necessary in that room! My current den has a solid navy low pile carpet and vacuuming is a daily event, twice daily on weekends due to dogs not being available in a navy option. I'm quite sure our childhood den was vacuumed weekly and we never noticed a single crushed Cheeto. Ah, ignorance is bliss!

What does it say about me that I'm still waiting for the color scheme in my very first house to come back? I had lovely, soft peach and blue wallpaper. It was so cheerful and happy, without being too bright and "in your face." I guess I'm getting old. LOL

Your peach and blue is around. It still looks fresh.

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At some point there may be a divergence like there has been between fine art photography and snapshots but it hasn't happened yet.

Actually realism and contemporary realism are making a slow comeback.

April, thank you for the reminder that for many of us in the world, having our own bathroom and kitchen is a luxury and not a right. I think sometimes we forget these things.

Oh. I didn't mean to sound all gloomy etc. Not at all. It didn't feel like that then. First, I was little..it doesn't bother you to share the amenities with eight or nine other people, when you're a kid. The lightness of the being is pretty bearable when you're young. At least it should be.

Also, it was seventies, eighties..relatively calm time. Actually, I was convinced we were all lucky, fortunate, and whatnot. I thought I had a very sweet life. Which was true to big extent-no war, no hunger, no major misery..

Would be daydreaming how I help other kids from around the world..that weren't as lucky as us to be born in our amazing country. I wanted to share with them clothes and food and blah blah

So when years passed and things started to change and I set my feet in some of these other countries-then I understood my crappy clothes wouldn't do most of these kids any favors..))

Now I need to remind myself the same things-nothing is given. We just get lucky sometimes. May these times be kind to us in the future..

Arkansas girl - thanks for the info.! I was thinking of priming and painting but that sounds like less work since I will be doing it myself. Will check it out, thanks!

April I didn't take it as all gloomy. Not at all. Only that we are lucky to have such abundance.

I love the colored appliances and bathrooms of days gone by. So much of today's popular decor is neutral and bland.

I live w/ old 50s tile as well. My kitchen counters are badly in need of refurbishing, but the backsplash is still in great condition:

And the bathroom has pink atomic accent tiles (fixtures are just plain white tho):

& FWIW, you can simply prime & paint old paneling. I love that look in white or off-white.

Who was it Dawna/Shawna? Barton that painted the watercolors of the ducks and geese that was framed in oak in every store? I remember dried flowers that got dusty looking and grapevine wreaths.

I remember a friend's blue and green shag rug. We had so much fun with that. Her mom had a special rake to rake it with after vacuuming. Our fashion dolls' tiny shoes and purses would get lost in it. My friends new gold post earrings got lost in it and her mom was so mad. Those rugs gobbled up sewing pins too.

There's a place near LA that reinvented the waterbed. It's a waterbed inside a traditional mattress. Supposedly it has the support and does not leak while having the warmth and flexibility of a waterbed. I remember a friend had one and we loved it until JAWS came out. It finally leaked. I remember places for rent with NO waterbeds on signs out front.