It doesn't bother me but then I use it all the time. Pop of Color I hope is on the death knell list.

I am thinking more of the actual fickleness that motivates the use of the word, oftentimes.

We have more materially than ever and the media inundation does influence most of us if only slightly so I think it's inevitable.

A really interesting (and entertaining) movie into marketing culture is The Joneses. We all found it fascinating.

I have a white kitchen - ask me if I care that some think it will be "dated" in 5, 10 or .... years.

But with respect to "dated", it may have started with that "planned obsolescence" of appliances. Appliances used to last 25 or 30 years. Ask our parents how old their appliances are and many of us have probably replaced some of ours 2 or 3 times in a single lifespan of one of theirs. So, replace your appliances every 5-7 years, well better update this as well or that is looking ratty lets replace that as well. And before you know it you can "date" things to a specific year or decade because of this quick turnover of purchases and "dated" becomes a "bad" word, both in home decorating and fashion.
And so yes, people are second guessing choices and purchases because they are concerned about whether or not their choice will, not so much as be dated, but be acceptable in the next decade.
So many people let their families and friends and neighbours dictate their fashion sense and their decorating sense instead of trying to develop or even to admit to their own, perhaps quirky or out-of-the-box, sense of style and follow it. There are enough choices and permutations of those choices that people can easily put together their own unique rooms and to heck with them being "dated". As it is so many homes and rooms are now looking like an RH catalogue - all greige. Yech.

Well this is another thread, but I just got the book "Living Well", edited by Carrie Donovan, former editor of the NYT Style section (1981). These were the "top" examples of certain types of living, and I was surprised that the number of choices seemed very limited, and the craftsmanship seemed somewhat inferior (some Bad tile work in this book, for example) --compared to what we have available to us today. In fact, a retired designer I know said that it was more common to customize in the 60s and 70s because the variety was not there. (It was cheaper and easier in some ways, yes, but driven by the limited market).

Yet, with all the choices available, there is still a real homogeneity of expression that results.

I think it stems from an instant gratification and entilement society. People expect the latest and greatest and do not take steps to arrive at it. I am floored by people's first homes. No one seems to start with starter homes they start with 2500 to 5000 sf because that is what someone else has, does not matter if they could not afford it or fill it. furniture costs, I think after COLA, less than our parents furniture did and thus it is easier to dispose of it when it is "Dated", or more likely, showing signs of abuse and lack of care.
I also think because the last few generations have been over stimulated they bore easily and thus are more fickle with their tastes. I also blame the lack of orginal movies and all the remakes on children never being given the chance to be bored and then maybe daydream. I hope things start to swing back to the way they were "back in the day".

"Yet, with all the choices available, there is still a real homogeneity of expression that results."

Absolutely! I think so much of what you are talking about has been driven by the power HGTV yields over our culture! Has any shelter mag, even one in publication for decades, ever had such a grip on the American psyche, dictating and deciding what houses should look like? I don't think so.

When our tastes were guided by magazines, books, our own intuition, there was much more originality, interpretation, personal expression. Why, there was a time when every house actually looked different inside!

I was struck a couple of years ago by pics I saw of Cokie Robert's house in Washington. At first blush, I thought, "What?" Her house didn't look "decorated" or "done" in the least. It looked marvelous, but certainly not in the sense that we've come to "expect" via Home and Garden Network. Surely the folks at HGTV were on the phone to Ms. Roberts once that photo shoot was printed, offering her a much needed "re-design."

Cokie's home was a home. Gracious and well-worn and lived in and personal and cozy (& yes, surely worth a mint if put on the market.) Made me realize I just don't SEE pictures/visuals of houses that look like that anymore! Caught me off guard!

You've just described my SIL, Pal. In the 15 years that they've owned their current home (an 1880's Victorian) they have done the following:

1. refinished the hardwood floors on the first floor twice. The first time, it was necessary. The second time, it was because she wanted a slightly different color stain.

2. Repainted and re-wallpapered and refurnished the first floor--hall, stairway, dining room, front and back parlors--three times. All new furniture, rugs, curtains. The rest of the family will no longer give them any family pieces, because sis-in-law keeps them for two or three years and then just tosses them (we wouldn't mind if she'd admit she doesn't want them anymore and let someone else take them, but she's begged for some things that go with her current decor and then literally thrown them out two years later when she's changing the rooms).

3. Completely redid the kitchen, incorporating a sunporch, the pantry and a bathroom. This was necessary by anyone's standards, as the kitchen and bath had suffered a very, very bad remodel at some point. However, they've had the new kitchen 12 years. It has been repainted 5 times. And every time, new decorations and chair cushions and china and flatware to go with the new theme.

4. Remodeled the upstairs bathroom. Okay, it was dated, but everything worked. It's been repainted three times, with all new towels and accessories and stuff on the walls each time.

5. Kids' bedrooms. They seem to have been repainted and redecorated every two years, until the kids got old enough to tell their mother that they liked their rooms and didn't want them changed.

And my youngest brother laughs about getting invited to dinner over at their house--every single time SIL calls him and invites him to dinner, she has furniture she wants him to move--even if she isn't repainting or redecorating, she's rearranging the furniture.

At least for my SIL, I think it's an extension of her personality. She is never still. She is always, always, always rushing to some activity or other. She honestly can't understand how members of my family can sit on the porch and just chat for a couple of hours. Every minute of every day is planned out ahead of time. I think the decorating is just one more project to keep her busy. She's got taste, and people always oooh and aaah at her rooms.

I just think she needs a lot of change and activity in her life. Her house is just one way of getting that need filled.

"Dated-ness" comes from adopting a whole look in its entirety rather than taking the more engaged road of making separate, individual, choices.

Perhaps the overweening focus on resale has made people less confident that their preferences are acceptable. Or maybe we are doing such a poor job of aesthetic education in schools that nowadays people don't have much, if any, exposure to basic design-awareness.

Plus there's the ever-present style/shelter mass media that exists solely to persuade us that we're hopelessly lost and that some other (purchased) solution will redeem us from our Original Design Sin.

I find it hilarious that at the same time we flee in terror from "datedness", we seem to yearn for a popularly-defined set of "timeless" elements. Few styles are truly original, virtually everything is at least partly a re-run. What keeps things fresh and appealing is the recombinant assortation of elements. And the unexpected fillip that comes from the unmistakeable exercise of personal preferences.

L.

There is a sociological component to the style of houses of people like Cokie Roberts --there are types of people who are less influenced by "fashion" and perhaps more by family or personal history when it comes to how they live.

Yes, Pal, I think so too!

Lirio, you're so poetic, no matter the subject! Not only did you express your thoughts very beautifully, you summed up the difference between true style and fashion quite succinctly.

In addition to some of the thoughts already posted, I think there is an impact from the accessibility of a wide array of furnishings. There was an explosion of home furnishings retailers starting in the 1980's with the expansion of Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. Before that, there weren't many options for furniture outside of furniture stores. So, now we have all of these home furnishing retailers bombarding us with catalogs, web sites and advertising to tell how our homes should look. It would be difficult not to be influenced. Honestly, is there anyone here who has never purchased one single item from Pottery Barn? I may not buy my furniture there, but I'll bet I would have bought some if I had started decorating in the 1980's.

Sure, but with less options (in the past), shouldn't things have looked *more similar, and with the myriad options available now---*less similar? It doesn't seem to be working out that way.

Back to my point - the permutations of the choices available should be limitless and yet people are afraid to be "different" which is back to the point that I think stinky-gardener was alluding to, which is that everyone seems to take what HGTV says as the decorating truth.

P.S. I have never bought anything at Pottery Barn and don't intend to do so.

Blfenton, yes, I just marvel at the cultural impact HGTV has exerted.

Speaking of priceless, Pal's words are:

"It's like signing a prenup on your furniture. You know it's doomed to failure when it comes to pleasing you, so you might as well plan ahead. But you want to hook up with it anyway for temporary pleasure, 'cause you have a way out."

I think part of the worry about being "dated" is the sheer amount of $$$$ invested. Everyone wants to believe that their choices are so "different" they will stand the test of time when others' choices won't. I've seen so many white, marble, crystal/schoolhouse light kitchens and they're beautiful, but the very fact that they're so common means they will later be identifiable as being from a certain decade. And, there's nothing wrong with that. They'll still be beautiful, but it's likely some of the owners will bemoan their past choices and want whatever is in vogue in 10 years. Many of these new white kitchens replaced perfectly fine "dated" kitchens.

I am retired and know how good it feels to have retirement fully funded. I fear for the younger generation, who won't have the benefit of defined pensions, and must save to fully fund theirs. I always hope when I read about these huge unnecessary changes that the individuals have plenty of money and are still able to put away enough for retirement, future health care costs, and their childrens' college educations (which have risen unbelievably!).

I always remember the line from "Silence of the Lambs": "You covet what you see." When what we see changes, what we covet changes.

My parents weren't influenced by HGTV or the internet or online forums, and just purchased what they liked....and then kept until it HAD to be replaced, which wasn't often, because they took care of their things; their living sofa is 44 years old, and looks new. I think they've owned 3 toasters in their 65 years of marriage. I can't imagine they have ever even contemplated replacing their solid wood 60s kitchen cabinets.

I'm guilty as well. I replaced a beautiful bell jar lantern entry light we purchased when we built the house 13 years ago because it was trimmed in brass, even though it was solid brass, because brass was "dated". I don't love my new light nearly as much. I also change rugs, pillows often, and have a stash of accessories in rotation, but I don't change furniture because I always buy classic.
Dee

Why should there be anything particularly wrong with evoking a specific era? We castigate our parents'/grandparents' generation for "ruining" Victorian houses by removing the beautiful X, Y, or Z when all they were doing was "updating".

So what is the matter if the house somehow evokes the 1980s (instead of the 1880s) if that's what it is? I am not saying it needs to remain a period piece, but why go through and change the door hinges for example, because they are not ORB, or brushed nickel.

My parents, btw, have the bottle opener that they got as a shower present (1955) and it is "the bottle opener" that belongs in the kitchen. It was misplaced when I had a friend home and she offered to "Go to Walmart and buy TEN so we would all stop being so ridiculous" about finding it. We found it.

OMG, so funny you should say, " why go through and change the door hinges for example, because they are not ORB, or brushed nickel." I'm just about to do that in my 1987 house!

I'm in the the middle of my bath re-do and my icky brass knobs & hinges are standing out even more (not in a good way!) I just purchased brushed nickel for the one bathroom, but realize there will be a domino effect, at least for this floor!

We are not talking pretty, well-crafted brass pieces, though. If they were, it would make sense to keep them, regardless of whether they matched my light fixures, etc., but they are hideous. In fact, the builder wrote numbers in magic marker on a hinge on each door! Magic marker! I don't think Cokie Roberts would approve!

Besides, I really like brushed, silver-toned metals. I don't have any idea if they will soon "be dated" but they look so pretty with my things and make me smile. Brushed silver is what most of my jewelry is.

I have lots of 'dated' stuff, in fact maybe my entire house could be considered dated. Oh, except for those 'timeless' things I've managed to find. Being dated doesn't bother me at all altho I agree the word is used pejoratively and I guess I should hang my head in shame as I could afford better (if I cared). I do get what you are saying tho and it's a complicated subject with many causes. I agree with what roarah said: "I think it stems from an instant gratification and entitlement society. People expect the latest and greatest and do not take steps to arrive at it. I am floored by people's first homes. No one seems to start with starter homes they start with 2500 to 5000 sf because that is what someone else has, does not matter if they could not afford it or fill it.

There seems to be a herd mentality with many younger people. They want to have the same things as their friends and seem to be afraid to be different. I think this has come about because of the importance that's been placed (by industry and sport) on being a 'team player'. IMO people worth knowing don't judge you because you may seem a bit eccentric but that's frowned on these days in many circles. I believe one can retain one's autonomy and still play with the team when required.

I believe that the poor quality of much of today's furniture is also a factor. Things made of chipboard and veneer start to look shoddy very quickly and don't 'patina' well. It also doesn't help that many parents today allow their children carte blanche to destroy their furniture. "Back in the day" (showing my age here) we wouldn't have dared jump all over the LR furniture.

The easy availability of credit has also fueled this. Why deny oneself the latest when the VISA card is so handy.

Shopping has become another religion. And then the domino effect takes over when something new is purchased and changes 'must' be made so everything 'matches'. The dreaded 'matching' word.

This thread calls for:

Here is a link that might be useful: The Story of Stuff!

I am not a hardcore preservationist, either. Once I am through with my (1963, modernist) house, probably every door, piece of hardware, and trim will have been removed and replaced. But, with something that looks like it Could have been there in 1963. And, once it's done, in essence...it's done.

Just from my particular viewpoint, I don't want my decor to evoke any particular period...not 1880 nor 1980. I might feel differently if I were trying to restore a period home to its original grandeur, but I doubt it.

Pal and Lirio, and so many others - you've totally expressed the thoughts that run through my head every time I read a post about something being 'dated'! I collect antiques and near antiques, and mix them with my comfy modern (as in the sense of new, non-style overstuffed leather, etc.) so I just have to wonder where people on the forums are getting the idea that arched panels are 'dated', shaker panels not - both styles are hundreds of years old, for goodness sake! There really nothing truly new about furnishings styles for the past what - 60 years or so? - and that was the inclusion of plastics and acrylics.

Herd mentality was mentioned, and I think that plays into these ideas so many are expressing. I think that due to the microcosm of the forums, it also seems much more prevalent than IRL - after all, mfg's drop unprofitable lines in a heartbeat, so if no one was actually buying what's named 'dated' here, they would soon disappear from mfg catalogs. Still plenty of raised panel options, brass options, carpet options, etc. available, so I'd venture that IRL, lots of folks don't conside those options 'dated'. One of the reasons I'm drawn to these forums is the psychology of it all - a uniquely widespread, yet 'in a vacuum' microcosm - it's fascinating, and fun, and even if I dont always agree with a lot of ideas expressed, there are always a lot I do agree with. I guess that makes me a true eclectic, in both decor and conversation likes! And I'm sure that as those who are now obsessing about 'datedness' mature/evolve and they become more confident in their own tastes and likes/dislikes, they will cease to worry about what they imagine the masses are doing and focus more on what will inherently please themselves. At that point, 'dated' will leave their vocabularies, I'd surmise.

I think that is a good plan, but I don't think it is entirely unavoidable to evoke some period, because what is available changes. The book I mentioned has some pretty "classic" spaces but the book, and its rooms, are clearly 30+ years old. Even the 16th c. Italian Villa filled with a mix of period and MCM classics looks like it is from a slightly different era from now, (maybe because there is no current modernist furniture in the mix, who knows).

And with architecture, an 80s contemporary house is not the same as what is being built now, and will never be without changing some of it's essential volumes. People try to camouflage architecture, but it doesn't really work.

I can't speak to architecture because that's completely different and can't be updated simply or inexpensively, I don't think.

I suspect any room that hasn't been completely redecorated in the last ten years will have elements that those of you who are knowledgeable would be able to identify by year, but that doesn't mean the room as a whole evokes a certain period.

For instance, I have narrow plank oak hardwood throughout my home. Anyone with knowledge of flooring trends would recognize that the floors are a minimum of 15 - 20 years old. However, I don't think anyone would say that my rooms evoke 1990's decor. Changing things like paint, lampshades, toss pillows, draperies and rugs can easily refresh a space.

Don't you think that color can play a large part in the dated feel of a space? Not always, of course. I would never speak in absolutes. But, sometimes when I see a room that seems stale, I imagine changing the colors and it's amazing how much more current the room feels. I'll bet some of you have paint decks from prior decades and could speak knowledgeably about how paint colors offered have changed over the last five decades. I guess that example speaks to your idea, Pal, that what's available in the marketplace can influence how our rooms look and how current they feel.

Pal,

I love your thread, and so does the little fixer uppper I just bought that was built in 1940.
It, and I, are both dated.

Hgtv, I think you hit one of the nails on the head.--Color, for sure, particularly color combinations. More on this later :)

Forhgtv, your take on things is very interesting & well articulated. I enjoy your posts everywhere I read them! You don't seem HGTV-like at all, so your screen-name is confusing. Maybe you you are *For* "Houses Getting Terrific Visually?"

I've never bought anything from Pottery Barn, but I enjoy the catalogs and like 95% of what they sell. Just seems the prices on many of their things can run high for what you are getting. Having said that, have seen some very good buys on lighting and rugs there!

I love to look through the catalogs too Stinky - although I rarely buy from there. I have bought some of their bedding, and pillow covers and usually end up getting my feather pillow forms there, but that is it. Although I pick up some good ideas from the catalogs, I don't want my home to "look like Pottery Barn", if that makes sense. I also prefer unique items.

Anyway! I must admit I was a bit disappointed with their recent catalog. Not sure why, but I was. I remember some great fall decorating in last year's fall issue. I just didn't get the same feeling this year.

tina

With regards to color, I think that it is color combinations in particular that show age. Let's look at two pictures of this room:

A little stiff and formal, but stylistically there is not a piece of furniture in this room, furnished 42 years ago, that isn't still available, and the same goes for the textiles. Actually the original fabrics that were on some of the pieces are More available now than they were when some of the pieces were recovered. If I posted the pictures in color, you would have a much better idea of the time period.

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Yes, I see what you mean. Especially in the first photo. The only thing that seems "of a certain time" is the wall to wall carpet. If there were hardwoods with Persian rugs, the room be virtually impossible to guess the vintage of.

Pal - I am guessing that there's lots of pastels, is that why we would guess? A generation later would have had the jewel tones, and now ...?

I've been stripping paint layers off an interior door and seeing white, yellow, and dark green. Other trim in this house has been mustard and light blue.

When was this rule written that trim HAS to be stained or painted white??

Maureen, yes, in colonial America, the trim was often painted colors, and the walls were white. In the Williamsburg, VA house my sis just sold, she had white walls and gold (mustard) trim. She had neighbors who painted their trim and doors teal or cranberry against off-white walls!

You ask a good question for Pal. What now?

The matching, painted woodwork all in one shade of white comes from the problem of where to start and stop different paint colors in an open floorplan.

I have worked on houses that had a single ceiling plane on the entire first level, unbroken by any door headers or things like that. If you want different trim colors in a house like that, where do you start and stop? The crown molding and baseboards may run continually without a break throughout the whole level.

If you have a conventional plan with rooms and doorways, it is much easier to start and stop different colors.

The house pictured is kind of a split between an open and closed floor plan, and between the front hall and the kitchen there is a change in "whites" because the kitchen is "white" and the LR, DR and hall are kind of a dirty pearl color. The baseboard does not have a break and there is just kind of a line that was taped off at the most appropriate breaking point and it changes color. If this happened from 'room' to 'room', that gets kinda complicated.

Since you live in a house with distinct rooms, it isn't as much of an issue to change trim colors.

Thank you, Stinky-gardener, for your kind words and creative interpretation of my name. I wish I could change my name because I don't care for the channel any longer, but I guess that's not possible?

I love discussing ideas with and learning from all of the talented posters here.

Pal, the other element I notice in the second picture is the shape of and skirt on the club chair. Taking the skirts off some furniture seems to be in style and club chairs seem to feature a squarer shape right now.

They are actually tub, or barrel back chairs, so they are more 19th c. in shape than 20th, but sure, it would be more updated to show the leg. (There is a mate in the MBR). They are probably the most (only, really) comfortable chairs, because you sit low and enveloped. The other furniture is all a bit stiff to sit in. If I have those chairs, someday they will probably be reupholstered with an exposed leg. They have nice little brass caps and wheels, if I remember.

The skirt on that chair always bothered my mother because it didn't sit perfectly flat, the welt was not cut on the bias, and so it didn't stretch enough to allow the fabric to lay flat. (The regular upholsterer was in prison, I remember :)

Here it is, in all it's mid-80s colors. The original 1960s colors were mostly grass greens, and golds, although the Regency chairs retain their original silk seats in kind of a coral.
I think the only piece that screams of the era is the peach colored mohair tufted love seat, and if you recovered that and put in a wood floor and persian, it would look pretty good. This will never happen of course, my father is 87.

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Actually I'm good with the peachy tufted loveseat because I find that whole wall interesting and fun. It looks like it was put together with love.
I think that the flame-inspired patterned couch says 80's more. Change that and add wood floors and I would like that room. (I like it anyway because an elderly parent lives in it.)
My mom at 83 is still in her home and although the colours are different the furniture is the same including the chair to the left of the fireplace and the delicate side tables.

I too think it's only the patterned couch that stands out as "something you just don't see anymore".

The regular upholster was in prison . LOL! I'm imagining an incident involving a staple gun or a pillow fight gone bad.

Every time I see that picture, I'm reminded of my grandmother's house. I have her brass andirons in the basement here, identical to those.
I should get rid of them but don't know if they have any value.

Those are Virginia Metalcrafters and fairly valuable to the right person. If yours are, you could probably list them on eBay.

The andirons are beautiful.

The flame stitch patterned sofa is the bomb, as far as I am concerned! I feel it's very in keeping with what's happening right now in fabrics! The cane-back chairs also look very current.

Wood floors and a great rug, and that room would be so 2012! Your parents did a great job, Pal!

Thanks, P. I'll check them out.

The word - dated- itself insinuates we decorate to be "in", to show off. I hope when people come into my home they think "This feels like her home".

I live in a small 1950 era home. Both interior and exterior had been repainted when I bought it. Am not cottage, a mix of now and rustic. Have always been addicted to rugs, pillows, slipcovers, fabrics, I can change on a whim. There was a PB interior by PO when buying the house. It meant nothing to me.

As I slowly repainted, I found that the interior of this house was entirely robin egg blue, even the doors and window trim, eluded my vision. How long this had been on the walls is of interest. It was only one paint layer down. And what the furnishings were with this color peaks my interest.

I too changed all hardware, due to getting rid of slab doors. Regret not keeping the original old brass even though it was not ornate, but different from anything found now.

There is nothing like our media now to steer our thoughts and likes. I take nothing from them anymore and know clearly that it did a great job on me in past. But we do have a great deal more to select from and find creativity through so many others for our own wants and likes.

Yes, an old HGTV watcher until it started going off into uselessness and staged programs. It did bring some humor. Now I've been watching Nate Burkus. At first was enjoying a difference, but tired early on with his ongoing repeat of natural rugs and framing fabrics of same patterns for rooms. The only thing I get out of it is showing peoples loved homes which are totally different from the norm of pushing a specific style. I fast forward on most of the show now.

Admission that I am influenced here. I'd love a white kitchen, but haven't gotten up the nerve to paint perfectly good cabinets. What I have seen looks wonderful, clean and with so much light.

What I am not influenced by is beige and grays. Went there on walls. I'm done with the beige era and going to white shades. Apologies to those who have, but it reads contractor color to me. Definitely has it's place and works well in rooms seen. On the other hand I have brick red kitchen walls with natural stone....most likely influenced.

Still love decorating blogs, this site, trying new things. The artist/engineer in me needs all.

I volunteered at Restore for 4 years and it was amazing how many perfectly beautiful, expensive full kitchens showed up. Plus natural stone counters. Always curious what was being changed. Plus bunches of brass everything which is now back.

Is dated also described as trends? Or what we are comfortable with? Taking care of what what we have, something will always need a bit of updating. And this is where I do allow myself to look at current rather than dated.