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Do Our Decorating Styles Skip a Generation?

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I have this theory.

I may be wrong; I often am. But I wonder….do our decorating styles skip a generation?

Let me try to explain; and I can only refer to my particular style, of course.

I grew up in a house full of modern furniture. It was full of Danish Modern or Modern – what is now called Mid-Century Modern. I don’t know if I had any intense reactions to it at the time, it was just there. But I knew, even then, I would never decorate that way. And when I see the Mid-Century Modern craze, though I can admire rooms decorated that way, I know I wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. Been there, done that. I have a friend, about 20 years younger than me, whose home is decorated in that style. She didn’t grow up with it, I suspect.

My mom, on the other hand, grew up with my grandmother’s style, which was not in any way, shape, or form, modern. It was closer to traditional with a wicker rocker or two, touches of cottage and lots of china displayed in china cabinets.

Do you see where I’m going here?

Do we skip a generation in our decorating tastes? Do we want something other than what we grew up with?

Mom wanted anything but her mother’s style.

So did I.

I hearken back to grandma’s style of decorating, except I am much more casual. My grandmother’s home, though cheery and welcoming, was neat as a pin, nothing out of place. Everything was arranged.

And I don’t really go for Traditional. If I had some of grandma’s dark mahogany furniture, I would paint it. (Except for the piano.) She might not like that.

My mom’s home was full of a lot of beige. I don’t do beige. I do color. And that red chair below? I bought it because it reminded me of a chair in my grandmother’s den. But mine is more colorful. I decided last year that my style is Christmas in Connecticut, a reference to the cozy, overstuffed, slipcovered style of that movie.

The only room where there is a hint of beige, well, rather more than a hint, is the den. I bought this rug many years ago:

You can see it in this photo. It was from Pottery Barn and it had the red that I love and it worked in our little rental cottage. So when it came time to find an inexpensive slip cover for our much-too-old sofa, I went with this:

Beige. Or as I prefer to call it, Deep Ecru.

Believe me, I thought long and hard before I ordered it because I hate beige. The pops of red help, don’t you think? This color would never be in the den if I couldn’t  enhance it with color.

Likewise, you won’t see me decorating with Avocado Green. Or Harvest Gold. Remember those colors?

But the den is a little homage to my mom. With my style added. I sort of like that. But only in one room.

I suspect that if I had a daughter or son, they would be decorating in Mid-Century Modern – my mom’s style. Skipping a generation. They would probably run screaming from my cottagey, cozy, vintage, recycled, colorful look. Thanks but no thanks.

I don’t have human children, so I can’t test that theory.

What are your thoughts? How does your style relate to your mom’s or your grandmother’s? What about your children? My theory might be hogwash. Who knows? I’m fascinated by this stuff, so I’d love to hear. Let’s have a discussion!

Happy Thursday.

Comments

  1. Oh, Claudia, so true! I grew up in a ranch with plenty of Harvest Gold and Avocado Green, along with Danish modern coffeetables. Add to that a brownish tweed recliner that clashed terribly with the orange and brown shag rug (hello seventies!!) in the living room, and tons of tissue paper flowers in bright orange and yellow in my bedroom–it all added up to a hodge podge effect that was ‘home’ but definitely not my style. Everyone in my family has always agreed that I was born in the wrong time period, so of course my tastes go straight back to my grandmother’s farm house, my great-grandmother’s pioneer roots, and even my Puritan ancestors from the 1600s. In other words–give my vintage, give me antique and give me interesting and quirky and I’m a happy camper.

    • Oh boy, we had tweed recliners as well. 2 of them. One for mom and one for dad. And we had glass tchotchkes in orange. Yikes.

  2. I think you are right! I never thought about it, but my grandmother’s house had things I loved, and still do. I have her secretary desk, her china tea cups and saucers, her collection of glass hats and slippers, and these things are what is important to me. My mother never cared about antiques, and I love them. She followed trends in decorating. I don’t. I’ve always thought my grandma and I were soul mates, and I guess that shows in what I love.
    nancyr

    • My mom definitely avoided antiques. My grandmother loved them, but hers were all things passed down from family members.

  4. I think it’s a good theory. When I first saw mid-Century coming back, I couldn’t believe it. And then brass! I thought I would die. My aversion has softened and although I could never go full-on mid-Century, I wouldn’t mind, and I’ve even considered, ways I could integrate them into an electic mix of things.

    Fun post!

  5. My mother loved orange; I hate it. But when we got married my father was retiring from the Navy and moving from Virginia across the country and they gave us their living room set, 2 bedrooms of furniture and a dinette set. It was in great shape as my mother was meticulous (fanatic is the better word) about cleanliness. We had to sell it when WE moved across the country to California 4 months later. I don’t know whether it was her taste that I abhorred but the orange didn’t help. Skip a generation? I didn’t. I developed my own tastes through the years and love what I’ve done now. Does it take 50 years to determine our taste or just a “maturity”? I don’t know but I’m different from any other women in my family.

    Yours I’d call “cozy cottage comfort” and it certainly looks that way. To each his/her own, but I do like your cottage decor. It seems to “fit” you and your hubby and fur children, sugar. :-)

    xoxo,
    Connie

    • Yes, I agree, Connie. I lean toward my grandmother’s style but I’ve made it my own. And I think it does take a while to determine our tastes – and not to be too influenced by ‘trends.’

  6. Claudia, when I was in college, in some of the atr and design classes, it was strongly emphasized that about every 30 years the same sort of trend comes back around. If you think about it, they were right. In the 20s, 50s, 80s, and now, so called modern styles were “in”. It is definitely true in the fashion world and holds up pretty well for decorating too. I believe that every generation thinks that they are starting a new trend…. In order to do so, they look back to just before they were born and create their own version.

    • You are so right – every generation does think they are starting a new trend. What goes round comes round, isn’t that the phrase?

  7. I’ve been wondering about this myself, Claudia. I think of our cottage as a French gardener’s carriage house, which evolved from a love of French art, nature, and gardening. Seems I skipped several generations & even changed countries. :O

  8. My mother worked and didn’t have much time to decorate with six kids to take care of. But both my sisters and I love pretty tablecloths, cloth napkins, and placemats on our tables. None of us are into antiques and I’m blessed to be given both sisters home decor items when they decided to redecorate. My home is full of furniture that has been given to us, I can pretty much make everything work together. My mother and grandmother both loved a clean house
    and so I know that was passed on to my sisters and I.

    • Yes, I have that same ‘clean house’ gene – though a bit more flexible than my grandmother! How fun that you and your sisters can share things and make them work!

    • True. Hopefully, as we grow older, we can appreciate our mom’s decorating style and maybe even incorporate a smidgen of it?

  10. First time I thought about style related to furniture was when my parents put an orange carpet and white beds and a white in-built wardrobe into their new bedroom. It was 1970. I was 8 years old. I never ever will have an orange carpet and white furniture. It’s … I can’t find words for it. ;-)

    On the other hand, I liked my grandmother’s sofa (we were allowed to sit on it only for 7 minutes to watch “guetnachtgschichtli” on tv), the bed in the dining room (I still have a picture with my grandfather having me (6 months old) on his big round belly) and her pantry with the glass windows. And her telephne (called Wand 50). This one we have! :-)

    • I remember my grandma’s sofa as being a bit too ‘scratchy ‘ it was very 40’s – but I liked the style of it.

  11. Claudia, this is so interesting. I have got several personalities when it comes to decorating. But if I had to narrow it down, I love traditional style. It’s just that I like to put a quirk or two in it (my grandmother did, too, and she loved slipcovers and the cottage style which I incorporated into several homes over the years). My mother had to live with my father’s family pieces, and they were all mahogany. But they were beautiful antiques. I liked most everything my mother liked. We had very similar taste in clothes and design. But if I really sit down and analyze it, I have taken bits and bobs from my various relatives and friends whose styles I admire.

    One interesting note. My aunt loved turquoise. I think she had it in her china patterns, one by Lenox and one by Wedgwood as I recall. She had it in various touches in her dining room and living room in the second house they lived in when I was growing up, and I can remember she even had some sort of turquoise hand-painted fruit on one of the built-in bookcases in her first home and later in the second. And I found myself gravitating toward that color over the years. And before I knew it, I started seeing HER in our house! When I was little, everything I loved was pink. I even had a pink phone in my room, requested to Santa. Not a private line, mind you, but a pink extension. LOL! As my friend Debbie says, I loved to “yak” back then, too. Then we moved, and all of my cabbage rose wallpaper (which I got to select from a group of five my mother liked… she was SMART that way) and our Victorian house gave way to a new, Georgian ranch (if there is such an animal) when my parents moved. My next bedroom was a boring box with lovely silk beige curtains with blue silk trim. So I had to kick up the pattern quotient I had always lived with before. This time, I told my mother I wanted lavender. So she picked out the only fabric her decorator had on hand that incorporated blue and lavender (and pink…though it was hot pink which I didn’t like and never told Mama for some reason). It was not my favorite, and is still on my rocker, and I questioned the choice. But I was happy with a lavender (is this lavendar or lavender???) velvet chaise. LOL I went wild over this color because one of my friends had it in her room. Her mother was an artist and decorator, and my friend had Victorian furniture, too. So I thought it would look good in my room. But I still hate that fabric that was foisted on me. I can’t believe my mother didn’t hate it, too. She relied on tihs so-called decorator who I am convinced bought this for another client who rejected it. ;-)

    My middle sister has exquisite taste, and my older sister has hybrid taste. Not sure where it came from, but she always had a lovely, comfortable home. She just did not like antiques for years. That changed later, and I liked that house best. It was gorgeous, but my middle sister had a knack of making anywhere she lived charming. She had a carriage house in Charleston that was on the Ansonborough Tour years ago. She had the gift.

    Interestingly, my father had a say-so, a strong one, in every decorating decision that was made, and he had phenomenal taste. Very masculine man, but he liked beautiful things. He only liked to drink out of Haviland cups (likely due to his mother), and yet, no space in the house could be too foufou. He did not do foufou. Cabbage roses, yes. Fuofou, no. The public spaces of the house had a mascunline, traditional sensibility, even with Victorian furnishings in some rooms, and the colors were subdued. The master bedroom could not be feminine, but our bedrooms could be and were. To this day, the public spaces iin our home have a more masculine sensibility, and the bedrooms more feminine. It works for Mr. Magpie and me, and he is a dream, gving me carte blanche to do what I want. But I always try to please him because he lives here, too. But I am just not a foufou girl. You won’t see that in any space I design. I appreciate it in others, though. And I am a great lover of chintz. If I had to choose a style for my parents and us, I would say Country English. Same with Mr. Magpie’s family. His mom is the queen of the undecorated English look, and it works so well. My grandmother was the queen of country cottage before there was such a thing, and when she turned 70, she painted ALL and I mean ALL of her furniture. She had always painted her kitchen cabinets (and she had loose standing furniture and not built-in cabinets) and her ladder back chairs and kitchen table white, but then she let loose and just painted it all. LOL. She loved Hull pottery, too. She was so cute. She would have loved Mockingbird Hill Cottage. I can see her happily puttering there (both inside and out), and she had a sewing machine like YOURS. She even had a little white dog named Mike who was a Spitz.

    XO,

    Sheila

    • So interesting, Sheila! My dad, as far as I know, had very little to do with the decorating decisions in our house. Don is much more active in that area. I almost always run things by him and he quite often has an even better idea…

      I had a lavender bedroom, too! So different than anything in my parents’ house. I had lavender print curtains and a matching bedspread. I loved that room!
      xo

  13. Hi Claudia, I do not care a bit for beige either. The living space of the yellow house was painted beige when we bought it and the first thing I did was paint it a soft butter yellow. I kept repeating to myself as I painted “banish the beige.” My mother was an antique and vintage loving gal just like me. She also loved china. Although we had major issues that we had in common. Olive

  15. Oh Claudia – you are so right. I’ve never thought of it before but you are definitely right. I grew up in a house with avocado green, harvest gold and orange. Oh and a pink tiled bathroom – and this was a house my parents built in 1961 so they got to choose all the finishes. We had gold and green in the kitchen. The living room was green sharp edged upholstered pieces with lots of wood. A harvest gold pole lamp, a naked reclining woman in orange pottery on the coffee table with a matching ASHTRAY! Yuch…We had orange shag carpeting. It makes me shudder to think of it.

    My Grandma on the other hand lived in a little old wooden house that looked like it was leaning a little to the side. The floors were ancient sheets of linoleum with flowered “rug” patterns. Her bed was a pile of homemade quilts and blankets and chenille. Her pillow cases were flour sacks that had been bleached and bleached to remove the printing. The living room was a place to walk through to get to the kitchen. She served you green milky tea in her cosy kitchen on chairs with homemade cushions. Lots of old mismatched china, enamelled pots, a whistling kettle, geraniums in the windows, homemade sugar cookies and warmth from the wood stove. My favourite place as a child was the adjoining shed which was filled with all the odds and ends that were brought from the farm. Rings of skeleton keys, old broken down furniture, washboards, butter churn and press. I used to root around there and find treasure like I was Gollum.

    I have my mother living with me and I can see the concessions I have made in my decorating style for her but if I was allowed to run crazy, my house would be the cozy clutter of my Grandma’s. J

  16. Ha ha ha ! Claudia your’s is the second post in two days that said you didn’t care for the Avocado Green or Harvest Gold…
    and AGAIN I must say… I like those colors!!! They aren’t for everybody. But neither are CHEVRON or STRIPED pillows.
    I think of them more as GREEN AND YELLOW. I’ve seen them both done nicely recently. :)

    But that isn’t what your question was…
    My style is “Make Do”. My mother’s style was ‘Early Thrift Store’ and my Granny’s style was “Handed Down”

    I like the Mid-Century Modern– though it isn’t really for me. I don’t really want it. However, I think If I were living in the City or even a SubUrban area… (especially an apartment) I might try to pull it off.
    But my setting is in the country. I think SETTING has a lot to do with how we decorate. HAS YOUR TASTES CHANGED DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU’VE LIVED?
    My previous house was a more MODERN AT THE TIME (built in 1987) I live in it during the early 90’s…so my taste was more contemporary…though I was trying to go more cottagey. I didn’t have the internet…only magazines to go by and to me MAGAZINES ARE THE TREND SETTERS…everybody else follows.

    My Granny had lots of “handed down” furniture; as HALF of HER mother’s house was a rental = DUPLEX. So whatever cast off the tenants left, my granny used for her home. So she had lots of furniture from the 30’s and 40’s…and some 50’s…. I love that stuff! Big over stuffed chairs and couches… some ART DECO water fall type furniture. In fact I’ve “inherited” quite a few pieces from that time period.
    My mother— used some of it, long enough to hand it down to me. But she really leaned more ‘Early American– thrifted” Lots of MAPLE WOOD TONES… QUIT DULL REALLY. I don’t care for it. We did have Avocado green in our kitchen. The telephone, stove and I think the sink… (funny, I can’t remember now)… oh yes! it was always full of dishes!!! (my mother and my granny weren’t very good housekeepers.) I FIGHT THAT THE OLDER I GET!!!! I could write a book on that!!! .

    I love this… I’m going back up to read Ms. Magpie’s comment. Pat

    • I’m not a fan of the Chevron craze. But in the days when I used to do needlepoint, I didn’t like Bargello, either and that’s a sort of Chevron design.

      Yes, my tastes have change according to where I live. Most definitely. We rented a Craftsman style house in San Diego and if I could have afforded it I would have filled it with that style of furniture. But now I see it as too dark and depressing. This cottage, which was built in 1891, suits this decorating style of mine and I feel like I’ve finally ‘come home.’

      A lot of my friends growing up lived in homes decorated in Early American – very Ethan Allen. I used to love that style just because it was so different than ours.
      xo

  17. My MOM had a style similar to my grandparents when I was growing up…there was some classic and good Ethan Allen sort of pieces, and antiques picked up here and there, and alot of furniture was purchased as unpainted, and then “antiqued’ …..I did this too when younger …..paint and then stain over the paint to get an older look to the piece. When my parents divorced most of the good stuff ( Glassware, a spinning wheel, other antiques ) were sold. Many years later once us girls were out of the house and she was making decent money, her treat was to go collecting….her style changed and became what I think you’d call Country Primitive ? Here ‘s a link to a post that I did not too long ago with some pictures of her house
    http://www.thehomespun.com/my-moms-country-decor/

    My house is a bit of a mish mash….I don’t know what sort of style I would have it I had real money and the perfect timing to do what I wanted. When my husband and I split up years and years ago, I first rented a horrible place and then after about 2 years took the step to purchase a home. It is small. it was about $75000 at the time. I could not take the time to rent and fix the home up first before moving in….you know, stay in one place while you refinish all the hardwood floors in the other place…that sort of thing. So its a mix: some pictures and paintings on the wall are inheirited or were Christmas gifts….some I specifically chose and treated myself to. Some were fillers picked up at TJ Maxx. My blog has SOME pics and posts of portions of the house…in the Home / my 1917 bungalow section there. Between a galley kichen, bowling alley sort of living room, radiators everywhere and so on….it’s not the easiest place to do what you want in, lol!

    • It requires some inventive decorating, I bet! Our house does, too. It’s small, quirky, with not enough closet space and with slanted ceilings/walls in the upstairs rooms. We definitely have a bit of a mish-mash, too, but it is a mish-mash that we’re very fond of.

      • I have the slanted ceilings upstairs too. I forgot about that! So…when I moved I couldn’t use the mirror above my dresser, I couldn’t use the tall bookshelves that I had, and much more. LOL I have gotten so used to those ceilings I forgot to list them as an ‘issue’ ;)

  18. Everything does cycle around again. One of my daughters decorates in a 70’s style with oriental accents. That’s what my home was when she was born. She avoids the 80’s design style like the plague, but that is the style she will have most remembered as a kid. The other daughter favours the English country style that was in her great grandma’s house. Neither of them would copy my present French chic look but the grandkids rave over it!

  19. I think that we are more likely today to have a mix of styles, rather than the whole package. I grew up with mahogany furniture, and still love it , but will mix damask with homespun. I also alternate the pewter, copper and brass. I don’t care for the “mid century modern” , but if we find a Harry Bertoia chair at a yard sale, will will grab it and install a very traditional cushion. In a similar vein, my parents (I’m 63) grew up in houses with hot air, coal fired heating which was dusty. They embraced wall to wall carpeting because it was easier than constantly cleaning the wood floors.

    • I like a mix of styles myself, as well. I think in my parents’ day, you bought bedroom suites and matching end tables for the living room and your chairs and sofa were made by the same manufacturer. I think it was a big deal to my parents to be able to buy a suite of furniture. Funny how these things change! And will continue to do so.

  20. Oh Claudia, this is such an interesting post. I agree with you. I was born in the early 50’s, child of the 60’s, and came of age in the early 70’s. I appreciate mid-century, but cannot live with it. My hubby and I were gifted two orange Danish modern chairs early in our marriage. And while I appreciated them because we needed chairs, it was a glorious day when they were gifted to someone else!

    My grandmother lived with us, so my Mom’s style and hers were well integrated. I have a traditional style, with an appreciation for mid century bowls, vases, and brass wall sculptures. It’s a very gifted style, some contemporary traditional, and lots of basic hand-me-downs! But, it is home and I wouldn’t change a thing!

  21. Claudia, I find this so interesting too! My Mom’s home is gorgeous! Absolutely stunning. Traditional, with touches of warmth and cozy throughout. However, as much as I love it, and think it is beautiful, my style couldn’t be more polar opposite. I love antiques. WORN…vintage, comfy, cozy, quilts, throws, things from days of old…..etc. We are both neat freaks, my Mom and I, me being the one who is far more over the top. There isn’t a thing in my mother’s home that is not touchable, usable, and it is very much a put your feet up on the table kind of place. But oh so lovely.
    My house, far more eclectic. My grown daughters have styles all their own as well. My oldest girl has a style much more like my Mom’s. She likes fine things, and leans more to the traditional side of decorating. My middle daughter is eclectic, and as so many are in her age group, she loves black, and animal prints and such. My son lives with his girlfriend, and neither of them have a care in the world about how their place looks. Function over form all the way. Their place is early American Mom’s cast offs!!!
    I do find it very interesting about decorating styles and how we come about our own.
    Hugs,
    Kris

    • Yes, and did you find that it took a while for you to find your own style? I sure experimented along the way!

  22. Your cottage is so pretty, Claudia. Much more spare than mine and lighter in feeling but still so comfortable and homey. I love that in your photos. Our family situation is a bit different as a result of the depression in my grandmother’s generation, and economical concerns in both my mother’s and mine. So I think for several generations our style has been eclectic by necessity, with an emphasis on “traditional” pieces. (In fact I think I collect furniture from their era to make up for the items that were never there to pass down.)

    • I think a lot of people do that – try and recreate something that was never there to be passed down.

      • It took me awhile to figure that out, actually. Although… now that I think of it, even though my daughter does lean towards a style similar to my own, she only likes things that are brand new! So in that respect, your theory is spot on!!

  23. I remember the brown sofa going into the garbage truck, I cried hysterically. And to be replaced with the avocado plaid, well yuck! I do not decorate like Mom at all thats for sure.
    Hugs,
    Mere

  24. Claudia, I think you are on to something! You should apply for a government grant to do formal research, you could probably get a couple of million for the study. I never really thought about it, but it holds true in my family, at least. My grandmother was all cozy, warm, cottage style. (Not that she, or I, knew she had a style, lol) My mom had the typical mid -century horrors. All the bathroom and kitchen appliances and fixtures were PINK. The floor was a speckled pink-and-baby-blue tile, the living room furniture was white “Naugahyde”, it was hideous. My home is much more like my granny’s. But one of daughters loves “mid-century” and yearns, positively yearns, for a pink kitchen! Ye gods.

    • It’s fascinating, isn’t it? My piano teacher had a sofa and chairs covered in clear plastic. Go figure.

  25. Well, I wouldn’t decorate like my mother for anything but both my girls have inherited my style and say they will decorate their homes like mine. Maybe we are an anomaly. I also wouldn’t decorate like my grandmother. Here style could be classified as early Liberace.

    Love your yarn storage and think it’s brilliant and totally want it. My stash is getting out of control!

  26. Never knowing my mother, I have no idea what she would have done. Grew up with my great-grandmother. But I don’t really remember any style. I just remember the quilts. So I guess that’s what I took from there. They weren’t on display like mine are but were there.
    Brenda

  27. Claudia,
    One of my favorite posts. Love the comments. I grew up a Navy brat and we had white walls and generic homes wherever we went. My parents called their style “early American garage sale”. However, my mother did have a few horrible accents-plastic grape clusters, orange ashtrays and hideous orange throw rugs. I adored my mother, but her taste–not so much.
    My style is much like yours–vintage comfortable cottage. One grandma was Southern traditional the other was a migrant farmworker so her style was “use it up, wear it out or do without”. I like to think that I got my appreciation for the simple things in life from all of them. I have a large sign that hangs in my living room that reads “SIMPLIFY”. I guess that’s my style.
    Clara

    • I like the thought of a sign that says Simplify, Clara. I think the biggest decorating challenges must belong to those who are in the military and move all the time.

  28. I grew up in the sixties and seventies and those are the styles I remember seeing in my parents’ house. There were mid-century modern pieces and traditional pieces, depending on which room you were in. There was first a white Frigidaire, then a “yellow” one and eventually the “green” one. Carpeting throughout the house, green short shag (shudder). My parents were children of the depression, so they held onto most things for years and I still have the dressers they bought when they first married. Actually my daughter has them now. Most of my stuff in my house is old, used furniture. I like that. I know my mother probably craved new furniture and she got it eventually as they progressed in age and financial success. My style? Gosh, I can’t define it at all. I do have a beige couch, mainly because any pillows I throw on it go well. Since I’m renting for the moment, I feel like our home is not really ours for the time being. Lots of stuff just stayed in boxes in anticipation for a permanent move, I hope. My “dream” home is to have a small bungalow or cottage and work off of that look. I would like to lighten up some of my furniture with paint and make everything bright and airy looking. Lots of blues, yellows and greens, and white. Don’t know when that will happen, but it’s what I look forward to in my hopes. I love your style. I hope to have a kitchen where I can put an island that I transformed from something else, just as you did. This was a thought provoking post, Claudia. Ann

    • I hope you find that bungalow, Ann! I know you will. We had an avocado green refrigerator and stove – I remember it well. Then when we bought a travel trailer for camping – it had avocado green appliances and fabrics, as well. As you might expect, I’ve had my fill of it!

  29. I didn’t know my grandparents, so I can’t say what their styles were, but I do have some of their china and silver, so I can guess that they were formal, traditional people. Ann

  30. I grew up with my Mother and Grandmother both having antiques and loved them then and still do. I probably have a little more traditional furniture but love having lots of antiques mixed in with them. My granddaughter, however, has a very traditional house with everything neat as a pin. No knick knacks anywhere. Maybe she just grew up in my house where every surface is covered! ha But, I do find, that as I get older I like more and more antiques. I’ve always had a love for linens and dishes as did my Mom. So, ?????

    Judy

    • My mom had absolutely no interest in antiques. She appreciated those pieces of china that had been passed down, but she was definitely of the “I want new” generation.

  31. So many insightful comments, do you need another? My mom decorated her newlywed house Early American. You’re right: nice, but not my style. Being an artist, I kinda go for the form follows function theory. Also love mod! Probably because we had none of it when it was popular– good design in a lot of mod pieces too. This post would make a heckuva interesting magazine article!

  32. My mom never liked antiques, and I have loved them since I was a little girl and spent lots of time in my grandmother’s house. My daughters have pretty much the same taste as I do. we love neutral colors and cottagey farmhousr decor.

    Hugs,
    Laura

  33. I have always loved the you home you and Don created. My mix is pulled together from flea markets, yard sales and antiques shops. My colors are autumn’s red, greens, mustard, and yes, a spot of orange. I also mix metals : bronze, brass and silver. I love this time of year because I can buy enough kitchen potholders and dishtowels to last the year. Fabrics vary from room to room and include lace, damask, linen, toile and leather. Accents are just as mismatched ~ I love deco, oriental, old world art and California pottery. My memories of childhood encounters with family homes are of set themes or eras. I don’t recall anyone ever straying from the decorating mode of the moment. Great topic. I’ve loved the comments left and how we are all house proud regardless of our individual style or lack of thereof.

    • I love a mix and it sounds like you do, too, Lynn. Oh, California pottery – I love it. And I miss seeing it. I have some pieces of Bauer, but not much, unfortunately.

  34. I have a large assortment of styles from which to pick..I think I’m basically a combination of the good from the old mixed with the new..My own style..That’s partly because of the family antiques that I have and appreciate more as I get older..

  35. Claudia, so , so true. And Martha (comment #1) you couldn’t have described my childhood home more exactly if you were my long lost sister. The only thing you didn’t mention was the sacred “dad” chair.

  37. That’s funny, Claudia…I never really thought about it before! I guess I’d describe my mom’s decorating style when I was growing up, as traditional. I like some traditional pieces (like the buffet in my living room – which belonged to my parents), but my decorating style is more cottage and eclectic. My grandma’s style? MESSY! My house is pretty neat and everything in its place.

  38. I love that you said your style was Christmas in Connecticut! That is one of my favorite movies and I thought of that when I first looked at pictures of your lovely home. I would agree with your theory, I grew up in a modern, traditional, minimalist style. I am only happy with colour, loads of pictures on the walls, velvet sofas, loads of books on shelves and I refer to it as cozy vintage. My kids will probably live in a sparse, new things only kind of home. lol.

  39. When our girls were young and I was always dragging home some piece of old furniture or junk, our oldest daughter told me that when she had a house of her own, she was NOT going to fill it with any of that old “stinky”stuff. No siree, she was going to buy all new stuff.

    She has her own home now and has more stinky things than I do.

    I love the way you’ve filled your home with color! Beige is not in abundance in our home either. Fun post!

  40. I think my mother’s taste and mine are pretty similar, although she passed away many years ago, so I can only guess. She detested “Danish Modern,” and her style was Early American. Lots of maple. I don’t have any maple furniture, but I think she would love my cottage style. When I was decorating my first apartment in the early 70s though, my style was “Mediterranean,” which was much different from what I grew up with. As I have gotten older, my style has evolved. One of my favorite pieces in my home now is my mother’s wing chair. It was originally a brown tweed, and I have it slipcovered in a pink and cream stripe. I think she’d love it! I know my dad did.

  41. I think you may be onto something. I do not share my Mom’s taste in decor or colour (or non colour in her case). She likes white, white and more white. My sister has just moved to a new home. She is doing an all white palette, our Mother is so proud. lol I remember my paternal grandparents home to the last detail. It wasn’t fancy. It was small, cozy and I always felt more “at home” there than at my real home.
    Now, I’m wondering if the pack rat gene skips a generation because I am not one and routinely clear out stuff. But my Mom is a champion pack ratter and my son is too. I shudder to think of what his own place will look like someday.

  42. Yep, I know exactly what you mean. I knew even as a child that there was no way I would decorate like my Mom. I looooved farmhouses, and old vintage finds, and chippy furniture, and quilts, and all that stuff from a bygone era, even then. My Mom loved contemporary, and we lived in a modern style house. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

    Now, my son, who is just about 9 years old (my oldest), has been telling me for the past year that he doesn’t like stuff that’s “old.” So there you go.

    It’s probably not common, but I *did* see a segment on Country Style on HGTV (I miss that show!! Anybody else love that show??) about a mother and daughter who both loved cozy, slipcovered, squashy, cabbage rose-y, chippy, style. They thrifted and antiqued togther and traded furniture pieces and had a ton of fun. So maybe it’s not a foregone conclusion.

    I can still hold out hope for my daughter! She’s only three, and so far her decorating preferences are Pink! Purple! Frilly! Sparkly! so we’ll see how that develops as she gets older.

    ~Angela~

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