Is it normal that i prefer outdated places over updated/remodeled?

88% Normal

I love older, outdated houses and buildings and find them much cozier and more interesting than updated ones with the current trends. I feel like today's trends are very boring, sterile, and neutral and there's not much variety. Just beige, gray, white, fake wood floors, gray/beige/white stone, etc. Plus, most of the materials that are trendy right now (stainless steel, matte finishes, etc.) look bad as soon as you touch them.

I like everything from the wood paneling/wainscoting, wallpaper, patterned linoleum, dark woodwork, shag carpet, spindles, and glittery ceilings of the 1970's, to the angular ceilings, oak woodwork, teal/mauve/pastel/etc. color schemes, floral wallpaper, brass hardware, etc. of the 1980's/1990's. I feel that places still decorated like this have a nice feel to them, whereas today's design just feels cold and bland.

Any time a place is remodeled, I always think it looked way better before.

When I buy a house, if it has modern/updated features, I plan to rip them all out and replace them with older style things.

Voting Results

88% Normal

Based on 26 votes (23 yes)

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Comments ( 23 )

Clunk42

4 years ago

One of my favorite jokes to make about HGTV is one from a couple in one of their shows.

They're getting their house remodeled and the wife gets pregnant. Their first thought is "Well, we're going to have a baby, better get that open concept!"

Open concept is stupid. "I want to watch my baby from the kitchen," people say when, in reality, their baby will just be in the kitchen with them, by the hot stovetops and ovens, because they can't close the kitchen off from the rest of the house because there is nowhere to put a baby gate.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  Yes, that's another thing! I hate open concept as well.
  
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  - raisinbran
    
    4 years ago
    
    I hate closed in spaces, narrow hallways and dark rooms. But you need a soundproof room or closet to stick the baby in when it loses its shit.
    
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RavenCage

4 years ago

It upsets me that modern architecture abandoned artistry and intricate details in order to pursue simplicity and a generally bland, neutral outlooks. And oh does it get on my nerves when they wipe away an old classic house to make it modern.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  Exactly! I hate it, too. There used to be so much intricate detail, and now it's just bland and boring, like a hospital room.
  
  I hate it when they remodel nice older places as well. Why do people think every place needs to look exactly the same and that everyone in the world wants modern? I don't even get why most people think newer = better (usually the opposite, especially in terms of quality and craftsmanship) and think the boring crap is the best.
  
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dimwitted

4 years ago

I love reading nooks and window seats. New houses don't have those. I also like rotary phones.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  Ooh, yes!
  
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SomethingQuiteRecognizable

4 years ago

I like old and vintage style buildings too.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  I love them so much! It always makes me so sad to see them remodeled. :(
  
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libertybell

4 years ago

I hate how everything in houses now is grey. It looks so cold and boring. Nobody wants to use wallpaper anymore,and sometimes they'll just wallpaper ONE wall. That's so half-assed,and lazy. Everything's too plain for me.
The thing to do would be to buy a fixer-upper,and not fix it up.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  Exactly! I am so sick of beige, gray, and white. I can live with beige (but not in every room) and maybe white woodwork (though I really prefer natural wood), but I think gray is so depressing, cold and boring like you said, and overused.
  
  I love wallpaper, but yes, on every wall, not just one! Wallpaper is so much more interesting than a neutral-colored paint.
  
  I would love to buy a fixer-upper and not fix it up, but it seems like there are a lot of places that people just have to "renovate" and make into an exact copy of every other gray house out there before they put it on the market. I've seen two really cool outdated houses, but one had severe issues that would've cost several thousands of dollars to fix and wasn't kept up very nicely so everything was really worn and beat up to the point of being ruined and needing to be replaced anyway, and the other sold super fast. :(
  
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RoseIsabella

4 years ago

I can't stand the matte finish trend.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  Me neither! It looks dirty if you look at it the wrong way, and it looks cheap most of the time.
  
  As a professional cleaner, I do the final construction cleanups for a lot of places that are about to open or have been freshly remodeled. I have noticed a lot of matte finished wooden tables and desks, stainless steel everything, and those crappy vinyl fake wood floors. All of these things look dirty and gross immediately as soon as they're touched (or walked on in the case of the floors). I can't wait for the trend of surfaces like these to die, and I don't know why things that only look nice for the 5 seconds they're clean before someone touches them are so popular.
  
  The matte wood finish just looks and feels like (and probably is) plastic to me. It shows fingerprints the minute it's touched and the dark stuff streaks horribly, even with good "non streaking" cleaners.
  
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  - RoseIsabella
    
    4 years ago
    
    The house I'm living in now is fairly new, all the paint is matte, and I hate it. I hate how it feels to the touch. Eww.
    
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    - Anonymous Post Author
      
      4 years ago
      
      Oh yes, I hate that matte finish/flat paint as well! It does have a gross feeling to it and it stains, shows fingerprints, and is much harder to clean than a semigloss paint. I have no idea why it's so popular, either!
      
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      - raisinbran
        
        4 years ago
        
        Because it softens bright light reflecting from it. Only rooms people use satin/semigloss is the kitchen & bathroom where there's a lot of moisture and potential spillage. Could be different in high humidity areas but where I live it's usually pretty dry.
        
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        Anonymous Post Author
        
        4 years ago
        
        I live in the Midwest and have cleaned several buildings including offices with flat paint, and there are always greasy fingerprints on it unless it's brand new. It is impossible to clean them, you have to repaint. Some things can be cleaned off, but most things stain those.
        
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howaminotmyself

4 years ago

Mmm, lead paint and asbestos. How quaint.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  Not always! I lived in a house that was built in the late '70s and had neither of those.
  
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raisinbran

4 years ago

The interior of a house should not impose its style on the occupants. If it's your house and that's how you want it, fine. But if you want to rent it out or sell it, good luck.

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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  4 years ago
  
  I get for the sake of a rental or to sell it (though I wish there were more options on the market than the million houses that all look exactly the same and are nothing but beige, gray, and white), but yes, my personal house when I'm ready to buy (which won't be long, yay!!!) will absolutely not have any modern-looking features. If all that is available on the market is modern, I'll be ripping it all out and putting in older-style stuff, lol.
  
  Although, if I were to own a rental, the last thing I'd put in it is flat paint, stainless steel, that matte finish plasticky fake wood crap, or those crappy vinyl fake wood floors. All of those things only look nice for the 5 seconds they're clean, are much harder to clean, and the vinyl wood floors are cheap and ugly to begin with, not to mention I've seen those separate even with proper application. Regarding those, I honestly don't get how the same people who think the old patterned linoleum is cheap and ugly think those look nice. At least the patterned stuff was not trying to be something different than what it was, lol. Those fake wood floors would never in a million years pass as a real wood floor or anything but cheap vinyl, and I fail to see why they're so popular. With the way I've seen rentals get trashed, all of that stuff wouldn't have a chance. Most things need to be redone after a tenant as it is, but this stuff looks like crap in no time and wears out fast (it also seems that quality and durability/longevity are becoming harder and harder to find)
  
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Are You Normal?

Is it normal that i prefer outdated places over updated/remodeled?