MCM is this permanent? Am I the only one who hates it?

[Anonymous]

OP, I am also not a fan. Uncomfortable furniture. And it always looks kind of cheap to me. Maybe because we actually had that kind of furniture when I was growing up in the 70s. It was old and bad quality so that’s how I think of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, that is my point. It's been around since the 1950s. Therefore, it is not a fad.

Of course it has been around that long, but it's only been fashionable for ten years or so. No one was making their houses look that way on purpose in the 80s or 90s.

Yes, it was popular from the 50s until the early 70s and then was very much out of style for decades. The same thing will happen again.

Kind of like bell bottoms/flared pants. They were big in the 60s and 70s, went away for a long time, came back and are gone again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, that is my point. It's been around since the 1950s. Therefore, it is not a fad.

Of course it has been around that long, but it's only been fashionable for ten years or so. No one was making their houses look that way on purpose in the 80s or 90s.

Yes, it was popular from the 50s until the early 70s and then was very much out of style for decades. The same thing will happen again.

Kind of like bell bottoms/flared pants. They were big in the 60s and 70s, went away for a long time, came back and are gone again.

Except some things don't stay a trend and won't come back. furniture/decor was butt ugly in the 80s and no one tries to recreate it or preserve it:
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/children-of-the-80s-will-remember-these-home-trends

Mcm has it's roots in Art Deco which came from art nouveau--these are beautiful styles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You realize that mid-century refers to *last* century, right? So no, it's not a fad.

It is very clearly used to describe 1950's-60s style furniture/decorating etc.. Mid century(half a century being 100) so yeah 1950. Good try though.

Yes, that is my point. It's been around since the 1950s. Therefore, it is not a fad. No idea what "good try though" is supposed to mean here, but I can't understand how you thought reiterating my comment was refuting it either.

It has not "been around" since the 1950s

MCM unfortunately happened during that time period, lived its short ugly life, and dutifully disappeared into basements and yard sales.

It has made an unfortunate, trendy come back but does not have staying power.

[Anonymous]

I refuse to admit it's a thing. I think it's a joke being foisted upon us.

[Anonymous]

I hate it too and can't believe it's still around. Like so many hipster fads and rebirths, it's ugly and cheap-looking, and once-nice furniture and design lines have completely switched over and basically sell nothing else. Make it stop! Ugh.

[Anonymous]

I love MCM design- clean lines, simple, and unfussy. It's relaxing. The Louis XVI design is my idea of a living nightmare. The Craftsman decor was better but it's still too dark, cluttered, and busy for me.

[Anonymous]

Old people tend to shun things cool and hip.

[Anonymous]

Drool..

[Anonymous]

Wow those are stunning pp!

[Anonymous]

I thought this thread was going to be about the Marine Corps Marathon and was confused about why it was in the home improvement forum!

[Anonymous]

People need to separate the junk midcentury that was left in people's basements by the 1980s, with the well done and well preserved midcentury like the last few pics posted above - which are stunning. The former category is kitsch; the latter is timeless and has always had people drooling over them. There are very few architectural styles that, when done properly, are true works of art in their own right. I'm not talking about 1950s ranch houses that channel midcentury style. I'm talking about true midcentury homes.

I have always gravitated towards midcentury style. My first major piece of furniture when we bought our house in 2003 was a vintage credenza from Upscale Resale. It was minimalist and cool and $350. Turns out it was a famous designer who has since had a revival. We were lucky enough to buy a vintage mcm home a few years ago, but it had been fully redone and updated in 2000 (by the original architect - so all true to style). The vintage stuff i've been collecting works very well in the house, but we have a fine line that we can't go overboard on mcm furniture in our house or it starts looking kitsch. The house itself is a work of art (a bit like the pics above) that the furniture shouldn't try so hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, that is my point. It's been around since the 1950s. Therefore, it is not a fad.

Of course it has been around that long, but it's only been fashionable for ten years or so. No one was making their houses look that way on purpose in the 80s or 90s.

Yes, it was popular from the 50s until the early 70s and then was very much out of style for decades. The same thing will happen again.

Kind of like bell bottoms/flared pants. They were big in the 60s and 70s, went away for a long time, came back and are gone again.

Except some things don't stay a trend and won't come back. furniture/decor was butt ugly in the 80s and no one tries to recreate it or preserve it:
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/children-of-the-80s-will-remember-these-home-trends

Mcm has it's roots in Art Deco which came from art nouveau--these are beautiful styles.

MCM is pretty far from Art Nouveau. MCM is very bare bones and that was the whole point. Art Nouveau was about craftsmanship while MCM took an industrial approach to design and style and cut away all the craftsmanship from design.

Your link is neat. I remember a lot of those interiors. I still consider some of them tasteful and nice. Many of them aren't that different from other more recent styles either. I'm not sure why you call it butt ugly. In the 1980s we thought the 1960s-1970s was genuinely "butt ugly" and a lot of it had to do with the quality of furniture made, which went through a depressing low.

Most styles come in and out of fashion as trends come and go. MCM is a perfect example. Some styles seem to have longer staying power, the classical "georgian/colonial" furniture has been consistently around for the past 120 years in varying guises and incorporated into different styles. MCM's flaw is that it's a fairly rigid style requiring adherence to one set of design principles and it's not so easy to mix with other styles. Unlike Georgian, which is flexible and adaptable.

[Anonymous]

MCM furniture always looks too small to me and the rooms rarely look filled out enough.

[Anonymous]

I can appreciate many different styles (perhaps a shocking concept for someone posting on DCUM). They all have their place and MCM homes around here are a breath of fresh air around here with the plethora of colonials and palatial homes with super ornate designs.

The one big "problem" with MCM homes around here is their openness leads to poorer insulating properties vs other homes, but there are certainly ways to address this if you address it in the building phase (most MCM's around here are quite old and harder to address this later on). This is why they're less popular around here and colder climates. MCM's design ethos is all about creating openness, clean lines, lots of light, blending the inside w/ outside.

If you don't like the MCM style that's fine, but as someone else pointed out, you need to separate the "junk" midcentury from the rest. Throwing MCM furniture in a regular colonial home doesn't look right for many reasons. It has to fit with the rest of the house which isn't always easy to accomplish.