Is Mid-Century Modern on Its Way Out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What magazines should I buy to look at RPVEC style? I am genuinely curious.

Veranda

Garden & Gun or Southern Living for the Southern version

House & Garden UK is the best bc it looks at the real deal houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What magazines should I buy to look at RPVEC style? I am genuinely curious.

Veranda

Garden & Gun or Southern Living for the Southern version

House & Garden UK is the best bc it looks at the real deal houses.

This is the RPVEC pp and I concur with UK House and Garden. Also Quintessence on YouTube. Milieu is good but it’s more Rich Texans Vaguely French Country. I also like the blog The Glam Pad although I don’t think there’s any original content it’s just stolen from other publishers.

[Anonymous]

Regardless of style or preferences, use vintage pieces in the now (21st century) and try not to recreate the past or the period. Create contrasting looks/styles from different time periods that appeals to you and if you can't afford the real thing NEVER use mass produced poor quality look alikes.

[Anonymous]

Depends on what you mean by mcm. The Eames chair will never be "out."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like MCM because it reminds me of my grandparents, and oddly enough visiting my mom at work (government issue furniture). I also like furniture that is on legs because we have a smaller space, it opens it up a both visually.

The trick with anything is to blend styles just a bit. Use what you love and not what’s on trend. So if you like MCM, mix in a few pieces but vary the theme. Like a retro wallpaper with lots of period art might look intense, or amazing….or rockabilly.

This is great advice.

[Anonymous]

Designer in my 40s here: in a few years, you'll realize that there's more value in having a house (or clothes, or whatever) in a style that YOU enjoy. Do it tastefully, paint it neutral when you leave and do some landscaping, and it'll sell to someone. Don't worry about buying for "tastes" in the future. That's a middle school popularity mentality and life is too short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best way to not make your house look “dated” is to start with the house itself. What does it look like? What is the architectural style? You certainly don’t need to “match” that or make it a period home but if your house IS a mid-century modern house, that style will continue to look at home there.

Imo the most “timeless” style is Rich People Vaguely English Country which is “timeless” mostly because a lot of those English houses stay the same for many decades and because rich Americans never tire of imitating them. So it’s more about staying power than “timelessness.” And because to do it well, you’re going to have antiques and such from several periods and so things are “dated” to many periods and you have a nice mix. Whether the Chippendale is from Great-grandmother or last week at Christie’s. Southerners do the more fun version of this but I think Connecticut has the best ones.

I highly recommend NOT looking at design blogs and sites. They’re often terrible. People make fun of the haughty magazine editor stereotype but those betches were saving us from ourselves. So look at magazines, old magazines.

Agreed on all accounts. Rich People Vaguely English Country is a much more flexible style than many think. It can age gracefully and be updated for each generation. It can be formal and informal, often in the same room.

I have respect for MCM and admire aspects of it, but it's hard to argue that it's timeless given that before, say, 2005, it was considered very ugly and dated and old fashioned. No one was talking MCM in the 1980s and 1990s. No one. I repeat, no one. However, many of its simple pieces are almost classical in form and will have a place in the future.

Agree that MCM was “out” for a long time, but your time line is incorrect (why is it that the people who are the most adamant are usually wrong?). I have a very design-conscious family member who was collecting MCM in the 90’s. They lived in a city in “flyover” country, though. Even at that time, there were dealers that specialized in MCM there, and prices were already going up. Interior fashion trends do not start on the East Coast. The people are too conservative.

When I moved to DC, I was struck by how homogeneous the design choices were. I remember talking to antique dealers who were thrilled to meet someone who would consider something other than Early American or Georgian furniture. They usually had more interesting things stashed in their storage rooms that they couldn’t resist buying, but that they knew wouldn’t sell. Obviously, the predominant style has changed, over time, but DC still tends to be “conservative” with regard to interior design. Go look at the real estate page. Any house that shows flashes of personality and doesn’t have the bog-standard “accepted” interior design is excoriated. So, I don’t blame OP for wanting to crowdsource to find out what the DC interior design standard is these days.

What individuals may have done doesn't matter. In the design world, MCM wasn't being talked about and carried little weight till about 20 years ago around the beginning of the millennium. The 1990s was dominated by the various traditional looks, whether rich people's English country, or American country, or Arts&Crafts/Mission/Craftsman, or Shaker. Contemporary was limited although there were some. But the 1950s-60s MCM wasn't really being featured in design magazines.

MCM revival is too ubiquitous and identikit that it's lost its novelty. I do get the sense people are moving on from it and looking for something more distinctive.

Well, if that’s your standard, sure. But if something is being featured in design magazines, then it is already, by definition, mainstream, and soon to be on its way out. No matter how they bill themselves, those magazines are in the business of selling advertising to high end brands, and are inherently conservative.

Well yeah, there are early adopters, there’s the lagging mainstream crest, there are hangers on…but OP asked about trends and all this nit picking the hype-cycle just makes the point: MCM was a trend in the MC, it was a trend more recently, it is in fact on it’s way out.

So what is on its way in? Art Deco? Modern farmhouse? I knew MCM was on its way out when every single house was pretty much staged with cheap versions of it.

Maximalism.

[Anonymous]

We live in an MCM home, so obviously MCM will never be "out" in our home. But I don't fill it with obvious MCM furniture (especially the cheap knockoff stuff) because then it looks like your house went to an MCM costume party. Don't go all out with any one style.

But no that no matter what you do, many things will look dated in about 10-15 years. Timeless choices are things like a white or beige sofa in transitional style, neutral colored drapes and rugs. Things that date are woods - they constantly shift trends, and the "in" wood color is almost never the same as anything in the recent past. After decorating and redecorating my home a couple of time, I got sick of it and just bought a bunch of stuff from Ikea that I won't feel bad about replacing since it didn't cost that much.

[Anonymous]

Everything new gets old.

Anyway, decorate with what you love not what’s “in style.” Your own sense of style never goes out of style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in an MCM home, so obviously MCM will never be "out" in our home. But I don't fill it with obvious MCM furniture (especially the cheap knockoff stuff) because then it looks like your house went to an MCM costume party. Don't go all out with any one style.

But no that no matter what you do, many things will look dated in about 10-15 years. Timeless choices are things like a white or beige sofa in transitional style, neutral colored drapes and rugs. Things that date are woods - they constantly shift trends, and the "in" wood color is almost never the same as anything in the recent past. After decorating and redecorating my home a couple of time, I got sick of it and just bought a bunch of stuff from Ikea that I won't feel bad about replacing since it didn't cost that much.

You’re doing it wrong, pp. You were choosing what was contemporary, rather than what you liked best from all time periods. I took the time when I was younger to look at many design styles. I chose English Country. The lamp I bought 20+ years ago is still a favorite because I took the time to discern what I liked. Giving up and buying IKEA that you plan to replace is terrible for the environment. Please don’t advise people to do that.

[Anonymous]

I have Mom’s MCM dining table, end tables, and console (we used to call it the hi-fi cabinet) from 1959. They are really good quality wood compared to what is sold nowadays.

I had the dining room table refinished, and the end tables refinished. Mom used that dining room table every day of her marriage for breakfast and dinner.

They really look nice in my kitchen nook in my family room.

[Anonymous]

I hope MCM is on its way out, following primer gtay everything and white washed floors.

Some trends should never see the light of day.

[Anonymous]

I have a MCM house and really love it. I agree not to go overboard, but I tend to buy interesting pieces I can keep forever. It’s eclectic, but it suits me very well.

I don’t think it is very far down the road of being on its way out. I can name at least 3 MCM focused furniture/antique stores in my area of the Midwest, and they are doing a thriving business. I think it’s kind of at its height…everywhere. If Target and Walmart are selling it, it’s hard to say it is over quite yet.