Where's my choice for 1890's ?

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Art nouveau gone mad!

I can't stand the dark mission brown brick exteriors of the 70's, but I hate a cream and apricot 80's bathroom even more!!

Anything that is 'applied decoration' will not stand the test of time. Digressing a bit from home decor, but looking around me at the gift-wrapped apartment blocks going up at the moment - random ribbons stuck over their facades - I can't help thinking this is going to be the shortest lived fad yet.

Every decade has it's own charm but I totally agree in overdoing it touches of colour in a neutral white, beige cream or soft grey can look timeless and the colour touches can be changed easily with trends, I love white and grey but without a feature colour wall of some pops of colour to me it just looks blah, I understand all is subjective to personal taste but I personally go for timeless, keep it uncluttered but still with your own family personality, a home is to be lived in not kept like a display home, your own personalities should show through and even then know that it won't suit everyone but as long as you are happy with your surroundings it is a winner for you.

you could paint the knotty pine laminate a crisp white and the lime may not look so bad, the red bath could be refinished we did that with an original claw bath and over 20years later it still looks great. Our house is a bluestone in an inner suburb of Adelaide and at least 120, maybe more years, old it took us 10 years to renovate the way we wanted so be patient I painted the old kitchen before we had it knocked down and rebuilt onto the back of the home. At the time it was not the 'trendy' place to be but it was exactly what we wanted even with all the renovation and now 37 years later is a very trendy suburb and home prices have gone through the roof, I suspect you will find the same eventually, we just did one room at a time , then built onto the back of the home but paint in the meantime can cover a lot of ugly, good luck with it all, one day you will be VERY happy you bought where you did all it takes is time, good ideas and little by little MONEY! You will get there!

That's great Tanya, I am sure the leaky pipes would have in the long run cost more than the replacement of the bath and copper pipes I can't imagine the long damage it could have done at least you can strike that one off the list, actually there are some really trendy doorknobs online from time to time eg glass in all sorts of colours you could even pick up the green with knobs that match the lime green in the meantime, actually Lime is such a happy colour when used in moderation and as you agree painting the cupboards for now in white will crisp up the whole look and help you enjoy what you have meantime, you are lucky to be so near to the beach, I cant sunbathe as I am way too fair and burn but having walks on the beach at dusk or dawn with the dog we have would be great, you are happy now and you will be long term, good luck with it all.

Like Kath above I can't live without some colour, it's not the era that is wrong it is when someone uses colour or art or furniture that is bordering on aggressive it's so on your face, restraint with colour can work for years and years, Grey is fine as long as you have pops of colour to lessen the boredom but still it is not a colour that i would use as I would find it a little depressing, the white that is popular now is without a soul, I know it is easy to put any furniture etc but SO much white is draining to me, subtle colour with pops of brighter colours that match are so much more satisfying to my soul, I know it is all subjective to taste but as a retired art restorer I feel a life devoid of colour would be unbearable, I even love to pop on a bright jumper or coat in winter over jeans it cheers me up... all that black grey and beige is not for me. :) Well I do wear black but with brighter colours!!!

When did project homes start? I’d say that is the worst era.... the rise of the investment builder.... As a designer... I die a bit inside because of cookie cutter homes.

1950's and 1960's definitely the best and 1980's possibly the worst!

I sometimes ask myself how blind people feel about the current status of project homes, because the definitely don’t have anything to offer a visual person. There are so many project homes... it upsets me.
Project homes are the definition of what happens when function and making money goes into overdrive. Shelter and a standard of living is a fundamental principle of a necessity right? Art and being conscious about sustainability are not necessary however from my perspective they give Purpose to living. I feel at odds so often with the need to earn a living but then disconnected with people who buy into cookie cutter homes. I wish I could start a movement to change it, to enlighten them, to liberate them.

Project Homes are like Australia’s version of a ghetto. Where majority of Australians are forced to live due to social and economic pressure, trying to fiddle and fit these homes on a piece of land. It’s entirely depressing.

Sometimes your neighbours houses will be exactly the same as yours... except one will have a skillion roof and the other will be a standard hip and truss roof.

I’m thinking about moving into interior design, because the bandaid solution seems more rewarding then building design.

I guess all people don't have the same budget with which they can purchase a home so the demands of the people who have less drives the 'cookie cutter' home I guess it is then up to the home owner to stamp their own individuality in both garden and inside the home so that each and everyone who enters said home can express how much they love the owners sense of style, these days if you look about you can take a lot of great ideas and you can buy items that look very similar from a 'cheaper' end shop to achieve a lux look that can also be enhanced by buying a few 'good or lux items to uplift the style. I am lucky to have a bluestone villa on a fair piece of surrounding land which we have lawn and garden which over the years, inside have decorated as well as built on making sure the features are in keeping with the age of the home (over 100 years old) but yet bringing it into the modern comfort we all desire. I say if you want to do design of any kind go for it, don't wonder if, but in saying that make it both lux and affordable and I am sure you will gain many clients, each person has their own ideas that can be incorporated or enhanced.

Here in Adelaide there is SO much 3-5 story and more, what I call 'boxes' and even in the inner city area where I live a few streets away the road is being taken over with these ugly monstrosities but I then think that it is so expensive for a lot of people to even own a house that the 'boxes' are driven by the need for housing by those who want to own but can't afford a house. We have many antiques that suit our home but these days people don't want antiques as the homes are so modern, I have added more eclectic pieces with our antiques that suit so it is not all old looking, I love my home and how it looks and no matter what, I think that is all most people aspire to, a home they can be proud of and a place to live a life with family around them. Alisa go find your inner artistic side, I lived my life as an art restorer and LOVED every minute of it, it is feeding the inner soul and gave me so much pleasure as well as pleasing the clients, that never gets old, good luck if you go down that path.

70s for me, not sure why but something about the orange/yellow/brown patterns from the 70s makes me feel very uneasy

Looked at the date of this post so didn’t comment because I think I did years ago.... please can we have more updated post