What makes the interior of a home look tired and dated?

[FindingMeno]

Interested in people's views as it's sometimes difficult to discern in your own familiar surroundings.

I can’t see Artex coming back into fashion for a very, very long time. I have it on my living room ceiling and it feels a bit like living inside a wedding cake. But that’s not what bothers me. When I first saw it, I just thought, “does that contain asbestos?”

It’s also on the kitchen ceiling and a patch of it is starting to flake off, so it will definitely need to be dealt with.

@Cattenberg I was having the artic conversation with a handyman the other day. He says that generally artex only has a tiny percentage of asbestos in it - he lives in a house identical to mine (ex-council) so like us, had a lot to get rid of! He says it’s not something to worry about hugely as a one-off, it’s working with it over a long period of time that’s bad for you. Obviously no amount of asbestos is good, but it was reassuring to me to hear that it’s probably only a very small amount.

With his it’s the thickness of the artex - it’s been done in really extravagant patterns which are going to be hell on earth to get rid of. I didn’t realise quite how much of a nightmare it was going to be, tbh. I hate it

Can’t you just plaster over artex or is that a no no?

@apologynotrequired it depends if it does contain asbestos I would think. And the way to tell that is getting a sample tested.

@apologynotrequired

Can’t you just plaster over artex or is that a no no?

We plastered over ours, but it was the 'stippled' type, not the really deeply-grooved swirly pattern.

With his it’s the thickness of the artex - it’s been done in really extravagant patterns which are going to be hell on earth to get rid of. I didn’t realise quite how much of a nightmare it was going to be, tbh. I hate it

We have the basic stippled type in the kitchen and extravagant patterns in the living room. I didn’t realise the second type was more difficult to deal with. We might just plaster over it.

That really cheapo orange laminate flooring.

It was everywhere in our Edwardian house when we moved in. Most is thankfully gone now. It's so thin and brittle and just breaks as you pull it up.

@DavetheCat2001

That really cheapo orange laminate flooring.

It was everywhere in our Edwardian house when we moved in. Most is thankfully gone now. It's so thin and brittle and just breaks as you pull it up.

Frustratingly, it can be very hard for the untrained eye to tell it apart from even high quality engineered flooring. I once found myself correcting a plumber as he reported to his boss via phone that I had "laminate" installed but he didn't appreciate the difference. Now that laminate visually replicates every known option known to man, it is a losing battle. It does deteriorate differently but you wouldn't know it until it warped

Yet another thread to put people down! "Dated" is actually in at the moment gplan etc everyone has their own ideas on what is "dated" I have a lot of 70s boho shit in my home dated yes but looks better than generic IKEA crap. (Again IKEA is a choice I do have IKEA stuff in my house)

Decorating by replacing everything- accessories, floor coverings, furniture, fittings, etc to give a “style” or “trend” regardless of environmental impact is pretty dated now. Personal pieces and long-lasting fittings are much less dated than that old “this is my new living room” thing.

on show white kitchen appliances

This is quite funny. God forbid that a kitchen should have appliances on show, white or otherwise.

Some of us have small kitchens. Integrated appliances have less room inside and are more difficult to repair/replace.

@Saz12

Decorating by replacing everything- accessories, floor coverings, furniture, fittings, etc to give a “style” or “trend” regardless of environmental impact is pretty dated now. Personal pieces and long-lasting fittings are much less dated than that old “this is my new living room” thing.

I agree actually. Everything matching looks a bit old fashioned. I remember my parents replacing all the cushions at once. They all had to be identical. And they had to match the curtains etc.

Laminate flooring - the cheap light wood one
Awful awful awful

@Saz12
Yes! I agree with that too. I think homes which seem to have just evolved and are a little more eclectic are gorgeous.

Anything pine
Feature walls
Clutter
Dark wood or beech kitchen units
Artex or wood chip walls
Terracotta floor tiles
Lots of dark beams, wooden ceilings
Strip lighting
Carpet in bathrooms

Off the back of this thread I've just persuaded DH that it is time to sort out the small dark downstairs loo. We're going full on house of Hackney floral wallpaper. It already has a Victorian loo with high cistern in (came with the house) so it will be utterly decadent. No carpet though.

I also think that most things can be given a new lease of life if they were ok quality in the first place.

I think the issue is not so much with things being “dated” (as that’s pretty subjective) but “tired”. So I think it’s good to have a good look at your house from time to time and, for example, paint a piece of furniture or get rid of an IKEA lamp that was only meant to be temporary, etc.

My living room looks tired (ie tatty). The paint has faded, the laminate is scratched and the gloss paint is yellowing. You wouldn't know from the colours, laminate etc whether it was painted last year or 20 years ago.

My bedroom however looks dated. It is rag rolled (not by us!) and the colours used instantly give it a period of time when they were fashionable. You can look at the room and now probably within 5 years of when it was decorated!

My living room I could "spruce up" or hide the worse of it if it suddenly mattered.

All I can do for my bedroom is redecorate or leave it long enough for it to become retro or "itonic".

Anything that looks modern now will soon look dated

We have a Victorian terrace and it's decorated in a fairly classic and I think timeless way. However we've just had the bathroom and kitchen tiled in something like this. I realise It's a bit "of the moment" but I know I will love it forever so that's what counts.

As an aside I've been visiting a deceased client's house which hasn't been touched probably since the 30s or 40s. My god the decor is fabulous - the combination of wallpaper and woodwork colours look amazing and I would love to have seen it when it was new.

I would say floral carpets and wallpaper design.Very easy to jazz up your interior by painting the walls, take up old carpet and sand/ varnish floorboards.
Adding some modern fabric colours can reinvigorate a dated looking room, colourful throws are cheap and a great idea.
I recently bought good value cushions from CushionDept.com they really gave my sofa a new lease of life.
The other thing to mention is in some homes "dated" is what's more suited to the property style and age.

@Signoramarella

Anaglypta wallpapering. My house has this. It is fucking horrible. 1965 I think its from....

We moved into a house that had this, and did not want to go through the expensive process of taking it down especially as we did not know how the walls would be underneath. We painted it - I am amazed. It looks so good, the texture is wonderful through the paint, and it changes with light, both natural and electric.

• Glass and mirrored furniture
• Metal

It's really tough to avoid something looking dated if not replaced regularly. I also think 'dated' sometimes applies to 'cheap' looking decor. I notice that the 'timeless' look seems to only be applicable to expensive pieces 'heavy wood furniture, quality tiles etc'.

I think if you buy good quality natural items and arrange them well, your interior will never look dated.

Grey.
Just awful.
I can't see it without thinking 'Mrs Hinch fan.'

When viewing houses on line it always makes me wonder if my screen colour settings have defaulted to monochrome.

I don't think recent (but no longer up-to-the-minute) trends look dated. That's just something that people say to show off how super-on-trend they are. Like all the people who constantly bang on about how 'over' stye most recent styles of jeans are, even though loads of people still wear them without looking unfashionable.

My hall, stairs, landing and dining room walls are grey. It's just a normal neutral, unless you've gone bonkers with making all your furnishings and everything grey as well.