What looks are timeless?

[Bearbehind]

A thread inspired by another thread but looking at the 'other side'

I think dated/ timeless is just a matter of opinion and your tastes change anyway so you'll even get bored of 'timeless' things but I'd be interested to know what looks you think will be timeless

Particularly for kitchens as I really can't think of a style that is truly 'timeless'

It is given the 'timeless' suggestions have been from the latter category.

Sorry, what I meant was, it seems clear to me nothing is 'timeless' so you might as well choose what you like now, be that carpet/ gloss kitchen or parquet floor and wood kitchen, than try to second guess what someone else will like in 10 years.

it seems clear to me nothing is 'timeless' so you might as well choose what you like now, be that carpet/ gloss kitchen or parquet floor and wood kitchen, than try to second guess what someone else will like in 10 years

Quite. You need to please yourself. When my house was being valued lately, the chap said that bathrooms/kitchens have a 10-year life, max, before a complete re-fit.This applies even more in Melbourne,where I live, where so many houses are knocked down rather than renovated.

I'm in the position where my perfectly nice house, now deeply unfashionable, has little more than land value. This really makes you think about "improvements" which will add no value at all.

Anything from Laura Ashley as they haven't updated their range since the beginning of time

French pleated good quality curtains may be timeless to one person but I don't like them. I do not like chesterfield sofas.

Even antiques come and go from fashion.

My nan was an avid collector and when she died my mum had the job of sorting them out and was quite sad to find that due to the fashion at the time no one wanted them even if she was giving them away for free.

I came on to basically say what everyone else has said!

I think we have decorated in quite a 'timeless' way, but that doesn't mean it's a 'universally liked' way. Indeed, it has a number of things that you have said you don't like, OP.

For example, we've taken out the horrid modern electric fire and replaced with a fireplace that the house would have originally had when it was first built. To me, that's timeless, because it fits with the original features the house was supposed to have. But it wouldn't be timeless in every house, especially a house built last year, for example. And, if somebody with very modern tastes came to look around our house, they probably wouldn't buy it because it wouldn't be to their taste. I don't think it's possible to say 'white walls are timeless' because white walls will look completely different in different ages of house.

But, I consider ours timeless because I don't think we've really gone for any 'trends'. So I don't think next year it will all go out of fashion, and could probably look good still in 20 years, but only if it's to your taste.

I started the other thread about what will date badly and have come to the conclusion that everything will date in someone's eyes

I think the best you can do is (1) for the fundamentals like kitchens and bathrooms, make choices which are either very neutral, or easy to update. For example painted kitchens as they can be repainted in this year's colour, and neutral bathroom tiles; and (2) avoid the most "edgy"/on trend looks as they are the ones which will date most in future. For example I'd say copper taps are a bit of a current fad and won't last. Silver coloured taps have been the standard for centuries so more likely to be timeless.

Timeless to me means looks which have been used for years and will continue to be used in the future, and which cannot be pinned down to a particular era. So the parquet flooring, wooden kitchen and Chesterfield sofa decor is timeless in that sense.

The grey walls, gloss kitchen look is of its time and will date as much as orange and brown decor dates from the 70s, or melamine kitchens date from the 50s.

It is irrelevant as to whether it is to your individual taste IMO.

I don't think you can equate 'timeless' with 'universally liked', but no, I don't think that everything dates equally, either. It's self-evident that a wall painted plain white is less datable to a specific time/interior design fashion than a 'feature wall' done out in bold-patterned wallpaper, surely.

I think metal sinks should go out of fashion as they always look grim

Original features like fireplaces and cornices are timeless imo

And sash windows and shutters that go with them

Lots of people say original features are timeless but in the 1960s and 70s they hated them and ripped them out or boxed them in... Everything goes out of fashion at some point it seems.

This applies even more in Melbourne,where I live, where so many houses are knocked down rather than renovated
I was really surprised by this. I met a few people in Melbourne who kept the house as part f a divorce settlement and they did exactly that. I was told it was a fairly common thing to do which I wasn't that convinced about but others told me that as well!

Timeless is tricky to capture and I agree is not the same as universally liked. Plain painted walls in F and B type colours, persian rugs (though not to my taste), plain neutral coloured curtains, shaker/structurally simple kitches, painted. Freestanding baths/metal with/without legs. As soon as you add too much faux Victorian is becomes less timeless for me. Large, framed mirrors, large plank oak floors...that's my penniworth anyway.

It's funny how people have different tastes isn't it?

A lot of the things listed here as 'timeless' I'd just class as 'old fashioned' and hate because I much prefer clean modern looking things.

Definitely need to choose what you like, not what you think otters might like if/ when you sell.

Mapless, add some dogs and you have described my house