The 80’s. | TheaterFire

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Giantandre@reddit

While the meme is pretty true.

There is a big difference between 1982 and 1989

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It’s also the fact that most of the images people pull to represent a specific time period either come from catalogs or movies/tv. So they forget that most of us were still living in remnants of the previous time period. Normal people didn’t just redo their entire home every time home decorating styles changed

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Isaac1867@reddit

So ture. The house I grew up in had a lot of stuff left over from the 70's in it because my parents weren't about to spend money replacing the furniture or the appliances just because they were a little out of fashion.

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aftershave_cabinet@reddit

Is anybody else doing the same thing now? Though I feel like I'm doing it more for the fact of declining quality as opposed to fashion.

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Kramereng@reddit

Yeah, I mentioned in another comment reply that I still have my parents' bedroom set, which is somewhat mid-century design and very well built. A comparable set of similar quality these days would be $5k-10k, I imagine.

Any other furniture, with the exception of sofas and chairs (things with fabric or leather than can get gross or worn down over time), can be found used, at a better price point, and with much better quality. Mid-century / Scandinavian / minimalist designed stuff shouldn't really ever go out of fashion. Solid wood is always "in".

And for appliances, just go to /r/BuyItForLife to see what lasts. The ancient stuff also happens to look the coolest.

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red286@reddit

And yet today I can't tell the difference in aesthetics between 2002 and 2022 unless there's a piece of technology included (CRT vs. LCD stands out like a sore thumb).

The other day I went to buy a new mop to replace my old one that I'd bought when I moved into my current place back in 2004. It's the exact same mop. Literally nothing has changed in 20 years. I cannot imagine in the 90s going to the store and buying the same mop my parents had in the 70s.

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Top-Mention-9525@reddit

That's because the 70s actually lasted until 1983. That's a fact, you can look it up.

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also_also_bort@reddit

Yeah this is early 80s vs late 80s/early 90s

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bcentsale@reddit

Our house didn't have a whole lot of difference between 1972 and 1989...

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whoisbill@reddit

Bill Burr has a good bit about this. Most people were too poor to actually have cars from the 80s and houses fully decorated with new 80s furniture and such during the 80s. Most houses looked like the 70s. And it's true.

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Betelgeuse3fold@reddit

Hell, it's 2024 and my furniture is still from the 70s

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whoisbill@reddit

The bedroom set my kid uses is the same bedroom set I had as a kid, which was the same bedroom set my dad had as a kid. Stuff is built different today.

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Kramereng@reddit

I still have my parents' dresser and nightstand set from the 70s. They're heavy AF and the design is so good that an interior designer friend wanted to buy them off me at one point.

I also had the matching bed frame (which, I'm pretty sure I was conceived on...) until that overly worn out. And that was only 4 or so years ago.

Buy used furniture is the lesson here. Older, the better.

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j_dick@reddit

Also when I hear people talk about ugly avocado green appliances. That’s left over from the 60s it’s just that Sears appliances would last 20-30 years back then.

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whoisbill@reddit

That's a good point too. People today upgrade stuff every few years it seems. Back in the day, if it wasn't broken. Why replace it? I mean. I was born in 1979. In the early 80s as a kid my parents had a secondary TV in the house. It was black and white. That's how long stuff used to last haha.

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Kramereng@reddit

I remember TV repairmen coming out to fix our TV. Imagine that today.

Hell, I tried to fix a 10 yr old Samsung 65" 4K TV a couple yrs ago, and it would've cost me far more than just replacing it with a brand new, much better version. And the "fix" wasn't even guaranteed to work. So I had to chuck the thing into the dumpster. It sucks to be so wasteful.

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red286@reddit

Black and white TVs were still commonly sold new in the 80s. My parents bought a little 14" one for my Atari 2600.

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red286@reddit

That’s left over from the 60s it’s just that Sears appliances would last 20-30 years back then.

They still did in the 90s. Source - I live in a rental, and my appliances are all from the 90s, and still all work.

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jollyreaper2112@reddit

Yeah that tracks. Only rich people can look at a functional kitchen or bathroom and say this needs remodeled. The rest of us only do it when we have to.

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Enty_Jay@reddit

The bright purples and neon of the 80s were the colors of media, commercial signage and store catalogs. It was what the poor and middle class aspired to; not what we actually had. Unless you were a seriously rich kid, your life was brown-beige.

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likesexonlycheaper@reddit

The 90s on the other hand were def those colors

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alwaysfuntime69@reddit

Is this Zack Morris' bedroom?

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bcentsale@reddit

Am I the only one who finds the pic on the right oddly comforting?

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Aspence22@reddit

I was going to say that. Looks more comfy and cozy than the left one

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El-Viking@reddit

It definitely feels like visiting my grandparents as a kid. I grew up as a military brat of divorced parents so there was lots of wandering around. The one constant that always felt like "home" was the wood paneled living room in Sioux Falls.

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that-one-girl-who@reddit

I can smell that picture. lol.

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ProudParticipant@reddit

Not even oddly. It looks like my grandma's house and that was the best place on earth.

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Dennick2009@reddit

Yes! It brings me back to feeling all cozy and warm and safe at my grandparents' house when I was little. Also born in 1981.

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BoonScepter@reddit

Bingo. Nicely kept well off gentle 80s grandparents vibes

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Ltimbo@reddit

Just missing the hum of a CRT tv with some big-ass rabbit ears… and some tin foil… and maybe a few wire hangers.

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ruthless_techie@reddit

TVs & Radios were made to look like furniture pieces.

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flyingcircusdog@reddit

Very true. If you grew up in the 80s, your house was built in the 70s or earlier.

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amcneel@reddit

This is where my xennial experience diverges, as I grew up in Paris in the 80s

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pennyflowerrose@reddit

What did a typical house interior look like there?

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amcneel@reddit

Mostly apartments. Older (often over 100). Haunted. Small

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IceXence@reddit

Purple and neons are late 80s. Wood paneling is 70s. Most people didn't redecorate their house every decade.

Mine was a mix of both, some wood, some pastel, some neon in my room where I had a say.

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babaganoosh30@reddit

Shaggy carpet and water beds, man.

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FifeFifeFife@reddit

Lots of wicker items also. Lamp shades, plate holders…

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Lazy_Shoe_8013@reddit

The brown was so you didn’t notice the tar buildup over time.

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Gd3spoon@reddit

My dream is to have a wood paneled old finished basement.

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After_Match_5165@reddit

The colours on the left were reserved for the stripes on my bike shorts, the ink on my t-shirts, the ruffle on my slouch socks and my winter coat. The colours on the right were home sweet home.

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VioletVenable@reddit

Completely accurate. If it wasn’t brown/beige/cream, it might be pastel. But it was mostly brown.

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Plus25Charisma@reddit

The house I grew up in had brown carpet, these weird grey/blue/brown couches that were super comfortable, light brown curtains and wood paneling in the living room. Earth tones were everywhere back in the 80s

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drainbamage1011@reddit

We had a carpeted kitchen until I was in probably college. It was heinous.

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MarmaladeMarmaduke@reddit

I've known of carpeted bathrooms but not a kitchen. I honestly don't know which is more absurd.

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drainbamage1011@reddit

It was almost like office carpet, like that really short dense weave, with an ugly green/brown/rust orange pinstripe pattern. And of course decades of accumulated spills and whatnot.

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drainbamage1011@reddit

We had a carpeted kitchen until I was in probably college. It was heinous.

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VioletVenable@reddit

I can totally picture those couches!

My childhood home’s decor was a strange hybrid of Danish modern and Victorian antiques that my parents brought from their respective first marriages, but the unifying element was earth tones. Eclectic but cozy!

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NeoGeo2015@reddit

You are forgetting the one place we had incredibly diverse colors - our fuckin carpets lol. Mine was blue, sister's was pink, parent's was green or yellow or some other gross color. Also shag. SHAG!

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YoohooCthulhu@reddit

Also, before the internet trends (esp in decorating) moved more slowly. Most places I was in didn’t look like the 80s until the 90s.

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LuxInteriot@reddit

After 1990, everything turned pastel.

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NameIdeas@reddit

Born in '85. Sister was born in '76.

Our house was built around the late 70s. I remember wood-paneled walls very distinctly. Also the orange counter tops and green toilet.

Yellow-colored linoleum too...

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scoff-law@reddit

Don't forget all the vibrant greys

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VaselineHabits@reddit

We had some avocado appliances, which wasn't hideous with the beige/brown. But wood paneling can go fuck itself

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VioletVenable@reddit

So did we (and that avocado blender is still going strong)! I actually have a soft spot for real wood paneling, but the fake stuff is total garbage.

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VaselineHabits@reddit

My parents finally painted over it about a decade ago, I'm sure some Home Makeover show inspired it. But it does look much bigger and brighter now 😅

My Gami recently had to buy a new microwave because the one she bought at my parents wedding finally broke. That thing was older than me!

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jollyreaper2112@reddit

Jesus that is a remix of our living room but we had vivid dark blue linoleum tiles. I have to think it's a holdover from the late 70s.

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Spiritual_Smile9882@reddit

The left is like a marketing department from the late 80's vomited out a room. The right is so painfully accurate.

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InSearsSomewhere@reddit

Right is late 70's to mid 80's. Left is late 80's to early 90's

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Azmtbkr@reddit

Oh yeah, the 70’s vibe was still going strong in the 80’s. Also, popcorn ceiling with glitter specks and a 600lb CTV TV encased in wood. For some reason there was always an open window between the kitchen and living room/dining room. I guess it was for passing food through but no one ever used it for that. Rich people had one of those crazy RGB projection big screen TVs and of course a waterbed. I can still feel the shag carpet under my feet and smell the cigarette smoke.

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kookyz@reddit

The left was the cover of my Trapper Keeper. The right was my den.

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HaveTPforbunghole@reddit

Left is peak '90s

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The_Lapsed_Pacifist@reddit

Ngl, I like the neon sign. I’d totally have that now.

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Zeqhanis@reddit

Well, the beginning of the '90s. Is it just me or does the representative style of a new decade never really take hold until about a year into the next one?

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lucidspoon@reddit

Was going to say, the house I grew up is on the right. But the sheets I had in the early 90s are on the left.

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BlueRidgeLife4Me@reddit

Looks like a Taco Bell interior

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hdufort@reddit

I had that kind of style from 1987 to 1992.

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windycityc@reddit

There are a ton of 80s movies you missed...

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Deathcrush@reddit

I def had a lot of turquoise and purple in my bedroom in the early 90s...

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Jets237@reddit

Yeah this is like a zack morris shirt came to life

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Strengthgardner@reddit

I agree, I would have loved to have the room on the left as a kid. Peak 90's for sure.

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applegorechard@reddit

its true, the only place I remember with that style was the mall and movie theaters. Everywhere else was brown, beige and wood everywhere.

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Hellament@reddit

I want to curl up on a couch covered in pheasants and cornucopias.

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Adrasteia-One@reddit

So. Much. Brown. Even the car interiors!

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throwawayfromPA1701@reddit

I can smell the pic on the right

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sfsp3@reddit

I honestly miss that paneling.

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numb3r5ev3n@reddit

That turned wood furniture screams "80s" to everyone who was actually there.

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CemeteryWind213@reddit

I had an arcade ceiling fan in my room - clear plastic fan with blue neon in the housing and chrome hardware and a matching clock. Found it at the hardware store of all places.

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DavePeesThePool@reddit

For me it was brass hardware, hexagonal boob lights hanging from the ceiling (complete with a little brass nipple nut to hold it together). And popcorn ceilings.

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shaggy68@reddit

The left, Saved by the Bell...The right, our family room and my bedroom.

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Grouchy-Emergency158@reddit

The left pic was what was on TV. The right pic was my house

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rAndoFraze@reddit

I had that bed in the wood paneled room. 💥true xennial

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ChromeDestiny@reddit

I had two cousins who grew up rich in the 80's and even they only had about a quarter of the stuff pictured on the left. I grew up lower middle class in the 80's and 90's, the only really mega 80's things I had were a bed spread with modest take on an 80's style print, a cheap Lambo poster and a Walkman, more or less the same for my older sister except magazine pinups instead of the Lambo poster and a better Walkman (the iconic Yellow Sony Sports model) but she also had some very 80's clothes and accessories and a cheaply made dual cassette/ 5 inch TV she won in a school raffle.

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Ok_Extension_8357@reddit

Wood paneling was warm and cozy for me. It was home.

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_Can_i_play_@reddit

There was a cross over if you moved though

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hdufort@reddit

I had the left version and my best friend had the second one.

I had a light gray wall with neon colored stripes. He had brown woodgrain panels.

I had a poster of Jupiter's moons. He had a poster of a Lamborghini.

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