Outdated?

I can't stand to hear someone say "That's outdated." Or "this kitchen needs to be updated." Especially when the design they are looking at is less than 10 years old!

I love to watch shows on HGTV and see what kinds of houses people are looking at, and how they decorate a space to their own tastes.

But it frustrates me to hear couples walk through a house and comment about this and that and how outdated it is. Often, it's the kitchen or bathroom. And they say it snidely as if the yokels selling the house had no taste and should have remodeled a perfectly good kitchen and spent $100,000 on it just so they wouldn't have to be offended looking at tile counters instead of granite.

My parents never once remodeled a kitchen or a bathroom in the houses they lived in. Granted, they should have once or twice...but mostly, they used the cabinets and counters and sinks and faucets that were already in the house because they all still worked. Plain and simple. There was nothing wrong with them so they kept using them. Plain and simple.

Bad ergonomic design should be changed. Broken tiles or faucets should be replaced. Wall colors that make you want to barf should be painted over. But we shouldn't be throwing out, willy nilly, perfectly good cabinets, hardware, appliances, tiling or counters just because they hint of a previous decade.

I happen to love the colors and tile patterns found in bathrooms from the 40s and 50s. You just don't see them anymore. More than once I've seen a family rip out this incredible piece of history in a bathroom and replace it with something that WILL LOOK OUTDATED in about 2 years. (Can we say above-counter bowl sinks?)

So here's a question...when does outdated become hip retro? I'm thinking it's at least 30 years. Seems like anything 10-20 years just gets labeled outdated. If the design happens to survive a family (that would be my parents), then it suddenly becomes "in" and stylish. My parents had a rounded-top Gibson refrigerator (like the one to the left) well into the 1970's. They brought this fridge WITH THEM from at least 2 previous homes. Possibly 3 or 4, but I was too young to remember that far back. Now you can buy a fridge like this and pay A LOT OF MONEY (like $2500) for the look. Of course, I'm betting they have some modern features like ice-makers and defrosting freezers. Aw, the memories of defrosting 5 solid inches of ice in a freezer compartment that would barely keep ice cream solid!