Pop Culture Watch: 12 Home Trends in the'80s Are Back

Pop Culture Watch: 12 Home Trends in the'80s Are Back

Rev up the DeLorean and set the first capacitor to 1983 — the decade tendencies come back in a big way, from night soaps into a Top Gun 3-D Imax release; from classic Ray-Bans to brass floor lamps. On TV we have a young Carrie Bradshaw navigating Manhattan within her first pair of Manolos at The Carrie Diaries (8 pm Mondays on the CW Television Network) and Russian spies straight from The Charm School assimilating as D.C. suburbanites during the height of the Cold War at The Americans (10 p.m. Wednesdays on FX).

Recently whenever Hollywood runs out of film ideas, it gives an old’80s TV show a reboot, such as Charlie’s Angels, Miami Vice, The A-Team and 21 Jump Street (personally, I am keeping my fingers crossed for a Truth About Life film ). While some’80s tendencies — such as triangle silhouettes and neon socks — might make us shudder, others — such as wood-paneled station wagons and kitchen tables — deserve another chance. Here’s a peek at a dozen’80s tendencies designers have embraced and freshened up for today.

1. Little kitchen islands. As we watch on the collections of The Americans, the’80s marked the start of the utilitarian island trend. Kitchen islands started small. (Recall those chunky square butcher block–topped islands you could slip in and out for meals prep?) They kept rising and so are now are frequently the biggest elements in the room, including microwave drawers, dishwashers, another sink and breakfast bars. But as many try to live in smaller spaces, small islands are making a comeback.

See small kitchen islands

Side note: This is in fact a fairly recently designed wallpaper by Graham & Brown, called Drama Boheme, and it also showed up in the 1970s period show Swingtown. Yes, I understand, I watch way too much TV.

2. A conventional kitchen table. Rather than sidling around a kitchen island to consume meals, the Americans at The Americans pull up seats into a kitchen table, eating their cereal and waffles collectively in their PJs, linking and planning their days while fretting about the nuclear arms race.

1980s kitchens nearly always had space included to your kitchen table, and there has been a separate formal dining area. Today we’re more inclined to see kitchen island tables, breakfast nooks and open programs where the kitchen is right adjacent to the dining area, however the kitchen table is beginning to make a comeback.

10 Reasons to Bring Back the Humble Kitchen Table

3. Pattern. The fire stitch pattern with this 1980s-style sofa from The Americans includes a bit of everything that’s been so well known in cloths for the previous few years — it’s some chevron, a few bargello plus a little an ikat look. Today we’re more inclined to combine the fire stitch with other patterns; for example, we would not have yards and yards of matching draperies right behind it.

The Flame Stitch Fires Up Home Interiors

4. Brass. Another’80s trend seen in the previous picture that is back is brass. Today’s brass looks are antiqued or burnished, however, whereas’80s brass was exceptionally polished.

Cristi Holcombe Interiors, LLC

5. Warhol. While The Americans occurs at the stoic D.C. suburbs, the lighthearted Carrie Diaries occurs during the height of this lush pop art’80s at Manhattan.High-school-age Carrie meets a fabulous friend who works at Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, and fashion and nightlife experiences ensue.

Scott Sanders LLC

6. Brights. In this modern-day show house cabana, daring Andy Warhol lithographs are surrounded with interesting colours, Palm Beach-y style and’80s decorative elements arranged in a new manner. While the colours are very bright, they stop short of this obnoxious blinding neons of the’80s.

Natural Balance Home Builders

7. Technology. As iPods get tinier, nostalgia for’80s large-component technologies is back. I overlook boom boxes, and I have never seen one seem sexier than in this hot contemporary den.

Alison Mountain Interior Design

8. Record albums. Likewise, these framed record albums on the wall create a trendy compostion. I don’t know about you, but I have never been able to throw my albums, though I have not had a turntable at at least 20 decades. Who could toss out Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, Rio, or Big Lizard in My Backyard? Not this girl.

Glenn Gissler Design

9. Big window treatments. Draperies from the’80s had all of the drama of sudsy prime-time soaps such as Dallas and Dynasty. This huge swoop of cloth creates an whole accent wall.

Jennifer Ashton, Allied ASID

10. Southwestern style. Throughout the’80s Southwestern style spread across the U.S. quicker than Chi-Chis franchises. It was usually a common formula of navajo blanket plus skull plus gratuitous usage of apricot paint equals”Southwestern.”

Today Southwestern style is as popular as ever, however, the kitschy theme-y-ness has been replaced by subtler interpretations of Spanish colonial desert fashion.

Eduardo Raimondi . Fotografia de Arquitetura

11. White-hot Miami style. While pastel T-shirts worn under lace matches with pushed-up sleeves are out, but the trendy white modern glass house fashion of Miami Vice has proven staying power.

Bonus: Revisit Jan Hammer’s rockin’ keyboard motif song.

Panache Interiors

12. Red, white and black. And chrome. This room is the apparel of Nicolas Cage’s character in Valley Girl turned into interior design. I mean that as the maximum compliment.

Inform us: Are there some’80s tendencies you’d like to see return? How about those you pray will never return? Let us know in the comments section!

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