Three Retro Trends We Hope Never Come Back

Three Retro Trends We Hope Never Come Back

We’re all about walking on the cutting edge when it comes to design. But every now and then, it’s even more fun to take a jog down memory lane. Grab your boomboxes and hold onto your turtlenecks – we’re going to unpack some of the most cringeworthy style trends of the last three decades.

1970s: Soaked in your Sleep

Something just wet the bed—it was your mattress. These vinyl water sacks were all the rage, making waves in the 70s until folks finally got seasick by the 80s. If you didn’t have a waterbed, did you even have a bed? Everyone who was anyone was on board, from plain Jane nextdoor to Hugh Hef, who reportedly had a huge waterbed covered in Tasmanian possum hair. These buoyant mattresses were fantastic—as long as Fluffy the cat kept his paws off! We’re so glad the popularity of this trend dried up so we could finally put the waterbed to rest.

 

1980s: The Monster Beneath Your Feet

Not surprisingly, thinking back to the wall-to-wall carpets that swept the market in the 80s does not give us the warm fuzzies! While we’d rather sweep this one under the rug, shag carpets were a wildly popular trend, covering up gorgeous hardwoods from the front door to the (gasp) bathroom floor. Between the flourishing bacteria and hard-to-clean dirt, there was nothing magic about these carpets, which unrolled in popular shades like hunter green, burgundy and jaundice yellow.

 

1990s: Wild Walls

Perhaps something about the impending millenium made us want to box ourselves into the decade—a feeling which we accomplished with floor-to ceiling wallpaper in every room! Seashell patterns? You bet. Infinite florals? Yes please! This dated fashion trend swallowed even the most expansive spaces, assaulting the eye with colors and shapes galore! On the off-chance we wanted to let walls breathe, there was sponge paint, creating a clashing multi-neon colored collage of chaos.