What Decor Trend Was Most Popular the Year You Were Born?

It was hard to escape linoleum in the '70s. And while there were plenty of horrifying retro patterns to go on linoleum, there were some decent options too - assuming that you didn’t get the cheap stuff that would start to warp and bubble. 

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Bean bag chairs might seem like kids’ furniture these days, but they were having a serious moment in the 1970s. Let’s just be thankful they’re not as in these days, because they are a real pain to sit on! 

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Who did we think we were fooling in the '70s with wood paneling? It didn’t look nearly as nice as people thought - it was clearly just a thin piece of composite wood covering drywall. But that being said, you couldn’t escape paneling in the early '70s! 

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You don’t see a ton of shag carpets these days, but it was all the rage in the 1970s. It might have been a pain to keep clean, but it sure felt nice and cozy on your feet! If you simply must relive the excitement of shag carpet today, we recommend a small rug so that you can get your fix without ruining your house. 

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In the '70s, hanging chairs were a very trendy and futuristic look. Everyone wanted to recreate the feel of flying free in their own homes. Hopefully, yours was installed in the ceiling well, because we wouldn’t want you crashing back down to earth! 

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Much to the chagrin of knitters everywhere, crochet blankets were having a serious moment in the '70s. Whether yours was made by dear old grandma or you bought it at a store, it was hard to find a home without one.

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If you wanted to turn your kitchen into a woodland fantasy in the 1970s, you went straight for the Merry Mushroom decor. This brand of kitchen decor from Sears was all the rage, and this is one '70s trend that would still look cute in a kitchen today. 

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If you didn’t have a stone fireplace that took up an entire wall of your living room, did you really live through the 1970s? These giant fixtures were pretty commonplace back in the day, and while we still think they look great, we understand why people these days don’t want to go to all that trouble of installing one. 

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Sunken living rooms look great right up until you forget that extra step and break your ankle. Bringing everything down a little was a great way to create coziness without having to actually add anything to the room. 

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Whether you called it rattan or wicker furniture, these woven pieces were in high demand in the '70s and on into the '80s. It was a great option for outdoor furniture, but things got a little weird when people started using it indoors as well. 

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Before the advent of wireless phones, if you wanted any privacy while taking a call, you needed a phone with a mile-long cord. Long cords are no longer necessary, but we kinda miss the sight of a curly telephone cord winding its way through the home. 

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The Memphis Group was an Italian design group that exploded in popularity in the early '80s. You might not know them by name, but you’ve almost certainly seen their eye-catching decor - it involves lots of bright colors and unusual shapes. 

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We’re not really sure why everyone was so into floor-length drapes, but we have to admit - they looked fancy. Nevertheless, they started to fade in the late '80s as everyone moved more towards minimalism. 

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Buying a glass dining table in the '80s was a great way to eliminate your tablecloth budget. Because who was going to buy something so eye-catching and then cover it up? These looked fantastic but you would have a real problem on your hands if yours ever broke! 

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Low rider sofas might have been hell on your knees, but they looked great in the 80s. But we’re sure that really tall people would probably disagree! 

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How else besides a CD rack were you going to store your music collection in the 1980s? These racks sometimes made some interesting design choices, but mostly, they were in your home just to brag about how big your CD collection was. 

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We’re not sure how glass block walls got started, but when they showed up in the '80s, they took the world by storm. These days, they might look a little dated since they were so popular way back when, but they were probably one of the best-looking decor trends of the era.

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Folks in the '80s loved their plastic and that’s why you could find clear, Lucite decor all over the place. It wasn’t the most inspired design trend, but it wasn’t actively offensive either. 

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If you didn’t find yourself tangled up in vertical blinds at least once, did you really live through the '80s? Vertical blinds might have had their moment in the sun, but these days, their horizontal cousins are much more popular. 

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Flowers were all the rage when it came to bedding in the '80s. Sometimes it looked okay, but other times it just looked like a pastel bomb exploded on your bed. It’s rare to find someone still carrying a torch for floral bedding these days, but they exist! 

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What was the point of buying electronics in the '90s if you couldn’t see what’ was going on inside? From phones to TVs and every electronic in between, clear plastic had a serious moment in the early 1990s. 

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Oak cabinets are frequently called dated these days, but we couldn’t get enough of them in the '90s. They’re definitely nothing to write home about, but we don’t think they’re the awful retro decor some people make them out to be.

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It doesn’t matter if you lived in rural Wisconsin, you absolutely had a colorful painting of a coyote in your house in the early '90s. There’s nothing wrong with Southwest decor, but people hit it so hard and heavy back then that we’re still not ready for a resurgence. 

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Neon was clearly the element of the decade, considering how many colorful signs people made out of the stuff in the '90s. It’s not the most efficient way to light a room, but it sure looked neat! 

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Can’t decide how you want to light your room? Simple. Just install track lighting! These fixtures got popular in the '90s, but this is one decor trend that has remained steady throughout the decades. 

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We pity the '90s kid who didn’t have a themed bed. How did you even sleep at night? Thankfully, this is one trend that never really caught on with adults. 

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If you want your living room to look like a giant zebra, that’s your business. But you’d probably need that animal print wallpaper of the '90s. Who needs a safari when you can paper your walls with wildlife? 

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Inflatable furniture doesn’t seem to be as popular anymore, and I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that we’ve all gained weight. But in the '90s, if you were svelte enough, you could plop right on down into an inflatable chair. They didn’t look great, but not much in the 90s did! 

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Textured walls were all the rage in the 90s, and what better way to achieve that look than by dipping your old kitchen sponge in paint? We’re not sure what it was about this technique, but it could make a room look dated as soon as the paint dried. 

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This decor trend was thankfully (mostly) restricted to young people, but there wasn’t much you couldn’t find in a glow-in-the-dark variety in the '90s. Why anyone would want to glue plastic stars to their ceiling instead of walking outside and looking at the real ones is beyond me. 

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