Because I am older I dislike it when they throw out the eighties style. I am not even sure what it was.
It was a lot of stuff I couldn't afford because children came. It was styles and stuff I couldn't have that I thought was pretty.
Now, I can cheerfully go to thrift sales and find all this out of style items and feel I got what I wanted. Unless you make me want something else new.?
Thanks hgtv.

Why is oak kitchen cabinets yuk???. I think they and oak are just as pretty as it used to be. I Liked the golden era of many years back. Especially in craftsman homes. In the a modern version of a Victorian homes. Maybe overdone over the years. But each generation puts their take on it and that is interesting. They definately have interesting redesigned ideas.

However the flooring can be oak or what ever look they decide.??
Puzzle to me.

We must be close in age. I didn't pay much attention to decorating styles until oak was the rage. When we finally re-did the staircase in our last house, it went from the standard white-painted wrought iron to what I thought was gorgeous oak. Soon after, some friends bought a new house - and all the wood was white-washed. Oak was already passe. For the past several years, it's been the dark cherry. There's no keeping up - so go with what you like, especially if you can find it at thrift store prices!

I really think that as each new crop of folks reach home buying/decorating age, they want the opposite of what their parents had. When I was growing up, all the homes had hardwood flooring. What did we want in our first houses? Wall-to-wall carpet! I'd bet that most of the people on HGTV's house-hunting shows grew up with carpet... so what do they want? Yep - hardwood flooring!

It will be interesting to see what their kids want. Heaven forbid that they follow the same style trend their parents had!

I totally agree with both of you. Just when I got all oak everywhere, suddenly CHERRY was "it." Well, I am finally old enough to realize that everything is going to come and go again (in both clothes and home fashion). Since I love to decorate I do try to keep updated to some extent in colors and accessories, but I recently gave some thought to all the oak and decided it is going to STAY! It's a beautiful wood, my DH loves it, and trying to change it would be almost impossible anyway. Go thrifting!

Oak seems to have gone out of style for wood that is more closed grain... so it looks less like wood. And then they put stain and glaze to hide the grain even more.

Hopefully people will begin to see the beauty of wood again with whatever species they prefer. I've always liked oak and mahogany(sp) and birch and.....

I like oak and always have but I think we got Oak-ed out when it was popular. At one point our living room was oak floors, oak futon frames, oak end and coffee tables, BIG oak entertainment center and curio cab and an oak mantle. Overkill you say?

I've actually always liked the grain of oak but the color can bother me. I've been really happy to see some furniture and kitchen cabinets done now in oak in a dark espresso stain. Really lovely.

We still have some oak in the living room but we're mixing woods more now. New ent. center is a dark cherry, mantle is painted, seating furniture isn't wood at all. I'm happy to have my oak floors and still have a couple of oak pieces - just not such an overwhelm of it.

I have a very nice oak dining room set and oak coffee and end tables. We bought then in the mid eightys and paid a good price for them. I still love them. I think they are timeless. I am sure other people would say "dated", but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The only place I like oak is on the floor. I don't like it cabinets, and especially not in furniture!

Our 1955 house had hardwood floors, most of which was promptly covered with W2W carpet. (I remember sliding on my rear down the wood steps at the age of four - I could really fly! It did not feel good AT ALL once the steps were carpeted!) We didn't have oak cabinets or oak furniture.

I have never gone with fads - and I do what I like in my own home. If you like the look of oak, by all means, go with it! And it is great if you can get it at thrift rate prices!

27 years ago I stripped down my parents bedroom set. It had been stained a dark espresso color(spanish style, remember that trend) and I was happy to find solid oak under it. Last month I refinished it for the second time, adding a mahogany stain. Everybody thinks I got a new bedroom set. I am still in awe at it's transformation. My DH loves oak because of it's grain. Surprisingly enough, we have cherry built in bookcases with similar graining on some of the pieces. I have a mixture of woods in my house - the color of the stains tend to date the items more than the wood itself. I grew up with birch and maple. It makes me think of the fifties when blond woods were in. Everything espresso reminds me of the spanish trend in the 60's. Light oak reminds me of the 80's. But if cabinets or furniture is made well it's going to be timeless. I'm sitting in my office now. It has built in cherry cabinets. A maple pharmacy cabinet, a mahogany secretary and an oak corner computer armoire. It all works because they are all stained in similar shades.

I guess my liking must depend on the outcome. Cause some woods are so pretty when I see them. I have tough time with orangish woods. but well with blues or nice colors I might surprise myself.
And it is like you say,'What we grow up with influences us'. I never liked those maple sets and their handels. But i did love my mothers blond set of what ever wood it was. I liked the design and it was light colored. My brother has it now chipped veneer and all.

It was fad to bleach the wood floors. Is that past now I wonder? I do still like a dark and light wood floor. the dream home was a dream with that darker floor and that coral pink furniture.

I have been admiring the green home. the greens sure set off that wood.

I have been watching the jane austin movies this season. Perhaps that is why I am disturbed by the coldness of the rooms. Now as I see the grand home of Sense and Sensibility, I seethat nearly all the wood trim is mostly all painted. I love white painted wood??? I am not sure why the rooms seem cold to me. There is some wood furniture. Perhaps it is the lean styles? I wish I knew why.

I wanted to add about the stain.And cover coats to protect the finnish. A few years back in the eighties I admired some amish two door armoirs with lots of detail and the most beautyful finnish on them. I wanted them so bad. It is not the same now. I do believe that it is the finnish used on the wood now. I can walk away quite freely without looking back or wishing. It is not the same.
NOw the finnish seems dull. I don't need shiny, but the finnish or wood seemed clear then, now it seems muddy.??

Perhaps that is why the cherries and other woods are looked on with more favor???

I grew up in the oak era, and I still prefer oak. I still own mission furniture in oak. Anyone who attempts to claim it is "dated" needs a good reality slap across the face.

I can say I want to cry when I watch a show, and they paint over beautiful oak woodwork and wainscoting. Or worse, tear it out for what they claim for a newer, more modern, look.

I wanted to reach through my TV and strangle Norm on "This Old House" when he supported them painting over the wonderful oak woodwork and wainscoting that an old house had in its dining room. It survived nearly 100 years without anyone taking a paint brush to it, until Norm came along. I lost all respect for Norm that day.

Norm painted oak trim in a 100 year old house?! Hope he has nighmares!!

"Anyone who attempts to claim it is "dated" needs a good reality slap across the face. "

Let me. let me do it.!!

Oh pooohh you said reality.

Anyay, I wish I had the dough to redo some big older homes. with all the detail, etc. I wish more people could rescue these homes in the college towns.

It used to be my dream. Now watching design to sell and buy the home shows, I have realized I know little about good today trends. Guess I have been in my own little world with my likes and dislikes. So I keep watching now and then to get an idea of what is being bought. those morning shows help one see a better picture of what some people like.

There has to be a reason that those nice trims etc are still being sold at the lumber yards.[ yards is an old term isn't it]

Oh, I so agree with Old Man and Loverofdesign...

love my oak and always will; i love the warmth and quality of this solid wood. it's perfect for my home and for the feeling i want to convey. i do mix in other woods for variety but have oak in kitchen & dining and a couple of pieces in living room.

If you love Oak, then you should go with it. A lot of people don't decorate the way they want because of resale potential or feeling the need to live up to the current trends. Oak is classic. A wood finish IMO will never be totally passe. Everything that is old will be new again in a few years. In the sameness of homes, your oak will stand out.

Personally I'm not a fan of oak or at least what I would refer to as modern oak. Red Oak is what is mainly used now a days. I find oak a too open grain wood but that comes from my background. While I am a Cabinetmaker, my love of woodworking started (and always will be) in furniture making. I apprenticed with many masters and I was schooled in designs and fundamentals of furniture masters like; Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton and many others. The masters of old, primarily worked in Cherry, Mahogany and Walnut which is probably where my love of those woods stems from. These woods have always been associated with fine woodworking.

When it comes to oak, I love antique furniture that was made of quartersawn red oak , rarely used now.

what is quartersawn oak

While it has the typical open grain it also had very large ribbons on its surface. These ribbons are the oaks, medullary rays (see second explanation) and adds much more character to the wood.

If you like oak, you may also want to consider using Hickory or Ash, as they are similar in grain structure. Another wood rarely used now and was used years ago in home construction as well as door and window trim was Chestnut. This has a beautiful grain structure and colour. Likewise, a wood that many people see in antique furniture and is mistaken for oak or ash is Elm. Because of a blight, it's very hard to find now. This has a very distictive grain structure and is a slightly tighter grain.

For the green oriented people out there, the new kid on the block is Bamboo. Many of you have seen it in flooring, but it is now available in cabinet doors as well as even butcher-block countertops.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Younique1,

Hi Geoff, Like many other items that are labled green - bamboo has its problems also. In many areas of the world because of high demand established trees and crop land are being destroyed to plant more bamboo.

I like oak, I think like any wood it goes in cycles. When we built our first house, pine was just going out of style. Oak, maple and birch were coming along. Now on the shows I've seen hints of grain returning to the wood choices.

I love the grain of oak. But even more, I love its strength. It's durable and functional. I will always love it. I'm not however, averse to having other woods in my home. My dining room table is mahogany and my bedroom pieces are walnut. That being said, I'll admit that have too much medium oak in my home. The floors, LR tables, kitchen cabinets and TV console all have the same grain. But it's not the oak, it's the sameness.

I think oak is timeless.

Oak... Don't mind oak flooring (as long as I can pick the stain) Not a huge fan of oak kitchen cabinets (that's what we currently have) but I dislike oak furniture with a passion.

We had vertical grain, clear cut, heart pine floors in the house I grew up in and if I could I'd rip all my oak floors out and replace it all with that heart pine however it's 25.00 a sq ft we looked into it when we first bought the house we are in after I rolled my eyes at the oak flooring. This is the flooring we had http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v379/rykersmom/?actio...rent=myoldfloor1.jpg

Along with the stain color I think the width of the floor boards also has some affect. The floor boards in the house I grew up in were around 4" wide the oak flooring in the house we have now are 2 1/4 inch, when we first bought this house I hated these floors so much it drove me nuts how skinny the boards were, they don't bother me anymore though lol I guess living here for 2 years it grew on me.

I have to agree that it's the stain that gets dated more so then the type of wood as far as flooring would go. Furniture that's a different story oak furniture was very 80's and 90's. The trim work in the house I grew up in was all gumwood which is pretty much extinct now. My father wouldn't let my mother paint it lol it used to drive her nuts that she couldn't paint it white and it drove him nuts that she wanted to paint it. Our casing was 8" wide around the doors and and 4" wide around the windows it was gorgeous, after my father passed away I wouldn't let my mom paint the wood work either lol! I wasn't in love with the gumwood but it had never been painted since the house was built over 100 years ago and the finish was still in perfect condition. But on the flip side, if I bought a house that had that light to medium oak color beadboard you bet I'd paint it, it looks way too 80's country to me left unpainted.

I had maple kitchen cabinets in my previous house and loved them, we currently have oak I don't' really like them so we are thinking of refacing the cabinets and buying new doors and drawers, right now I'm leaning towards Alder I love that wood. As for what you had growing up and doing the opposite in your home. We never had any sort of oak in our house but I've never been an oak fan, I think it's the grain that I dislike so much or the cut, I don't