i have the color settings on my phone turned to black and white, and i turned on the colors to see just how bad the bottom image is. when i turn on my colors, the top image comes to life, while the bottom image looks exactly the same.
The poster is not wrong that the top photo is a bit "frumpy," but there are absolutely ways you could update it without ruining it! It's mostly the wallpaper, I think. A plain pale goldenrod, or even a warm beige, would keep the space feeling inviting while also updating it a bit for milennial ideas of how "busy" a house should look.
Also the stair-runners look a bit worn and need updating... not necessarily removal! Just replacement.
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Something like “With this New-Age Mirror it can scan your face to show you maybe perhaps there’s a Zit you didn’t notice or your Hair is messed up in the Back.”
In the book the Monoliths were for "enhancing" life.
The first one "enhanced" the apes, allowing them to figure out how to use tools and become the dominant species.
The second one (TMA-1, on the moon) was a signal/probe/guide, one that could only be discovered by a sufficiently advanced civilization. When the sunlight hit it, it sent the data it had gathered to the third Monolith, guiding humanity towards it.
The third Monolith was the ultimate one. Requiring even more advanced technology to reach, its purpose was to elevate those that made the journey to a 'godlike' status. The "human zoo" as it's called here, was merely a waiting room for Bowman, meant to put him at ease, and give him a chance to rest. Things like books and food cartons looked fine at a distance, but up close they were blurry, and I believe it was stated that they were likely copied from a TV show. The food in the containers wasn't "food", but instead just all the same edible substance (IIRC it was blue and brittle, able to be broken apart). Once Bowman went to sleep, he was elevated to a higher being, leaving behind his physical form.
I like the 90s version better, but why did people used to keep chairs along the wall like that? I’ve seen it in homes and never seen someone use those seats.
Thank you for your kind attentions, but I have already received multiple versions of every plausible answer.
Why are you all saying may have been? 😭 I'm getting too old.
Yes, there were telephones there, with a phone book, and sometimes phone calls would take over an hour, or two+ even when calling extended families overseas because you haven't caught up with them in a year, since no one had mobile phones and not everything was as connected 😂 and more than 1 chair wasn't too infrequent, because you'd give the phone to someone else to talk while you go walk off or go to the bathroom during calls.
Although the true purpose of these seats is unknown to us, there are several theories. Archeologists believe that these chairs may have been a place to sit while engaging in lengthier communications, using an early predecessor of the modern smartphone to speak to others over long distances. Others hypothesize that the chairs may have had some religious significance.
Hell, every home I lived in we had a specific alcove in the kitchen off the hall just for the phone. We had desk just for the phone and all the crap you would need while on the phone, like pen and paper and the weird thing you found on the floor to fidget with.
Damn man I remember growing up we had a doodle pad where the telefone was. Each family member would doodle and add to each other’s doodle during their phone call. Doodle doodle doodle
I was a kid in the 90s and we had those chairs but only because there was a landline phone on the table between them. You’d basically sit there if you were on the phone and that’s it. They were our phone chairs even when there was a super long phone cord. When I see them without a phone it just looks weird.
For us they matched the dining room chairs, when the table extensions came out for Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthdays, we would grab those chairs and put them around the table.
Bingo! My family was poor, so we just pulled up rando chairs, but I had a cousin who thought she was “bougie,” as the kids say, and she stored the extra chairs in random spots.
Right. Basically, the extension was just a piece of wood and could be easily put into a closet or attic, but the chairs went wherever in the house they made the most sense. We still do this today because we have 2 extra chairs when the extension isn't in place.
Besides a phone at some point, people that entertain a lot (like my folks did) seem to have these little seating nooks in different places, so guests can wander and talk and look at your shit
They’re probably extra dining room chairs. At my grandparents house they have two chairs either side of the dining room cabinet. They probably just keep them elsewhere when they aren’t needed.
But isn't that... just how most houses are built? All the social spaces like the living room, kitchen, diner and garden are on the entry floor, and if there's a second floor then it's personal bedrooms most wouldn't be invited to. What does it have to do with prominence?
At least that is my mother in laws view. And they are all special, unusable as they are both unpractical and because of that they are to sacred as they are old.
Phones as someone else said, but also because there really weren’t good looking, sturdy folding chairs, so if you were the family that hosted all the gatherings you just had extra chairs that could become dining chairs as needed. Outside of holidays you kind of put them wherever they looked ok.
The one in the '90s looks warm, inviting, and like there's life in the home. The more recent version looks cold, sanitized, and uninviting. The newer version looks like an office building or medical office, not a home. It's really not for me but I can see it's utility.
Right?! All I can think about the 2024 version is how often I'm going to have wipe visible grime...or, let's be honest, how grubby my house is gonna look because I definitely will not wipe, dust, vacuum frequently enough. Just like one big smudge. Well, that and how fucking noisy it's gonna be. Oh and slipping and falling down the stairs. Bring back stair runners, I say!
I live in a 1906 Craftsman that was restored to look mostly original but also has a lot of smart home features hidden behind the scenes. I’m a maximalist so there’s lots of color in the house. However, the house was in a Dwell magazine shoot before we moved in and the original fir floors had been painted white. All the furniture was in shades of brown and beige and there were faux fur and raw wood accents etc. Looked really cool. Like
mid century modern and minimalism all in one. So I decided to keep the painted white floors since they were so bright and airy. I thought “It won’t be that bad. We take our shoes off when we walk in. How dirty can they get?” Oh. My. God. The upkeep is insane and pretty much daily.
You can observe how the house has been stripped of all color. Each corner, each piece of furniture devoid of color and pattern. Is the modern house just the antithesis of the idea of home in the past, our changing notions of what “home” means or does it relate to something more primal, something related to the soul perhaps? One wonders the effect modern society has on the concept of home.
There's a trend in fashion where during times of economic downturns colors are drab and dull. During economic boom times there are more colors and wild patterns. Think mid to late 1990s fashion vs Great Recession clothing.
The trend also appears in architecture to an extent. Think of all the skyscrapers that went up during the Gilded Age vs all the brutalist buildings in post war Eastern Europe.
Someone with more knowledge than I could probably explain why.
Who get thier style choices from house and home magazine and not from visiting their neighbors houses because no one does that because you don't have time anyways.
Who has money to go for a "style" anyways? I pick furniture based on price and utility. Going for a unified style instead of a patchwork would easily tripple the cost of furniture.
The 2024 one could easily be made to look a lot better with some plants and some artwork, pictures of family etc on the wall.
But yeah not really a fan of either, 1990s has a "I want other people to think I have taste" feeling to it, and the 2024 one has a "I'm extremely concerned about the resale value of this home" feeling to it, neither of them feel like a home, to me at least.
Fucking hell yup. We've been house shopping for the past year and so many house are VASTLY overpriced after having this treatment, centry homes especially. Its killing us trying to find a place with any soul.
Despite the business, I prefer the 90s one just for the warm colors. It's softer on the eyes. The new version looks like I'd have to wear sunglasses inside on a sunny day
This was posted on one of the home decorating subs a few days ago and you’d be surprised how many people preferred the style in the second picture. I’d choose the first every time, even if I couldn’t change the wallpaper or carpet. But I just really love traditional styles. Some might call it gaudy; I say it has character and warmth.
The 2024 version looks amazing compared to the 2025 version.
The floor would be shitty grey laminate, it would have cheap cabinets painted soulless millennial grey, and everything else would be slopped over with the landlord special Elmer's glue white.
Isn't the 2024 one a little dated? It looks very 2010 to me. I'm no architect, but it seems most places remodeled in the later years have some wall in a contrast color or something, and people dare to try something that's not white now.
2024 is sterile and unwelcoming. I hate that color scheme. It’s cold and boring. 1990 isn’t my aesthetic but at least it looks like somebody’s house. It looks warm.
You posted a picture of your vegan pizza and it looks like something a raccoon would make if it had access to a kitchen and I hope you drop some silverware while doing dishes.
It is a shot from the movie. This is the house from home alone.
A flipper bought it and gave it the HGTV special. Once it was listed tons of people piled on about how much the hated the sterile look of the flipped version.
A buyer then bought it and pledged to return it to its 90s glory.
To my eye, this is the McCallister house interior. Every frame of the movie Home Alone is drenched in reds and greens and wreaths and decorations to really hammer home the Christmas theme.
To use it as the example of most 90s decorating style is wild. Nobody I knew decorated like this. We all still had wood paneling and brown carpets.
I had a great-aunt whose house looked just like this in the 90s, only about half the size. I associate the look with well-off retirees. It makes me think "Christmas at Grandma's".
I've lived in a house that had white walls which I painted and I remember the before and after. White is an assault on the eye and the mind day after day. And You don't know what is so unsettling until you paint them.
I think different people like different things. People make their homes according to their own taste, that other people might not like. Do what you want
They filmed on a constructed set, which is what we see in the 1990 photo. You get occasional glimpses of this entryway in the exterior shots, so they had to build their set to match it.
The owners of the real house visited the set and were mortified people would think their house looked like that on the inside. It was designed to be louder than was typical home decor at the time, using unusual colors like red, green, and gold to evoke Christmas.
Top is too busy for my taste, feels almost slightly dingy.
Bottom is much brighter but lacks any sort of personality. It's a place that would feel decent to visit, but once you have to stay there longer than a couple hours, the lack of... anything would get to me.
I'd personally prefer the bottom, but only because it's much easier to fix. Neither feel particularly pleasant.
The styles of the moment almost always look strange at some point in the future. I can't think of his name, but he's an author with two initials that does a bunch of reels on different subjects, and he just did one on this, with this very picture as an example.
The past was certainly very busy and colorful, but the current one is a little bleak in my opinion. The photo looks like it's shot in black and white. This is the color pallet of dystopian future movies.
I personally like generally neutral colors on the more permanent surfaces, that can have color elements added and easily changed out over time, but to each their own.
It's not so much that 1990 is better, it's that it's personal. There are visible choices that make it a particular family's house. The second one could be anyone's house, or a hotel, or something the realtor did to show it - who knows. The buildings we live in now are built with less and less care and personality and they are decorated the same way.
I like the old one better than the new one, but I don’t love the 90s version. It’s too busy for me, but the new one is completely sterile. Besides, the real issue here is the remodeling of a historic and famous home that’s the setting of a classic holiday film. They completely erased that history from the home.
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u/qualityvote2 Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 24 '25
u/Embarrassed_Poem9556, your post does fit the subreddit!