apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Guess the Decade: Sunny Rec Room Bar

guess071108.jpgIt's Friday, time for a new round of the Guess the Decade game, this time featuring a sunny spot for at home cocktails. Simply take a good look at design of the room above for clues and then jump below to make your best guess...

Tags

inspiration, Guess The Decade

Related Links

Share

Comments (43)

I don't know why I'm so sure it's now, but I just am.

posted by TammyE on 2008-07-11 21:08:55
view TammyE's profile

I agree...my first impression was now.

posted by traderdi on 2008-07-11 21:18:19
view traderdi's profile

I'am going for the late 60s, the colors are true to that time, but it could be now?

posted by moddog on 2008-07-11 21:19:02
view moddog's profile

i'm with Tammy. something about the placement of the stools. call me crazy. now.

posted by goofybuddha on 2008-07-11 21:21:34
view goofybuddha's profile

the upholstery is done too well for it to be now. if you can afford to have those stools done you can afford a better sideboard and real flowers.
the fishscale leading, the pottery, the 2001 planters and that amazing/hideous mirror all say 1973-78 at the latest to me. the gold touches say 1967, but all that marimekko-like fabric and the palette are later. just ask yourself, what would macmillan and wife wear here?
also ask yourself, what is going on on that floor?

posted by sunshinelovesyou on 2008-07-11 21:30:51
view sunshinelovesyou's profile

My gut says now too. It just seems like too especially collected vintage items... could be the 60s for the same reason that it looks like now is fooling us. I have been looking at too many apartments with this stuff in it, it doesn't seem sincerely contemporary with its items. Minty greenish white walls and floor? Something is telling me it's also in Europe! (Would I get bonus points?) :)

posted by K T G on 2008-07-11 21:34:05
view K T G's profile

I guessed now. Not sure why, just a feeling.

posted by suzy8track on 2008-07-11 21:38:32
view suzy8track's profile

my first instinct was now, so that is what I'm going with.

posted by Mazz on 2008-07-11 21:51:57
view Mazz's profile

It reminds me of the 1950's.

posted by cityofparis on 2008-07-11 22:20:29
view cityofparis's profile

I said now. The pitcher looks like the Ona pitcher from Crate & Barrel. The stools remind me of a pair of Camper shoes...how the pattern runs from one on to the next. Very now as well?

posted by Marlene Rose on 2008-07-11 22:55:33
view Marlene Rose's profile

now. no doubt about it. The stools. That's what makes me so sure.

posted by L1bby on 2008-07-11 23:19:43
view L1bby's profile

liquor bottle labels have me saying now...i was a bartender in a past life

posted by moni-ka in ky on 2008-07-11 23:30:21
view moni-ka in ky's profile

I'm torn between now and the 80's. The carafe makes me think now, and I don't know liquor bottles well enough as hard as I try to read into them. Otherwise, the whole ensemble gives me an 80's vibe.

posted by RJD on 2008-07-11 23:45:07
view RJD's profile

The stools and the wine bottle holder scream "now" to me.

In fact I looked at the picture before I read the headline and just assumed it was someone's cool retro drinks station.

posted by madsarah on 2008-07-11 23:48:15
view madsarah's profile

I'm also going with now because of the rug.

posted by Linnealoves on 2008-07-12 00:45:59
view Linnealoves's profile

I had to go with Now. For me it's the walls and floors painted the same tinted white...all architecture is painted out so the focus is on the lovingly collected vintage items. That feels very present day.

posted by typicalguineapig on 2008-07-12 04:26:38
view typicalguineapig's profile

Now, in a vintage style. The photography is also too neat, digital.

posted by Daniel Poitiers on 2008-07-12 05:18:12
view Daniel Poitiers's profile

too matchy-matchy for anything but at "now"! glad we all agree :)

posted by skippyandebsy on 2008-07-12 05:42:01
view skippyandebsy's profile

Has to be "now". Just has to be.

posted by Marco on 2008-07-12 07:55:01
view Marco's profile

I guessed Now as well

posted by SuperGrrl on 2008-07-12 08:40:03
view SuperGrrl's profile

I guessed 70s, since it's fugly. The photography and carafe do say "now", however.

posted by Valerie on 2008-07-12 09:37:15
view Valerie's profile

I went with now ...

posted by AndreaU on 2008-07-12 09:41:02
view AndreaU's profile

My initial thought was that it was "now" coz I saw the picture before the heading... and thought it was an ordinary AT article until I read the "guess the decade" heading. Then I thought it was 90s... coz the colours aren't very now... blue and yellow (it's a bit late 80s into 90s). The 60s items (ceramic vases and enamel dishes on the wall) look too well collected to make the room actually from the 60s, no? Then again, it could be a DIY 60s design project from a women's magazine - the stools look a bit DIY. The wall cabinet looks genuine 60s, especially the glass pattern... now I'm convincing myself - it's from the 60s. OK. Final guess. It's 90s... but every single item is a genuine 60s item. Just noticed that the plants are succulents... that's more current surely. The actual photograph colours (bright whites) have a very now feel too.

posted by TaniaTingel on 2008-07-12 11:27:41
view TaniaTingel's profile

A few items are vintage and a few are purchased within the last couple of years. I guessed NOW.

posted by wild-er on 2008-07-12 11:29:18
view wild-er's profile

it seems silly, and not at all logical, but it's the liquor that makes me think now, especially the 1800 tequila.

posted by rach1007 on 2008-07-12 12:20:07
view rach1007's profile

Now.

The bottle of 10 Cane Rum (a brand launched around 2005?) tipped me off.

posted by Hannala on 2008-07-12 15:11:36
view Hannala's profile

It's so retro in a mix kind of way that I say today.

posted by Elizabeth II on 2008-07-12 15:35:07
view Elizabeth II's profile

very jonathan adler. now.

posted by TheoJ on 2008-07-12 16:15:43
view TheoJ's profile

the springer stools are 70's, but weren't upholstered with asymetric patches back then.

most of the 60's pieces are the sort of unsubstantial things that are being past for retro-chic now, but probably would have been paired with older or personal things in a true sixties setting. those wall arrangements of coasters/ashtrays are too silly.....they would be coasters or ashtrays on flat surfaces, not a "collection". in a vintage home, the pricessa glasses would be in the kitchen, china closet, or wetbar not merchandised.

the rug seems current, and some of the liquor is new.

the arrangements and colors are too forced and vivid to be anything but now......though it looks so dated already.

posted by healthyhome on 2008-07-12 20:02:16
view healthyhome's profile

now now.

posted by holland on 2008-07-12 23:35:50
view holland's profile

It reminds me of the 1950's.

http://www.modern-sofa.net/

posted by march3rd on 2008-07-13 05:06:49
view march3rd's profile

I say the 90s because I sold that pitcher when I worked at Crate and Barrel in the 90s

posted by Rebecca_South on 2008-07-13 11:54:03
view Rebecca_South's profile

Now. Such kitsch overload can only be ironic.

posted by Lisa Hunter (Montreal) on 2008-07-13 13:22:03
view Lisa Hunter (Montreal)'s profile

Now. Studiously vintage.

posted by peacelily on 2008-07-13 13:35:54
view peacelily's profile

I'd say now, just because of the quality of the photo

posted by christie on 2008-07-13 15:07:47
view christie's profile

My 2-second impression says "now".

posted by Dexter Rutecki on 2008-07-13 15:28:40
view Dexter Rutecki's profile

Ummm... i actually like the mirror/want to know what its made from.

posted by DahliaCactus on 2008-07-13 18:34:46
view DahliaCactus's profile

Its contrived decorative, impractical and kitsch I say now

posted by LoriSF on 2008-07-14 00:48:32
view LoriSF's profile

The mix of materials and finishes makes me guess "Now".

posted by terminallygroovy on 2008-07-14 08:25:38
view terminallygroovy's profile

I read all the comments, and think it MUST be now, but that cabinet with the iron is some kind of ugly. Eighties ugly.

posted by maggieann on 2008-07-14 15:13:33
view maggieann's profile

Reveal it already!

posted by mscot on 2008-07-14 20:45:30
view mscot's profile

Gut reaction says "Now," justified by all the reasons already stated.

The quality of the lighting and photography is too glossy and crisp--it has to be very recent. Overall, the whole setup is just too contrived and on-the-nose. It feels very much like someone's gathered together an assortment of found objects in an effort to create a glamorized vignette of fugly 70's design. It roughly simulates the overall look of a past period, but captures none of the true zeitgeist. It looks like something clipped from a recent issue of Domino magazine.

If this WERE vintage, I'd expect it to be some cruddy project from something like Better Homes & Gardens or Good Housekeeping, circa 1980. One of those magazines or project books that traded in inexpensive projects in an aesthetic that was just a few years out of date by the time of publication. No where else would you have found such a cheap and ugly wood bar cabinet featured so prominently as the anchor piece of so much other cheap ugliness trying very hard to be more glamorous.

But if it were ca. 1980, there'd have to be some rattan in there somewhere. And much bigger plants in the containers--like a whole goddamned ficus. And we'd be looking at a digital scan of a muddy, grainy, inexpensively printed old book or magazine and not a bright, high-resolution image.

posted by Hoyt Clagwell on 2008-07-14 21:04:10
view Hoyt Clagwell's profile

Totally now

posted by cle on 2008-07-15 01:14:22
view cle's profile