I think the sofas should be bulkier, with rolled arms, and the window treatments should be heavier to really look more 80's. Interestingly enough, there are enough leftover 70's things to pull it off. Who dumps their whole house just because the decade changed?

Yeaaaaah... this does NOT look 80s at all...

It might not look like the typical over-the-top Dynasty stereotype of the 80s, but it doesn't "not" look like the 80s. There were as many decorating styles then as there are today, so no one look should define the decade (although it does seem as though only one look defines the stereotype of the decade).

you're totally on to them. there are elements that could aaaalmost be 80s if you weren't paying such close attention...

I remember thinking the same thing when watching this episode. I don't think they're trying to do anything sneaky, though, because I also didn't think Dharmaville looked very 70's. Especially the decor inside the barracks.

Kind of a mish-mosh -- the exposed ceilings are very mid-century.

The reality is, many people's homes are a mish-mosh of styles and eras -- perhaps there intent was not to create a perect magazine-quality interior, but something realistic that COULD have existed in the 80's.

If they had wanted it to look more 80s, they could have used more pastels. But it could pass for a neutral, subdued 80s family home. The floor lamp looks 80s to me. I remember having something very similar in my house when I was growing up then.

I think it's 90s...the girls' outfits look like the stuff all the "cool" girls used to wear from Limited Too...lol. Mom's hair doesn't look very eighties either...

Maybe Juliet just looks really old for her age...

Ha!

That's nothing like the '80s!!

Not the colours, sofa shapes, lamps... Not the inset halogen lighting (that didn't come until later)...

The only thing that could have been from the '80s is the hanging lantern pendant at the back of the shot, and the pelmet (wouldn't have looked like that though -- would have been shirred with a mix of purples, teals and black...).

not everyone was on the 80s super trendy train ...

That room is 90s. Nothing remotely 80s or 70s about it.

If the lamps were brass with pleated shades I'd believe it more. The red window treatments could also be more salmon colored.

That looks like the 90's.

My parents were not super trendy so...they still had the living room from the 70's. I think it was mid 80's when they went from green shag to beige carpet.

The 80's was excess. Big hair, all of the clothes for women had shoulder pads. Huge earrings, feather clips on hats. Think of BonJovi.

These people all have flat hair. 70's had flat hair, 90's had flat hair, 80's had huge hair.

Early 80's living rooms would still have the 70's vibe, late 80's would have been shiny and excess.

National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. The apartment next door to the Griswolds had Julia-Louise Drayfus. The Griswalds had 70's furniture, but 80's hair. Julia-Louise Drayfus had 80's apt and hair.

it looks a lot like the house I grew up in- in the 80's. ( I graduated HS in 84) we had two fabulous green sofas that were that shape, and we didn't have brass with pleated shade lamps- we had wood base lamps with paper shades.
We also had the actual color red and some oriental style rugs. This isn't an issue for me, it's in the ballpark of the 80's for sure....

No way. Especially not the clothing

Funny, it looks very eighties to me. the sofas are maybe a little off, but the rest is spot-on, especially all that red.

That sort of halogen lighting didn't exist until well into the '90s!

In the '80s, we had those big cans on tracks...

And that floor lamp in the shot is a 3rd generation copy of a Liagre (which dates to the '90s).

Everyone had something peach or aqua in the decor. As a child of the eighties some from of big hair or izod shirt was a must!

i call upper middle class 90s home....

@ emaozora: yes, i feel like pottery barn HAS been rockin this look a long time. they're like the abercrombie of home design. minimal change.

if we want to see REAL 80s decor, look no further than this! it's good for lols! :)

http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?cat=104

I agree that this room doesn't have the leftover 70s (or even late 60s) look of an 80s room that simply isn't following trends. The ottoman looks pretty 80s to me, and the floor itself, but that's about it.

And while it's true that not everyone followed trends in the 80s, 1) people still tend to choose what's available and contemporary to their eye; and 2) this room wasn't designed by regular people, these are set designers and costumers--people who live for cliche and stereotype when looking back.

It looks like the 80's did in the Florida suburbs, California too, maybe? People were more casual; think grown up Eagles fans with real jobs and kids. Not everybody went for the regurgitated deco and pastels with Nagels and black lacquered furniture.

I thought I was the only one who thought it looked off! The sofas should be roll arm, not track. Believe me, my folks are hardly the hippest but even their house had more brass accents and pleated shades in the 80s.
And the clothing/styling looks way more modern. I would have been about the age of those girls if it were the 80s and that's not how I (or anyone I know) dressed.

I grew up in the eighties and my parents put the following in our den: brown velvet sofa (left over from the 70s), 2 beige woven sofas, light beige carpet, copper fireplace, 2 brass lamps with pleated shades, and mid-century coffee table (leftover from when my dad was a bachelor).

That was a NY suburb. I agree with perfidia that this may have been somewhere warmer.

Fun question! I'm enjoying the answers and different points of view. My spin off question would be, does geography have as much impact on decorating trends as it used to? In other words, has the web allowed everyone to see and have access to similar decorating trends and ideas at the same time more so than in the past? Or is my assumption that decorating trends are less defined by geography off the wall? Is decorating influenced more by weather, etc. not how long it takes trends to travel.

My opinion is mid to late 90s for this shot.

If you didn't tell me this was supposed to be the 80s, I would have thought it was a shot from 2010!

There is a certain preppy vibe to it that could give an early-80s hint. But that linen slipcover for the sofa is in Pottery Barn right now, is it not?!

AH! So funny that you asked this, I thought the same exact thing when I saw this episode. I was like "no way that was the 80's" but then again I thought that maybe they were just really preppy and not trendy. That hanging light fixture is the only thing that really screams 80's.

did they say it was supposed to be 80s? i would say juliet is around 35? or supposed to be on the show... i would say 70s if anything. also it was a 30 second long scene so maybe they didn't think we would all be so critical, hahaha... but that's us lost fans.

Yeah, this is more 90s. I agree with the comment about the hanging light fixture—for sure the only 80s thing in the picture. The couch's structure is way too contemporary. Couches from the 80s seem overstuffed, shapeless almost...like the "windpants"/"windsuits" of the era.

Also the colors are way too "Pottery Barn"...reds/khakis. Pastels (light pink, gray, teal) with gradient, swooshing patterns and random brush strokes...in possibly a near crosshatching pattern draped into overly-formal, stuffy curtains...that would do the trick. Walls wallpapered in complementary pastel colors, perhaps floral motif. Oh, and these weird matching pastel grass in a vase with an uplight...haha.

Perhaps my view of the 80s is skewed since I was born in 1987, haha. But still, that does not read 80s...come on Lost!

thank you for posting this- this has bothered me too. the mother's clothes and hair especially. Her shirt- is not 80's or 70's. no one ever dreamed of three quarter length cargo inspired sleeves in the 80's. this is definitely post banana republic. I guess that they didn't waste too much time on this young Juliette scene. But they could have teased the mother's hair or something, put her in a sweet heart blouse or made the couches pink?

Not everyone had big hair, wore Izods, or decorated with peach or aqua in the 80's. The hanging lamp, floral print, small print on the ottoman, some of the accessories are right for 80's. The window treatments have a very late 70's/early 80's vibe to them. I remember my mom buying patterns for similar window treatments. Also, I don't recall any of my friends' homes having pastels...dark green, burgundy, navy, red, and neutrals were pretty popular. I was about the age of those girls in the mid-80's. The clothing reads more modern, but plenty of girls in my class had hair like that. The mom's hair looks more modern.

So no, it's not obviously or stereotypical TV 80's and there are some elements that are off, but it's not way off either.

The parquet floors. That always reads 80s to me.

That could easily be my parents' beach house in Florida circa 1986. They had those exact sofas with track arms in a very similar color. Everyone had beige walls and parquet Pergo floors too; that's very 80s. People went crazy over oriental rugs then as well, very much a status symbol. They had nearly identical lamps, only painted turquoise. The scalloped box valence on the drapes is spot on too. I swear I just stepped into a time machine, even the fake fern in the metal planter in the background was lifted out of their living room. I would, however, agree that their clothes and hair are not very 80s.

BTW: My folks also put in recessed cans and eye lights when they renovated their house in 1982-83, so that is definitely not an issue. I remember everyone "oohing" and "aahing" over how modern they were at the time (the lights, not my parents).

If you threw in some wall to wall carpeting and changed the couches, I'd believe it. I can see what people mean about the leftover stuff from the 70s, not everyone following trends, etc., but usually when TV indicates a period, they try to make it look like that in a way that is easy for viewers to read, which they didn't do here. Lots of people still decorate just like this. And I have never seen couches like this for this era, they look very contemporary to me.

I was about to say 'how old is Juliet supposed to be?' and do some math (if she's 29 or so then this could be the early 90s), but then I remembered that 'now' in LOST is actually still 2005, right?

Here's my conclusion Juliet is time travelling like Desmond.

it doesn't so much look 80s as much as generic.

I see one thing 80's... at least on my computer screen it looks like the wicker, possibly spray painted red/salmon/pinkish sticks, maybe in a vase? Tall and from the viewer's angle between the tall lamp & framed poster-- I remember this in my room, definitely during the 80's (& supplied by my parents...) the wicker sticks collected an obscene amount of dust & dander. Looking back this definitely accounts for my hatred of all things wicker.

That photo is really, really disorienting, decade aside. It looks like a composite photo, but when your eye travels to the ottoman you can see it's actually a hallway in the background!

Depth perception fail.

The only element that I can't buy as 1980's are the couches.

I spent my teen years looking at my mom's British & European interior design books from the 80's and most of it fits - it would be pretty posh for the 80's, but it fits.

SuperCallie - Those pics are exactly 80's. No doubt.

The poufy valances were stuffed with paper to keep them poufy. I had forgotten....

Cindy Lauper with ripped lace gloves was in fashion. Ripped.lace.gloves.
If you were a bridesmaid in the 1980's you would have had giant poufy sleeves on the dress.
The 80's inspired clothes coming back now are thankfully a watered down version.

I know there are variations in fashion, but only by a year or two.

What year in the 80's is this supposed to be and what area of the country?

This room is airy, sleek and restrained Versus poufy, mirrored and overdone.

Plus a Hollywood set should scream 1980'S, not inspire this kind of discussion amongst Lost and design fans.

The lack of technology to date the room has killed me since I first saw the scene! A single digital clock or dial TV would remove any doubt. I have to agree that the decor was purposefully ambiguous. It doesn't have to look like Ruthless People, but there should be a little something to make it definitively 80s.

Kennjamin is right -- this is very 80s. Tasteful 80s. My working class parents' house aspired to this, but never quite got there.

Keep in mind that not everyone buys into every trend of the moment. I never had a spiral perm or big hair, but I did have a Nagel in my first apartment in 1984 -- ha ha.

I think it's the 80s. Not because the design looks 80s but because I can't fathom a reason for the LOST people to trick us into thinking Juillet grew up in the 80s when she really grew up in the 90s. Unless for some reason it's important that at the same time of Juillet's flashback, Ben was massacring the Dharma people, which I believe happened in 1992 or 1993. I don't think that would be important though.

The girl in the flashback was definitely Juillet and when the timelines diverge (like what's happening now and what happened to Desmond with the ring) the copy in the alternate timeline is obviously the same age as the original.
What's your theory Adelaide?

I don't think they are trying to trick the viewers. I think they are lazy and/or young and/or didn't do their research.

Where is this "Lost" house supposed to be set? Region, not just decade, plays a big role in decor. If it's somewhere tropical, I think the "Golden Girls" house is quintessential 80s (at least in TV land...). My parents were still grad students in the 80s and couldn't afford anything current, so my only connection to 80s decor is through TV. Very generally, I would say "Golden Girls" for warmer regions, "Cosby Show" and "Who's the Boss" for temperate urban/suburban areas. Either way, these "Lost" photos don't look right.

I think Juliet is from Miami, right? First thought when I saw this scene was that they were up to something, but I can buy that the house is 80s. It's the clothing that is way, way off.