DESIGN Generation X surprises boomers with decorating tastes

Gen X seeks timeless quality when making big purchases, an analyst said.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Little did we baby boomers know that someday we'd occupy the other side of the generation gap.
We who flashed peace signs and then built portfolios, who gave short shrift to that part of the marriage vows about death doing us part, who let our kids leave the table without eating their vegetables -- we're watching our kids reject the things we held dear.
Even our decorating taste.
Generation X is turning its back on our rustic country benches and oversized sofas in favor of a "Leave It To Beaver" look. Many among its ranks are embracing traditional style just as they've embraced traditional values, trend watchers say.
Demographers tell us the generation born from 1965 to 1976 is helping to stem the decline of the two-parent household, rejecting permissive parenting and generally settling into a more conservative, traditional way of life than its parents chose. Gen Xers are also entering their prime buying years, and what they want in their homes is timeless quality, said Nancy Lindemeyer, founding editor of Victoria magazine, who studied younger consumers before designing a romantic yet tailored collection for Hooker Furniture called Intimate Home.
Don't want mom's stuff
This generation grew up surrounded by nice things and isn't willing to settle for less, Lindemeyer said. "At the same time, they don't want their mothers' stuff" -- or perhaps more accurately, their grandmothers'.
They want classic pieces, but with fuss-free finishes and a less stuffy look they can call their own. That tradition-with-a-twist concept was a frequent theme at the spring International Home Furnishings Market, a weeklong wholesale furniture and accessories market that wrapped up here April 20. Furniture manufacturers and importers trotted out their newest prototypes during the semiannual market in hopes of luring retailers' orders, and many of them were showing traditional pieces that have been tweaked for a fresher feel.
Pennsylvania House's Today's Hallmark collection was a case in point. The furniture maker took its venerable Hallmark Cherry line, a collection inspired by 18th century designs that's been around for nearly 60 years, and gave it a 21st century makeover.
Today's Hallmark still has an unmistakably traditional feel, but it incorporates such fashion-forward elements as fancy-faced veneers, which show off the wood's grain better than the old reliable solids; luminescent metal hardware that's not quite gold, not quite silver; and a more relaxed brown stain on the cherry wood instead of the classic, formal reddish tone.
Priced to sell
Pennsylvania House spokeswoman Georgia Hasse said the line is priced to appeal to a broad range of consumers. A dining table with subtly contrasting maple and cherry veneers, for example, will retail for less than $2,000; a curio end table with glass on the top and all four sides, for $550.
Likewise, Thomasville introduced a line called Nocturne with pared-down prices to match its streamlined traditional styling -- $1,200 for a dining table, $300 for a dining chair.
The collection's simplified yet sophisticated designs are the company's answer to the little black dress. The pieces are suitable for dressing up or down, blending with either formal traditional or more casual contemporary furnishings, said Mark Smiley, the company's manager of national brand communications and marketing services.
The consumers those companies are targeting want elegance, but Pennsylvania House's Hasse said they also want furniture that's meant to be used, not just polished.
"They don't want to rope off their furniture," she said. "They want to live with it."
What's new
That's why Stanley Furniture used a lower-sheen wood finish for its Barbados collection, a group of slightly more relaxed versions of the formal, British-inspired antiques found on that West Indies island. The collection incorporates lots of traditional elements like turnings and carvings, along with newer interpretations, such as the use of pencil lattice instead of cane.
Pieces such as the dining-room chairs are scaled larger than the original antiques, said Kelly Cain, vice president and product manager for Stanley Collections -- presumably to fit the scale of both modern homes and modern bottoms.
Today's popular black and dark finishes were another common strategy manufacturers used to update traditional styles. Bernhardt's British Passages collection -- like Stanley's Barbados, inspired by British colonial furniture -- had a number of black pieces with a sculptural quality, including a console with exaggerated turned legs and a four-poster bed with an oversized but classic X motif on the headboard and footboard. Hooker's Preston Ridge collection of bedroom, dining room, home office and entertainment furniture featured a two-tone, black-and-cherry finish that Kim Shaver, the company's vice president of marketing communications, said was designed to appeal to younger tastes.
They're looks Grandma would feel comfortable with, even if she didn't recognize the details.
And heck, even we boomers might like them.