Shag Carpet May Lead to Depression

Published On April 30, 2012 | By Shannon Kulik | Space, Spaces

Let us file this post under, “May Require Long-term Analysis”.

I am a child of the 1970s/1980s. This fact, in and of itself, did not cause major trauma. However, my father did not put great stock in home decor and when he (or, one of the eighty Step Monsters) did, their choices were not what I had in mind because there was no updating involved. By updating I mean the normal things, such as paint. There were, however, attempts to add to our 1960s disharmonious decor with furniture of the times, i.e., 1970s – 1980s. Do you see the bad turn this article is about to take?

The following are but a few examples:

Dining Room Chairs “Made in Tennessee”. Special order and delivered to our home “all the way from…”. Translation: ”That’s the finest money can buy”. The problem was that each chair was 800-pounds of solid wood, making the chairs impossible to move in and out from the table; and, the backs of the chairs were somewhat designed as wooden thrones, which made us feel at once important and very small. We eventually arrived at the practical decision to crawl over the arms – it saved time.

Wood-paneling. I think I should be more considerate of your time than to attempt to offer the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders) code that is associated with wood-paneling. I don’t mean to be flippant about depression, but wood-paneling may be a root cause for many.

The Color Green. We had green appliances. What can I say about green appliances other than the appliances did not clash with the white deep-freeze that was housed in our dining room (and, which contained what amounted to a bunker’s worth of deer meat)?

Deer heads in every room. ‘Nough said.

There’s more…so, much more, but the decor in our home that caused the most embarrassment (and fascination) for us was the red shag carpet. How old was that carpet? There’s no telling really. It had collected a good 20-years of stories before we arrived and then there were the 20-years we added to its history.

So, imagine my surprise when I awoke one day obsessed with all things Midcentury Modern.

I am a girl who traveled across the country to get away from the country. I am the girl who lives in the greatest city on earth (unless I’m visiting your town) – New York City and in a contemporary apartment. I am the girl who is convinced deer heads (the kind which have been shot) are spooky. I am obsessive (yes, compulsive) about cleanliness and order and new.

I am certain that for $250 an hour I can learn more about why, at this stage of my life, I am intent on updating our little country house in a very pre-modern style.

And, yes…this includes shag carpet; deer heads (not the ones which have been shot); the color green; and, wood, lots of wood.

If you think I am writing this for laughs, I am not. When I am in need of a proscrastination break, I find myself pouring over a new way to rethink a style from my past that caused trauma. And then I consume part of my allotted proscrastination minutes trying to figure out why - why - I am being drawn to this style of decor.

I know there is something here…I know that if I can reach it, I will have solved many of my neurotic tendencies. In the meantime, I offer a few photographic reasons why I am being pulled in this direction. You can also follow our Pinterest Mid-century Modern Board, if you too are so inclined or inflicted.