My wife and my home is a 1958 split level design. Our neighborhood was built 1958-62. Of course all the homes began as modern ranches and splits. Over the next half century, many, no, MOST, of the residents have worked overtime to “de-date” their homes. In Virginia, this means trying to make something 1958 look 1658 - by putting up fake shutters around all your glass, a brass eagle knocker on your door, a faux-horse tie pole (with mail box on top) near the door, using colors popular in 17th century Williamsburg, and, loading up the interior with plaid and dark wood wing-backed and lion-pawed things. Instead, why not buy a legitimate period home if that’s your fetish? Would you weld 1959 Cadillac fins on to a 1909 Rolls Royce? Of course not! Would you repaint a Van Gogh to match your sofa? I'd kill you.

Look, it’s like this: there’s only a relatively short period of time when people are “embarrassed” by their “out of fashion” car/home/whatever. Get some perspective. Before that, it was modern. After that, it is seen as anything from quaint to historically important, but the bottom line is MOST of the life of any object is MOST APPRECIATED when kept and cared for as what it was ORIGINALLY. World wide. Humanity wide. On top of that, the aesthetic of architecture has always concluded that the interior and exterior of a building should reflect one another - in a cohesive idea. It’s not complicated. See beyond your nose. Keep things in their era. Love them for what they were and still are.

The same can be said for people. You'll be happier. I promise.

Ronn.