When Familiarity Breeds Contentment

At 86, Constance Morthland has seen every kind of interior design trend come and go, and she has steadfastly ignored them all.

Aside from the occasional coat of paint and reupholstery job, Morthland has kept the interior of her Laguna Beach home looking just as it did when she and her late husband built and furnished the estate on Moss Point, shortly before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

To step into her living room is to step into the past.

With its large picture windows framing an incredible ocean view, the room would be a prime candidate for the kind of clean contemporary or romantic Mediterranean decors now fashionable among ocean-view estates. Yet it’s decorated in a formal, traditional style that is less Laguna and more Morthland’s native England.

There’s a green Chinese rug that dates back 100 years, a pair of wingback chairs with green velvet upholstery worn thin with age, ornate candelabra and mantle clocks (including one built in France by Louis XV), a crystal chandelier and fine oil paintings set in gilded frames.

“The house looks very much the same as when we moved in,” Morthland says.

While many homeowners chase the latest interior design trends, launching remodel upon remodel and discarding furniture as soon as they feel it’s fallen out of fashion, others like Morthland find comfort in the familiar. They’re content with their interiors, resisting change decade after decade. They like the security that a familiar environment offers in a rapidly changing world.

For Morthland, living amid the furnishings she has cherished a lifetime is a way to stay close to the people of her past. The walls are filled with portraits of her family, some who have died and some who live continents away.

“Doesn’t she have a sweet face?” Morthland says, gazing up at the portrait of her grandmother, who served as lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. Morthland comes from a prominent British family. Although she’s reluctant to admit it, many relatives held high positions in the government and church.

“It gives you a sense of immortality if you have your family around,” she says.

Much of her furniture was imported from the family’s English manor, and many pieces came from the Pasadena home of her husband’s family.

Even the most elegant new furnishings can’t compare with those that remind her of loved ones. So instead of discarding the carved Louis-style chairs, sofas and wingbacks, she has reupholstered them only when necessary, which is why some chairs in the upstairs guest bedrooms have 1970s-issue orange and green fabrics.

Many people who visited Morthland’s home at the recent Village Laguna Charm House Tour were entranced by its timeless look. They lingered over an old O’Keefe & Merritt stove, which is roughly the same age as the house and sits in the kitchen on the original black and white checkered linoleum floor.

They were charmed by the wrought-iron table and chairs in the sun room with their peeling yellow paint.

“People adored this home because it’s old-fashioned,” Morthland says. “It’s not a showoff house. It’s relaxed.”

In the hands of another homeowner, Morthland’s home might have been revamped, repainted and redecorated many times over.

Interior designers recognize that there are two types of homeowners: Those who welcome change and those who resist it. Often, it’s the younger generation that’s quicker to make over their surroundings.

“I’m 40. To change a decor to keep up with trends is more my generation. The generation before mine decorated once and intended it to last a lifetime,” says Jill Scheetz, interior designer with Esterley-Scheetz & Associates in Corona del Mar.

“I just moved, and I have to reframe my pictures to go with my new decor. My parents are looking at me like, ‘What?’ ”

In general, when members of the 55-and-older set bought an armoire or a bedroom suite, they expected it to last forever. Furnishings were big investments that they considered long and hard about before making. They didn’t have the kind of disposable income that baby boomers have to replace something just because it’s no longer in vogue.

“A lot of them went through the Depression, and every dollar meant something to them,” says Lori Hankins, interior designer and owner of Elegant Environments in Laguna Niguel. “If they spent $500 on something, it was forever. Years ago, people would put up their wallpaper and drapes and they lived with the same colors a very long time. Baby boomers really changed things.” Baby boomers often don’t wait until something wears out. If they’re bored with their ‘80s oak dining room set, they discard it for something trendier in cherry or pine.

“People are more open to trying new things, like wall finishes. They get ideas by seeing their neighbors’ homes, going on design tours and reading magazines,” Hankins says. “Today we’re always looking for something new and exciting.”

Age isn’t the only factor in determining whether someone’s going to redo their living room every five years or every 50. Indeed, there are older people who have trendy interiors just as there are baby boomers who have settled into a decades-old decor.

Sometimes people can’t afford to change their surroundings, and sometimes they just don’t want to change. They’re more interested in comfort than impressing the neighbors.

“Some people are comfortable with the look they’ve had their whole life. Maybe it reminds them of their youth. Maybe this was the furniture that Mom had, and they’re happy with it. They have no need to look further,” Scheetz says. “We say they have more ‘narrow comfort zones.’ They just want to be comfortable and relaxed, versus the other type who wants to be inspired by their home.”

In a fast-moving, high-tech society, even some young and affluent homeowners who can afford to redecorate want some kind of stability in their surroundings. They’ve come to appreciate antiques and other timeless things that won’t be dated in 10 years.

Hankins encourages those people who want a decor to last to choose traditional or classic furnishings. She finds that many young couples start out buying contemporary furniture because it’s inexpensive but 10 years later they end up replacing it all because it looks dated. She suggests investing in antiques and reproductions such as classic wingback chairs that have greater longevity.

“They’ll almost always be in style,” she says.