"East Coast" Furniture in a Southwestern Home? (Phoenix: fit in, real estate)

[MidAtlantic to AZ]

I know this is a strange question, but I haven't seen anything like it on the board.....

I'm looking at retiring to the Phoenix area in the next couple of years. I'll be looking for a two bedroom apartment or condo, and definately plan to rent first. There will just be myself, no kids or pets. I may be looking for a 55 plus community, but am not interested in a mammoth golfcart development.

I don't plan to bring everything with me--by any means--but it won't be an airline carry-on move either. The furniture I would like to keep is good quality reproductions, mostly Queen Anne cherry, ie., secretary, highboy, hunt board and a couple of poster beds which I have collected over the last thirty years. These are nice pieces, but not precious antiques.

All the furnishings I see in homes in magazines such as Phoenix Home and Gardens, etc are what I would term "Southwestern" in style. While I love the actual southwest vistas and have grown way too tired of the snow, ice and summer humidity in my own mid-Atlantic area, I'm personally not into the larger, heavier Spanish colonial style of furnishings, and I doubt it would fit into a condo or apartment anyway. Is my stuff going to be terribly out of place in a new (to me) home in the greater Phoenix area? And should I even care?

Thanks for any comments you may provide.

[Steve-o]

Thats entirely up to you to decide how you want your decor. I personally think it looks a little out of place in an adobe-style home, but thats just me. We decorated Santa Fe style back in Illinois, which looked just as odd to some as how you imagine your decor will look out here.

[mzbk2l]

I have several relatives in 55+ communities, and none of them have southwest style furnishings or decor. Their furniture ranges from contemporary stuff to exactly the styles you describe. Your furniture won't look out of place at all.

[PhxMan500]

Most of what you might see in Phoenix Home and Garden are mansions in wealthy areas or updated homes in historic districts. In reality, the majority of homes and condos are the same repetitive patterns you might see anywhere in the US, just more likely to have stucco and pink tile roofs than you might see on the east coast.

I am sure your interior style and design will be appreciated by the friends you meet here who might see it, but you may not be on the cover of any local magazines, and I do think that you should not care.

[thinkalot]

I live in a 55+ and I don't know anyone with Southwestern décor.

[DetroitN8V]

Houses that are too caught up in the Southwestern decor look ridiculous, in my opinion. There are plenty of people who decorate as they would anywhere else and there are many homes that are not overtly Southwestern looking inside or out.

[observer53]

Your furniture will look just fine in any of those communities. If we were talking about an adobe home with saltillo tile floors, perhaps not, but in those communities (and in MANY other homes in the Valley) what you will find is people living with furniture they like-- of many styles. I don't have a single southwestern piece in my home, it's all older pieces in other styles (some of it older than I am), that I like and feel at home with. You'll be fine.

[movinon]

Remember, too, that many homes shown on the real estate listings have been staged by the real estate agent. The furnishings may not reflect the actual furnishings that were in the home prior to listing. In my area of California, where a lot of the homes in my community are southwestern architectural style, the realtors will actually ask that the seller move out their own furniture so that the agent's stager can bring in what they feel might create a more marketable image.

I wouldn't worry about it. I tend to lean towards traditional/antique/french and I'm keeping it no matter what style my house is!

[KurtAZ]

I don't think I have been in more than a handful of homes here that were decorated "Southwestern" and unless it was very high end stuff it just looks tacky. Most homes are either of the eclectic variety or the more homey Country decor...although my parents definitely leaned towards the traditional as you described.

[sandy6879]

I'm in approximately 150 homes a year. Very very rarely do I see Southwestern decor/furnishings. The majority of homes have the same type of furnishings I saw on the East Coast. I wondered the same thing when we moved here, but there's absolutely nothing to worry about on that.