50+ Things Everyone Had in Their House in the ’90s
Updated: Aug. 13, 2019Remember running to Blockbuster on Friday nights for the latest VHS release?
VHS Tapes and DVDs
In the ’90s, we were still a ways away from learning what streaming meant. Instead, we used VCRs to play VHS tapes and worried about the tracking of the VCR. Later in the decade we got DVDs and didn’t have to worry about tracking—but we did have to worry about scratches on the DVD.
Check out these obsolete inventions people thought were going to last forever.
Shutters
Shutters were a popular choice for many in the decade and we can all recall the sound lightweight shutters made when air from nearby vents moved them up and down.
Labyrinth Game
This labyrinth game took over houses for about a month or so in the ’90s as everyone rushed out to grab one, only to become bored with it 30 days later.
These are the pop culture trivia questions people always get wrong.
Glass Block Wall
Glass block walls appeared in homes in a variety of ways in the ’90s. We wrote back in ’96 that glass block hit an all-time low 20 years ago but that it’d returned with a splash. So while it maybe didn’t appear in every home, it certainly was trendy.
Let’s be honest: these beauty trends should have never happened.
Cassettes and Tall Speakers
When you reflect on things 20 years later, it’s hard to imagine why we needed such large speakers, It was almost like we felt like we could throw a rock concert in our living room. These days a sound bar will power your living room just fine.
Here’s what your favourite type of music can predict about your personality.
Bird Scare Balloon
It’s hard to pinpoint when bird scare balloons like this first started appearing everywhere but we wrote about it in 1997 as a way to scare off woodpeckers. There’s also a video from 1994 out there that says NASA used them to scare woodpeckers away from the fuel tank of the shuttle. Woodpeckers caused in excess of $3 million in damage and a Minnesota man shipped some bird scare balloons down to Florida. The balloons worked because the reflection and the movement of the tail simulated movements of a predator bird.
Sliding Glass Door Bar
Home security never got simpler it seemed than placing a bar behind your sliding glass door. Any home with a sliding glass door also some kind of rod or bar behind it to prevent break-ins.
These are the most bizarre things thieves have ever stolen.
Alarm Clock
Alarm clocks are certainly still around but younger generations are relying more and more upon their phones to wake them up. Not every house will have an alarm clock anymore but they used to have them.
Discover the creepy things your smartphone knows about you.
Chevy Astro Van
Maybe not every house had one, but there was likely one on every block at one time in the ’90s. We’re talking about the Chevy Astro van. The Astro was introduced in 1985 and was GM’s first minivan.
Check out these ads for vintage cars you’ll wish you could drive today.
Huge Computer Monitors
When everyone was running Windows 95 on their PCs, they were watching the pipes screensaver or the 3D maze screensaver. They were also viewing those screen savers on huge monitors.
Here are 17 famous company names you’re actually pronouncing all wrong.
Laptops
For those who didn’t like the look of a huge monitor there was the emergence of the laptop computer. The early models were indeed a compact option and the mouse could be tough to figure out.
Don’t miss these crazy predictions that actually came true.
VCRs
By the ’90s rolled around nearly everyone had a VCR in their home and the local Blockbuster was packed on Friday nights. VCRs were also lightning rods for children to stuff toys and apparently, sandwiches, into. That’s why we came up with handy hint to place plexiglass in front of where you inserted the video.
Check out these things everyone had in their house in the ’80s.
Playgrounds
Any kind of playground around seemed to have a tower similar to this style in the ’90s.
Brita Water Filter
How did we ever drink water before it was filtered through a Brita? These things started showing up in homes in the ’90s and pretty soon everyone had filtered water.
Nintendo GameBoy
GameBoy revolutionized video games, taking the game from the couch to the streets. The first eight-bit handheld video game system to utilize cartridges, GameBoy was the brainchild of long-time Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi.
POGs
POGs was a milk-cap game originally played for decades during breaks by Hawaiian dairy workers. At that time, the game was called Menko. In 1991, teacher Blossom Galbiso reintroduced the game in her classroom in the form of a math game. The game involves players facing off by contributing the same number of cardboard POGs to a large stack, all placed face down. The first player aims, shoots and slaps down that slammer on the stack, with whatever POG flying out and landing face up now belonging to that player. As POGs evolved, “slammers” were introduced, which were thick and made of metal, rubber or plastic.
Barney
The Barney Talking Doll was created by Greg Hyman and distributed by Playskool. Released in 1993, it became one of the biggest fads during that holiday season. There have been at least four different versions of the doll produced throughout Playskool’s time making Barney toys.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Five diverse teenagers with superpowers flooded TV screens in the early ’90s, creating a major ad that turned into a line of toys featuring the Power Rangers. Along with their giant robotic dinosaurs, called Zords, they fought evil aliens.
Check out these surprising facts about your favourite superheroes.
Tickle Me Elmo
From at least one stampede of parents that left a store employee in the hospital, to two women being arrested in Chicago for fighting over the doll, it’s safe to say 1996 was a big year for Elmo. The doll would chortle when squeezed once, and shake and laugh hysterically when squeezed three times in a row.
These pop culture references will confuse anyone born after 1990.
Tamagotchi
This egg-shaped computer offered kids a fun way to “parent” a digital pet. The toy even required feeding and poo-cleaning. There have been 70 million Tamagotchis sold to date.
Furby
The Furby—a furry robot that could talk and blink its eyes—became a major fad in 1998. Originally retailing for $35, the toy skyrocketed to $100 thanks to the craze. More than 40 million Furbies were sold during the three years of its original production, and 1.8 million alone were sold in 1998.
Pokémon Cards
The Pokémon Trading Card Game was first published in 1996 by Media Factory, but other card series came to light following, and by 1999 the cards were a huge hit. The most expensive single Pokémon card is the Pokémon Illustrator card. Only 39 were ever made, and at one point the card was available on eBay for $100,000.
Check out the crazy things you can only find in Japan.
Purple
Purple was a big colour trend across several platforms. Purple was especially hot for vehicles beginning in 1994.
Floral Patterns
Floral patterns made an impact on walls too, as our 1996 December/January issue shows. A block painting pad helped dress up a kitchen wall painted purple.
Wallpaper
Wallpaper is making a comeback, just not this wallpaper. Floral anything was huge in the decade that brought us The Rosie O’Donnell Show and her Koosh Ball Slingshot.
Here’s how to start a home art collection—without breaking the bank!
Chandeliers
Chandeliers maybe don’t qualify as a trend because people still have them in a lot of houses but the type shown here held a certain popularity in the ’90s. It’s another example of a decade that tried to create classy looks cheaply.
Rag-Rolled Walls
Textured painted walls were all the rage as Clarissa explained it all and we all wondered if Ross and Rachel would ever get together.
Here are 13 pop culture facts to have ready for trivia night.
Hunter Green
This colour is a little lighter than hunter green but it’s close enough that it’ll trigger the memories of seeing hunter green everywhere you went.
Patterns on Patterns
The internet was just emerging, we could talk to anyone over a computer and we couldn’t completely trust they were telling the truth… we needed order and patterns on top of patterns emerged.
Faux Granite
Many people still have and want granite countertops though it seems to have started falling out of favour in the last few years. The paneling above the countertop here is faux granite and people liked the look in the 1990s.
Off-Colour Shower Tiles
If you look closely there is more floral patterns with this shower tile from a 1997 project. It’s a far cry from what’s playing now like wood planks, neutral colours and subway tile.
These are the 12 home improvements you should never tackle yourself.
CD and Cassette Cabinets
A CD cabinet played a pivotal role in the home and had to be near that six CD stereo. It’s certainly anachronistic to see one in a home now, but kids from the ’90s will certainly remember trying to depress the magnetic locking mechanism just right so the glass would open to provide access to that killer Smashing Pumpkins album.
Don’t miss these little-known facts about the greatest songs of all time.
Striped Awnings
This awning works perfectly well with the home which was part of a 1998 story in The Family Handyman. It’ll bring back those moments of sipping lemonade on the porch.
Dark Oak
Everyone had this in their home at some point it seemed. It was so common that you could forget whose home you were in sometimes, especially if the cabinets were organized the same way.
Don’t miss these clever home improvement ideas under $200.
Huge Entertainment Centres
The advent of flat-screen TVs made the old entertainment centre somewhat obsolete. But the entertainment centre in the ’90s was exactly that. The place to rummage through the VHS copies of E.T., Hook or anyone of those bootleg recordings of movies played on HBO your rich neighbour recorded for you.
Save on installation costs by mounting a TV yourself.
Pastels
Pastels probably move in and out of cycles more than any other colours but in the ’90s they had a place, just like in this kitchen.
Huge Window Treatments
It’s as though people attended a few too many Renaissance fairs in the 1990s, because the McMansions sometimes had turrets like castles and other homes decided to have bulky window treatments like royal palaces. What a pain it would be to clean them!
