During the last decades the popularity of the domestic architecture from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries has increased in Sweden. The once so colourful and diversified domestic areas have today been turned in to contemporary dreams containing white painted interiors, open plan solutions and various modern conveniences. Despite this transformation, the apartments often are being market as authentic places, with original features and a historical atmosphere. In this article I’m going to discuss the interaction between this dream of an imagined authentic historical setting and the dream of a contemporary interior design housing a modern, convenient lifestyle. The main question concerns the meaning of the concepts of history and modern (contemporary) imbedded in these dreams. How can these two be understood in relation to both general societal ideas concerning time and to more specific ideas concerning domesticity and architecture? The material contains partly of an ethnographic study based on interviews with people inhabiting Stockholm apartments originally built 1880-1915 and partly of advertisements marketing apartments from the same place and period of time. Images as well as spoken and written text will be taken under consideration, combining the ethnographical approach with a more classic art historical analyse.