Arabesque and ikat: traditional or modern?

I think I mentioned in my first post that I'm a history teacher by profession.  When I was in college, I was thisclose to being an art history major, and still regret that I didn't go through with it (something about having to take actual art classes, which are necessarily insanely time-consuming and require, oh I don't know, talent and skill?).  Anyhoo, I still love it, and as I teach a world history class, art is necessarily a fairly substantial part of my curriculum.  Where am I going with this?  Good question.  I teach a unit on the historic Islamic Empire, and part of that unit focuses on a style of art called "Arabesque", which has recently come back into style in the form of Moorish tiles and geometric patterns, like these:

Image courtesy http://pinterest.com/carolynv/

Image courtesy http://caitlinwilsondesign.blogspot.com/search?q=dining

Image courtesy http://www.anh-minh.com/weblog/archives/2008/03/moorish_tile_rug.html

I find them so beautiful and elegant, but somehow modern at the same time.  If you ever have a chance, you can see a lot of Moorish architecture in Spain, particularly in the south in Andalusia.  There are touches of Spain all over my home from my and my husband's experience there.  In fact, I'm listening to a Spanish (by way of Mexico) guitar duo, the ever-amazing Rodrigo y Gabriela right now.  But I digress...  I do like that the Moorish designs serve kind of as a bridge between traditional and modern.  I kind of see ikat print that way too.  I've found that as my style has evolved its become more modern, though you might not believe me if you saw my house as it probably is more traditional than anything else.  Speaking of ikat, I found this little number at Anthropologie last weekend.  Isn't it so pretty?

 Funny, too, because I had seen this one online and was lusting after it:

It wound up not being in the store I went to, and so I found the other instead (and I'm glad because I like the ikat one better anyway).  I'm trying to find ways to try to modernize my more traditional decor.  Have you ever encountered a crisis of style?  Do you find your tastes ever-evolving?  How do you update a space when a total overhaul isn't an option?