Insider Interior Design Trends 2021 – You Must See!

Hi Everyone,

I think most years around this time; I do a post about current decor and decorating trends. So, at the end of this five-Sunday month, I thought I would riff on a post I found regarding Interior design Trends 2021.

I found the article on Insider. (you may have a look and follow along by clicking on that link)

The purpose is to take a closer look at some prevailing ideas regarding design trends. I find that a lot of this information is repeated over and over in numerous articles. And, unfortunately, I feel that a lot of it is misleading. I am basing it on all of my training and years of experience.

Many of you may recall that I did a similar post last year to look at 50 decorating trends proclaimed by Elle Decor.

We sure had fun with that one!

And then there was this gem about top decorating trends should they stay or go?

 

However, this year, for interior design trends 2021, there are only 15 trends we need to look at.

 

No, wait. That’s what the headline says. I counted at least 19 trends.

Let’s begin.

 

  1. They’re saying that shiplap is dying.

 

Okay.

Poor shiplap. I wrote about it a few years ago in this post about hot kitchen trends.

People love to complain about it. That is if it’s even really shiplap.

There are numerous types of horizontal paneling that resemble shiplap. The one they show as an example could very well be clapboard as the room looks to be an enclosed porch.

 

 

I can think of three clients who turned porches into sunrooms.

 

 

You can see one of the sunrooms in Larchmont, NY, here.

And, here’s another one with one of my favorite settees from TCS.

 

interior design trends 2021 - walls - Benjamin Moore Linen White - ceiling - BM Palladian Blue - Chappaqua Sunroom - former porch - house clapboard siding not shiplapJPG

Above is from the third client who turned their porch into a sunroom. If you look closely, next to the French doors on the right is the original siding of the home’s exterior. There is also some brick. We unified everything by painting it all one color.

Benjamin Moore – Linen White

The ceiling is Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue.

While linen white is in the Laurel Home paint collection, Palladian Blue is not. It’s not because it’s not a good color; it’s only because I wanted to include another color that is too similar.

 

2. Instead, they are saying to do wallpaper instead.

 

However, wallpaper is not a trend. It’s been around for centuries. Although, I have to say that in recent decades the wallpapers keep getting better and better.

 

3.  Gray kitchens may become less popular

 

You know, it depends on the gray and what else is going on. But, there are some gorgeous gray kitchens out there. It’s not on the way out, IMO.

 

interior design trends 2021- jenna borst photography-Jean Stoffer Design Benjamin Moore Gibralter Cliffs

Jenna Borst photography-Jean Stoffer Design Benjamin Moore Gibraltar Cliffs

 

For more gorgeous Jean Stoffer kitchens, please check out her website.

 

Jean Stoffer - Benjamin Moore Cement Gray Ada Modern Classic - no-fail kitchen cabinet colors

Jean Stoffer – Benjamin Moore Cement Gray.

 

I adore Jean’s kitchens. Please check out this post if you do too.

 

lewis alderson kitchen cabinets - farrow and ball dimpse - interior design trends 2021 - beautiful pale gray

Lewis Alderson kitchen cabinets – Farrow and Ball Dimpse

 

deVOL-Bloomsbury-Kitchen - interior design trends 2021 - gray is still in!

And, of course, this amazing charcoal gray with a hint of green by DeVOL kitchens.

 

4. Saturated colors like indigo blue seem to be more on-trend

 

Okay. I’d bet a dollar that she means cerulean blue. People often confuse the two.

Let’s take a closer look at three different shades of blue that might prove my point.

 

this is not indigo blue - deep cerulean blue

 

They call this shade of blue – indigo. It’s not. It’s not even blue-blue.

There is actually a fair amount of green in this blue. This is a deep cerulean blue.

Really, Laurel?

 

Don’t believe me, eh?

 

blue

 

This is BLUE, a very saturated pure blue. Do you see the green in the top color now?

 

Okay, get ready for Indigo.

 

indigoIndigo is a blue that’s moving towards purple. No, it’s not purple.

 

This is purple

 

Navy blue - color

Above is navy blue

 

And, of course, black.

I hope that was fun for you!

 

5. All-white interiors may start to date themselves

 

Oh, please just shutup!

Sorry.

Not sorry.

 

Best neutral color scheme - white walls - Steve Cordony - Rosedale Farm Living room - blooming branches - Louis Vuitton Steamer Trunk

I’m incredibly tired of people who don’t understand white saying all smugly that all-white interiors are going to look dated. Yes, the shades of white are varied. And there’s green, brown, pink flowers, a pale beige sofa. However, the room is predominantly white. For more of this exquisite home by Steve Cordony, please go here.

And, please follow Steve if you aren’t already on Instagram.

 

However, Steve isn’t the only decorator who has embraced white.

 

Here is a list off the top of my head:

 

 

And, then there’s this incredible English white on white charmer of Charlotte-Anne Fidler.

 

I’ve said this more times than I can count. White is timeless and classic. Past, present, future. It is NOT a trend.

 

Let’s continue with some more interior design trends 2021

 

6.People will return to creating visual interest with color.

 

They never left using color for visual interest. Just look at Miles Redd.

 

7. The mid-century furniture trend seems to be winding down.

 

Well, it depends. Mid-century includes the 40s-60s. There is a ton of way cool furniture from that time period.

 

8. Barn doors may be replaced.

 

Indeed! Like years ago. I cautioned about that trend back in 2015!

However, in some homes with a rustic nature, they do make sense. Most of us don’t have homes like that. There are always exceptions.

 

9. They will be replaced with pocket doors or classic French doors.

 

Ummm. Again, pocket doors and classic French doors have been here for ages. They never went away. However, it is not easy to retrofit a regular wall with a pocket door. Usually, you will need to have a little deeper wall to accommodate the mechanism for the pocket door. Then, if it’s a load-bearing wall, it’s a whole megillah (big deal) to change it.

However, I love the idea of doing narrow French doors, as I showed in this recent post. Or, a high-end bi-fold door is a possibility, too.

 

10. Accent walls are no longer a trend.

 

Oh, dear.

Purple-Accent-Walled-Living-RoomI was railing against the accent wall trend back in 2014!

It’s funny, though, the accent wall in the Insider article is also purple. I’m sure it’s only a coincidence. ;]

 

HOWEVER – some situations warrant the use of an accent wall.

 

 

black-white-gallery-wall-via Rainonatinroof.com - hide the TV in plain site - gallery wall

One example is when you would like to hide the TV in plain sight.

 

More so-called interior design trends 2021 that Insider says are going to bite the dust. (and some that aren’t)

 

11. Matching Furniture sets may start to look dated.

 

No shite! Again, no matching furniture sets are not new or news. We’ve been talking about this and not just me, but EVERY designer out there, for decades!

I’m trying not to shout.

 

12. Grand Millennial or Granny Chic style may rise in popularity.

 

 

They are not necessarily the same style. I would say that Granny Chic is GM but not all GM is Granny Chic. Oh, and mid-century furniture is definitely a part of the grand millennial style. So, the previous statement that MCM furniture is on the way out doesn’t make sense.

Oh, and below, here’s my darling son’s version of grand millennial.

 

grandmillenial musicians roomA grand millennial with a little Edward Hopper thrown in. haha These are from Cale’s temporary home in Brooklyn, NY, and doctored by his mama.

 

We did examine a different type of “granny” decor mistakes, here. It is not a function of age.

 

13. Peel and stick wallpaper is an interior design trend 2021.

 

Okay. Yes, it’s been gaining in popularity in the last several years. Anyone out there used it? There are some stunning peel and stick wallpapers in this post.

And this one, too.

 

14. Rustic ceramics will be edging out smooth tiling in kitchens.

 

15. Green cabinets are in.

 

Yes, they have been for several years. However, they have become more mainstream in recent years.

 

Jean Stoffer Design - mother-daughter interior designers+Fair Oaks kitchen detail

Jean Stoffer Design

16. Industrial styling may be the next big thing in decorating.

 

What?

 

Again, I am not blaming this woman, who I’m sure did her best on this article. Either someone is messing with her head, she misunderstood or spoke to someone from the planet Vulcan.

 

 

Industrial styling has been big since the 1970s.

 

17. Plaster walls may make a comeback

 

That one is very doubtful. People may stop covering up their plaster walls with sheetrock. (gypsum board). That’s possible. However, I don’t see any widespread use of lathe and plaster going up in new construction or as a replacement for sheetrock in a renovation.

 

18. Wicker and rattan furniture will be trending.

 

Yes, they have been for at least the last 30 years.

 

19. Natural fabrics will gain popularity over synthetics.

 

Again, I’m afraid I have to disagree quite strongly with this one.

Natural fabrics are and have been very popular. However, synthetics are incredibly practical for upholstery and situations where silk can get rot. Please see one of my favorite posts about all of the hideous mistakes I had to learn the hard way with fabrics. The fabrics that have gained traction and I believe will continue to do so are performance fabrics. Some performance fabrics can go outside, and some are not meant for that. This is another blog post. I’ll be happy to cover that if there’s interest.

 

My bottom line on this post is that some of the dated interior design trends in 2021 were gone long ago.

 

And, some of the “new” interior design trends aren’t new.

In fact, many of them are enduring classics.

What do y’all think?

Please feel to disagree, but please do so with kindness.

 

YES? NO? OR NO WAY?

please pin to Pinterest for reference

xo,

PS: And, please check out the newly updated HOT SALES!

 

98 Responses

  1. Thank g-d I found you. Just back from early reitrment in Mexico in 2005 at 48 husband was 56 16 year and much has changed but we haven’t at all. BUT we moved to the south these women decorate to the tiptops trees and I haven’t a clue about curtains and bright wall colors. Help?

  2. Laurel! I am in love with the pillows on white sofa, in fact the whole room, in that first pic (your client whose porch you turned into sunroom painted white). Any chance you can share who makes that fabric? Thanks as always!!!

  3. I love midcentury and I always have. I am really looking forward to being able to buy it without having to compete with a trend chaser who binge watched Mad Men.

    Everyone dump your furniture so I can buy it 🙂

  4. This sounds lovely and there can always an exception. I don’t like barn doors, I am such a pain to myself and others. I can’t stand shiplap and granite and all this gray and I’m so tired of stainless steel appliances and don’t tell me to “Gather” or “Be kind”. Then every now and then I see a variation of those annoying things and think “Wow, that’s beautiful!”

  5. Diane – normally I would agree with you. And yet, here I am with a “barn door” in my home. Or, at least, a door attached to a track system. When we renovated and added a mudroom, we didn’t want to put a door on it, but we also didn’t have the ability to put a sliding door enclosed in the wall. And at the same time I had an amazing tall dark solid wood door carved and layered with a Gothic motif that I’d found propped against a tree over a decade earlier and always wanted to use in the house (my best guess is that years prior to that someone had pulled it out of a church and then never found a use for it and abandoned it). So, now it is being used, I get to look at a beautiful one of a kind piece every day, and I have one of those hated trendy “barn doors” in my house. Oh well.

  6. I’d like to add my vote for this (while being well aware that blogs are not a democracy). I feel like we have a line of brown furniture in a row around our bedroom. And dark walls. Help!

  7. Agree with Renee and Maureen. Would love to see an article on using wood furniture and making it fresh.

  8. I think most “Interior Design Trends” articles are written by people with shallow design knowledge for people with no design knowledge.

  9. Renee, thanks so much for your comment. I too would be interested in information on performance fabrics and also the use of traditional “brown” furniture in a new fresher way.

    I don’t crochet either!

  10. Laurel – I only recently stumbled across your blog and I am eagerly reading through your content. I look forward to all of your posts. The examples that you use and link to are like decorator porn for me. Definitely interested in a performance fabrics post for the future.

    But, I am most interested in a post on the use of traditional “brown” furniture in a new, fresher way. I am downsizing this year to a new home and am definitely taking my mahogany breakfront with me even if I have to stick it in my living room, which apparently I will, since every place is now the dreaded open concept floorplan! But, I also don’t want it to look like I’ll be crocheting doilies in my spare time either. I want classic but fabulous and fresh – if that makes sense. I could go on and on but please keep up the wonderful posts and know that your hard work is very much appreciated and your vast knowledge greatly respected.

  11. Dear Laurel, Your blog is the best. You are extremely funny, have shaped my taste more than anyone, and write so well that even if I didn’t care about design and creating a comfortable home, I’d still read you. The bad architecture post is way up there among the classics. I’ve sent several people to your blogs. Favorite Laurel Bernisms:
    1. Almost always right: oriental carpets, hardwood floors, real houseplants, chinoiserie, and modern paintings with traditional decor. Farrow and Ball is beautiful, but Benjamin Moore is easier to find. Use the same white trim, from your limited palette of best whites, throughout the home. You are my hero. Seriously.

  12. Hi Laurel,

    Love your blog! First time comment! I completely agree that performance fabrics are gaining traction and I am trying to plan to reupholster some furniture for a future aging in place new location.

    I would LOVE, LOVE LOVE if you could do a piece on performance fabrics!!

    Families with pets, young children or grandchildren, and adults – real life and stains come at you. I want to spend my time enjoying my family, not maintaining high maintenance fabrics.

    Would be so appreciated!

  13. I am a Southerner, a traditionlist, and I love white walls and high ceilings. I’m sure both acquired popularity here they were practical. Ultimately lasting “trends” grow out of their practicality. They let you play with color in furniture and other furnishings. They create a general continuity that makes special wallpaper, a single colored room, and such will pop but not wear one out. When I was doing an uptick on my very traditional, classic home several years ago, I was lost among many whites for wall paint, and a designer (you) said the two best words my mostly white walls have ever heard—“Cotton Balls.” It taught me anew how every wall paint or paper changes with light. Classic can always incorporate good trends.

  14. While I agree with some of you astonishment at what is being considered trendy, (this and that have been around for years) I do believe it’s fair to say that things fall in and out of fashion. Chevron patterns are timeless, classic. Yet, a few years ago they became terribly trendy and burned themselves out. Will they ever be out for good? No. They’re classic, but the did have a good run of falling in and out of fashion.

  15. Plaster walls making a comeback seems totally nutty to me. We have plaster walls and while they are lovely, the upkeep can be costly and take forever depending on how much work has to be done, and they have to be installed properly for them to last and look good. When we moved into our home it took the plasterers three weeks to repair and plaster before they could paint! Also, it can be much more difficult to hang paintings from a plaster wall.

    We had an old landlord who had slapped sheetrock over the plaster walls and I realized pretty quickly that this added sound insulation was a godsend in an apartment – I barely heard my neighbors, and in NYC that’s saying something.

  16. I love your blog!! I don’t get to read them as often as I would like, but every time I do I am not disappointed!! You never fail to hit the nail on the head. Through reading your blog I have learned to do what makes me happy in my decorating. I stick to Traditional, French and a teeny tiny bit of whimsey. But mostly I hate these designers that say most of what I just read!! Thank you for all of your comments that I totally agree with. Classic is never out, whaaaaa, do they even know the meaning of the word. All homes are different and I’d like to think I do what compliments my home!! Thanks for the laugh, again you never disappoint!! Stay warm and dry up there with that terrible snow storm!!!

  17. I agree with everyone saying that this article describes what the average person will start seeing in places where mainstream people shop. Honestly most people just do whatever they’ve seen most other people do in their income bracket. I am so grateful for finding blogs like this one from actual designers who have helped me to figure out what my own taste really is!

  18. I opted not to do shiplap in my new build home because it’s everywhere nowadays and I didn’t want my home to scream a certain decade. That said I do love it when used sparingly.

  19. Hahahahahahaha!!!I LOVE that you called BS on this article! I read it too but thought that I must be a twit because I thought it was ridiculous. Death to the Accent Wall pleeeeeeze!Thank you dear Laurel for making me feel better!

  20. Trend? Fad? Fashion? Style? Part of the problem is we’re in the present, and in the age of the internet there’s an infinity of choice on view. Much easier to look back with hindsight and see “style” developing, although people in the past grumbled about the latest trend at the time. Today trends are also about marketing, and all such discussions cater to our anxieties about getting it right, to please ourselves but also (“a home should reflect your personality”) to perform on the social stage, and in the financial arena (re-selling, a more frequent event in the US than in Europe, I think). Grey and white seem simpler to handle than more colourful choices, so more reassuring and acceptable.
    Only later will we be able to see which trends were fads, and which were styles — and the coming and going of fads will be simply forgotten.
    On a more practical level: apply the appropriateness test: barn doors belong in barn conversions, industrial style belongs in converted warehouses and so on.
    Re colours: how we describe colours is partly personal classification as well as perception. I would say that your first blue is pure blue (I know it isn’t) because I don’t like purple and mentally reconfigure the colour wheel, as it were! And by the way, the green Jean Stoffer kitchen looks amazingly similar to Devol style, but is it the result of the photography and the lighting and styling, or just the kitchen?

  21. Great article, laughed out loud a few times but I always do when reading your dry wit. Please cover performance fabrics and how normal humans can get their hands on it.

  22. See what you did? You made me look up “Trend.”

    According to one writer, it’s what’s on the cutting edge and new. Once the general public knows about it, it’s no longer a trend.

    Another says it’s whatever is “popular” during a “season.”

    Another says “trends differ to fads in that they are more long-standing, they develop and change over time.”

    So I gotta ask. When evaluating what a “trend” is, what is your yardstick, Miss Laurel?

  23. Laurel, like another commenter said: really you’re at another level of design/sophistication. And I’ve said before reading your blog has exposed me to this and trained my eye to see it. The vast majority are following Joanna Gains (I REALLY like her by the way, just not what I want my house to look like) and that Studio McGee, to achieve this Santa Barbara beachy washed out look. I love looking at this on blogs but again—not my style.
    The same goes for the new construction in the modern farmhouse style 😩 in ten years you’ll drive by and roll your eyes as you point them out just like the 90s builder homes, the 60s raised ranches, etc
    The Haute Coture you expose us to is really next level.

    and so as my less experienced friends embark on the barn door/shiplap trajectory, i quietly inner cringe and scope out the French doors with transoms for my upcoming phase 2 remodel.

  24. Oh, yes, please address performance fabrics. I am so sick of staring at upholstery samples and debating whether the fabrics will handle family life and still look good. My darling husband is sick of it too-he would like for me to just get the chairs upholstered! 🙂

  25. Great post once again! Trends are just that – trends. I believe the best approach is to create a home that makes you feel right, and to use the colors that best do so for you. I love the white look, but I know it wouldn’t work for me – I am definitely a blue and green person. However, I came across someone on Instagram whose home is mostly whites but is also charming, cozy, and lovely. It’s Swedish and is called “My Little red house.”.

    Thanks Laurel. I always learn something new from you. And thank you for the sale information you so generously share!

  26. I just ADORE that sun room! It must be the pale blue ceiling, which mimics the sky, combined with the all white walls, door frames and window frames. It looks so summery.

  27. I’ve just got to jump in here with my two cents. My daughter was recently looking at apartments and almost every single one was gray from top to bottom. And these were the “recently renovated “ ones. I think what’s “out” are the HGTV gray rooms that have been shoved down our throats, not the beautifully done rooms that you’re showing. Also, enough of the “everything is great if it’s chalk painted white” house!! Slapping white paint on everything does not make someone a decorator. Thanks for letting me rant….!

  28. I like wicker. I like rattan. I have no problem with green kitchen cabinets. I think what they are trying to say is that Jo Jo Gaines is out.
    Are we back to saying what Nate B said: Trends are designed to make you feel bad about what you don’t have. Amen. Got your snow shovel handy Bostonians?

  29. Its not the reason! People who display books with pages out are projecting the all white vibe. I actually like the look of it because it gives a texture in a monochromatic room
    , but I would never do it, because if I have books on a shelf, I want to look at them and let others do the same.

  30. Hey Laurel, I think I have been under your tutelage for too long – agree with everything you said. Re: shiplap – I live in a “new traditional” home – the 2 story living room has white painted horizontal paneling which is beautiful and fresh. Re: barn doors, never liked them. They seem like a real gimmick except perhaps if you convert a barn into a home…? I installed 2 pocket doors and I don’t think the walls were extra thick or anything. I love them and also French doors. And matching furniture sets seem like something that happened in our grand mother’s era. Green cabinets being in? They are really pretty, but I doubt they will catch on broadly like gray and white and mushroom and navy and black have. Industrial styling being the next big thing? It feels if anything to me like it is winding down a bit or softening – the Edison bulbs definitely feel like they are on their way out. Anyway, an interesting post! Thanks!

  31. I read this post first thing this morning and later went rifling through my voluminous clipping file–excited to help my daughter with her first real grown-up apartment. In a file called “old favorites” I found room after room that I still loved, beautiful work by Jeffrey Bilhuber, Sills & Huniford, Frank Randolph, Victoria Hagan and others. Good things last, and thoughtful design that works for the way people live, provides comfort and delights the eye will last forever.

  32. I love the look of plaster walls – my plasterers put thin coats over blueboard in my late Victorian house rehab. I am not sure anyone uses lathe anymore (except maybe for restorations work for a museum)? It is hard to find people who can plaster, rather than sheetrock though.

  33. Recently I read an article about dated trends and the photo illustrating this article was of the most beautiful white kitchen ever.

    The accent wall is always confusing to me, it makes that wall zoom up into my face and then whole room looks smaller.

    I’m glad you don’t post every day, it takes me hours to go through most of them.

  34. This was a fun post! I’m putting in my vote for a performance fabric post. I’m attempting my first DIY upholstery job on an accent chair for my living room and am getting close to ordering fabric swatches. I am so tired of the gray trend, but I do love the examples of the grays kitchens you featured in this post. I love all your insight and your willingness to share it with us. I’m getting more and more confident with my decorating ability since following your blog, Laurel! Thank you!

  35. I vote yes for a fabric post. I thought performance fabrics were indooor/outdoor, so obviously I am in need of help!

    A comment on all white interiors. What I have been seeing on instagram lately are ALL white interiors that look completely flat. No color at all and no texture to speak of. That gets old really fast. The example you showed is wonderful.

  36. I’m just here to Upvote the performance fabrics future post. Pretty please with cherries on top enthusiasm! Some day when my littles stop jumping on the couch, touching everything, and dragging mud pies inside, I’m getting a “forever” couch. I want it to be beautiful AND durable. I’d love feedback on the best brand, like is there a white color worthy of its performance label?

  37. Wonderful post, as always! Some thoughts, in no particular order: 1) consider the source:
    Insider is: “A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation” whatever that means! The author of this piece was probably a freelancer who was given the quotes and told to write the piece. I hope she was paid well.
    2) I am guessing (hoping?) that I’m not the only person who both subscribes to your blog and watches HGTV. I’ll be honest, I can’t afford anything that you suggest, even on sale. But you give me so much inspiration!
    3) I’d much rather watch Joanna Gaines do yet another farmhouse style interior than the designers who used to do things like put fake grass on a bedroom wall.
    4) the WORST trend which has taken over HGTV is displaying books pages-side out! Surely no one actually does this in a home. However I had a brainwave about it–I’m wondering if it could be copyright (sometimes they blur paintings and photographs too). I worked for a university press before retirement, and if one of our books appeared on a bookshelf in the background in a movie or tv show we were paid a small royalty, the most famous instance being in Good Will Hunting when one of our history books was mentioned by name. I HOPE that is the reason, because otherwise it’s ridiculous.

  38. Thank you for perspective and some grounding regarding trends. I personally exhaled a sigh of relief on white rooms and (certain shades of) gray cabinets. Having reached “a certain age”, I appreciate your wisdom and the opinions of the trained professional — you!! Again, it may be my age has influenced my opinion, but I wonder of some trend articles are targeted (i.e., influenced by marketing) towards those who are trying out different styles before they find what really reflects their personal taste.

  39. I would love to see a post on performance fabrics, please!

    I have medium brown floors, medium to dark oriental rugs, and a fair amount of brown wood furniture. I feel like a white sofa or lighter rugs would freshen things up, but with pets, teenagers and my red wine habit, I’m SCARED!

  40. I read it wrong, and reread it wrong twice, then three times!
    I guess my paranoia is showing.
    I thought she said Palladium Blue was not a good color, when she said It’s Not that it’s not a good color!
    Thanks to those that pointed that out;-). I truly didn’t get it! Again, my paranoia. I’ve wanted to paint my room this color forever, but always chickened out and went with safe colors.

  41. I think you’re right, Laurel, and my money is where my mouth is. I’m not including any info in this comment that could just be a ploy to get traffic; please know that this comment is true, sincere, and GRATEFUL! I bought all your products except the blogging one and my husband and I have been fully guided by your advice in the neglected Victorian home we moved into 22-months ago. We’ve slowly been tackling 4,700 square feet and 21 rooms and large halls. We’ve purchased our furnishings at estate sales etc., using your posts and mood boards as guides. A few months back, we began to purchase additional items along the same lines, and re-sell them on popular, online platforms. The stuff sells—well enough to really help subsidize the pieces we intend to keep for ourselves. As far as I’m concerned, it’s proof that you’re right! Thank you for the wonderful, funny, informative content you give all of us. 🙂

  42. Another commenter mentioned inheriting big dark wooden furniture, I would also be interested in a post about keeping that fresh. Would that fall into the Grand Millenial or Granny Chic category? I would love to learn more about those as a design style.

  43. I’ll be happy to see these two disappear: shiplap (I’ve always hated it), and huge industrial lighting in kitchens. Barn doors are attractive in only a very few instances, in my opinion, so it’s good that they’re on the way out.

  44. I’ll go with experience over a newbie on this subject. I want style that is is effortless, not necessarily trendy – I am too old for that crap 😂

  45. What will always be “in” is good taste combined with form and function. Buying or collecting over the years what you really love and putting it together in a way that makes you feel really at home or want to do the Snoopy Happy Dance every single time you walk in the space. A good designer will take what you have and what you love and help it work to combine form & function. Evidence would be your son’s temporary space that looks welcoming and functional and wonderful.

  46. You made me laugh out loud. I love your frank talk and quite frankly, you are spot on. Please continue doing what you do as only you can.

  47. I just have to jump in — I don’t think Laurel means, “It’s not, because it’s not a good color” — she means “the reason it’s not on the list is NOT that it’s not a good color, but because it’s too similar to something else.”

    Just couldn’t leave you sitting here in agony.

  48. Jennifer, she simply meant Palladian blue is not her in color collection you can buy where she recommends her favorite BM colors. She is saying the only reason it’s not included is because there is a color very similar – meaning it is a good color. I’m sure your bedroom and bathroom will be lovely.

  49. No, she was saying Palladian Blue is not in the Laurel guide–not because it’s not a good color. Too many nots, but basically she’s saying it’s a good color that she didn’t include bc she already had a similar color.

  50. Diane, my husband and I just bought a 1928 Tudor and are about to remodel the kitchen and bathrooms. I had to laugh at the barn door comment! I personally have always felt barn doors belong in a barn! Hate to get rid of the mint green tub, commode and sink in this old house but it is time. And the kitchen is really bad.

  51. Laurel,

    Thank you for the honest interpretations of what can stay and go. Never met a barn door I like or a dark moody kitchen I didn’t.

    Can you please do a post on how to incorporate the big heavy “brown furniture” that is now being inherited? We have some gorgeous and very expensive antiques coming our way but not sure how to keep the rooms feeling fresh and not stuffy. One special challenge is in the dining room where the table, sideboard and buffet with hutch all hail from the early 19th century… needless to say they are beautiful and impeccably maintained but take up a lot of real estate in the room so need to balance with some freshness.

    Then there are the curios in the entry hall and study…what does one put in them these days when you aren’t into crystal, China and Lladro?

    Thank you for your help
    Love the blog and have pinned more than my fair share of inspo!

  52. I could say so much but to keep it more brief I just want to say thank you, Laurel, that I can come to your blog and read the thoughts of someone who is informed by experience and art and design history. I’m not trying to blow smoke up your butt, seriously, but I find it completely refreshing how much actual information you give. It’s been an education for me. The change over time in my Pinterest account proves it! 😁 I hope the prediction on barn doors comes true! Why won’t someone just say how impractical they are? Especially when I see them used as bathroom doors. I don’t want to work that hard or take that long to open and close a door! To me at the top of good design is the ease of function of the space.

  53. I agree with Diana. This is much more about what will show up in Home Goods than the world of the Steve Cordony-aware. I’m happy for the Rustic Whitewashed Barn Door Farmhouse set if they’re learning about fabrics and colors other than gray and white. In terms of big box decorating trends, I hope jungle bohemian goes out of style. It’s unsettling to be in a room with that many plants, as if the apocalypse is over and nature is taking back 3rd floor walk up apartments.

  54. We must keep in mind that this years trend article may be directed to young, inexperienced or those only just taking an interest in decorating. I am in full agreement with you, Laurel.

  55. I would love a piece on performance fabrics. Planning to re-slipcover a Mitchell Gold sofa and 2 chairs in our family room. Love white fabrics but these pieces get a lot of use, including 12-pound dog who MOSTLY has clean paws. Have started collecting swatches but would love your advice. Thank you Laurel.I really enjoy your blog.

  56. Your statement: Palladian Blue is not. It’s not because it’s not a good color; it’s only because I wanted to include another color that is too similar.

    Why is Palladian Blue not a good color? I ask because my painters are painting my bedroom and bathroom Palladian Blue. 1st coat yesterday, finishing up today. It looks great imho.

    1. I’m reading from oldest to newest comments, today, (Monday, Feb 1). Sorry, everyone. I plum ran out of steam yesterday and I was out most of the day. Again, apologies for the ambiguous sentence, and thanks to those who clarified what I was trying to say.

  57. So glad I stumbled on your blog. Thanks for your humor, expertise and museum quality aesthetic. Each post is a matryoshka doll of eye candy-like going down the rabbit hole.

  58. I always love your columns, and as a former Back Bay resident I thoroughly enjoy everything you write about Boston. I agree with your trend analysis here. Trends are interesting and good to understand, but I care more about design that works with a home’s architecture, setting, and lifestyle. My old Maine cottage uses shiplap, a lot of white, gray & white in the kitchen, and a barn door… and I’ll never change them because there, they work perfectly. I just wish I had a suitable place for the classic antiques and lovely wallpaper you often show, but right now I don’t.

  59. Good morning Laurel,
    I have to admit that I have fallen victim to some trends. But only trendy accessories. The big chunky wood links.
    The vases that appear to be covered in plaster. Big pale wooden bowls. But certainly nothing over $100. I like to think that adding a few pieces of small trendy items gives my home a fresh feel.
    Enjoy your Sunday!

  60. I wonder if by “all white” that blogger meant ALL WHITE. I have seen some houses like this in real-estate listings, where every single wall and surface, except maybe the floor, is painted bright white and almost all of the furniture is pure-white, too, with very little regard for texture, and certainly no patterns. No designer worth her salt would “bleach” an entire house or even a room to this extent. One hopes it was simply done as staging. Sometimes they’ll put a bowl of apples in a white bowl on the white marble kitchen counter and the eye is drawn to it irresistible as the only colorful, natural thing in the igloo. Loved the post, by the way. I like to know what’s new and trendy so I can avoid it, but a lot of the time something classic and lovely has simply become popular again, and I can look around and see if I already have it going on here.

  61. I have only one thing to say: you cemented my understanding of the relationship between purple and indigo. I have always been an indigo person, but everyone, everyone sees the purple around me. They do not even see the indigo. I try to keep saying blue/purple, but it doesn’t help. People do not know what indigo is for the most part. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Commenting from a paled out indigo bedroom. Maybe I need to go full on dark indigo?

    Personally, I love reading your design trend take downs. I don’t think anyone writing any of those articles has a lick of sense.

    Meanwhile, if you are looking to buy a home after the pandemic, you will face most of the mistakes you call out.

    Waiting, not so patiently for the next chapter in your new home saga. I’m sure the corona has most things on hold, but then you get to live in the space and really know it, especially the light through the seasons. Keep yourself safe and cozy in your new place.

    1. Hi Ramona,

      I am pacing myself because this has been a super-challenge for me. I didn’t just move, I changed states– my entire life, and it coincided with signing up for medicare, too. Plus, everything with the website and blog, buying, moving, selling, car, on and on… There are still some things I haven’t done that need to get done very soon.

  62. Thank you once again for a lovely post! I so enjoy reading them. I had to chuckle about the barn doors. Hate them. I do agree they have their (limited) place in certain homes. When my husband mused that he thought that a couple of barn doors would look good in our 1936 Tudor, I reacted like he had pulled a weapon on me! Joking of course but, that comment did get him uninvited to the decorating party.

  63. I am here for the Chip and Joanna Gaines snark. If that woman hangs another rusty gate on a wall and sticks flowers in it… OMG.

    The painting every room cold gray HGTV trend is god awful. The warm gray in this post are tasteful, but I’m ready for Everything Gray to go away.

  64. Agree totally. I often see these articles and I think the only trends they address are the do it yourself house flipper trends. All over San Antonio homes are bought and updated with clearance and discontinued tile, flooring and paint colors. They all look the same and IMO you would need to redo all over if you wanted to have them look current and fresh.

  65. Thank you for this interesting piece – you put so much work into all you do. Yes, I would be SO interested in a piece about performance fabrics PLEASE!

  66. Hi dear! Long-time reader, first-time commenter. I think you and the author simply inhabit different worlds 🙂

    She isn’t speaking of Design (said in my Downton Abbey voice); she’s speaking about decorating (said in my Average Person who Gets Decor Inspiration from the Target Home Aisle voice).

    The person who takes their home decor cues primarily from Target and HGTV isn’t generally a person who knows Miles Redd. In that sense, in the sense of what’s big in mainstream America, oh dear heavens, YES, someone tell these people to stop doing gray kitchens, all white rooms, ship lap and barn doors! Instagram and Pinterest are full of it for 30-somethings with a first house and little kids under foot. The rustic farmhouse look, a la Chip and Joanna Gaines, has been done to death in average America. Joanna might know who Miles Redd is, but he’s neither her inspiration nor her client.

    See, you’re just too sophisticated to know what she’s talking about 😉

  67. I would love a blog post on performance fabrics. Determining which will look and feel like natural fabrics, which truly are “performance” and which just labeled that way, which are best for indoor use—all hard to answer questions (especially when we are still mostly looking at fabric on the internet and not seeing and touching). So often they seem like a miracle solution but I’m not quite sold. Your guidance on these would be wonderful.

  68. Hello Laurel, I suppose that a “current trend” could be a sudden highlighting of a long-standing one. That would resolve some of these contradictions.

    I hope that the era of “studied blandness” is coming to an end. I don’t mean minimal, or modern, or monochrome, or gray or whatever. I mean those interiors promoted by certain designers (never you, Laurel!) or stores (such as RH) that tell people to get rid of everything they own and replace it all with (their version of) expensive things that have no personality and no history, just insistent neutrality in every aspect.
    –Jim

  69. Hi Laurel,
    Love YOUR Trend reports. Sometimes I think the people writing them don’t research enough, or go back far enough. Like if it happened before they were born it’s ancient history and doesn’t count.
    I had a professor in college that ALWAYS said NEVER
    Accent only one wall. Back then papering one wall and then adding the matching border to go around the room was trendy. He would frown horribly. NEVER he said, Because it only looks like you cannot afford to do the whole room properly.
    Your example just further emphasizes this fact.
    Thank you dear!

  70. I LOVE your blog, especially during this pandemic…it has given me ideas and courage to be bold. I went with a neutral theme throughout my home about 7-10 years ago but staying secluded at home this last year has not made me happy…soooo, I went bold with Chili Pepper Red in my dining room, a color very similar to your Old living room yellow in kitchen and breakfast room and a very soothing green in master bedroom. These colors make me happy and I love them even though my husband says I now have a “crayola” house. I say it now makes our house a HOME – it would not make the cover of Traditional Home but it makes ME feel comfortable and happy and that is what a home should do…..thanks Laura….

  71. Sounds like the recent election each believing their own truth. Living in a false reality!!

    Laurel, great job bringing it down to individual reality!

  72. loved reading this blog on an early Sunday morning, a full moon weekend, up at 3 am. what else to do, read your blog thoroughly, click on the articles I rarely click on. I have always been a fan of the “undecorated” look either by design or necessity. I first got hooked on your blog when you wrote about kitchens that were not French Country kitchens and have never looked back. I enjoy reading the “trend or uptrend” articles, always a chuckle, but interesting to see what is enduring through the years. my thoughts on “mid century modern”, aka Danish Modern, it looks like a doctor’s office to me and always will. too much of it in a room is all spindly legs which creates clutter in itself.

  73. I do hope the GM generation begins to appreciate what has been disparagingly referred to as “brown furniture.” The best of it has beautifully selected and showcased wood graining, and construction that will long outlive them. Some of the crazed chalk painters should be arrested.

  74. I’m not a designer, writer or as clever as you. However I have ‘thought’ just about everything I just read. Maybe someone merely had to write an article of x number of words.
    So glad I found your blog. It’s entertaining and educational, win, win!

  75. Agree with your entire analysis. Except, if anything, I would say that industrial is on it’s way out, not coming in. It’s been a trend for years, and starting to get a little boring.

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Hi, I’m Laurel, and Laurel Home is the website and blog for Laurel Bern Interiors.
I’ve been creating new-traditional interiors since 1988. The blog is where I share all.

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