Three Home Furnishings Trends Revisited 7 Years Later

May 23, 2021
51 Comments
Posted in: Furniture, interior design

Hi Everyone,

Well, it suddenly got HOT here in Boston. Remember, it was quite hot last May as well when I was in Northampton.

Today, I was reminiscing about a trip to Boston exactly seven years ago. Then, I had just written a post about three home furnishings trends I found to be objectionable.

So, I thought it would be fun to go back and revisit the three trends I talked about in 2014.

This was also around the time that my blog started growing rapidly.

I had found my “voice.”

Or, rather, I wasn’t afraid to speak my mind. But, of course, all to help save people from making what I thought would be terrible mistakes. And, besides, at that time, I only had maybe a couple of hundred subscribers.

Therefore, if I said something dumb, I didn’t have to worry about being raked over the 40 grit sandpaper.

Oh, wait before I get into the old post about 3 home furnishing trends. I have some BIG (and I mean BIG) news to share.

I spoke of it on Friday as a bit of a teaser.

It’s about my dear Joe. Many of you will recall that I introduced him about a year ago as the half-dead plant I have had since December 2015.

Here is Joe in Northampton, MA, last summer. Yes, I brought him with me as I was there for about six weeks. Remember when I almost bought a house there?

And, here is Joe in his new spot the day after I moved in, still in the same pot.

Can I tell you how horribly guilty I’ve felt about that?

And, even worse, when I noticed all of the brown on him a couple of weeks ago. So, I’ve been pruning it all away.

Well, the other day, I FINALLY ordered Joe a new pot.

Believe me. I spent hours on this. I also spent hours getting a new stick vacuum. But, that’s another story. Both of my Roborocks do the “heavy lifting.” The stick is for upholstery and quick clean-ups.

So, I got a blue and white Chinoiserie pot. Very pretty.

The size they said is 14 x 14 x 10.75 inches.

This is about double the height and 5 inches wider than the old pot. That sounds about right, I thought.

Well, the pot arrived in about three days.

It’s from Oriental Furniture on Amazon.

I failed to notice that the bowl weighs 14 pounds. Hmm, I don’t think so; I think it’s more like 24 pounds. But, man, I struggled to get the box into my apartment, and when I opened it up.

The pot is HUUUUUUUGE!

It is actually slightly over 14″ in diameter, and it’s 11″ high. So it is at least 8 times bigger than the old pot. I don’t understand how that can be. Well, math was never my thing.

Seriously, I made a horrible mess because I started to fill it up in the kitchen but then realized that I’d have to finish in the den. I cannot pick up the pot now that it’s filled with dirt.

Incidentally, I waited for my huge dirt mess to dry, and then I put my new Roborock S7 in the den on turbo power. And the rug looks good as new. These vacuums are amazing. I love both the new S7 and my Roborock S6 Pure. The differences are not major. The S7 does have a nice shiny finish, however. And, it might be a tad quieter. But neither vacuum is nearly as loud as a human-pushing vacuum.

Here’s Joe. See? The carpet mess is all gone. I did not do a bloody thing to clean it up. That was a blessing because, believe me. But, Repotting Joe was not easy. And, there was also a big mess in the kitchen.

But, here’s something else. Joe was positively swimming in this huge pot. I know it doesn’t look that big here. But, believe me when I say that it is. I wish I had gotten the 12″ pot. So, I stuck him in a smaller but good size plastic pot I found outside.

And then I buried him in the big pot. This way, if I decide to get a smaller pot, he’ll be okay. But, I should probably do that soon. Right? I don’t know. Yes, I did put some rocks for drainage in the bottom of the pot.

Speaking of plants.

My garden is growing like crazy, and I watered it for about a half-hour last night. I need to figure out how the watering system works. But, the beautiful rose bush is blooming. There are tons of buds on it!

And then, there’s my new portable Haier Air-Conditioner. I’ll spare you that saga.

No, wait. I won’t spare you. But, haha, I know that some of you derive a lot of pleasure from seeing me suffer.

It took me THREE HOURS to put it together. One of those hours was spent getting it OUT of the box.

Here. Please enjoy the instructions to install one “portable” air-conditioner. Clearly, “portable” is a misnomer. I mean, a piece of equipment that requires two or MORE people to move it is not exactly portable.

Somewhere, it said I needed something called a screwdriver.

Huh? That’s ridiculous. The entire thing is ridiculous. Some sadistic freak wrote this out.

Of course, I used packing tape to secure the thingy to the window.

Easy. They needn’t have bothered with all of that.

There ya go. Chic as hell ain’t it?

There ya go with an enduring classic home furnishing trend! haha

Renee, dahling, if you’re reading this, I believe it was you who said the other day:

“You don’t need no stinkin’ prince charming.”

Actually, you’re right. All I need is packing tape—my hero. So I’ve decided to take a roll of it to bed with me every night.

Anywho, the Haier portable air-conditioner actually works quite nicely.

It did rattle away for the first 20 minutes or so, but then it broke in, I guess, or else, it just decided to give up rattling. By the way, it’s the smallest “portable” AC I could find.

Obviously, the lack of sleep is getting to me. So, here’s what I’m going to do.

Okay, I will link to the old horribly written “3 interior design trends you’ll regret” post from 2014.

In this post, I’ll give the Cliff Notes version. If you feel like reading the old one, fine, and if you don’t, that’s fine too.

Please enjoy three home furnishings trends I was hoping would disappear very soon seven years ago.

Let’s see how I feel about them now. And, see IF they have disappeared.

Again, if you’d like to follow along with the original post, you can access that here.

Horrible home furnishings trends #1

THE FLYING PTERODACTYL SOFA – (WITH CRAZY BLINDING FRETWORK PATTERN)

At the time, I thought maybe it could be a chair, but definitely not a sofa.

Today, I’m saying, not even a chair.

Another version of the flying sofa.

THE ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY FLYING SARCOPHAGUS SOFA

How do I feel about these two non-extinct dinosaurs in 2021? The same. The same. No, wait. I hate them even more. And, yes, they are both still being manufactured.

Horrible home furnishings trends #2

THE PANTONE COLOR OF THE YEAR JADE MAUSOLEUM

Yes, Chinoiserie on steroids. And, yes, I do believe this one was a flash in the pan.

I love green. But, the only way I would consider using this piece would be if the walls were painted the same color.

Yes. It was published in House Beautiful. And yes, what I wrote for this one still cracks me up.

Horrible home furnishings trends #2

THE LOOK WHAT I FOUND ON ETSY FOR 75 BUCKS FOR EACH LAMP

This is about the trend for table lamps to get bigger and BIGGER!

I was way over these minimalist lanterns seven years ago. Plus, I feel this one’s too large for the island. Maybe in the space, it looks better. It’s from Pottery Barn.

Pottery Barn doesn’t seem to carry the lantern from the post, but I found this one they are claiming is new. It sure doesn’t look new to me. Maybe they meant the gold finish is new?

So, what are some interior design trends that are keepers?

Enchanted Home

Blue and white porcelain – Forever and Always and looks wonderful – EVERYWHERE!

Yes! And, there are some lovely pieces I just added in the vintage HOT SALES widget.

Chinese Chippendale.

Well, anything, Chippendale.

Although, Mr. Chippendale would never have painted one of his chairs white. And his were far more ornate. So, in some ways, I think this trend is beginning to lose steam.

I will always love this style of Chinese Chippendale chair, however.

Mid-Century Modern.

Okay, some will disagree with me, but please hear me out. There are different styles within mid-century modern. And, I’m not going to get into all of that. But this Billy Baldwin style is classic modern at its best, I think.

The upshot of this exercise is that I stand by my dislike of certain design trends seven years later. And, also still love the ones I’ve deemed to be enduring classics.

Well, that’s all for now.

OH! Thank you again so much for all of the great advice for the downstairs of my apartment. I took much of it and have done some nice tweaking. I did create two closets, both with access to the bathroom. And, I put the stacked washer dryer unit in its own little closet next to a separate linen closet. There’s a ton of versatility going on now that I really love.

xo,