In this post: Afraid you can’t decorate with something you love because some so-called expert says it’s out of style and not trendy anymore? Who care?! Here’s what I think of home decor trends.
I have a serious bone to pick with the home decor industry. Not that you asked. ‘Cause you didn’t. But a conversation with a dear friend the other day prompted me to share what I think of home decor trends. Whether you want to know or not.
Finally decorate your own home – with confidence!
You’re so much closer to a beautifully-decorated home than you think. You just need a little help to get there!
Home Decor Trends Can Go Suck It
There I said it. And I mean it. There’s no shortage of articles online and off at the start of the year (and the middle of the year and the end of the year) telling us what’s hot and what’s not. Now I’m not talking fashion or anything else that’s admittedly seasonal or a little bit fickle.
I’m talking home decor trends. What you decorate YOUR home with. Your personal space. And very likely what you spend a decent amount of hard earned money on.
Who Do “They” Think They Are?
Seriously I’d like to know who these “experts” are.
Yes, yes.
They may be designers. But so am I.
They make a living making spaces look pretty. So do I.
But I’ll NEVER make you feel bad because you like something I may not.
Seriously if you love wall-to-wall shag carpeting a la 1970’s, who am I to tell you that you shouldn’t have it in your home?
I Don’t Even Remotely Follow Design Trends
Here’s the thing, I haven’t got a clue what’s trendy in home design and decor. Not a freaking clue. And do you know what? I don’t care. I don’t care what is popular, hot, “in” or fashionable when it comes to home decor.
Decorate With What YOU Love
I fully believe that your house is your house. My house is my house. I know what I like, so I decorate accordingly. Sometimes that will be “on-trend”, sometimes it won’t. But it’s my house. It’s Dean’s house. So if we love something that’s “over”, who really cares?
Why these photos?
Each one of the photos in this post represent a trend that is supposedly out. Chalkboards, mason jars, marquee lights, barn doors. But I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t matter what someone else thinks is in or out!
The One Thing I think You Need to Be Careful With
So, I’m all for cheering you one while you embrace whatever style you like for your home. But, there’s one thing I’ll caution you about and that’s using something very trendy that you love in a semi-permanent way in your home.
What I mean by that is, if you love ultra modern colors like black and red with a geometric pattern, please don’t tile that master bathroom in three different kinds of red and black geometric tile…and not update anything else in your house to coordinate.
If you love any kind of trend or style, know that you won’t love it forever and making that kind of bold, pretty permanent statement is going to be hard on your house value…and potentially the next owner.
Don’t Let “Them” Make YOU Feel Bad
I’m begging you. Don’t let those articles make you feel bad. Don’t let a designer tell you something is not in style anymore and therefore you can’t use it.
If you finally saved up enough to buy that chevron, chalkboard, marquee lighted, mason jar lamp you’ve had your eye on for months, buy it! It’s YOUR money and YOUR house! Do NOT let someone else get you down because you like something they do not.
(P.S. Of course there are sometimes decor trends that come along that you and I will simply adore. In that case, here’s the secret to following decor trends without breaking the bank!)
You go girl! I totally agree. My house if vintage farmhouse style and I love it. I never look at what is trendy or in as far as interior design is concerned, never. Cause I know that it won’t be vintage farmhouse and I know I won’t like it. I know my decorating style if very different to all my friends and that is okay, like you say, I have to live with it. Thanks for putting it out there. 🙂 Julie
Yes and it’s your home, your style! I personally love signs and graphic art. The quotes help our family stay on track – like a mission statement. Designers are paid to set trends to create a market. I love looking at blogs and home decor. I may love a room but know that it’s not our style or would not work in our home. That’s the beauty of creativity.
Yes!
YES!!!!
AGREE!
Amen. Thank you. Amen again. I tell you what I think is funny, everyone clamoring over old junk to fill their houses with…not because they particularly love it, but because it’s the trend, farmhouse style they call it…I’m all for repurposing, reinventing and recreating, but seriously people, lots of it is just old junk cluttering up your space! Okay, I feel better now 🙂
Amen!
Lol. Some people truly love it. I like the look of it, but I really don’t like the dirt! Ha! But some do it because it’s the trend, yes.
You tell ’em! I’m thinking you watched the same video as me last week that talked about trends that were out. Decorate with what you love I say. Forget about the trend makers.
I read a post that I couldn’t find again when I went to write this post – it was really condescending! Like the poor people who didn’t know a trend was over. Ridiculous!
I could never understand the extreme chippy paint thing…ok some wear is cute but not scaling off everywhere and littering the floor up!
You just put into words EVERYTHING I’ve been thinking about this exact same topic. If I had been drinking something when I read your, “Home decor trends can go suck it,” I probably would have spewed out of my nose. Haha That was a good chuckle. 🙂
Lol. Glad I could make you almost spew liquids out your nose!
I love this! I do what I like-trend it not! I still have a mish mosh of trends–/ and they work for me because I still love them. Love all the so-called “out” stuff, too! 🙂
Same here. If it like it, it’s here. It took me awhile to be okay with the word eclectic.
Agreed!!!
Amen and Amen!
What really bothers me about creating a market where it is fashion, home decor, or whatever. Is that is creates a spirit of not being content. Ok. You got your room looking like the inspiration photo and then you must hang new curtains, paint this wall. Lay this flooring. It doesn’t stop for some. That’s gotta be hard on a marriage. There, I said it.
It’s true. I adore Pinterest and all the ideas out there. But if I’m not content, it’s a horrible merry go round.
What I find about trends (in my profession of hair especially!) is that by the time a trend is “out” by professional standards it’s “in” by the general public standards.
EXACTLY!!!!!!
Exactly! (Hairdresser for 32 years and that’s exactly right!)
if it makes me happy or brings a smile I don’t care if it’s au courant or dated. You hit the nail on the head, our homes are our environments and we should do what we need to do to be comfy and contented
Hear, hear! I think that new hair put a little sass in you 😀
Lol. 😀 Perhaps. Perhaps it just helped the sass that was missing come back!
Ha! This is GREAT!!! Couldn’t agree more!
(And for the record, I can’t STAND it when people say something is sooo IN, or sooo OUT! It sounds snobbish and very ‘mean girl! No thanks! 😉
You’re so right! Blah!
Preach it, sister. I’m in a 1990s style traditional that is not going to look like the new stylish construction no matter what I do…..but I’m moving it in a good direction and like the changes because they are casual and Classic….a look I like very much.
I know! We’ve lived in homes that were no younger than 20+ years old! So yeah.
HAHAH spot on Shannon! And it’s exactly because of these so-called Home Decor Trend Researcher and Forecasters professionals and all the mass-market big box chains along with the high-end retail stores with their cookie cutter in-house designers duplicating and coping any and all the latest design trends on the scene thus over-saturating the industry on every level – happens on both the fashion or home goods front. And we all know that fashion and home goods have been connected since the days of the cave man… TGIF xoxoT
Yes! Thank you for this. Now if only we could stop listening to “them” telling us what our bodies should look like…
Oh man! YES!!!
Let me give you a standing ovation! I am clapping my hands and cheering right now. I that you have voiced what I have been thinking for years.
Aw! Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I get so frustrated that I have to find a name for my ‘style’.
I don’t know what it’s called!
Does it HAVE to have a name?
All I know is I like, what I like.
Thanks for a truly no BS post, Shannon – it was brilliant!
<3
Pia
Yeah, that’s how I ended up with eclectic – it doesn’t really describe it but it’s a name. Lol.
I so agree, those magazines make me feel so depressed when I look at them, everything is perfect and very clinical. I’m so glad that there others that feel the same. Do your own thing it makes you feel so much happier.
I like to look at magazines – BUT from the perspective of the individual elements in the photos. What can I make? What can I find for cheap? That sort of thing.
I had noticed that all of the magazines were photographed in multi million dollar houses, something that I will never live in and don’t aspire to anyway!
HA!!! AMEN—and thank you
and Pinterest is full of all that stuff you mentioned and we are loving it all
Couldn’t agree more. Our homes should reflect the personalties of the people who live there. If it makes you happy, then how can it be wrong. Embrace your unique decor styles and love the place you call home.
Suzanne
Pieced Pastimes
Yes, yes, yes!
Very well said. It makes me said when people decorate because it is in or trying to keep up with the “Jones” look.
It is sad!
I’m a new reader. I “discovered” you only a few days ago. Maybe I’m a new reader but I’m forever a fan for sure. You made my day, my week, my month! with this post 😀 Thank you to make me feel something else than an E.T. !
Thank you so much!!! 🙂
AMEN!!!
So true! I live in a little farmhouse. It will always be a little farmhouse, never a chic glamorous home. We will make it home for us and we will probably never be “in”. Thank you for giving me permission.
I can’t afford to change all the time. I feel comfortable with what I have, but because of these blogs I do change some accessories from time to time. It helps me to “see” what is out there!!!
I completely agree. I have a thing where I do what I like & when it actually starts becoming a trend – I feel it’s time to move on. I start itching to change things up. I don’t want to be like everyone else. I may take little pieces of trends that I am liking at the moment – but really – it’s because they are versatile & already go with what we have & how our home is decorated. It has to be something I like already. Which is why, despite the hot trend of white kitchens these days – when we built our house 6 months ago- we chose dark cabinets. Guess it’s the rebel in me – but I wanted to pick what I like & will be happy with – not what everyone else likes at the moment. When it passes I would then feel the need to remodel & I don’t want to do that. I guess the thing is to stick to who you are & let the other stuff go by.
That’s so true – do what you love! Our last three kitchens have been white – but that happens to be what I love!
You hit the nail on the head with this post! I have always followed the trends and never been satisfied. Now that I poo-poo what is “in” my house is now my HOME! It’s comfortable, it speaks to everyone that enters who I am! And let me tell you, everyone is always SO comfortable and never want to leave! Thank you for posting what I have felt for quite a long time!!
I’m so glad you’ve gotten comfortable in your home!!!
Thank you, and I couldn’t agree more! I sincerely appreciate this post! It is so irritating when you’re told that how you decorate your own personal space is wrong. I have been told on many, many occasions that I should have made my curtains longer, my bathroom was “too rustic” or that I just didn’t use enough color. If I like it, and I’m just sharing my own personal taste to inspire others on how to also do something similar…. how is that wrong? Once again, THANK YOU 🙂
My first impression was “Whoa, sour grapes.!” Perhaps you are having a bad day? However, if I really speak my mind, I would sound about the same. It seems like I am always behind the styles, but have learned over the years that ‘trends’ are so fickle. After I finally got rid of my black walnut cabinets–a major renovation, the trend suddenly went to dark cherry wood. I am sorry, but I got rid of the dark because it is too depressing. I like it light in my kitchen and would never do dark wood again no matter how trendy. I think I will blog about this myself today. You are okay. I don’t call myself a rebel, a maverick, perhaps, or the purple sheep.
Lol. No. No sour grapes. Just me being a little sassy!
Well if mason jars are, why have I painted and distressed more than 500 jars since the start of the New Year to fulfill Etsy shop orders?
I’m with you and those articles. Home decor is pricey. It’s not something that should go in and out of style like fashion. And if you love it, embrace it!
🙂 Linda
Lol. Exactly!!!
Thank you for saying that! I like lots and lots of stuff on my walls. I love it all. Most is thrift stuff or weird type things, moose heads, antlers, numbers, etc. I get a lot of people saying it is cluttered. I don’t LIKE BARE! You have made me feel so much better!
So true and I agree! thank you for sharing! although I pinned your pin because well lets face it I totally loved the “trendy” pics… they make me happy!
I have beautiful birch cabinets made by my carpenter husband twenty odd years ago. The wood came from his family’s lumber mill. I have begged my husband over the last few years to paint them but he refuses. He thinks it would be a crime to cover the beauty of the wood. I swear he has wood in his blood! I know that painted cabinets are trendy now but wood will be the latest and greatest again and then I won’t have to be stripping paint!! Great blog post and I love your cozy home, especially the chalkboard wall and barn door!!!
Thank you! Exactly – you choose what works for your home, not what someone else tells you will work!
Excellent advice – decorate with what YOU love and it will be perfect!
Well, maybe not perfect. But perfection is overrated! 😉
Spot on.
I have always adored your decorating because you’re not a cookie cutter, and that’s what is appealing.
Thank you, Robin!
Thank you for this article. You are so right. It is your house, do what makes you happy. I just got a new couch and chair for my living room because the old ones were a mess. My husband and I picked the colors because we LIKED them. And the style because we were COMFORTABLE sitting in them. Also they happily went pretty well with every thing else and didn’t make them look shabby. The best thing that happened was that it made me pick and and put away so much stuff. I like the clean, neat look and this was the way to get it. Wonder how long it will last. In style? maybe, maybe not… but we LIKE the way it is now. THANK YOU for saying what you did!!!
It’s true – no one else lives in your home but you!
Thank you… I love what I love. I want things in my home that bring me happiness, fond memories and maybe have a story that goes with them. I have more classic taste in everything and try to avoid trends. As I have gotten older, I realize less is more!!
Yes! So much yes to this!
I am sitting here laughing and wondering what horoscope sign you are?? You sound just like me! If you’re trying to keep up with the Jones’s then by all means stay on trend…it’s your house and your life and you have to love it and live it, just like I have to love and live mine. I almost got caught up myself when the farmhouse style came out. Oh I wanted this and wanted that and of course I was right in the process of redoing everything, so I started buying all this stuff. When the day came to get started, I was working right along and all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks…WHAT AM I DOING? TTHIS ISNT ME, THIS ISNT WHAT I WANT!! I stopped dead in my tracks and did nothing but sit for the next several months to think everything through and do what I really wanted. I didn’t take anything back that I had bought. I really liked it and I’m not sure what I’ll do with it, maybe a game room or something, who knows, but I was sure I wasn’t going all farmhouse. I guess maybe I got a little confused because I originally intended to go…Hollywood glam and old west. Sounds a bit odd I know but that’s what I want. I don’t live in the city and I don’t live in the country but where I live, I am surrounded by old farm homes and farm animals. People that hunt for their food,etc. yet I am minutes from town and real city life. So old west actually comes from the farm era here and I have always loved the old west, like stagecoach times and back in the days when Hollywood was full of glamorous movie stars of formal vanities and dinner parties and dancing the night away…so I am putting it together slowly and at some point I will be done and much happier than if I did the current trends.
LOL. Yes. If I happen to have trendy items here, it’s because I truly love them. I’ve definitely gotten caught up in what others say I should have in the past. Mostly when it comes to adding color. Like I should add color. But that’s just not me. Neutrals with lots of texture are my favorite and how I love to decorate. 🙂 I wish you the very best with putting your spaces together, on your time and the way YOU like!
You did hit the nail on the head with this article! I totally agree, home decor is something that is about “me”. I live in a home, it should be comfortable for me, the home decors should reflect my taste and not something that is currently trendy and my not fit my personality. Thanks for your thoughts it was a joy to read your thoughts! 🙂
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed the article, Anita. 🙂