Wish I could comment but her blog will not fully open on any of my devices, iPhone, ipad, samsung tab, chrome book or Amazon Fire. She needs to change formats it is a PITA.

I agree! I no longer go to her blog. I could watch Gone With The Wind in the time it takes to download.

I know we've gone too far with the grey. I used grey 8 years ago and I felt like I was so unique! And now it's everywhere but pleeeaaassseee I don't want brown to come back!!! Not yet.

But at the same time, I'm trying to find a greenish rug and OMG lay off the blue and grey rugs already. When I did my house there was not a single tan and grey rug anywhere to be found. It took me forever. And now that is all you can find (it seems).

That is when you really notice color shifts, isn’t it?— when you try to find something to coordinate. The browns she showed were soft and grayed somewhat, though— not like the ubiquitous chocolate sofas of days gone by.

(I didn’t have any trouble opening the site on my iPad)

Very interesting, especially what she considers on target for "young marrieds"! Lol. A different income bracket from my world, clearly. :)

I'm quite happy to see that the greyed light brown that we just painted most of our interior is on trend. I could never get behind the greys; here in the PNW it is grey enough! And I've always loved the way woods and reds and metals pop against a warm tone.

I do love the blue/black/white/wood trend, though, especially in kitchens. Sad I couldn't make it work in our reno...

I didn’t have a problem getting into the website on my iPad. I was also surprised to see the brown coming back. Not surprised by the prediction that white is coming back for interior and exterior. After all of the gray we’ve been seeing I think it’s time for something fresher. Have actually been thinking about repainting my somewhat open interior a warm white. I love blue and white but my pale blue walls have been feeling chilly. Maybe I’ll feel differently in the summer.

Love the metal windows, but her statement that they would work anywhere is wrong. They would look weird in my 30s cape.

Some pretty rooms, many over the top. Her examples of blue and white rooms are so busy, it puts me off the color combination altogether.

Exterior paint: I like houses painted white, or painted dark with white trim. But don't, except as a last resort, paint brick. PS, I'm not painting my logs.

Entry/interior paint: I am glad there may be a trend away from gray. White looks okay, but in my own new home I've essentially gone warm toned. (The public spaces in my old home were white, right now I want something different.)

The browns and oranges look good. I can also get behind the blue and white - my old kitchen scheme was that for at least 12 years.

Wallpaper: no. I remember having to remove some years ago. I'll never do that again. That being said, some examples look lovely in other people's homes.

I like the Asian style screens with the birds. Then again, I'm a sucker for Asian.

Heavy use of blue lacquer: no. Smaller uses are fine. Those chairs almost throw my back out just by looking at them. NO.

The curved sofa idea looks great - one needs a room large enough to make it work.

I would find the toile fabric pattern annoying after a while. (It won't take long.)

I like the blue subway tile in the kitchen. Not fond of the light fixtures.

Nor of stark black and white in the bedroom. Nor those light fixtures either.

Fish scale tile could grow on me. Just don't do the entire kitchen in it, until it becomes more established. Black hardware can be attractive.

Lacquered ceilings? Would depend on the setting. Would not work in my home, or in my old home either.

My first thought was what was called "current" when the CdT blog was started ten years ago would not have been considered current, or particularly aspirational in my area at all. So there's a regional thing going on.

Lacquer walls have been around for a long time and I probably saw my first lacquer ceiling close to ten years ago, too. It will never be popular mostly because it is extremely expensive to get right. Most people want their entire houses painted in a few days:

My painter does lacquered walls (for the local billionaire and megamillionaire set) and he starts out with walls in typical condition and applies a skim coat of spackle over the entire thing. The next day he sands it and applies another skim coat of spackle, The next day he sands that. This process gets repeated about seven to ten times. Then the room gets masked off and the lacquer gets sprayed on. Or it's applied by hand depending upon the technique. He can spend weeks on a single room. And it's time and materials. Most people would expect to pay what it costs to do a single room on their entire house.

I am a big fan of wallpaper and always have been, so no disagreements there.

Pal I knew nothing about lacqured walls. Do you know why the need for that many layers of spackle? Or honestly the spackle in general?

I liked some of the pics, but living in the far northeast, I've never been a gray fan and I'm not interested in beige, "greige" (I still don't know what color that is, exactly) or brown either, no thanks, I'll take actual colors.

Randomly:

Metal windows look great, but not in very cold climates, metal is too efficient of a conductor of cold to have inside.

Navy blue kitchens and islands have been on GW for years, I like them, but it's not new.

And speaking of not new, French bistro chairs, I saw them in TJMaxx while holiday shopping, so.....

I'm a huge fan of non-drywalled ceilings, our house has all wood ceilings, Douglas Fir downstairs and (cheaper) pine upstairs, and while I do like the lacquered ceilings, I cannot fathom the labor involved to achieve an unblemished mirror-like surface. Yikes.

I like much of the upholstered furniture, love the plush velvet, but, really, will the dogs be comfortable napping on those curved couches? Will I?

The dining rooms are so over the top, with tables, that yes, lovesmrmewey, look like no one has ever sat down to actually eat at them. I almost always use a tablecloth, cuz my table is a cheapie Craig's List number with a scarred top, but how can you eat, err, dine with a to-the-floor tablecloth in your lap? Especially since we were excoriated to always line the tablecloth, lest the table show its legs improperly and excite the china cabinet, whilst the guests are watching. How many people mistake the tablecloth for a napkin and use it to blot their mouth? (I would absolutely do something like that.)

This year I'm repainting our (not navy) blue kitchen cabs, and looking at this blog only reinforced my disinterest in painting them white, cream, navy or grey.

Love the brass and black, but I've never been a nickel person, I like warmer tones and finishes.

Thanks for sharing, ledmond10.

Shee

If you think that satin or semigloss show flaws and imperfections, consider that times ten.

Since the lacquered wall is almost a colored mirror of sorts. the finish has to be perfect. The ideal wall finish is essentially like honed marble. Dead flat and no imperfections. Because any flaw, bump, speck or chip will be amplified. (There is a technique where it is applied with a roller so its an even surface of small bumps almost like pebbled leather which is much easier and more forgiving, but I don't particularly like that one).

I hated most of what she posted as trending, but I just am not fond of the color blue.

The stuff she just gushes over is way too OTT for me and is definitely a regional style here in the south. Also, one of the “popular” designers she referenced is a former in law of mine, not a designer by any means. So I’m biased that way as all of her designs make me crazy for multiple reasons.

Someone on another thread posted a brag picture from his stretch ceiling business. The ceiling was very shiny and it looked odd in the space which was very modest.

That blog drives me crazy. Her tone is gossipy in a mean spirited way and that font is almost unreadable.

I've been noticing blue for a few years. Mostly because I have always liked it and it was often hard to find.

Since I've been reading mostly same magazines as her, I don't see anything she mentioned as "new". Wallpaper, high lacquer, you name it. It's been eight years since I started reading magazines and books- and that's been going on for the past eight years. Can be of course that I've noticed it more, because I liked it more, or something.

BTW I'd link to totally different rooms have I been doing a roundup. It's interesting. I didn't love the ones she linked to. I do remember Bailey McCarthy's house-I'd choose a different pic, for example.

I agree about high constrasts, black and white-i just don't see it as new. First of all it was always there because some things always are. I've been turning it over and over in my head since I've read a book actually, by Celerie Kemble-this one https://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Bit-Between-Collections/dp/0307715981

(I highly recommend all her books btw, she's a very talented author)-and it was printed in 2011. Say I read it a year after. 6 years since I started being more daring with the contrast (was a bit afraid of blacks before, Now I also go for touches rather than the whole shebang)

I don't see white as "fresh"-it's a great color as all of them are lol, but I spent many years in Mediterranean where white is a staple, an expected interior color(people do sometimes something else of course, it's just that most of the times all the walls will be white, rather than not)

She writes how brown comes back instead of gray-maybe, but I'm not big on this "color in color out" thing in general- I'm fine with having both lol..actually had a brown room and a gray room in our previous place. Don't see them as mutually excluding.

Same with "pink is out, lilac is in"

Happy to be ahead of a curve lol(did one of my walls-an opening-a dreaded mauve simply because I felt hard for it when trying samples-been couple years since we've painted)-but why pink should be out if lilac is in?

I have some darker, gloomier, brownish purples too.

Needless to say I have lots of purples in fabrics etc. And I love pinks too.

In short, all this color talk is very interesting, fact that I still read it-but is somehow irritating too.

About the ikat. I love ikat(as I love suzani and many other traditional patterns). That'd be the last ikat I'd choose though. Interesting, again.

What else? I think each time she refers to something as "modern" she actually means contemporary.

No, I'm not going to high lacquer anything, precisely for the reasons palimpsest mentioned.

I'd do wallpaper had it anything to do with my current house. I grew up with wallpaper(there, wallpaper is like white in Mediterranean. Most chances folks gonna have it. Well in big cities I mean)

Or a mural. If I had a wall for a mural. I know which mural btw. For years. And if I had a little money, lol.

I was going to wallpaper the hall bath. I thought will help me rectify the unloved tile situation. The wallpaper that I deemed appropriate for my purposes was 300$ per sq feet. Bye, wallpaper.

I know her blog, I just don't follow it. There are very few blogs I can actually follow. I found blogs too late-and I think most of them...how it goes, the saying?-jump the shark, at some point. They either know it very well and just stop blogging, and use different platforms, or continue jumping, so to say. With very few exceptions.

Cote de Texas is passionate though-not my type but I love passionate people, so I did enjoy reading her post. Thank you for sharing!

PS I just thought-I do share at least one thing common with Joni.,,the posts are really long. LOL.

April, your long posts are much more readable and enjoyable than Joni's :)

I enjoy that blog. I don't always agree with everything she says, but then there's not a blog or designer out there that I could totally agree with all the time. What Joni is really good at is research and finding quality sources and documentation. I do like her style, and she readily states that it's a Houston look that she is known for. But yeah, her blog takes a while to load. I thought this particular post was a pretty good history of where we've been and where we're going. Maybe not in all regions of the country, but I think she's right on for Texas and the south.

And April, your posts are usually observational, and when personal, self-deprecating. Hers are self congratulatory.

I've heard of her blog on here, but never looked until today, I don't follow blogs of any kind. I no longer subscribe to any shelter mags, seeing stuff I can never, ever afford is kinda depressing, so I have switched to cooking to get my creative ya-yas out, I get both Fine Cooking and Cook's Illustrated, somewhat redundant, yes, but different takes on the art.

(thank you d_gw and lakeaffect..you're too kind- as always, and I'm humbled as always, and as always, don't know what to say..as for self deprecating, I'll think about it.. There, I don't want to take much space...just had to say "thank you")

Also a lot of bloggers are just posting what they see at market, and the markets are pushing everything just to see if something sticks. I'm going to the Las Vegas furniture market in a couple weeks, and I'm betting it will be a lot of slick, lacquered up, art deco looks. And charcoal, nearly black charcoal with mauve.

Ah, that makes sense.

I really like the look in the right space.

My taste is pretty distant from Cote de Texas, that’s for sure, but I thought her observations were interesting.

Mine too. She says her taste is more "French". It's all a bit "too much" for me.

but we do have black windows, black hardware

I think it's safe to say that the black windows are a trend that's going to stay a while.

We have a room in that warm light brown color she says is going to supplant all the gray,

I've never been on board with the gray thing, but I lean decidedly towards warmer tones. I'm glad to see browns return as our prime "neutral". She also talks a good bit about black and white, which is a little stark for me.
I love the black and white exteriors she shows, but I live in the woods, and that white would be green in no time!

She says white is the new trendy color for exteriors. I don't think so -- I think white has ALWAYS been #1 (or at least #2), but then I'm from a rural area with loads of farmhouses, so that might color my opinion.

I don’t love that 18th century Ikat pattern, and doubt I will ever run across it in real life. Those rooms just don’t look livable to me— I would never be able to relax in one.

Yeah, that's what I meant when I said these designs are all "too much" for me.

I have never had wallpaper and never will. Too much like a tattoo— I fear I would regret the commitment too soon.

Wallpaper gets a bad rap. If you prime the wall behind it, you can de-wallpaper a whole room in half an hour; the problem comes in when people skip that important priming step.

Case in point: When I moved into this house, both bathrooms had (old, icky) wallpaper. I started in the master bath, and literally 15 minutes later the wallpaper was GONE. Unfortunately, the hall bath took three afternoons to rid of its wallpaper -- the wall behind it wasn't primed.

What do you think? Anyone going to lacquer their ceiling any time soon?

No, too cold a look for me; however, if you like it, it's not so difficult to change as some of the other trends mentioned in the article.

Actually lacquer is difficult to paint over.

My dining room has been chocolate brown for 7 years; I'll be on trend! I was at the salon yesterday and flipped though a shelter magazine, House Beautiful maybe, and saw an article highlighting chocolate brown paint colors. I had to check the date of the magazine, since I could hardly believe featuring brown in the current gray zeitgeist, but the issue was from December 2017. So there may be something to that.

I like Ikats generally, but not that one in particular. The curved furniture looks like an 80s redux (which I seem to remember someone on the boards anticipating, or spotting the early signs of in a post within the past year--Pal, maybe?). I didn't think blue and white had ever gone out, but of course that doesn't stop it from becoming trendy and being EVERYWHERE.

Joni is always a bit "too much" as is most interior design in the south - the wealthier parts of the south, filled with buckets of new money.

Black metal windows? I love them in the right place, but one must be very careful using them - they can be very cold and condensation can be a major problem. They're also prohibitavily expensive. What I don't like is everyone buying black vinyl windows for their quite ordinary houses. It's an awful look and one that will be very hard to change at some point. Yes, I DID paint the muntins in my kitchen bay window black. They're removable (think 1980's windows), and can be easily changed if I decide I don't like them, and they're black ONLY on the INSIDE. The outside is white like all my other windows. So far, I love the black as it disappears and I see my garden 6-8 months of the year, far more clearly - they just disappear and the green comes into my kitchen. But they are not permanent.

Glazed ceilings and walls? As someone has already posted, these are for very gifted professionals to do and cost the sun and the moon. They show every single defect so must be in perfect condition. I do use high gloss oil paint on the ceilings in my kitchen and bathrooms. They're new drywall and in good condition. It reflects light and is very easy to clean. But walls or in a LR? Not on my budget.

I love blue and white in a bedroom but with some other color added or it can be very, very cold. Many of the rooms shown are cold. And I love that famous Ikat fabric. It's very expensive but it's stunning. I would use it in the right place in a heartbeat.

When I look at these "trends", I picture how they end up being translated into low-end tract houses, some new, many older. And they don't translate well at all. It's the same with gray - it was never meant to be used for every single thing in an entire house, but that's what is being done and it's dreary beyond belief. Very high end rooms, filled with beautiful things, can go in lots of different directions, but very few people have anything remotely high end - it's mainly Ikea and Value City or Ashley Furniture. No stunning accessories, no fabulous rugs, no gorgeous lamps.

The one very good thing about the English Country house look of the 1980's was it could be translated down. There was a wonderful line of fabrics that were knock-offs of very expensive chintzes. They were sold at Steinmart and other by-the-bolt places and were gorgeous. I used these like crazy on decorating jobs and for a sofa in our Maine apt. They could be integrated with more expensive fabrics and hold their own. Unfortunately, the owners ended up going out of business (no one to take over the business). They did sell the rights to all their fabric patterns to Duralee and I hope that someday, they will reappear, albeit at a higher priceline. Sure, some of the downmarket uses got a bit cutesy, but all in all, the look translated down pretty successfully. One cannot say that for today's trends.

I don't think I can bear to see what some wallpaper company is going to come up with, that is sold at Home Depot, as "their version" of Gracie or de Gournay paper. It will be nauseating. Firstly, such papers can only be used well in grandly proportioned rooms. The scale is huge - they were designed for wonderful country manor houses in England or France. Second, the furniture must be 'worthy" of such paper. I have a huge bedroom - 22x22, but I also have 3 windows, a fireplace, and multiple doors to closets and the master bath - I don't have enough wall space to use such paper even if I could afford it (which I cannot!).

It's all very depressing.

There's French style, and then there's Houston French : ) .

I enjoy reading her blog (which I do with a blog RSS thingamajig, Inoreader, which makes it much easier), and other design blogs. I learn things even from rooms that aren't my style or that I don't like much.

The one thing I find remarkable is decorators and "style mavens" like Joni who completely change their house decor, and when they change everything it's also with a completely different look. I don't understand liking your furnishings one day and then next day everything is banished lol.

Not crazy about the Art Deco look in upholstery and I don't know how that will trickle down. I would love wallpaper and Pierre Frey fabrics but it's not in my budget -- that's why I like looking at pictures of others' pretty rooms!

I do appreciate a smooth ceiling (much to our drywaller's distress on our new house, the regional preference here is for a textured ceiling, which I can't stand) but lacquer seems a bit much, especially for more informal houses/homes.

Becky, I don't understand it either, except from a business point of view. Most designers consider their home their "showroom" for what they do. It if stays the same, then clients will think they are "dated" in their work. Personally, if I were a designer at that end of prominence, I would NEVER allow my own house to be photographed for the shelter magazines. Then it could stay the way I like it and I would not have to worry about "trends".

Suzanne Rhinestein has changed her house several times over the 30+ years I've known her. I like the first version the very best as it had lots of color and life. I don't dislike what she has done since, I just don't identify with it as much. At least, she keeps her furniture and accessories - it's only wall color, curtains and the coverings of the furniture that have changed. That's a VERY good thing and it shows clients that they need not get rid of everything in order to have a new look. She has done this with outstanding skill.

Many of the others get rid of it all and go in a totally different direction. That would be a designer I'd avoid like the plague!

On the other hand some designers have reiterated their designs in their own houses over and over. Same rooms essentially in different houses for decades.

pal, yes, this I know and like and understand!

Anglo, yes, this fickle changing up would be a business decision. It must be difficult and soul sucking, though, for those who are so passionate about design, to get rid of wholesale entire rooms and pieces that have brought such pleasure. I agree with you about avoiding shelter magazines for a personal home, but then I think that publicity for a job well done tends to win out, as does money. Sigh.

oooooh ahahah! OMG Imagine stumbling on this a year later at 11pm on a Saturday night. With friends like these. LOL

Its so weird to read what people really thing about you when they don't think you will ever see ir or read it.

Yes, I'm long winded. But I think if I"m going to put something out there that's going to be there until the Martians reach Earth - then I want it to be thorough and complete, but concise. Plus I don't blog alot. Once a week tops.

Oh well. I've gotten away from designing and talking more about current things and historical design. Hmmm. That makes NO sense.

Drop by - you might like it now.

J

ohhhh…..this just got interesting....

The choices cote de texas makes are very very traditional, in my eyes, people with big rooms, big budgets, aspirational decor, that’s all fine, we all come from different places, and there will probably always be a place for that, like the fine art classics, my grandparents were house stagers way back when, and they would probably have appreciated those looks, gilded furniture, draperies, custom wallpaper etc.

Its so weird to read what people really thing about you when they don't think you will ever see ir or read it.

I don't know about that -- this is a public forum and it's searchable : ) .

That said, welcome to the forum, Joni, and too bad you weren't here in the GardenWeb heyday. There used to be more discussions, especially with pal who's no longer here, about design and design history. A lot of longtime posters have left and newer posters now aren't all that interested in the whys or hows, they just want to know if they should paint the room grey, or want suggestions for pops of color after painting the room grey lol.

It takes a while to take the measure of the forum. A lot of members don't like the more layered looks, which I love. Check out chijim's posts in the Home Decorating archives to see some fun things.

Yes, I'm long winded. But I think if I"m going to put something out there that's going to be there until the Martians reach Earth - then I want it to be thorough and complete, but concise. Plus I don't blog alot. Once a week tops.

I love your long comprehensive posts, and especially enjoyed the one on Jenny Rose-Innes's houses and your most recent update post.

But I was sad to find recently that I can't get full posts in my blog reader anymore, because my laptop is slow and has trouble with posts loading at your website : ( .

I've gotten away from designing and talking more about current things and historical design.

I've always enjoyed the designing posts, especially with the before and after. Artie at Color Outside the Lines seems to be doing more of these -- you've taught him well!

I was glad this post popped up and horrified to see you had your feelings hurt. I like your exhaustive discussions. As aprilneverends said upthread, you are passionate and knowledgeable, which makes for great reading. Everyone here knows who you are- and that is a good thing :-) regardless.