The first thing that comes to mind is the country style decor from the 80's with all the hearts, tulips, ducks, cows, rabbits, etc. Glad I escaped it!

Tuscan. Never participated in that and very thankful now!

Glad I didn't do a gray and white kitchen. No offense to people with gray and white kitchens. Also glad I didn't paint all my rooms gray.

And I didn't buy one of those marshmallowy sofas with the recliners and bult-in cup holders.

Hanging wallpaper in almost EVERY room in my house in the 80s. Never again.

I'm so glad that I didn't go with lifeless grays. Love my cozy and warm cream based palette. Also thankful that I don't have open shelves in the kitchen, which I find unattractive and unsanitary.

I was just thinking about this the other day. I'm glad I couldn't afford to do decorating or remodeling to have boxed myself in to any of the trends. I think the most outdated thing I'm stuck with right now is my gold walls.

Shiplap!!!

Taking all of that stuff down and filling/painting the holes in the dining room wall would have been a nightmare.

I sold the house instead. LOL.

(Ok, I didn't just sell it to avoid taking the shiplap down, but it was sure a nice added bonus...)

I try to never follow trends, BTW I have all gray walls for the last 14 yrs and still love them and I do'nt think they are cold IMO the people living in the house make a house feel warm and welcoming. I think you do what you love and damn the trends .

The best was not listening to everyone saying " this is what everyone is doing these days" .

I put sheet vinyl on my kitchen floor ( don't like tile ) . 15 years now and it looks the same as day 1. Its comfortable and warm and easy to care for. I will do it again!

I am also glad I didn't paint everything white. Actually I went the opposite - there is nothing white in my house - I even painted the ceilings a different color.

I do regret not going with my gut on my kitchen layout. I got too wrapped up in what it looked like from outside the tiny kitchen area in the corner of a larger room, that I overlooked the function. It's not bad but it could have been better...

I am so thoroughly stuck in 1955, it's funny. Danish/MCM comes and goes, but it's never really out of style. Thank goodness.

@Fran Gil I think I bought that house! Wallpaper everywhere and put directly on the wall board. Ugh.

@chloebud Ugh indeed. What do they sell at craft fairs now that all the country decor is over?

@jjam So glad I could never perfect faux painting or Tuscan would have been my jam.

@Sueb20 Unfortunately those sofas live on. For people with short legs like me, they are sooooo uncomfortable.

@sunshine_31 With a handle filled with sunshine, I agree, no grays. I do love a gray and pink fabric print though...

@always1stepbehind Thank goodness yellows and golds don't look good on me or I'd have tried it on the walls too.

@User Never understood shiplap. Doesn't it get really dusty?

@Patricia Colwell Consulting Hard to not be influenced by what is hot, but that's where not having much money helps. So glad my personal taste evolved at the same time my budget did.

@Debbi Washburn How crazy, sheet vinyl is hot now. All the good stuff eventually comes back around.

Thanks all!

If your impression of craft shows is that country is the predominant theme, you are going to the wrong kind of craft shows!!

Trends make decision-making and shopping extreeeeemely difficult because contractors and wholesale/retail suppliers are limited to what is manufactred.

@hu-996389822 LOL, That's what I was trying to ask. Back in the day, when country was the trend, that's all you saw at craft fairs. What do crafters do now? Haven't been to one in a while.

"Hanging wallpaper in almost EVERY room in my house in the 80s. Never again."

Our house had wallpaper in every room when we bought it. LOTS of florals and plaid prints with "coordinated" puffy balloon valances on most windows. Ugh. We had a crew come in and remove all the wallpaper. I took the valances down. Luckily the windows have plantation shutters that look much better on their own.

What I am glad I did do was read decorating magazines, from Architectural Digest to Better Homes and Gardens and anything else the library had that looked interesting to me.Learned a lot about styles and terms... I moved a lot too which gave me the opportunity to "correct" what i didn't like....ie the shag carpeting from the seventies.

Regrets - I was 20 when hubby and I bought our first house. Instead of trusting myself I played it safe. Everything was beige. Beige walls, beige couch, beige recliners. It felt like we lived in a sandbox. To this day I dislike beige and don't use it.

Glad I didn't do - Follow trends.

I never did geese or weird country stuff either. That was horrid, even then. I did a little of that Tuscan, but not full-on. We went to Europe and I was inspired by some of the medieval architecture. So, I liked the old world stuff without the fussy Rocco look. Thank goodness. I also needed to update bathrooms, but all I was finding was tan and brown travertine. I hated it. I waited until I found something else. Cement tiles gave me an old world product that was worlds away from brown travertine! What I regret was when we built the house and we went to choose our finishes and everything was colorless. Wood cabinets, hardware, etc, blah. We found sheet vinyl for the floors and it had a little mauve in it. (it was years ago 😏) I took that mauve inspiration right up to the laminate countertops, haha! Of course teal was the obvious accent color. 🤣 OMG, what were we thinking? I still love teal, but oh that particular era was really unfortunate.

The way many feel about grey I feel about tan, creams and beige. I am glad i never fell into that trend. I prefer cool neutrals to warm ones i guess.

I go to juried craft shows where prices can go into the thousands and are plentiful in the hundreds. wood and ceramics and original watercolors and oils and if there’s country, it’s reclaimed wood and the like. look for those craft shows.

sunshine_31 - Would love to know about or see some of your colors. That's what I would like to have on my walls. Trying to steer away from anything gray unless it is a soft blue gray. From roarah comment, it is clear that some people lean more toward grays, while others lean tan, creams, and beige. Nothing wrong with that. Go with what makes you happy and feel comfortable!

I regret anything country that I may have put up, but have never liked hearts. I REALLY regret wallpapering even though it is coming back in. I may do one small room in my new home. I regret having so many florals in furnishings, and they are coming back in!

The thing with trends is interesting. Past trends (country, southwest pinks and turquoise, Tuscan, Harvest Gold and Avocado Green...all the ones that so many just turn their noses up at today) were once popular because some (many) people LOVED the look at the time. I remember magazines filled with beautiful Tuscan kitchens that the owners and designers were extremely proud to display, and readers probably drooled over them; otherwise, they would not have become so ubiquitous.

People today act 'horrified' at seeing these same elements, and talk about how THEIR kitchen (or home) is "clean," with "clean lines" and "classic style," with their white cabinets, paint, and counters, or their gray everywhere: certainly these elements are a trend that is likely, at some point, to draw similar criticism from others in the future. (Remember: those who remodeled 20-50 years ago thought their choices were timeless and lovely, too). Of course, already there is the trend to add rustic woods to warm things up, and there will be many other design choices that depart from the trends, thus becoming new trends, all in the effort to personalize a space.

Over the years we have inherited several traditional custom wood pieces that I love (2 desks, a baby grand piano, a Contessa chair, a secretary, and several original paintings, both abstract and representational). We have worked with those, added Persian rugs, and more transitional upholstered pieces. My style was always traditional...I subscribed to and kept years and years worth of Traditional Home, Architectural Digest, and Veranda (perused often but finally tossed in 2020). To me, of course, these choices are "classic," as none of the furniture or decor could be considered "trendy," but my home is comfortable, colorful, and I am surrounded by many fine things. When we remodeled our kitchen/FR 12 years ago, I chose cream perimeter cabinets with a stained island, an amazing and unique reddish brown granite that has a lot of interest, but is not "busy" (just looks like a solid color from a distance). I have a very neutral smooth travertine subway backsplash, which is probably the most trendy thing in my kitchen, but I still love it. For the first 11 years, the kitchen/FR was painted a sage green, and we had some window treatments that were a bold print; last year we "updated" the paint and window treatments for a more transitional feel (very soft blue/green/gray (BM Wickham Gray), matching window treatments, new sofa in light blue/green/gray). It feels brand new again!

Longwinded point: if you do what you love, you will love what you have. If you love country or Tuscan or MCM, and select items that mean something to you, then you will smile when you see them in your room. And your taste may (probably will) change to some degree over time. No apologies needed for those who followed earlier trends, or today's, or those that will come in the future: if it pleases YOUR eye and YOUR heart, then it is okay with me, whether I like it or not!

I’m so glad I didn’t do the all gray everything trend. I hated it when it first started because I was in nursing school and it strongly reminded me of all the pysch wards I was rotating in. No gray for me ever! My new house was completely gray when we moved in and the first thing we did was get the cabinets painted creamy white, and them all the common areas a nice cheerful pale yellow cream. I want a light filled surrounding! I still have gray in our bedroom, which is ok, but I can’t wait to repaint our kitchen something more cheerful!

I always had a "form follows function" approach to my home decorating, also basic aesthetics and design principles to please the eye, but also a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach. The things I have inherited from my homes that I most dislike:

1. Paneling. (which was the shiplap of the late 60s and 70s and early 80s). While there is nothing wrong with it, and the real wood stuff can be lovely in small doses, a little bit goes a long way . . .

2. Trim painted colors other than something neutral. I don't know if that was a trend, but at my first house every bedroom and the upstairs bathroom had a different and loud color of trim, which meant either spend a lot of time repainting it (due to needing a primer coat to cover it) or be stuck with either a gauche color or one that had gone out of fashion (mauve and teal anyone?). Some of the rooms with a lot of windows had a lot of trim. Ugh.

3. I didn't do this, but my friends had to deal with a mirrored wall in their 1860s farmhouse when they bought it. Glued to the walls of the dining room. Totally out of character for the house and a pain to take off.

4. Wall to wall carpeting in every room of the house. I loathe mine but it's going to take a while before I can get it all gone. Even if you love carpeting, it will have to be redone every ten years or so. I'm not saying it's a totally bad idea, but should be done with replacement in mind. Carpet squares are the more environmental choice.

5. Decks with no view. If you don't have something to overlook from the deck, then a patio or porch is just as nice and doesn't create something hot that needs constant maintenance which you will rarely use.

6. Fussing with ceilings, either dropping them with ugly tiles, popcorn, etc. Unless you have some huge heating or cooling issue or acoustical problem, keep the ceiling simple. Other surfaces collect dirt and are difficult to clean. I don't like elaborate ceiling fans for the same reason. Simpler ones are easier to clean.

7. Chandeliers. Nothing wrong with them, but some styles you will tire of quickly. A classic simple style is less likely to bug you over time. I personally don't want to always be replacing light fixtures . . .

8. Painting wood furniture loud colors. Can you tell I'm not a fan of re-painting things. I painted a lovely wood dresser wild psychedelic colors for my 70s youth bedroom and regretted it all my adult life once the colors became childish and passe. Something more subtle might hold up better, but bold accents best left to art and fabrics and small pieces, IMHO . . . folks who go with the bold painted stuff can afford to get rid of it and get new once they tire of it. Not me. Otherwise, buy yourself a paint sprayer and painting booth . . .

9. Molded shower enclosures. Especially ones installed over lovely, perfectly cleanable and stain resistant porcelain or ceramic tile. If your tile looks tatty, regrout or redo, don't cover with some type of plastic or acrylic material that will not hold up over time to the ravages of the chemicals in your water . . .

I have lived in mostly antique houses and am sympathetic to the house thus we've never really been "trendy". We did paint our kitchen cabinets white but that was back in the early 90s before that became a trend and 10 years later we changed them to cream uppers and green lowers because it seemed to fit our 20s house better than white. Most of our "knick knacks" are things we've picked up here and there in antique shops and thus are not trendy either and thus we don't change our decor with every fad. We've had the same dark green walls in our living room for 31 years and I still like it as much as I did when we paitned it . . . some years we're in and some years we're not -- LOL! And yes, an old house calls for Wallpaper and we have 4 rooms papered. Bedrooms seem to call for wallpaper as do dining rooms I think! But they're all classic wallpaper rather than trendy and look as good and fit as good now as when we ptu it up.

I like trends mostly but now keep them to things easily replaced, like all the glass mosaic tables and hurricanes I bought, these days I'm into charcuterie boards, easy to store when it's over but I remember removing all those wallpaper borders, and they were beautiful botanical designs that were wildly complimented but when a trend is over, it's dead and buried.

Great thread and I’m enjoying reading all these comments!

Trends I’m happy to have avoided: granite countertops with “cherry” cabinets in the kitchen; overstuffed suites of furniture in the living room; sponge painting; faux plants as decor.

Some people may not agree, but listen to your house, your rooms. The house will tell you what it wants to be, not what you want it to be. As much as you love country farmhouse a tutor home will never be a country farmhouse. It is what it is and trying to change it will muddle it into a mess .

@nhb22 I'm pondering wallpapering a guest bathroom. The previous owner textured the walls, ugh, so I need to do something to it. Maybe a bold new floral? We'll see.

@Cecily Grace zone6 LOL, about the gray. Speaking of nursing, that's the reason my mother never (thankfully) let me wear white stocking. Said they looked like a nurse who just finished her shift.

@I pinkmountain Oh no! You're describing some of the things I did to my houses. Yikes! apologizes to the people I sold to. 😯

@User Having had an antique house myself, I was so busy fixing things all the time, I couldn't follow any trends. A blessing in disguise.

@Bumblebeez SC Zone 7 charcuterie boards - I like your thinking! Oh yes, those borders. I had a beautiful hand screened Jacobean print that I absolutely loved but was super expensive so I put it in a tiny half bath. Found a scrap of it in a drawer during pandemic purge. Still love it.

@Sarah Oh yeah, cherry cabinets and olive loaf granite. So glad couldn't afford it.

Sarah I was going to say sponge painting too lol! Not necessarily a bad look, but the aforementioned bedrooms in my first home were done poorly in ugly colors by the teens of the previous owner. One room was smurf blue, so it looked like a smurf blew up in there. With red shag carpet no less! The other room we called the "mudroom" because of the wall color . . . None of that was "trendy" but to the taste of the teens, and I already mentioned the horror of my teen bedroom.

My dear mother tried to keep it under control, but I had bright pink zinnia wallpaper and purple shag carpet. And bright white painted furniture with psychedelic trim elements in orange, pink, lime green, bright blue and purple . . . It was the bomb! Sock it to ya! But, as a cautionary tale, I would say try and keep teen room design elements to those easily replaced. It took two coats of paint before my splatter painted walls looked flat with color.

I would not be able to function in my former bedroom, but I kind of wax nostalgic for my little brother's wallpaper with the small print of astronauts and rocket ships against a white background. That was less of a moment for regret, although not necessarily something an adult would like, unless they were terribly sentimental. He acquiesced to just one accent wall . . . I think after my room, my wallpapering parents were burned out!!

I’m happy I didn’t cave to all out southwestern. 25 years ago I left it to wall color and some textiles. Something told me furniture wasn’t going to cut it long term.

We bought our first house in 1985 because we liked the neighborhood. It was a 1969 4 level split with fuzz and foil orange and gold wallpaper in the foyer, long shag carpeting - orange, green, or gold depending on the room, mustard yellow refrigerator, patterned carpet in the kitchen, shag carpet in the master bath, and shutters over the lower level windows that looked like the bottom of amber coke bottles. We spent waaaaay to much money getting rid of all of it!

Ah, flocked wallpaper!! I like it, but it is not for everyone, that's for sure. Shag carpeting seems luxurious when first installed, but it doesn't wear well. A cute shag area rug can at least be taken up and somehow cleaned, depending on the material . . . I'm not a fan of carpet in kitchens, bathrooms, entry ways and even dining rooms. I have no idea why everyone got on the wall to wall carpeting kick in the 70s but it didn't end for a good long while, and it will take a good long while to recover. I will say too, that vinyl flooring may wear longer, but it looses some of its luster too, over time. Easier to replace a tiled type of flooring, even wood floors can be spot repaired if you're lucky.

• Sponge painting both my kids’ bedrooms multiple times when they were little, not to mention all the wallpaper borders! I’d be happy never to see a wallpaper border again! Also I sponge painted my powder bath this awful burgundy color. It looked like blood splatter. I don’t know how my husband put up with me 😂
• Themes. I went through a southwestern phase in the 90’s, everything was painted various shades of terracotta and I had all those kokopellis everywhere lol. Then came Tuscan and don’t forget about Palm Beach! Remember those palm tree pillows from Bed, Bath and Beyond that were everywhere! Although now I’m going through a Restoration Hardware phase so I guess it never ends haha. Atleast I’m way more neutral than I used to be.
• Faux plants. I had so, so many and everywhere. Ugh! Now I have a few real houseplants, I’m learning.