How Far We’ve Come

Hello my fancy friends, thank you so much for tuning in today. It's been a wild week for so many of us, on so many levels, and I think it's important that we all take a little collective time together to just relax, and reflect on what has happened this year so far in Interior Design. In the world of interior design trends can emerge seemingly overnight and disappear as soon as you've changed your entire apartment. So it can be really helpful to look at what's going on right now and gleam any information we can on what's new, what's everywhere, and what's awesome. So today we're going to look at some of the most prevalent design moves for home interiors of 2022 thus far. We aren't quite halfway through the year, but we have gone through a considerable portion of it. So it's a great time to reflect, review, and potentially reassess. Or feel 100% OK with things exactly as they are. 

But first, let's talk about the color of the week. This week we had a total lunar eclipse, the first of the year, and depending on your busy schedule and where in the world you were you may or may not have seen it. I personally missed it but I got some really cute pictures of it from my mother-in-law and boy, that red glowing moon was breathtaking. There is a reason it is called the blood moon. You can capture the energetics drama with Sherwin-Williams paint SW6621 Emotional. The perfect name for the past three weeks. It's punchy red orange is a great way to add some impact to a piece of furniture that needs a little love. It looks exceptional on bookshelves and credenzas. Use the night sky to develop a full color scheme around it. Bring in black, white, gold, and tons of ox blood and even deep mauve to complete the eclipse affect.

Okay, so here I am with my coffee, and I wanted to look at trends from this year so far, 2022, that have been published in a few different magazines. We are looking at Interior Design Magazine - the Spring 2022 Homes addition; and Dwell Magazine this is the May/June 2022 issue. Interior Design Magazine is mostly marketed towards professional interior designers and those of us who work in the construction world. That being said, it is still available to anyone who wants to read it. I picked up my copy at my local Barnes & Noble, and you can always check out their website as well interiordesign.net. This is such an incredible resource for finished projects, materials, and furniture. Every issue has a little bit of a focus on the facility type, whether it's offices or hotels or healthcare. This issue is specifically for homes, and since most of us have homes we want to design and adorn, I wanted to share this specific issue with you. 

The magazine always starts with a note from the editor-in-chief, our favorite interior design industry darling, Cindy Allen. Cindy is a glorious person. I had a really positive experience with Cindy, in 2008, when we were in the middle of the housing crisis, there was an all-day event for the many interior designers who had been laid off from our jobs due to the fact that the construction world had basically come to a halt. We heard from a personal finance expert, a resume guru, and they gave us lunch. It was lovely, I think Mohawk carpet sponsored it. Cindy showed up to personally review everyone's portfolios. There were so many of us there that she wasn't able to get to everyone in time, and those of us that didn't push our way through to the front of the line, were given appointments for a later date and invited to her office. It was unreal to get one on one feedback from the editor-in-chief of the primary magazine in our industry.  I showed up to my appointment a few weeks later, and Cindy was so kind and complementary and also gave me a few really great pointers. Mostly, she just made me feel really confident about the work I had done and the quality of my portfolio.  That was a big moment for me because I had been laid off from my first job out of college and I was questioning my place in the industry, I wasn’t sure I even belonged here. I felt so seen by Cindy and so welcomed. I have to say, it’s unusual to meet someone in a position that holds so much power who is still able to exude so much kindness and so much of their time. I think she's an incredibly kind and joyful person, which the world needs more of in general.

Jumping in to the magazine, there are a series of completed renovations and newly built houses that are featured in multi-page spreads. Most of these spaces, I have to say, are pretty minimal in their design work. We are looking at a lot of white painted walls, white ceilings, maybe some light wood or a gray accent here and there. Definitely minimalism and hyper depigmented color schemes are everywhere right now - in this magazine, on social media, it’s a big thing.

There are a few really interesting color blocking moments happening -  an all periwinkle bedroom,  a fully sage green office, but these are happening within the context of an otherwise hyper minimal home. This is always disappointing to me, I’ve talked about the challenges of minimalism before on this podcast.  At this point, this look is so overdone and while it can be great to celebrate the structural systems of homes - white painted beams on the ceiling and simple black window frames, it's really easy to essentially under-do it.  A lot of these spaces feel like they are getting ready to be put on a real estate website, they’re so plain. It hurts my heart. With publications like this, we're looking for exemplary projects. This is meant to be inspirational and I feel a little underwhelmed. 

Thankfully, towards the middle of this magazine, we pull a full 180, where we've got really interesting color palettes, sculptural stairs, and extensively curated art collections.  We have different shades of rust orange, a millennial pink stair, bright yellow walls, and an emerald teal sofa. The color palette is coming in through the furniture and the lighting fixtures, mostly. This is not a bad thing, in fact for many of us it's the reality of life. If you're a renter, there are limitations on what can be changed in the shell of your space, but you can always bring in an exciting dining room table.

One thing I have been seeing a ton of everywhere all of the time from vintage markets to Target is Rattan. This distinctly 70s look has been off the table as an option for years, but now, maybe just the last three years it has had a full-blown resurgence. It's showing up everywhere from sofas to coffee tables to lounge tables to dining room tables. Basically anything can be made out of rattan. There's an actual rattan living room set in this issue of the magazine, with a matching sofa, ottoman, and lounge chair. You know I can’t stand room sets, and despite it being cloaked in rattan, it is still not approved by me. 

We're seeing lots of curved elements, whereas five, or even three years ago, everything was super rectilinear and straight. Now every project has arched doorways, rounded kitchen islands, even rounded corners on kitchen cabinetry, which is actually really interesting.   Along with that, we're seeing circular staircases making a huge come back with in the last five years. I feel like I haven't seen a circular staircase my entire career until literally five years ago and now they're everywhere. They can be a little bit tricky in terms of making them safe, but they're obviously very sculptural and beautiful. 

Another common theme for furniture is that pieces are looking very chunky these days. We've got sofas where the upholstery goes all the way to the floor without a base or legs. There are marble and wood coffee tables that look like giant drums. The drum base is definitely showing up everywhere, I remember when drum bases were verboten. There are wood consoles with chunky zigzag Art Deco bases. 

These chunky sofas and lounge chairs are almost always channel tufted right now, and if you aren’t familiar with that term, check out the Bla Station Bob sofa. This is one variation and it’s certainly a statement, I like this look a lot but I also feel like it’s starting to get over used. These are not the most comfortable sofas in the world, and it’s a very glam move, so if glamour is not part of your personal style, you can skip this look.

I see so much about dopamine dressing in fashion media, but I don't see a lot of people talk about it for interiors. This is simply referring to selecting items to wear or surround ourselves with that make us happy - but it’s developed a specific look that is bright, pastel, pattern-forward, and very playful. There is one project in this Interior Design Magazine issue that I think is embodying dopamine design and that is on page 85, for those of you following along at home. There is a dedicated two page full-bleed image of a dining room that has navy blue painted wall paneling about four feet high and then a gorgeous, highly graphic, Memphis inspired, very early 90’s feeling wallpaper starts just above the chair rail and wraps up on to the ceiling. The colors are aqua, bright pink, black and white, lavender, and orange with a little bit of yellow. The center dining table is a natural oak wood, surrounded by coordinating wood chairs. There's a beautiful sage green credenza over on the side with some really textural white table lamps. This is balanced on the opposite side of the room by a high column pedestal that is being used as a plant stand. There are also some really cute wall globe sconces. The room has all of the structure of a very traditional dining room with the wall paneling and windows that are sectioned off into intricate diamond shaped panes of glass. There's a modest crown molding around the top of the room, and the planning of the dining room itself is very traditional, with a six person table topped by a chandelier. The colors are so vibrant and so playful, it helps to make the space feel unexpected, exuberant, and interesting. Take the wallpaper away and you've got a pretty vanilla room. 

And for those of you who may be intimidated by patterned wallpaper, the good news is what you choose to do on your wall surface is actually fairly easy to change out. So if you do end up getting tired of the pattern you chose, which can happen to even the subtlest of prints or colors, it's pretty easy to remove the paper and add something new like a coat of paint. But this room is the type of space that will leave an impression on everyone who enters - love it or hate it.  The rest of this project is really great too. There's lots of pattern mixing, some really interesting lighting fixture choices, and an eclectic selection of furniture. 

Let's check out Dwell Magazine now, which has a totally different audience. This is meant for DIYer’s, home owners, and design lovers, primarily. There is more chunky furniture, no surprise there and so much tambouring. Even if you don’t know tambouring by name, you have definitely seen it before. I mentioned it in the episode “To Be Real,” and  it's everywhere right now, and I'm obsessed with it personally. But, I'm a little bit worried that it's over saturated in the market and might be on its way out. But in case you haven't seen it, tambouring is made up of wooden dowel rods - so those are cylindrical wood pieces that are usually about an inch thick and around 48 inches long. The dowel rods are cut lengthwise, so you have two half Moon shaped dowel rods. Those dowel rods are then laid out equidistantly and adhered to a paper backing. Then the backing is adhered to a wall or piece of cabinetry or millwork. 

Tambouring was really popular in the 70’s, and the product itself is very bendable because every instance that there's a space in between the lined up dowel rods, you can bend the paper. So if you have a round column, or a round kitchen island, tambouring is a great material for it. It can also be used in fine woodworking as a sliding door. So sometimes you'll see old mid-century credenza's that have a sliding tambour door that rolls up as it opens. This is also really common for built-in bread boxes in older kitchens, if you've ever seen those. 

But now this material is being basically adhered to everything whether it's curved or straight; whether it's run vertically (like it's meant to be) or sometimes you see it installed horizontally (which looks really out of place to me.) But it is everywhere, and I think one of the reasons it is so popular is because it is wood, it's fairly inexpensive, considering how much texture and interest it brings to your home, and it's still very sleek. But it may have reached its peak in popularity. Time will tell. 

So getting back to Dwell magazine, there's definitely a lot of little articles that are just for fun.  There’s a Parisian apartment and a designer's guide to shopping Asheville, North Carolina. We see a little bit more color blocking in here, there is a great color blocked staircase - the stairs and the walls around it are all navy blue. But then they have this really great spread of different kinds of outdoor chairs and they organize them by type. So there’s a whole double page spread on Adirondack chairs; then one on foldable lawn chairs, another on metal bistro chairs, plastic outdoor chairs, and Acapulco chairs - which kind a look like woven Papasan chairs. 

Then we get into the various featured projects, and one thing Dwell does that is really nice is they include a floor plan of the home which I love to see. If you've never looked at a floor plan it can be really helpful to study ones that are in magazines like this. It takes practice to translate a 3-D, real-time view of a home like we see in photographs to a two dimensional drafted drawing like a floor plan. There’s a really beautiful image of a circular staircase with an adorable calico cat modeling next to it. It's a small image though I wish it was bigger because it seems like a very cool focal point. There is a dining room with the chandelier that was also in Interior Design magazine, at least a similar one was the ago circus chandelier, which looks like the horseshoe marshmallows from a box of Lucky charms we're all enlarged and glued to a light fixture and then spray paint at the same color. It's cute but I don't think it's going to have a timeless feel to it. Especially because I'm seeing it used in otherwise very minimal spaces. I think it's sticks out unless you've got that kind of 90s maximalist, geometric, curvilinear vibe. There isn't quite as much chunky furniture in the issue of dwell it's a lot more commonly seen classic silhouettes and shapes and I'm curious if it's because that trend is not going to work for the average home and apartment dweller, or if it just hasn't trickle down to consumer level yet.

There’s a lot of focus on gardens, plants, and homes from around the world with great views. This does seem a little bit more focused on travel and the whole lifestyle experience and less on true design moves and things that you can implement into your space today. And I think that's okay, it's okay to dream, but I do worry this isn't helpful for the average person with a home whose trying to make little upgrades everywhere they can.  

So if you're interested in updating your space, giving it a little refresh for the summer, you're in luck. Because it's all about adding easy focal points through furniture and lighting which is also more affordable than a full gut renovation. Think about bringing in chunky furniture - solid, heavy pieces. Contrast that with more playful globe shaped and geometric lighting and look to the 1970’s for trends like rattan, tambouring, and channel tufted sofas;  and the 1990’s s for playful and bright patterning. And if none of those trends speak to you, fear not because there will be another wave for you to choose from in a few months. Please be so good to yourself and I will talk to you in the next episode.