interior design – Designing Goldilocks

5 home-decor comebacks

The 90s are back. And the 80s. And maybe even the 70s.

Just like with clothes, the styles of home decor come and go. And 2020 is no exception to styles of years past.

And while these styles are throwbacks to various timeframes, the styles work well together or on their own.

Here are 5 home-decor styles that have made a comeback:

Rubber plants

Big-leaf trees whether real or fake are all the rage. And no matter your interior design, the rubber tree is the perfect decor piece to pump life into a room of inanimate objects.

And because they are vertical and dwell in the corners of the room, they take up hardly any space at all. And it’s hard to stop at just one tree. In fact, it’s hard to stop at just trees.

Faux plants are perfect for tabletops and shelves. They’re a great way to bring the outside in, and work well in apartments or homes with little to no outdoor space.

If you’re into hanging plants, the fern is the way to go, giving its spider-like stems a place to grow. They do well in just a pot. But if you really want a blast from the past, hang the fern from a macrame potsling.

Macrame

The popular textile made from linen, yarn and various other materials is a surprising comeback, and surprisingly works well in any decor.

The two most popular uses are wall art and pot hangers, and typically complement the simpler crafty do-it-yourself decor. But macrame also complements shabby chic and farmhouse styles.

Because the most common colors of the material are white and beige, the macrame blends into the space, instead showcasing the pattern of the wall art or, if a potsling, the plant it holds.

Southwest flavor

Area rugs are a home-decor staple these days. You can have tile, hardwood or carpet flooring, but the room will appear incomplete without an area rug.

And the rugs run the gamut in colors, patterns, textures and styles. It’s rather overwhelming to try to pick one. Stripes or solid colors are safe choices. But what blew me away when shopping for a rug recently was how many rugs have a Southwestern pattern.

You don’t have to live in Santa Fe or have an adobe home in the Southwest to grace your floors with one of these rugs. The Aztec pattern works especially well in the modern farmhouse, the minimalist industrial loft, and the high-end masculine penthouse.

Gold and brass

Just when everyone changed their fixtures and finishes to silver, here comes brass and gold again. That’s the thing about home decor. You can’t keep up.

Most of us cannot afford to decorate our entire house in one fell swoop. We take on one or two rooms at a time. And once we’re done with the last room in the house, if we even get that far, the first room is practically outdated.

The same goes for metals. From candle holders to light fixtures to pulls and knobs, gold and brass are adding sparkle where silver and nickel had removed it.

But there’s some good news: It’s okay to mix metals. This means you can have gold cabinet pulls and stainless steel appliances in the same kitchen. (See my blog post “Putting metals to the mettle,” March 23.)

If you’re in a position to have a cohesive metal, more power to you. But if you like the mix of gold and silver, it’s perfectly acceptable. In fact, the mix of metals in one room comes across as intentional.

Egg chair

Yes, you read that correctly. The egg chair is back.

If you want to make a statement with your furniture, consider the egg chair. Even though it has a very Copenhagen style and often found hanging on the front porch, they also work in a girl’s bedroom or in a feminine living room.

They are versatile in that they hang or come stationary. The chair frames vary from wood to black and complement any color palette with the throw pillows and blankets you choose to embellish them with.

I had resisted this comeback. During a trip to Sedona in 2018, the hotel had a hanging egg chair on the patio. While it seemed fun for a hotel, it wasn’t something I wanted to replicate at home.

But would you believe that the style has grown on me? Now I have my eye on a stationary $500 egg chair – yes I said $500 – that I haven’t been able to justify. But in my decor dreams, I see the egg chair as the focal point of a reading nook in my work-from-home space.

Too bad the price tag from years past didn’t return with this home-decor comeback.

The egg chair as seen on the patio of this Sedona hotel has made a comeback. Photo by Cindy Hernandez

DIY: A window valance

If you were to fast-forward 1o years into the future and research homes that were decorated solely from online purchases during the pandemic, you would see my house.

When I say I only shop online, I truly mean I only shop online.

I don’t remember the last time I stepped foot inside a store. It may have been Target earlier this year. And it was only because I needed a humidifier.

Before that, it was probably an At Home store last fall for bathroom accessories. And Macy’s in December, but that was for Christmas shopping.

I was slowly decorating the home and buying pieces as I gave myself permission to.

But when you’re in a pandemic and strongly encouraged to stay home, what do you do? You put the decorating plan into high gear.

And when you shop only online, you have to hope your vision for the space plays out well in real life.

I have been fortunate when shopping online at Target because I already know what the decor items look like. Besides, a faux plant is a faux plant is a faux plant. How wrong could it be?

But there are only so many fake ferns that one can buy before you have to face the fact that if you don’t want your style to grow weeds, you’re going to have to trust your judgment and take some chances.

Enter window treatments.

The house came with blinds as a standard feature, and they are perfectly fine on their own. But I always envisioned adding curtain panels to spruce up the window and add a touch of elegance to the rooms.

But a professional job would have meant booking an appointment for someone to come into the house to take measurements and install.

And as you may recall from my last blog post, I am not allowing strangers into my home for the foreseeable future. (See “Home repairs in the age of Covid,” August 3, 2020.)

So that meant shopping online for rods and curtains. Because neither John nor I had hung curtains before, we decided to start small: the window in the bar room.

John wanted a green valance to go with the Irish vibe in the room. So I searched. And searched. And searched some more. But the only green valances I could find were for kitchens or Dutch doors. Not exactly the look we wanted in a home bar.

Also, the bar room is adjacent to the living room. So whatever style we chose for the bar room would have to complement the living room.

Then finally, I happened upon a maroon valance at Target with a swag reminiscent of a herald’s banner, which ties into the pub vibe. The valance scrunches a bit too much for my liking, but it only came in one size.

The color wasn’t our first choice but the maroon works with the dark wood tones in the bar and mirror. And it complements the grey, black and white colors in the living room.

For the rod, I picked a simple matte black French pipe that matches the foot rest at the base of the bar. Of course you can’t see the curtain rod, but I know it’s there.

The rod and valance were delivered the following week. The rod came with an anchor, but the weight of it was light enough that we would only need the screws.

The next weekend, John set up the ladder and drill and got to hanging the rod. For those who are new here, John suffered three strokes almost three years ago that left his right hand almost useless.

So that meant drilling the screws into the wall and holding the rod with only his left hand, all while standing on a ladder. Did I mention he was right-handed before the stroke?

Because I tend to overly supervise in these situations, I was more useful to John siting around the corner while he did the installation himself. And can I tell you what a wonderful job he did?

The rod extends evenly across the window. The valance is straight. And the treatment provides the warm homey feeling we were hoping for.

With the window in the bar room done, it’ll soon be time for bigger DIY projects: curtain panels and rods for the large window in the living room and – gasp! – the sliders in the kitchen.

I’ve already started shopping online. But don’t tell John just yet. I don’t want to scare off my personal handyman.

How I picked an area rug

I did it.

I bought an area rug for the living room.

I went with a black and white striped rug to match the monochromatic theme running through the room.

If you recall, I was torn about which style and color to go with. (See “How do you pick an area rug?” May 28.)

I wanted a rug with a pattern and some color, but not so busy that it would draw the eye downward. I had always liked the black and white stripes, but had reservations about going with that pattern, thinking it would be too bland with all of the other black, white and grey in the space. But I decided to go with it after all.

The more I shopped for rugs online, the more overwhelmed I got. And the more rugs I saw, the more I started to change the vision I had for the room. When I noticed myself doing this, I would go back to the black and white striped rug I liked from the start.

Then I would close the laptop and think it over.

Do I want to go contemporary? Or do I want to stay with the Hollywood Regency style that’s underway?

Should I chase a new look or stick with the glitz and glam I started with?

What is my design plan for the space in the years to come? And what about the adjoining rooms? What do I envision for the dining room, kitchen, bar room and entryway?

Every time I answered these questions, I came back to the black and white striped SoHo rug from Rugs.com.

The other factor was that the rug came in 10-feet x 13-feet, the size I needed in order to extend far enough on both sides of the sofa to cover the traffic areas.

The rug also came in round options, which I absolutely loved. So for the entryway, I bought a matching round 5-foot x 5-foot rug to tie the two spaces together.

You rarely see round rugs. And even though the entryway is square-shaped, the round rug is unexpected and cuts the straight lines within the pattern.

The final deciding factor was some online advice that I received about choosing a rug. I was told to look at photos of rooms I want to re-create in my own home and then choose a rug that was used in those spaces.

Of course. That makes perfect sense.

And each time I researched Hollywood Regency spaces, I saw a lot of black and white in patterns that make a statement. And that’s exactly what I have in my new rugs.

The stripes did jump around after we rolled out the living room rug, almost playing tricks on our eyes. But after we moved the furniture back into place, the stripes became neutralized.

And because the living room is its own defined space, the rug does not impact the adjoining bar room, dining room and kitchen, allowing me to go in a different direction in those areas if I want to.

In the end, the black and white striped rug was the best choice.

So what is a design trifecta?

I’ll attempt to answer this question by asking another question:

When it comes to decorating your home, what do you want your furnishings to accomplish?

Let me break it down a little further.

If you need a new couch for your loft, what do you want that couch to do? Do you want it to provide seating? That would be function.

Do you want the couch to look pretty? That would be style.

Do you want a couch that you can relax on all weekend, melt into, maybe even take a nap on? That would be comfort.

Often times, furniture does one or two of these things. But when it does all three, well, that’s the design trifecta.

I’m a firm believer that furniture and home decor can encompass all three elements. It just takes a little more work – as in a little more shopping – to find the perfect pieces. It’s not always easy.

Have you ever been to a friend’s house for dinner and sat on the most uncomfortable dining chair? It may have looked fabulous in the space, but your backside paid for it the next day.

The chair had style and function but lacked comfort. Any maybe after the soup, it started to lack function too.

Or maybe you dated a guy in college that had the most comfortable recliner, but it was hideous to look at. Because it lacked style.

Small spaces beg for the design trifecta. They have to. There’s not a lot of room to waste. The design plan has to be smart all the way through – from the couch to the bed to the dining suite to the kitchen accessories.

Larger homes have more space to work with, but they also have more room for error.

The couch is too puny for the room. The dining table is the wrong shape for the space. The bar stools are too tall for the countertop. The cushions on the patio furniture are too thin. The living room doesn’t have a side table in reach to set down a beverage.

The list is seemingly endless.

And I’m not writing about this because I have design trifecta running through my house. No, but I am writing from the experience of failure.

I had limited space in my condo and had to be smart about the pieces I brought into it. And I chose wrong over and over again. In fact, in the 18 years of living there, I never conquered the space limitations.

I had a living room that had only one uninterrupted wall. The front door and a fireplace took up another side. A sliding glass door took up another side. The fourth side was open to the kitchen.

It was frustrating trying to create a functional living space that didn’t look cluttered. It was nearly impossible. No, not nearly impossible. IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE.

That’s when I realized I had to be smart about the furniture I chose. Each piece had an assignment: they had to provide function, style, and comfort. All at the same time.

Think of the Murphy bed.

You often see the Murphy bed in a room that has to do double duty, typically a guest bedroom and an office.

When guests are over, the bed comes down from the wall. When the guests are gone, the bed is lifted back up and the room is an office again. Cubbies and shelving on the underside of the bed add style and more function for the office. It’s genius.

It has to be genius because most of us cannot accomplish the trifecta on our own for every piece of furniture we bring into our homes. We either don’t think about it, or it’s too time-consuming, or we focus on comfort or style and forget about the other two elements.

John and I will soon be shopping for a couch for the loft, which is where I got my example above. A part of me is excited to bring a new piece of furniture into the house. The other part of me is nervous about picking the wrong piece for the reasons I’ve outlined in this blog.

We have a couch in mind that we saw at American Furniture Warehouse a year ago. The couch hits the design trifecta – function, style and comfort. But I wouldn’t be me if I still didn’t worry that it’ll fall short in some area once we bring it home.

The couch is also priced right, which actually makes it a design quadfecta. Oh, did I not mention the forth element of home decor?

This couch is in the running for the loft and hits the design trifecta of style, comfort and function. Photo by Cindy Hernandez

I get it from my Mama

Growing up, I remember our house always being clean. Decorated. Updated.

I remember going to the store with my Mom to buy a new piece of decor, or to just look around and see what new items had come in.

I remember my Mom rearranging the furniture in the house because it needed a refresh. She still does that today.

I think that is where I got my bug to decorate. To make sure my house is always presentable.

I remember my Mom hosting interior decorating parties at home. I remember going to other women’s houses and my Mom being able to call out which items were from interior decorating parties.

I remember items in the house not having a purpose; they were “just for looks.” And carrying that idea into my own spaces as an adult.

I remember the formal living rooms being for company and off-limits to the kids. I think that is why I still hold a soft spot in my heart for floorpans that have the formal living and dining rooms.

Formal. Does formal even exist in the design world anymore? Everything is cozy. Relaxed. And there is nothing wrong with that. But cozy and relaxed can still look nice. There is no reason for a house to not look beautiful at best or well put together at worst.

Today, my Mom shops at dollar stores. If she allows herself to splurge at Kohl’s, it’s always with a coupon. And not a holiday goes by that she doesn’t show up at my door with a table runner or matching spoon rest and bowl. It was my Mom who pointed out the Hayworth Collection at Pier 1 Imports that now outfits my living room and master bedroom.

For years, I just assumed this is what you do. You buy a house or condo or even rent an apartment, and you decorate it. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that a decorated home is not everyone’s reality.

So it must have been something that was ingrained in me at an early age. Or maybe it’s hereditary. Or maybe I just became accustomed to living in spaces that were organized and put together. But whatever it is, I got it from my Mama.