Have We Gone Too Far With Decorating Trends?

In our first home, the 1950s ranch I share with my husband and our dog, I’ve painted stripes on the powder bath walls, hung botanical-print Roman shades in the kitchen, and covered our bed with chintz linens in a shade of British racing green that makes me downright giddy. There’s a real chance you’d dislike every bit of it.

As a home editor at Southern Living, it’s my job to keep up with the comings and goings of the design world—which paint colors are soaring in popularity, which textures and silhouettes are on the decline. It’s also my job to share these trends and industry insights with our readers. If you keep up with us online, you’ll know we publish all kinds of trend stories on our website: 8 Things That Make Your Dining Room Look Dated, According To Designers; These Are The Dining Room Trends Designers Are Excited For In 2025, to call out a couple.

Every time we share these, undoubtedly one reader—or seventeen—will chime in with something like, “It’s my house, and I’ll do it my way.” Heard.

With all that’s happening in the world, should we really be fretting over whether or not the shade of velvet on our dining room chairs is up to designer snuff? Should we strip down a wallpaper that’s fallen out of vogue only to put it up again in nine years, the next time pros tell us that said pattern has swung back into style? Of course not. 

Frankly, even if I wished to flirt with every trend that fluttered across my desk, I couldn’t afford to. The sofa my husband and I bought off the floor at a staging showroom two years ago may not be covered in the caramel-colored bouclé designers are recommending, but it sure as heck isn’t going anywhere. We had to cut a hole in the wall to get it inside of our house in the first place. Getting rid of it isn’t an option.

Decorating is personal because your home is personal, and every trend needn’t be embraced by everybody. I don’t want to live in a world where all brick exteriors are painted white and all living rooms are wrapped in grasscloth! I want to walk into houses that feel like the people who live there—with family photos crammed onto the mantel and chairs rescued from great-aunts’ basements and dinks in the paint where children accidentally ran into the walls with toys and tennis rackets.

Design trend stories are fun. They’re a way to stay current, to see what industry leaders are doing to push the envelope and challenge convention. They’re not meant to be the Ten Commandments. So next time such an article floats across your screen, consider this: Trend stories are an invitation to learn something new and unlock inspiration—or to confirm that you’re entirely happy with your home as is. Take what you like, leave the rest.

But do keep commenting, won’t you, please? It’s good for engagement.