I skipped last year's parade, I think I was living in Colorado at the time, so I was pretty excited to see what the trend was this year.
The overwhelming trend, bisque. Almost every home was painted bisque. Almost no white rooms anywhere and the few that I saw looked really unfinished. The bisque was complimented by similar toned golds and oranges, greens and yellows. A few homes chose a muted blue as an accent color and it looked fantastic, really refreshing and new.
The homes featured a lot built in an arts and crafts style, which is my personal favorite so that was nice to see. But my parade companion, my mom, pointed out that most of them seemed dark inside and she loves tons of natural light. I prefer an overcast day. We did see a saltbox style home, which was unusual. There were also less of the McMansion style homes, which is always a good thing.
Furnishings, a ton of leather couches and chairs. And many of them featured large decorative rivets. Several of the couches were rounded, not like a semicircle but they had an arch to them. I'm not sure I liked that too much.
Floors. Hardwood or fascimilies there of. The planks were wider than the really thin ones that used to be the norm. There was some carpeting, it was bland and generally a bisque color. When people wanted to add floor excitement they'd toss a rug on top of the carpet.
Window treatments. Well here is a strange trend I didn't see coming. Instead of the traditional long curtain rod with drapes hanging they were using small rods, about a foot or two long, and hanging their drapes from the shortented rods. These drapes generally only covered the sides of windows or wall between a bank of windows. It was unusual and at first the short rods look unpleasing but my eye adjusted and I found that I did like it in a few cases. But would I do it in my condo? No, I need functional window treatments as I have neighbors nearby and need my privacy. My mom on the other hand lives in the country and her sunroom faces a wooded creek and has the problem of several windows separated by 1 foot pieces of wall. This is the perfect solution to her dilemma.
My overall impression of the parade was that muted earth tones were the way to go and incorporating earth elements seemed big. Lots of water features, wood floors, wood accent pieces, leather furniture, leaf motifs. It seems like the earth is taking over decorating. Except in children's rooms which are getting wilder and crazier every year. But both those things appeal to me, so I loved the parade.
The overwhelming trend, bisque. Almost every home was painted bisque. Almost no white rooms anywhere and the few that I saw looked really unfinished. The bisque was complimented by similar toned golds and oranges, greens and yellows. A few homes chose a muted blue as an accent color and it looked fantastic, really refreshing and new.
The homes featured a lot built in an arts and crafts style, which is my personal favorite so that was nice to see. But my parade companion, my mom, pointed out that most of them seemed dark inside and she loves tons of natural light. I prefer an overcast day. We did see a saltbox style home, which was unusual. There were also less of the McMansion style homes, which is always a good thing.
Furnishings, a ton of leather couches and chairs. And many of them featured large decorative rivets. Several of the couches were rounded, not like a semicircle but they had an arch to them. I'm not sure I liked that too much.
Floors. Hardwood or fascimilies there of. The planks were wider than the really thin ones that used to be the norm. There was some carpeting, it was bland and generally a bisque color. When people wanted to add floor excitement they'd toss a rug on top of the carpet.
Window treatments. Well here is a strange trend I didn't see coming. Instead of the traditional long curtain rod with drapes hanging they were using small rods, about a foot or two long, and hanging their drapes from the shortented rods. These drapes generally only covered the sides of windows or wall between a bank of windows. It was unusual and at first the short rods look unpleasing but my eye adjusted and I found that I did like it in a few cases. But would I do it in my condo? No, I need functional window treatments as I have neighbors nearby and need my privacy. My mom on the other hand lives in the country and her sunroom faces a wooded creek and has the problem of several windows separated by 1 foot pieces of wall. This is the perfect solution to her dilemma.
My overall impression of the parade was that muted earth tones were the way to go and incorporating earth elements seemed big. Lots of water features, wood floors, wood accent pieces, leather furniture, leaf motifs. It seems like the earth is taking over decorating. Except in children's rooms which are getting wilder and crazier every year. But both those things appeal to me, so I loved the parade.