Catching Up

I've been playing catch-up with everything on my desk. My piles are a now a little more organized, so I feel less scattered.

I was reading one of my trade magazines (called Paint and Decorating Retailer - did you even think we'd have our own mag? Actually, there's also The Paint Dealer. Pretty damn exciting!)
and the focus of the issue this month is on faux painting trends.

Ack. I am sooooooo sick of faux. Blech.

I take that back. I do like decorative painting, murals and such - when appropriate. But all-over glazing is over! There was a counterpoint article from the wallcovering corner - and I do agree that wallpaper is seeing a comeback. This I am happy about.

However, the argument they used FOR wallpaper over faux was lame. I don't think it has to be an either/or proposition. Room for both texture and design on the walls.

I love some of the modern trends in wallcoverings. Funny, what goes around comes around. When I started selling wallpaper, brown was still very strong in the early 80's color palette. Here we are again - our front windows are all about browns.

Of course, mylars and the wet-look papers are gone for the most part. Good thing. And the country movement is b-l-a-n-d. Big trend with oversized graphic patterns in trendy colors. Mid-20/30 yr olds have definitely rediscovered pattern.

The modern look is less about trends from nature and more about graphic and iconic elements. It'll be interesting to see how well it ages. Although, I will say, one of my favorite design books is called The House Book, by Terence Conran - and it's all about the modern 70's!