Peter Miller
Top Trends for the New Year 2019
In a presentation he gave about his book, “A Place to Call Home,” Gill Schafer, of G.P. Schafer Architect, said, “Magazine editors always ask me: what’s new? What’s hot? This is a difficult question for a designer who practices classical architecture, which is timeless.”
When I heard him say this, I made a note to myself: “Don’t ask Gil, or any of my readers, this question.”
So, the following hot topics…the Top Trends for 2019, are not my personal picks, gathered from interviews with you. Instead, they are trends collected from other magazines and research sources who are still asking architects, designers, builders, suppliers, and consumers, “what’s hot?”
The first trends survey to inspire this blog came from Pinterest, the social media website which covers lifestyle, from men’s fashion to food, beauty to bathroom remodeling. Since a lot of our own consumer web traffic comes from social media, including Pinterest, I read with interest their 2019 Trends Report which is based on who searched what topics the most from January-September 2018. The introduction to Pinterest’s Top Trends Report breathlessly exclaims, “These are the shared dreams of the most style-inspired people across the globe.”
If 250,000 professionals, amateurs, and enthusiasts clicked on “an idea they love,” this style idea made the Pinterest Top Trends list WHEN there was a six months consecutive trajectory of growth from reader clicks. Trends for Health; Hobbies; Celebrations; Food; Beauty; Men’s Style, Women’s Style; Parenting and Home were tracked.
The Top Ten Trends for HOME décor are:
· Yellow paint (mustard)
· Geometric shapes in bright colors
· Indoor and outdoor fireplaces
· Tin ceilings and backsplash
· Vertical floor to ceiling gardens
· Textured fabric wallpaper
· Painted wood floors
· Natural pools
Pinterest’s Top Trends report appears to corroborate another trends source, the Home Improvement Research Institute, who’s research cites growth in D-I-Y remodeling and decorating by millennials. The HIRI’s trends report also proclaims: “Millennials spend 60 hours a week online. They get how-to instruction for D-I-Y home improvement from YouTube which logged a total 252,000 results for D-I-Y videos.” Since the average age house is 38 years old, remodeling activity will continue to grow, especially with D-I-Y millennials.
Yet another source, BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS spots these Top 10 Trends for 2019. The commentary on each trend, is mine:
· Remodeling for accessibility. People want to age in place. They can sell their 50-year accumulation of stuff on eBay.
· Mix and ‘mash’ interiors. Eclectic is vogue, especially when shopping at salvage yards.
· The connected home. Like voice technology which eavesdrops on you in the privacy of your own home.
· Stand-alone showers and tubs. The pedestal tub under the picture window, rarely ever used.
· Eco-friendly building materials. But not the phony ones because people are reading product- ingredient labels.
· Finished basements. Man-caves just keep on trending.
· Finished attics. Where teenagers can hide.
· Mid-range priced kitchen cabinets. To have money left over for granite counter tops.
· Open kitchens. Where the visible dirty dishes are Avant Garde art.
· Wood. Because rustic brings warmth, especially to modern minimalism.
Forbes magazine cites “Wellness” as an important new home-style trend. Whether, indoor air quality or interiors which sooth our senses and reduce stress, home designers are addressing client needs for better health, life-balance, and happiness.
Here’s wishing you wellness in the new year!
Peter H. Miller, Hon. AIA, is the publisher and President of TRADITIONAL BUILDING, PERIOD HOMES and the Traditional Building Conference Series, and podcast host for Building Tradition, Active Interest Media's business to business media platform. AIM also publishes OLD HOUSE JOURNAL; NEW OLD HOUSE; FINE HOMEBUILDING; ARTS and CRAFTS HOMES; TIMBER HOME LIVING; ARTISAN HOMES; FINE GARDENING and HORTICULTURE. The Home Group integrated media portfolio serves over 50 million architects, builders, craftspeople, interior designers, building owners, homeowners and home buyers.
Pete lives in a classic Sears house, a Craftsman-style Four Square built in 1924, which he has lovingly restored over a period of 30 years. Resting on a bluff near the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., just four miles from the White House, Pete’s home is part of the Palisades neighborhood, which used to be a summer retreat for the District’s over-heated denizens.
Before joining Active Interest Media (AIM), Pete co-founded Restore Media in 2000 which was sold to AIM in 2012. Before this, Pete spent 17 years at trade publishing giant Hanley Wood, where he helped launch the Remodeling Show, the first trade conference and exhibition aimed at the business needs and interests of professional remodeling contractors. He was also publisher of Hanley Wood’s Remodeling, Custom Home, and Kitchen and Bath Showroom magazines and was the creator of Remodeling’s Big 50 Conference (now called the Leadership Conference).
Pete participates actively with the American Institute of Architects’ Historic Resources Committee and also serves as President of the Washington Mid Atlantic Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. He is a long-time member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and an enthusiastic advocate for urbanism, the revitalization of historic neighborhoods and the benefits of sustainability, including the adaptive reuse of historic buildings.
