It’s Come Back For Round Two, And We’re Not Surprised
Have you looked around the stores lately and thought “wow, I remember seeing some of these trends in the 70s!” Or maybe you’re wondering why so many people on Facebook & Instagram are proclaiming their love for the color mustard yellow suddenly. Decor, like fashion, goes in cycles. For the last one hundred years we’ve gone back and forth between very organic and inorganic fashions. From the hard angles of Art Deco vs the curves of Art Nouveau, and black and white of the Jet Age to the earthy tones of the 70s. The cycle repeats over and over, and after a year of white kitchens and living rooms, people are CRAVING color and texture. This week we’re taking a look at some of the decor trends from the 70s that have come back, and ones we hope stay firmly in the past.
Things That Have Come Back
These are the things that have come back that we're actually really excited to see again.
Retro Colors
After last year being All White everything we are so excited to see color this vibrant and Rich back in our lives! Yes, a lot of these colors are earthy tones, but that doesn't mean you can't have them bright and welcoming. If you don't want to have the whole room dominated by hunter green, don't! Use that for the accent colors. Paint just one wall. Paint the molding and trim around the room. Or do like we've done for ages: keep the room a neutral shade and just use pillows, throws, and similar objects to bring in the colors you want.
Macrame
Did you learn how to make friendship bracelets as a kid? Macrame is the same thing. Lots and lots of knots. The great thing is that you can use it to add texture, and have it match colors already in your home, or use it to bring in entirely new colors. It can also be used to make all sorts of things, from clothes to furniture.
Velvet
Soft and luxurious, velvet is back! Couches, pillows, chairs and curtains, we love seeing velvet around the home. Velvet is all about giving yourself somewhere soft to rest at the end of the day.
Animal Prints
Animal prints have always been fashionable, but during the 70s you saw them everywhere and mixed together in all ways possible. This time around, don’t be afraid to mix and max prints with different patterns or colors than what you might have seen in the past. And you can even get them cruelty free!
Fringe and Shag Rugs
Continuing on with the idea of comfort, imagine a thick, rich carpet under your bare feet. You sink into it, and it’s cloudlike underfoot. Shag rugs never really went out of style, so much as they were relegated to teens rooms. Now, we’re realizing just how comfy they are in the rest of the home. Fringes just add to the benefit of having a rug by adding texture to a room and extending the space of a rug further.
Hanging Chairs
Remember when we said you could make your own furniture out of macrame? This is part of what we meant. While it’s not the only way to get a hanging chair, it is certainly a fun one. Hanging chairs give a room a sense of playfulness and motion that most furniture doesn’t have, and we love it. We’re happy to see hanging chairs making their way back inside the home, no longer relegated solely to the front porch.
All the Rattan
Rattan, much like macrame, gives a room a very airy look. In the 70s it was explored as an alternative in color and cost to the heavier, darker woods of the previous eras. Made of willow or cane, even with a very dense weave, it has a very light feeling to it. You can use it for anything from shelving to chairs, tables to headboards. There are also a wide array of patterns that rattan can be worked into to give different looks.
Terrazzo
Ahh terrazzo, what can we say about this strange material? It’s a composite mixture, made of chips of marble, glass, or quartz, when you want the sparkle, but not necessarily the cost. Less garish than metal fleck paint, and far more affordable for home decor. It can be bright and colorful, mixing many materials together, or you might have it in monotones. While it used to be that you would only see it as countertops and flooring, now it’s being used for all sorts of things again.
Wallpaper
Big bold wallpapers are back, graphic patterns that capture the attention. This time though, we advise only doing one wall, and ensuring that you frame it with molding that matches the rest of the room. This way the wallpaper holds sway in the room, but it won’t dominate the way wallpaper did in the past.
Things That We Hope Won’t Come Back
That brings us to the trends we hope we don’t see come back. We admit, this is only our opinions on the matter, but we hope you’ll be able to see our reasoning.
Fake Wood Paneling
Just. No. Out of all of the options for how to decorate your walls, please don’t do this. Not only does it make a room look dark and heavy, but the wood grain is an insult against proper design. This type of decoration only belongs on the front of an Atari console, not on the walls. We highly suggest shiplap instead.
Floating Stairs
This one we dislike primarily as a safety measure. Even with the best of intentions and care, we’ve seen many people fall off these stairs, and no one wants that.
Floral Sofas
While we love the graphic patterns of our wallpapers, and even florals, there’s something to be said about floral sofas from the 70s. They were huge and overdone, no matter what you did about them. And let’s not even go into the colors of the fabrics themselves.
Colonial Furniture
Remember how we talked about wood paneling making a room seem too dark? Colonial furniture didn’t help. This heavy, turned wood was a staple in many homes, but it never seemed to quite fit in.
Fondue Pots
Especially in a Post-Covid society. Need we say more?
Those are the things we’re excited to see again and a few we hope don’t make their way back. What about you? Do you agree with some that we don’t? Do you have tips for how to use some of the ones we showcased? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page, as always, we love to hear from you!
If, on the other hand, you’re here to talk shop because your oven has popped, we can still help!
Reach out to us via our website or phone ((214) 599-0055) and we can figure it out. Wherever you live in Garland or the surrounding area, we are here to help.