Okay hi good morning. At
least for me it's morning. Today I'm talking about something that's maybe
a little bit more controversial and that is trends I've seen on the internet
in interior design that are bad. I'm really not coming here to be like
mean or talk s*** on anyone or anything. I just think that these things I'm going to talk about are really common like I see them
all the time and they're just not good, and I think a lot of people realize they're
not good, but might not understand exactly why. So I want to give a designer's perspective
on what I think these trends are trying to accomplish and give a better more
creative solution for how to achieve that. Okay, so kicking it off the first
thing that I see all the time, that I still just can't stand,
is a painted accent wall. Whether that be just one
wall painted a solid color, or these sort of really saturated
geometric shapes that I see really often, or let us not forget the painted arch trend,
which was awful from the start in my opinion. Basically I just really think that if all you're
doing to a wall is painting it like there's not some sort of material change, it looks really
weird to just have two different paint colors meet without any sort of architectural definition,
so if it's just like two drywall gypsum walls and they meet in a corner and they're two
different colors, I think it just looks like pretty amateur pretty unsophisticated
and like it doesn't really make much sense. But that's not to say you shouldn't use more than
one paint color when you're designing a space, I do think multiple paint colors can look really
cool, even if they're really bright and saturated. But what's really important to think about is
the architecture of the space and what you're highlighting, so I don't think it looks good
when you paint just some random mural like this, but it does look really good when
you highlight architectural features. So if you look for maybe beams, or structural
columns, or a staircase, or a fireplace, or any sort of interesting architecture that you want
to sort of highlight and pull out in the space. So you don't want it to be just like
a random line or shape that you drew on a wall or even a corner of
two just plain walls meeting. I think this also goes for painting a ceiling
which is becoming really trendy instead of painting an accent wall, and again I think
if it's just a plain drywall ceiling and a plain drywall wall you need some sort
of architectural detailing. Even if it's really minimal, get a crown molding or
something to divide up those surfaces. I think another reason we saw that painted arch
trend or those really chaotic geometric murals is because people feel really intimidated
by a big white wall, which I totally get. But I think it looks so much better if you're trying to sort of fill a space
to get really large scale art. It just looks much more intentional and
interesting and like a thoughtfully curated space. So if that's what's motivating you to paint
your wall, I would consider finding a big piece of art instead I think this looks
so cool and makes the space feel really, like, filled out and really well designed. Of course, big art is hard to find
so I would recommend going to a flea market or a thrift store to get affordable art. If you're sort of like a DIY girly you
could even make something yourself, I've seen some really nice homemade art. Or another way to get really big art
is to buy like a big graphic print, print it out really large, and frame
it. I think that looks so cool. Okay the next thing on my list is
related and similar, but different, and that is those like wood slat walls that
you see on like every DIY influencers feed. I don't know if you know what I'm talking
about, it's like really thin wood slats and I feel like it's usually on a black painted
wall, and I really often see people doing this like going halfway behind a round mirror
or halfway behind a TV and I don't know. I feel like people are going in the right
direction with this by like bringing in a change of materiality and like trying to
think in like a sort of 3D architectural way, but it's just so overdone and really often done
wrong that I've really really grown to hate it. And I think the main reason is
similar to what I said about paint, that it needs to be working in harmony
with the architecture of the space. So the times that I've seen this and
thought it kind of works well is maybe like on a kitchen island, or around a
column, or something that's relating to the architecture of a space, not just
like a random rectangle on the wall. So if you like this look, I think
what would be way better to do is to use a different material that's a
little bit more classic and timeless, and make sure you use it with
the architecture of a space. So like maybe you could use some
cool wood paneling, or maybe tile, or something like that just something a
little bit more unique that has a little bit more depth and personality
to it because, I don't know, especially with the black paint it's just, it's
not the right vibe. It's close, but it's not it. Okay next on my list is really disappointing
that I even need to say this but it's your guys' fault because they're everywhere,
and that is plastic plants, faux plants, and especially those like plastic vines that
were behind everybody's tiktoks in 2020. It like blows my mind how popular these are how
it's still stuck around because these look awful. If you have these you need to
go throw them away. I'm sorry, I'm not going to like beat around the bush here. And in general, if you like the look of
plants, if you want like a tree or something, I don't think it's ever the time
or place to have a plastic plant. I know that a lot of people say they like
have become more realistic looking and they can kind of pass but in general
I just think it's a weird vibe. I think if you can't take care of a plant you
shouldn't have the look of a plant in your house, and it's weird, I don't know, to buy
something that's like plastic and faux, that's like bad for the environment,
instead of growing an actual plant. It just seems weird to me. And I think that there's so many interesting
and cool plants out there that all, you know, have different needs and are
easier or harder to take care of. And there's a lot of interesting sculptural plants that it's just so much better to do your
research, find the right plant for you, and then use that instead of going
for like a plastic tree from Amazon. Or especially those plastic vines,
please get rid of the plastic vines. If you don't know who Benji plant
is, which it's ridiculous that me with like two subscribers would be
recommending a huge YouTuber to you, but he knows so much about plants and
has so many interesting, cool plants. And I think if you really dive into that world
and like do the research and find the right plant for you in your space it's just going
to be so much cooler than like a fake plant. Also, special mention to synthetic
grass. Architects and designers, please stop putting this in your project.
It looks awful. Okay, none of that. Okay and the last irritating trend that I want
to talk about today is gallery walls around a TV. I don't know why everybody is so
obsessed with hiding their TV. I don't know when it became like the biggest sin in the world to have a TV in
your living room that you watch. I think there's nothing wrong with
just having a TV, mounting it, having a nice piece of furniture
under it, styling it, you know, getting a little lamp or a plant, some
books, I think that looks really nice. But so many people have it in their mind
that they need to like hide their TV and that this can be achieved by like
putting a bunch of art around it. Like I genuinely feel like I see
this everywhere on the internet. I feel like half of the people under the age of 40 chose to do this in their home or their
apartment, and it doesn't look good. And I'm not against a gallery wall, I think a
well curated, interesting gallery wall is really amazing but I think what needs to happen here is
the separation of the TV from the gallery wall. Like, I feel like way too often this
is done with art that's like too small, cheap looking, like not well curated. Like, every time I look at one of these
I can just see that the person was like, "oh I want to do a gallery wall around my TV", and like really quickly bought a bunch of
cheap art that they don't really care about. It doesn't really feel like a curated
collection in any way, and also if it did, I don't know why you would want to
put your TV in the middle of it. So if you love a gallery wall, by all means keep it but make sure it's
a nice well curated collection of art, and not a gallery while that sole function is
to, like, hide a TV because it's not working. I also feel like I need to
mention here the frame TV. I think the Samsung frame TV is really
nice because it's really clean looking and it hangs flush to the wall, but
it doesn't look like a piece of art. So when you put those like really ornate gold
frames around it, it gives such a weird vibe. I really don't think this is the
solution if you're like horrified of people finding out you have a
TV. So I think it's a great TV to buy but treating it like it's actually
art is a little silly in my opinion. I could genuinely go on for
like hours talking about this, but I guess I'll save some of these
design icks for future videos. So let me know what you think. I'm sorry if you have one of these in your
home, I needed to give the disclaimer earlier, but you can do whatever you want in
your home. This is just my opinion. But if you have one of these and you might be
feeling like it's a little off or a little dated and you want to update it, you know, we're
always trying to make our spaces better. So hopefully I gave you some ideas of what
you can do to upgrade and enhance your space, and yeah like I say in every video,
if you're interested in interiors and architecture and design in general,
make sure you subscribe and follow along because I'm going to be posting every week some
interesting conversations about design. And yeah, thanks for watching! love you, bye
