This January will mark one year since I have been blogging about all my home decor projects. I thought it would be fun, and perhaps helpful to all of you newbies, to take a walk down home-decor-2009-memory-lane. Here is what you needed to do in 2009 to be cool, hip, cretaceous, swish, routh…. Yes, I looked up those last words on Urban Dictionary and might be completely misusing them. I’m just not cool enough to know what words are now cool. Okay, let’s get started.
1. Silhouettes This may have been a 2008 trend, but when I came onto the scene last December/January I saw them on every blog. If you wanted to be hip, you needed to have a shadow of your kiddos on the wall. If you could make your own and cut in some curly fake eyelashes, it really helped your blog appeal, not to mention your silhouette.
2. Apothecary Jars/Cloches We love these things, and I’m not sure we will ever tire of them. Fill them with shells, pasta, nests, acorns, pine cones, baubles, bunnies, birds, or all of the above. Just fill them up and take pictures, plenty of pictures. We love to see objects trapped in glass prisons. Love. it.
3. Birds Birdcages on walls, bird nests adorning everything, bird silhouettes on pillows, bird eggs stuffed here and there, and of course birdies somewhere on your blog header. Yep, in 2009 we loved birds the way we loved butterflies in 1996 and the way we loved dragonflies in 2000. This year was for the birds. Will we still love them 2010? We’ll see.
4. Chalkboard Paint What won’t we paint with chalkboard paint? Walls, furniture, mirrors, plaques, plates, platters, labels, headboards, and small children. Well, maybe not small children, but the rest were fair game this year. We love to write in chalk on everything!
5. Vinyl What we don’t write in chalk…we put in vinyl. I put my first vinyl quote on the wall back in 2001, and nearly ten years later I’m still “putting it in vinyl”. I’m guessing this trend will end very soon, so if you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet you better jump now.
6. Typography Have a large expanse of wall that you are unsure how to decorate? We love numbers, and letters, and words. If you’ve run out of chalkboard paint and are fresh out of vinyl, try throwing a bunch of wooden letters on your wall. The beauty is that they don’t even have to spell anything! Just put a bunch of them up there and watch us go crazy. If you really want to impress us, spell out “laundry” by your laundry room, or better yet spell it out in French. We love French. If you can spell it out in vintage French we will love you all the more.
7. Moss If you’re really struggling with coming up with a blog post, might I recommend covering something in moss? Just grab a household object, some moss, and a glue gun and moss-it-up. In 2009, we loved moss covered balls, rocks, wreaths, cones, bunnies, letters, etc. If you can somehow make those moss covered items into topiaries, then all the better.
8. Twine See number 7 and replace the word “moss” with “twine” and add lampshades, bottles, starfish, Christmas ornaments, and a myriad of other objects to the list. Our 2009 mantra: If you run out of moss, cover it in twine. You can’t lose.
9. Drop cloths and Burlap We are obsessed with cheap, natural looking materials. If you can find creative ways to cover your world in these two fabrics, we will love you. Chairs, pin-boards, tables, sofas, pillows, windows, Christmas trees, and end tables were draped in canvas and burlap in ’09. I even draped myself in the stuff for Halloween. Uh, I don’t recommend doing that.
10. Mercury glass I think we’re in for many more mercury glass posts this year because it’s still very hot and hasn’t run it’s course yet. If you’re just starting out in decorating, I suggest combining some mercury glass candlesticks with some burlap, birds, crowns, (birds wearing crowns are even better), typography, twine, and something from nature like a shell or a pine cone. Perhaps a moss covered shell of a pine cone labeled with a little chalkboard label that says “pine cone”? Ooooo. That is the recipe for success right there :).
11. Spray paint Almost all the world’s problems can be solved with Rustoleum’s spray paint in black or heirloom white. It’s true. If you are feeling blue, grab an ugly piece of furniture from your home and spray paint it black or white. The clouds will part, the sun will shine, and you will be smiling once again. Granted you might just be hallucinating from the spray paint fumes, but either way you are bound to feel better and most importantly your home is bound to look better. 2009 was all about the black and heirloom white paint!
12. Goodwill If you wanted to spread some good will and cheer to your fellow (wo)man this year, you did it by showing off your cheap, thrifty buys. Rubbing in your great finds is accepted, encouraged, and expected across the blogosphere. My goodness we even had weekly parties celebrating our thrifty purchases! This is something I hope will never go out of style, and I am confident we will see more of this in ’10. Transforming ugly into chic isn’t trendy, it’s smart…and I for one love it!
What am I missing? What trends did you enjoy this year? Which ones have you had enough of? What do you think 2010 holds for us? Talk to me ;).
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My baby was born at the end of 2008, so 2009 is pretty much a blur. I wouldn't have known a home trend if the burlap slapped me upside the head. Glad you filled me in! Perhaps I'll be alert enough in 2010 to get with it. I have a "new" house to decorate! 🙂
This was hilarious! Under "typography", how about all the specific words we all use: Dream, Bliss, etc.! It really is funny when you think about it, how we all do the same thing! However, it's so much fun to see everyone's individual creative touch on the same idea! If you do start a list of Christmas trends, you've got to list GLITTER!!! Patti
This made me chuckle. 🙂
This post cracked me up!!
"glass prisons" – so true
I foresee a massive decline in bird paraphinalia though – Twitter fatigue.
Maybe ladybugs?
Can't wait to see what trends I will admire from afar happen next. Though, now that my boys are older (looks like mine are similar in age with yours 3 and 7 – so that really shouldn't be an excuse 🙂 maybe I will find the time to join the fun.
Girl, I think you've got them all! Now what are we gonna come up with in 2010?
right on, including all of the follow comments! I am so glad I joined Blogspot in 2009— here's to a creative 2010!
Thank you!
You have my nomination for post of the year! I just sent it to my husband. Last week I sent him out for cans of heirloom white, so hopefully he will laugh.
This was really very interesting. I enjoyed it.
Stopped by from SITS to say hi.
Stopping by to welcome you to SITS. It's a great place to make new friends, find new ideas, and just plain have fun.
Welcome aboard.
What a great 'hot' list! Thanks for taking the time to post this – It's almost like I want to print it out and store it away in a time capsule of some sort! Happy New Year!
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Girl! I have no idea what this New Year will bring, but I am ready to find out!
Don't forget the oil rubbed bronze spray paint!!
Have a Wonderful New Year!
Lou Cinda
My M.O. is to be at least one year behind in the trends because then they've become passe to the masses and the prices go down.
How about those feed bag pillows with the French whosie whatsis on 'em?
You did this perfectly! I love your list and wonder what we will be viewlng this coming year. I am surprised how quickly these ideas spread all over the blogs.
As I looked at your list I find that I too, have used almost all of these in my re-do's this past year.
Thanks for sharing.
Charla
What a great post! I'm so behind on blogging trends, I apprecieate the review! I'm looking forward to what the new year will bring! God bless you in the new year! ~Lisa
He! Beth you are right on target with this post! I had never even heard of burlap used in decorating before blogging along with all the other things you mentioned here.
Moss huh? Does that mean I need to buy a glue gun? Shame on me for not owning one already. Oops!
Happy New Year! ~Melissa 🙂
PS Ohhhh my love of monograms. Sigh.
Beth, I am cracking up over here! In 1997 I got a butterfly tattoo, does that mean I should have gotten a bird tattoo in 2009? darn, I missed that trend, lol! Excellent post, very entertaining!
Beth, I am cracking up over here! In 1997 I got a butterfly tattoo, does that mean I should have gotten a bird tattoo in 2009? darn, I missed that trend, lol! Excellent post, very entertaining!
LOL! This post is SO GOOD! I had lots of fun reading it. You did an excellent job. I'm impressed. Good work on this. 🙂 I'm very curious to see what 2010 will hold for trends.
Ha, funny stuff and so true. Are we all a bunch of copy-cats, just regurgitating what we see on eachother's blogs? I guess we all read the same magazines and we're all cheap. 🙂 I can make THAT out of moss, a glue gun and twine? I'm doing it today and blogging about it tonight!
Love this list!!! 🙂
Great recap! I'm pretty sure I loved just about everything you mentioned. 🙂
Happy New Year!
Roeshel
This was so good, I'm adding it to my Tumblr file! You're in there a couple of times. 🙂
Beth, that's a pretty well thought out list & I think you nailed it very well. LOL I think I did just about every one of them except the silhouettes & believe it or not, I don't have a lot of apothecary jars around my house. ANd I haven't trimmed anything in twine yet. But, the rest of them…guilty as charged! Now, we'll have to think of something original to start in 2010. I really don't like to be like everyone else. 🙂
Ohhhh you forgot about the book page wreaths. And the ornament wreaths. But then again this taps into Christmas.. hmmm… list chapter #2 coming soon? LOL!!
I have to just laugh. Everyone asks why I have numbers on stuff.
"Does that mean something to you?"
"Yep. I likem!"
I cannot believe how one can live without numbers. I think more people simply need 'blogs.'
😀
Donna
Really funny, and oh so true !!
I love the list. I laughed but know I love the trends.
you made me laugh out loud! great list……even if it's no longer hip in 2010 i will always adore monograms and birds. to me they are classic!
xo
that is the best and funniest list ever!! esp the butterflies and dragonflies bit!
Great recap of 2009!
xo,
cristin
Hilarious…using something with mercury glass and birds and crowns and and and….!!! Reminds me of this guy who said he was writing a book called 'The Purpose-Driven Shack of Jabez'…sure to be a best-seller.
We all liked beadboard in real or wallpaper form, and the board and batten wall treatment….tassels…and lots of white. At least in the 5 months or so I've been blogging 🙂
And we never tire of makeovers!
Wow! You really have a good list there! I'd add hand painted signs. Not sure if this is an old/new trend, but there's quite a few of them out there in blog-land 🙂
Distressing! Yes, how could I forget our love of freshly repainting something and then making it look old and beat-up once again! I have loved all the trends this year too. I just love to not take any of it too seriously :).
I am alternating between jaw dropping and laughing…otherwise I'd help!!
Seriously funny post!!
xoxo
Janie
All of it is so true! I would also add cloches and distressing all of our hand-painted furniture. You know, with sanding, stain, and some glaze. I have to say, I have really loved the trends this year!
Kathy, yes monograms! The UPS guy came to my door the other day and looked at the monogram on my porch pillow, to the monogram on my wreath, to the monogram on my rug and said, "Uh…you guys like the letter "H", huh?" I smiled and told him it was the letter of the day. He must not have children (or watched Sesame Street as a child) because he just blinked at me. I was amused though so that's all that matters :).
And yes, we all LOVE the dollar store and I hope to see more transformations from that glorious place in '10.
It might fall under typography, but monograms have just been all over the place! I just fell for them this year myself. Along with Good Will, I would say the dollar store. How many posts have we seen with creativity flowing that changed a simple, unassuming dollar store find into something beautiful.