Latest Home Design Trends Reviewed by Dear Alice

0:04Alice Lane:This is what everybody's talking about right now, says the SEO searches. So we thought we would get on here and either lean in or debunk. I will say like the dividends that you get from sitting in a room that has been color drenched is like unlike anything. Whatever their routine is, if you can kind of like if that's going to be in your life, you know, for the foreseeable future, make sure that that's like thought of in the design. Hi, everyone. Welcome to Dear Alice. We are going to be talking about the design trends of 2025 so far. I know. These have come to us through different publishing opportunities.

0:42Alice Lane:We're keeping tabs on the shelter mags. And this is what everybody's talking about right now, says the SEO searches. So we thought we would get on here and either lean in or debunk what we don't think is real. yes um yeah so uh we've chosen a few of like the trending topics like Jess said from these major publications and yeah we're just gonna dive deep into them and either agree or disagree and maybe we'll disagree you know with each other who knows yeah arm wrestle exactly yeah yeah why I'm gonna stay here yes but first speaking of design you guys make sure that you're following us on Instagram.

1:20If you guys are new here, Dear Alice is not the name of our company. No, no.

1:26Alice Lane:Surprise. I feel like we have to say that. And none of us are named Alice, actually. No, I know. It's true. This is Jess. I'm Sue. This is Corey. Thank you. Yeah, so on Instagram, we're actually called Alice Lane, and we thought it'd be fun to name the podcast Dear Alice. So this is where you kind of write in questions, and we answer them here through different podcasts. So you can follow us on Instagram at Alice Lane Interiors or our store is Alice Lane Home where we're creating our own products and often featuring them here and sort of telling the backstories which is really fun and using those in projects too and we also have a free design service available as well as a paid design service where we do full service new builds and remodels that's the Alice Lane Interior side but through the home side Alice Lane Home we have a free service where we'll use all of our 200 vendors, as well as our own proprietary products that we're making.

2:20Alice Lane:And we have a free service called Home Furnishing Design. So we will learn who you are and work with you on those rooms for free, which is crazy. We have designers that all went to interior design school degrees. They're going to mock your rooms up in CAD. It's an amazing service. You guys need to know about it. I feel like it's one of the loopholes, the great loopholes in the world of interior design. So if you are interested in that, you can go to our Alistair home. And then there's a design services tab, right, Corey? Yep. So if you scroll down on that, there's a little form you can fill out.

2:52And then one of our designers will contact you.

2:55Alice Lane:Yeah. And they're always accepting new projects there. So and I think right now in ALID. Yes, we are accepting some new projects. We are in the year of installs, which is like the grand finale of all these big projects we've been working on for three, four, five years. and all these installs are landing at the same time. So we're opening up some availability for new projects still in the year 2025. So if you have a project, a new build, you have a plot of land or you just want to do a remodel of what you're currently sitting in, we can help you. Like ground up or anything, we got you and we'll do everything from architectural details to the furnishing and last layer.

3:33So yep, you can still go to design services and then you'll fill the ALID form out and we'll reach out to you for that project if you'd love to get into it. We'd love to have you.

3:44Alice Lane:Awesome. Thank you. Should we jump into it? Let's do it. Let's go. So today we have like six, yeah, trends that we're going to kind of go over. So the first one is pattern and paint drenching, which we've talked about quite a bit this year and I would say the last year in general. So thoughts on that? Agree? Disagree? Agree. Yeah. Agree. 100%. I agree, absolutely. I think treating an entire room as one is just something that feels fully designed and fully thought out. We're kind of done with that era where you're just painting everything white and you have black windows and you're throwing in really neutral, dry furniture.

4:26Alice Lane:Now we're seeing rooms that are covered in gloss, the ceilings as well as the trims, the windows. You're all in with it. And it's really fun. And we've got an image right now on screen. If you're watching on YouTube or Spotify, you'll see this room that we did in a Washington, D.C. project. There is a library completely coated in this beautiful glossy red. Even the sofa is in a red mohair. So it blends right in. And it just feels whole. Yeah. Like you had to pay attention to every detail because like it would stand out if you didn't because of that dark color branch. Right. And so when you do things neutral, you can kind of get away with not caring.

5:04Right. but doesn't look thoughtful, a color drench room or a pattern drench room, it has to be thought out. If you're going to layer patterns with patterns, it has to be thought out. If you're going to layer different tones with different tones and color block something, it has to be considered and thought out. Otherwise it looks like a terrible mess. But I will say like the dividends that you get from sitting in a room that has been color drenched is like unlike anything. Light looks different like what comes through the window looks different like all your assets that you're currently sitting with in your house if you throw color and saturation into a room you you just gain like 10 more like prisms of light i swear to you like by the way light reflects so um i think it's just it's the most powerful thing that you can do to a space to make it change um just you've you've at least you've released it your room your living room how does that feel like you had a neutral room still really thoughtfully designed it was grass grass cloth it was lovely and then you were in a mood to do this color drenching like it took a lot of thought it did but then like

6:10Alice Lane:how does it feel it was a total brain buster i just feel like we're designing different in 2025 yeah um we're i mean we were designing different even a year ago but you continue to see this in all the shelter mags it's color color color or pattern pattern pattern you're seeing the murals these Gracie wallpaper murals or DeGourney full full floor to ceiling so it's all in design and it's really making designers have to put on a different cap and think about things differently and I think as a designer if you're not then you're you're definitely on the clotting edge and we have to be on the cutting edge which is why I made myself take the physical challenge and really take my beautiful sophisticated neutral living room that I think anybody be really happy with by any stretch.

6:56Alice Lane:And I said, I'm painting all of it, floor to ceiling, the windows, the casings, all of it, high gloss. And I really, truly feel so much more in that room, not just because it's different, but because it's so much color. I didn't use a neutral and it's been invigorating. Like I feel like I had a facelift or something. I don't know. It's just so, so different. And I'm excited for people as they take on this challenge. You should at least do a room in your house and take this on whether it be your closet or your powder bath or your pantry something easy or go all in with a living room or a primary bedroom or something like that you're going to get so much payoff yeah yeah i will say when you were talking i'm like you can kind of ask yourself if you are like a pattern drenched person or a color drenched person and like what makes and like we've been doing a lot of these installs for these homes that we've been finishing that have both components ones that are more pattern on pattern ones that are more like color drench and then you have glossies and color blocking with other materials happening in the space and I will tell you like just my own opinion how I feel I love a color drench room I love it when it's solid I dress in color blocks more than pattern on pattern like like historically and that's something like I'm like realizing when I go from room to room to room I'm like there's something about just a full color drench that just like allows everything else to pop off the profiles of things the art the framing the you know the light it feels different when it's against a crisp edge of a solid color anyway it's a good question to ask yourself so in this trend I totally agree with you yeah because I won't wear a pattern I I've given away so many clothes in my closet that are patterns I have I just I feel like the clothes are wearing me yeah when I'm wearing a pattern and I can't even see myself at all in this piece and then I always end up taking it off and putting on a solid so I've learned that about myself I'm just I'm just more simple that way but the color block gives you that really fun contrast and play especially if you're using opposites on the color wheel yep which is so fun in my color drenched new room that's a dark teal I put a bright yellow chair in there and it feels so designer and it woke the whole scene up so I'm with you.

9:07Alice Lane:I do appreciate the pattern on pattern. It feels more traditional to me. And in my heart, I'm not a traditional girl. I love doing traditional work. I love knowing traditional people and I love being able to flex that muscle. But in my own home, I'm just a little bit more, um, I don't know. Um, just color block a little simpler. I still like really dressy, fancy things, but the pattern on pattern on pattern English style is just almost too much for my brain, for my own home. Cause I just wanted to be quiet. Cause I guess we've designed all day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of the next like, yeah.

9:41Kind of the next portion of this is, um, uh, what did you call it? Wood drenching? Wood drenching. Yeah. Yes. So this is still number one. It's just kind of in addition to the pattern and color. This is my kind of pattern. I mean, I don't get me wrong. I love Gracie. I love DeGourney. I love all of that. And like, it's incredible when you, and when you get really well designed mural, like hands down, It's an experience. And all these give you an experience. I will say that. Wood drenching, the picture that we have shown on the screen right now, is of our project, our Desert Oaks project that we just installed in Odessa, Texas.

10:14And there's this like large, I'm calling it a salon, because it's where you receive people. It's a little bit more formal. It's where you show art and other things. So it's like the entry salon. And at one point, we did the paneling details. We have these beautiful two columns separating this entry gallery from a living, or form a living room with a marble fireplace. At one point, it was proposed to paint the paneling white. And this concept, we just kept staring at these wood grains. I'm like, gosh, it would be so much more impressive if we're trying to tell this story of this historic spot of the house that everything was branched off of.

10:49It needs to be wood grain. And we finalized that decision. I think that that's when this house started to have a real pulse is when we decided that we needed to keep the grain in this room. and like this we've looked forward to this house for five years and everyone's like what's your what are you most excited to see and I'm like this room this is the this is the room I would want to sit in and I thought that like during the process and being in the house and like amazing spaces we have Gracie in the bedroom we have all sorts of things happening being in this room was just like otherworldly like you did not feel like you're in the year 2025 in the United States like it was insane it was so beautiful and just have everything branch off of these these tones and just that natural green was incredible so i'm like i am here for the wood drenching i love like 70s paneling i'm gonna tell you right now i think it's really fun i think and again it's the contrast of what sits in front of it whatever you put in front of that like looks incredible it's so good and everything becomes sculpture when you have that dark contrast of like wood tone on the wall we have like a cute little throwaway this like window seat with this yellow what it was supposed to be a neutral bench and then we changed it to this like yellowy marigold color with like this pink piping and it was so happy so again just like those color blocks that make you happy the reference other things in the foreground in the next room um i'm really excited for you guys to see this whole house it'll be a second until we get it professionally photographed but it's so good and And it makes you feel something.

12:18Alice Lane:You can see some sneak peeks on our Instagram. Usually on shooting projects, some of the shelter magazines like to wait a year before they're shot. So it really could be a full year before you see this in the portfolio and before we talk about it on here. But this is a sneak peek. These are just some cell phone images, those of you that are watching. So wood drenching, care for it. It's a thing, yeah. Yeah. Pattern drenching, you saw some of that in some of the images just after. This is the boys' and the girls' bedroom from that same home. We've got several layers of stripes happening on the bedding.

12:52Yep. We did this in a few of, like, their guest bedrooms and in the boys' bedroom where we have, like, dark grass cloth. We have green trim. We have, like, this axis that he, the trophy that he won. Anyway, all these things, like, the pattern on pattern is the story of an individual that, like, sleeps there. And, like, it just feels so, such a doll, I think a doll face move. I love it. um speaking of doll face this is one that we did this like little office for this gal here in utah county and we it was i don't even know if this is available anymore this kate spade

13:25Alice Lane:pattern but it's so project is probably like 15 or 14 years old it's an oldie but it's a good pattern on pattern this is you know the old decorator trick of the wallpaper being the same pattern as the fabric this was employed in this room i think it was a kate spade wallpaper and a fabric and the drapes match the wallpaper and it's just so fun it's so cute it's so good and this has been good for 14 or 15 years I would not change this today I wouldn't either and I love to I mean we use this again an heirloom rug a hand knotted rug that's also a pattern but it's the field of it's not white so I think when you're playing pattern on pattern you kind of have to do this of like your pattern scale and then your pattern field colors that those are contrasting it's not all the same field so anyway but look how rad that like the color block of the green velvet against the wallpaper.

14:16It's so good. So yes, we're here. We love pattern. We love wood. We love all things. Okay. The next, um, the next trend we're going to talk about is fast furniture is out. Art deco and heirloom quality pieces are in. I love this one because I feel like just to throw away furniture is a thing of the past and we want, you know, quality. I think, you know probably every one of these trends is is the pendulum shifting the other way right it's a reaction to what's just barely been happening and i think the whole throwaway furniture thing has just been around for too long and it's just about time that we like you know as a society reinvest in quality and um and thoughtfulness behind the pieces that are in our house you know yeah so obviously yes i agree no i know no surprise to anybody that we love fine furnishings like that's what we try and like create you know for our own products and that's what we specify for our clients because we don't want them you know calling us in years saying like my sofa collapsed anyway so we love finding furniture but there is something when you start to get into like the antique realm of just like getting something that was so well built that it's like lasted for decades and you get to like still live with it there's a soul to that yeah um i can think of all the projects like even the shot the photography shots where it's captured in antique i'm like man like i feel like the spirits of old are just like traipsing around and like that is magic the shot is magic because the furniture has magic or the accessory has magic that's like lived on for years and years and years so um we just actually we were um we're funny we're working on a home in boston beacon hill area and we went to new hampshire to go antique shopping in this last site visit and it was so much fun i bet i bet i bet there too like that side of the country just their antiques are insane new hampshire every day all day um but just the some of the pieces that we were able to rescue um that were like perfect for the house it'll be and i think it's the juxtaposition of those mixed with like newer pieces too i love that it's not like she got a full sofa for the family room at the antique store you know that's not going to be comfortable Those are, they were smaller then, but it's just like those case goods, like a chest.

16:32We got a really amazing dining table that was like just massive and huge and gorgeous. Even rugs. Yeah. I think like when we have, we love vintage rugs. Yeah. Whenever we have those animals, just like, man, imagine the people that have like walked on this just like, you know, from a hundred plus years ago, just that thought of it to me is just insane. Just, yeah. Cause I bet that those people then I'm always like, I, they probably never thought in their wildest dreams, you know, someone would have this in, you know, in Utah of all places, you know, a hundred plus years from, from then. So I just think that's cool.

17:07The story behind it is cool. And like you said, the vibe, like the feel of it, the spirits, I, yeah, whatever you believe in. Yeah. I think that's cool. I think they're ghosts and spirits and things like that. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Hanging out, adding to the spirit. I mean, on top of that, though, there's also a sustainability story with it, too. You know, like I whenever I'm throwing anything away, especially something like big that I paid a good amount of money for that's just going to sit somewhere in a landfill. Like it just it breaks my heart a little bit, you know, so that to me is important as well.

17:39And I'm glad, you know, we're kind of all shifting to kind of think that way as well, because I don't. You can't keep everything, that's for sure. but if you work towards buying things that are quality that are going to last you a long time that that um diminishes the amount that you will waste or throw away so i think that's important and you get to this point too i feel like i'm at this with like my house in its current like state of like the size that it's in like my consumption isn't as great there's not a lot that i'm consuming right now as far as just like getting additional things you know like just to like layer on top of because I'm really happy with like where it's sitting because it was done really well and occasionally I'll find something that I fall in love with and I'll just rotate things around but there's something really like lovely if you're continually thinking that you need to consume and get more and more and more and more and more something's just like not right and you should ask for help you know design help truly you know to see like how can I get my home to where I'm really I'm happy with it like the base layer is right there's only so many ways you can arrange a room where it's going to feel right so if you're consistently thinking like gosh like i'm never going to be happy with this place um you just need an expert eye or a fresh pair of eyes to help you see what like the good is in the room and what you need for the space so that you can like consume what you need and then just like let it sit because it's right you know yeah well said and we love a hunt i mean we love vintage shopping you love vintage shopping really It's a high.

19:05I'm here for it. Jess, you have an expert tip on how to sleep cool during these hot summer nights. Let's share it with the people.

19:12Alice Lane:I really do. Guys, it's the cozy earth sheets. I have to tell you, they regulate temperature. And by regulate temperature, I mean between me and my husband. We sleep very different. He's a much bigger person than I am. And he sleeps so hot. Even just touching his body is hot. So I got the sheets. And I have to tell you, he's sleeping through the night. And we're both comfortable. Also, they have this really pretty sheen to them, which I appreciate. Beautiful things, as you know. So I think they're gorgeous. The hand is amazing. And they just naturally wick away heat and moisture from your body, helping you sleep several degrees cooler.

19:48Alice Lane:And sleeping in a cooler environment helps offer scientifically supported benefits that enhance your sleep quality and your overall health. So I feel great about that. Guys, this is a risk-free purchase. Cozy Earth offers a 100-night sleep trial. So try them during the hottest nights of the year. If you're not in love, return them hassle-free. But trust me, you won't want to. Upgrade your summer. Go to CozyEarth.com and use code DEARALICE for up to 40 % off best-selling temperature-regulating sheets, apparel, and more. Trust me, you'll feel the difference at the very first night. Sleep cooler, lounge lighter, stay cozy.

20:26um okay the next uh point uh is that burlwood there's a burlwood renaissance so obviously yeah like sticking with with furniture but uh if you guys don't know what burlwood is um a burl in a wood is a deformed growth like on a trunk of a tree so it's uh as you can imagine those don't get huge uh so that's why it's expensive and it's rare and delicacy yeah exactly caviar of woods

20:55Alice Lane:Yes. Perfect. And so then they'll take that and then they'll like resaw it is what it's called to make really thin veneer with it. And so they can maximize the use of that burl. Cause you would never like chop that into like material that you build a structure out of that would obviously be insane. Yeah. So they resaw it really thin and make veneer out of it, which is also really cool. Cause then you can do fun things like book matching where it's where you take two pieces of that veneer that go together and put them together on the piece. It's adds another architectural element to the furniture.

21:28So yeah, I, again, I'm here for it. I think it's cool. Jess and I have like been working on some Burlwood stuff for probably a year and it should come out in the fall.

21:38Alice Lane:Really handsome. Is that what we're planning? Yeah. Yeah. Super, super handsome and just feels like an old train car or, you know, something from another world. And I get it because traditional has been trending. And so you get to see these stain grade woods coming about. We're going to start to see woods get darker in the home. We're going to be done with the blonde floors and you're going to start seeing like the walnut woods and whatnot coming into play. So if you're watching here on the screen, we have Suze's bathroom that she completed last year. Sue, tell them what we're looking at. This is a walnut burl veneer.

22:12This is my little vanity. And I told my cabinet maker that I wanted, I had a picture. I'm like, what kind of burl do you think this is? Because it's interesting when you're talking about just that deformed little pocket inside the trunk. Like that's in every type of wood, right? You have walnut, you have ash, you have like all these different species. And so it's interesting when you think of like walnut is a premium cut of wood. It's hard. It costs a lot. Like to probably get the caviar of walnut is probably going to be more expensive than the caviar of, you know, a lesser, a lesser species. So he said it was really hard to find.

22:45Yeah, I bet. Especially because this is like, it's a pretty intense burl that you have on it. And it's super cool. Because some of them will feel more flat. This one had like some like just pockets and things that he had to like do his like little magician trick to it.

22:59Alice Lane:I do feel like the topography of yours has a real texture to the face of it. It's not just flat. So whatever piece you got, you definitely, you just definitely paid a premium for that. Yeah. It's so stunning. Anyway, so again, it's not a big space, but I knew that I wanted a stain grade because I just wanted to fill figurine. And I'm like, and Burl is king. We've been in love with it for a really long time. And I'm like, I want a Burl cabinet. And there's just such a history to it also. And just, again, it's just such a special grain and it feels more exotic than just a straight grain. I think that that would have been the lame trick to pull.

23:34It needed to be brule. And so now, like, I'm obsessed with my ganity. Especially on something that isn't gigantic and huge. And it's kind of just all concentrated to, yeah, yeah, that's really cool. Which is why a lot of times when you see brule or you can, like, capture some out in the wild, you'll see it in, like, an antique chest or something, you know. and somebody that has some like real presence when you enter into a room or at the end of the hallway. Or I think that that's such a beautiful place to invest it in because your eye can focus and just like shoot like laser bream and like just pull you in because like that's what Pearl does.

24:04I think it's such a magical, magical species. Yep. So here are some like examples. This one that you're seeing right now on the screen is of the project that we just installed in Odessa last week. Anyway, this was in like the back mud hall. and it's just such a I don't know an antique of a thing this is actually reproduction that we carry but they do all these like really fine beautiful pieces in bro that are heirloom quality that you they will pass on down through generations and generations like I'd put my name on the back of this yeah um Reese if you hear me put your name on the back yeah totally the inlay and some of the

24:40Alice Lane:carvings and the hardware it's all so special and this is the type of thing that you're going to be looking for in the marketplace if you want to try this or you're looking for in antiques you love those figured woods yeah they just look old-worldly they look expensive they look like they've been handed down from generation to generation and they give your home a generational build kind of a feel even collected maybe even too yeah definitely they and they elevate everything around them yeah like it's fancy but it's also cowboy yeah another thing on the website that's been a really amazing bestseller are our brolwood boxes these are fun i think in bathrooms or in like his spaces his closets for him to put all of his stuff in um i think a hotel even even reached out oh yeah ordered like 150 of these amazing yeah yeah they're very good looking and there's a matching tray so you can bring in some of these elements into your existing decor just to give it that feeling without having to break the bank on an entire piece.

25:43Yep. Good call.

25:44Alice Lane:Yeah. I love that. Awesome. So the next trend we're going to talk about is the rustic farmhouse revival. So yeah, what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, we saw this. We've been seeing this come in from some of the publishers looking to be able to tell this story in the magazines because what they're looking for right now is very different than what they were looking for in the years past. They used to want these really beautiful, polished, perfect, expensive looking spaces. And today they're looking for honest spaces that are almost unstyled and that feel, I don't know, there's just honest. I don't know how else to say it.

26:21Alice Lane:So a couple, there's homesteading is a really big thing right now that we keep seeing where we're kind of seeing this turn back to the way our grandparents did it or parents where people are gardening, growing their own jam, baking sourdough. So they have chickens, they're gathering their own chickens. And there's just kind of this sort of sweet, innocent, turn back the time kind of a feeling where people are becoming more and more domestic. And I think that's showing in some of the homes where they're less polished looking. And so one of the roundups we're looking for, this sort of thing, right now on the screen.