Interior Design Trends That Deserve a Comeback! 

Parquet flooring is very cherished in Sweden, if you have an old one your take care of it, and a lot of new installations are being done. I’m fortunate to have the original herringbone oak flooring in my house built in 1909, and after having it restored it’s the main feature of our home. Just gorgeous!

Hi! I'm from Eastern Europe, and parquet floors never really went out of vogue here. I work as an onsite architect, and i see them being installed all the time.Great video :)

Such a pleasant shock to see colour spelled with a "u" and panelling spelled with a double "l". Then I checked and thought "ah, Canada". Thanks for making my day from Australia.

A big Yes!! to the saturated colour. After 25 years of home ownership and staying conservative and neutral "for resale value", I have now painted my kitchen bright orange and hung up my gorgeous sunset painting that is all oranges, blues and yellows. If I'm going to be in this room everyday I want it to be bright and cheerful, resale be damned. (keeping my den in muted shades because that's where I go when I want to be calm and unwind).

Wife, daughter and sister to electricians here: ceiling medallions can have a practical purpose in more modern homes as well. Sometimes when you change a light fixture there is a hole in the ceiling that the new fixture doesn’t quite cover. A medallion can be an easy and lovely way to solve that problem.

Ceiling medallions are one of my favourites. Anytime I'm in houses that have them, my eyes are drawn there immediately. Love artistry in architecture and interiors

I grew up in an Arts and Crafts home and I appreciate beautiful woodwork and flooring. To me, the first horror in the movie Rosemary’s Baby is when she has the beautiful Old World interior painted over. Excellent points in your video!

Love parquet! Love paneling! “Carpet in a basement”, however, is a phrase only spoken by someone who’s never had a basement flood

My parents house is art deco, built in the 1930s. All the floors throughout the house are Parquet, made from Rhodesian Teak, a beautiful reddish brown. Those floors are worth a pretty penny. I love parquet. Wish i could have real wooden floors in my house.

I am so glad you mentioned crown moulding and ceiling roses because I live in a period home and those were 2 things I would not compromise on when we renovated. I love my crown mouldings, my cornice and my roses. ❤❤❤

I think resale value has played a huge part in getting away from color and ornate detail. Its so personal and there is a concern that if they invest in bold color or details it can be a deterrent. After years of watching house flipping shows people expect to walk into a blank slate.

Hey Nick, lovely video as usual. As a French national I know that parquet is a French word and this flooring started to be used in our lovely castles, centuries ago. These floors are still very much used today in the everyday French home. I love them and if they’re out of style in North America they should definitely make a come back!😊

Nick, I find it interesting that you see parquet as a 70s thing. The most beautiful parquet I've seen was in homes built from 1870 to 1910 or so, particularly brownstones in NYC. Many of them had gorgeous parquet that was in different patterns in all the rooms---a "rug" in the center of the parlor, a utilitarian pattern in the kitchen, a simple tile pattern in the vestibule. Those floors were intricate and durable, and if you wanted something warmer, you could add an area rug.

As someone allergic to dust and pollen, carpet, for me, is a gigantic HELL FUDGING NOPE !!!

My parents' home is still very 90s but the thing I think really hasn't aged terribly is my parents' crown molding and the medallion in the dining room. Because of that, whenever I get my own home one of the first things going in is crown molding. I think it makes a place look cared for, like someone took the time to put that extra effort in making their home beautiful.

Our home was built in 1968. Original owners had carpet in all the bathrooms, damaged parquet flooring, dull turquoise tiles in the master shower, and off-white kitchen, and baby pink vinyl on the bathroom vanities. We've replaced the flooring and dull tiling with warm-toned stone tiles and redid the kitchen with real wood and greens so that it feels more like being in a forest. It's so much better! The baby-pink vanities are next.

Parquet floors will always be a favorite of mine. I grew up in a house with parquet floors and it’s such a great, subtle design or huge impact just by sanding and restaining.

I agree with you regarding carpet especially in the bedrooms. Also on the stairs as they absorbs noise when walking up and down the stairs.

None of the colors in my house could be considered neutral by any means. I love the nice saturated colors. Except I did all my trim in white but every room is a nice bright color. I absolutely love it. And actually most people seem to like it too.

SCARRED FOR LIFE 😂 Here is a throwback and a giggle. In the 70’s, we went on vacation to see my mum’s parents and as a surprise when we got back, my dad had new carpet installed into the the house, wall-to-wall, over the hardwood. And I do mean wall-to-wall! He removed the tile and installed brick coloured short carpet in the kitchen, carpet in the bathroom, and LONG shag carpet in all of the bedrooms along with the living room/dining room, ALL IN PURPLE, because the purple was on sale. He was sooooo proud! My mum smiled, hugged him, and said thank you, secretly thinking of the newly created upkeep….I could read her mind. She loved that man. Our house was the go-to in the neighborhood because my parents were young and cool! (My mum is still cool at 83!). Kids, pets, and shag carpet……My chore was to vacuum…..traumatizing! To this very day I hate vacuuming and despise wall-to-wall carpet 🤢 🤮🤢 (PS. She still has wood paneling in the living room 😂, but absolutely no carpet) Sorry Nick not a chance for me on the carpet, but you are fabulous and I love your style and humour!

Hi! Artist over here. Appreciate your videos and your lack of aversion to colour. Yes! Bring back saturated colours! Just wanted to specify what “adding gray” is.. it’s not the colour gray in itself. It’s adding a bit of its complimentary colour. Green and red. Blue and orange. Purple and yellow. You probably know that.. but shoot me… I’m a “well, Actually..” kinda person.

Carpet - I don’t care, carpets are GREAT in bedrooms. Not bathrooms or kitchens (ew) but bedrooms - it’s comfy & warm on your feet. Wood paneling will always feel 70s/80s to me. Except for a really beautiful wood wainscoting. That is classic. And YES to ceilings! They can be really beautiful, especially in a bedroom where you’ll notice it more (due to laying down on your bed) And (not mentioned but my own “wish list”) is wallpaper - some of that was overdone (ie matching balloon valance on the windows & yucky matching borders) but a wallpapered nook (especially the inside of a dormer window area) has always been so beautiful to me.

This is one of my favorite channels I watch to unwind. Nick's commentary is always the perfect mix of a little salty but mostly sweet. p.s I hope parquet floors come back too!

I just discovered Nick a couple of weeks ago, so I know my comments come months after the original video. I've been in my home for seven years and when I first moved in, I painted everything neutral. All of the walls (and I mean ALL) were painted kind of a milk chocolate color throughout. That included milk chocolate carpeting! I painted everything different shades of warm white and warm gray throughout, and replaced the carpet in those areas with hardwood. Very relaxing, very soothing. Because of an explosive plumbing incident, I have new walls in some rooms and decided that along with my beautiful gray, I'm going to do saturated color. I painted one wall in my dining room a deep burgundy, and a patterned oriental rug with similar colors that will still match everything. This is my forever home so I don't give a flying flip about resale value! I have (new) engineered hardwood flooring everywhere except for the bedroom area which is all carpet. It's one story, and when you walk from the common areas (wood and tile) to the bedroom areas, the noise goes down, the coziness level is ramped up, and you can really appreciate the importance of carpet in some rooms. My ceiling treatment is popcorn. Oh well. 😑

Carpet is definitely interesting. Here in Sweden I have never seen it in a home, but I do see it sometimes in commercial spaces. I can kind of see the appeal... But also, it seems like it would be hell to clean, and with three kids, a dog and a cat, I just can't see my family ever being able to handle it. 😂

I like cork flooring, easy on the feet, very long lasting, soundproofs and is pretty indestructible

I was traumatized when I lived in an apartment covered with carpet and infested with mice. A hard floor is just easier to clean, which is important especially when you have a baby/toddler crawling on the floor… needless to say, we left that place and don’t have rodents as roommates anymore, but I will never be fond of carpet! At least not as long as I live in a city renowned for its mice community! 😂🤦‍♀️😭 I agree with everything else! I especially love marqueterie and detailing on the ceiling: it adds interest and texture without adding actual stuff and making the space so busy.

I have a 118 yr old house in Chicago with very high ceilings. I painted my small bathroom ceiling black. I love it! It does not make the space seem smaller. I don't thing "luxury" belongs with vinyl flooring! My oak floors are worth keeping up!

I love the patterned linoleum floors from the 1940s/50s era. They were saturated in colour and had geometrics, florals, fish etc. They were fun.

As a kid who grew up playing on a COLD copper-tinted concrete floor... I love carpet and I'm not ashamed to say it.

I love beautiful, high quality carpet. As a broke renter it's not on my radar to add this to my home, but even if I had my own I have an older rescue beagle who cannot help herself after a lifetime outdoors up until now. A girl can dream. ☁️ Also everything else you said. Please bring back the wood paneling 🥵

I have a 70's home. We had dark brown shag carpet and a bamboo type wallpaper in one bedroom lol. Ripped off the wallpaper and replaced the carpet. I grew up in the 70's kinda missed the shag carpet :). Our fireplace is brick and huge, spans an entire wall! Above it is the paneling you spoke of however the high-end paneling. Our house was 70's modernized with built in speakers that had a radio (still worked!), a built-in vacuum system and a blender that popped out of the countertop, underneath was milk glass mixing bowls and utensils. The living room was so dark with the dark brown paneling and brick fireplace I painted the entire wall and fireplace white, it really stands out brightening up the room. We have done a lot of renovating. We had a pink tub with tiny tiles in one bathroom and a blue shower, sinks and toilet and tiny tiles in the other. We haven't renovated the blue bathroom yet. We don't have carpet in the basement due to the hot water heater bursting one year. We left most of the sunrooms crisscross paneling however took out 8 sliding glass doors and replaced them with energy saving windows. Had all the wood floors redone, I love them! The front room is gray with a splash of orange (bright mostly) and a retro vibe with the furniture (orange chair, grey sofas, purple leather chair lol) I love decorating and listening to your thoughts and recommendations. TY Nick 😊

I love deep mustard, olive green, maroon and deep blue colors. I'm trying to incorporate these colors in my neutral space now.

In my last home, there was faux wood paneling in the basement and real wood paneling in the storage/utility room. I probably wouldn't have put it in myself, but it was amazing how much better real wood looks on the walls. It made me realize why people started to put wood paneling up in the first place.

I lived in Germany in an apartment with 18ft ceilings, white walls, parquet flooring in the pattern you like, and had beautiful double door entrances to all of the main rooms. It was the most stunning place I’ve ever lived in. I have wanted to recreate this look in America for my own home, once I have enough to build a house

Parquet flooring takes me back to all apartments I rented during my university days, so to me I see it as builder basic mass produced stuff from the 70s lol.

I love parquet floors! I think there are ways to make it look so timeless and it adds so much elegant texture to a room ❤

As usual, I agree with Nick on so many choices, but don't do them! Ceilings in my homes have always been painted white. Last year, when I had my basement apartment painted, I decided to add color to the ceiling. The painter called me to be sure I wanted to pay him for painting the ceiling in this large space, as the new "color" was barely distinguishable from the current white ceiling which was in great shape! Yup, I'm that bold and daring!

I love carpet in bedrooms and living rooms. It makes it so much more cozy and just more comfortable to walk around.

Carpet ( especially the white that was in those pictures at the end) is always dirty! The reason I like hard surfaces is because it’s easier to keep clean. I guess if you take your shoes off in the house… yeah, like my husband would remember to do that! 😂 I really enjoy your videos every week, Nick!

I love natural wood paneling when it’s good quality. Remember Mad Men? Those set designers made wood paneling look hip and sexy. I live in a house that was built in 1970 that STILL has wood panel veneer on the walls of the family room! It is a large and very dark room. The former owners loved that paneling enough that they renovated the entire house but kept the paneling. Now it’s ours and I plan on painting it.

I live in an old 250 year old inn converted into apartments and I have ceiling medallions in the living room and bedrooms. Lots of old crown moulding and original flooring too. It's got so much character! I love it.

Basket weave flooring is like life goals to me

"I don't know... Don't come here for me. I should cite my sources.". Ahahaha! You're too funny.

Natural wood will always be in style.

I refinished my solid wood parquet flooring in my apartment, and so many people thought it was a waste of money and that I should have put in something different. I love it so much, though, it is gorgeous.

I like all of these ideas, we have carpet in the bedroom mostly so the dogs have a soft place to sleep when they are not on the bed, priorities you know.

Also, I remember as a little kid, being in my grandparents' house with the Shag carpet. Shag was SO soft. Let's bring back the Shag!!

I love carpet and always have. The ivory carpet in my living room with adjoining sitting room is stunning. I purchased the best quality I could and enhanced it with upgraded padding. It's bright, cheerful, adds warmth and sound insulation plus it's a perfect compliment to any color you choose. And carpeting was less expensive than laying wood floors with the added expense of area rugs. Would love to see it become more popular again.

Personally in two story houses I'm a big fan of hardwood (or tile or vinyl, etc.) downstairs and carpet upstairs. Then for the actual stairs I really like what my parents did in their house, which is sort of like a built in runner. Both sides of each step are done in the same wood flooring as the downstairs while the center is carpeted to match the upstairs. It works especially well in their home because there is a good color contrast between their very dark hardwood and the meduim-light gold tone of the carpet.

Back in the 80's my aunt put wood flooring on her ceiling, and it really looked nice! This was about 40 years ago. She and my uncle were very old world, over the top type people. I remember their apartment was absolutely gorgeous, but it wasn't simple. It was fancy, with lots of color and texture, and I remember thinking that I could never pull that off, as in tying everything together as well as she did. I've never really had the opportunity to try. But, I'm paying attention, so when I do have a space and money, I understand how to make it look nice. There's so many choices, and I don't even know what my style is! How does one find their style and turn that into a nice space? I'm going to keep watching, and hopefully I won't wind up in a space that looks like Hannibal Lechter used it for his man cave, lol! Thanks Nick, I really appreciate the education!! One mention on carpet for people in flood prone areas, the insurance companies HATE carpet and will charge you more if they know you have it, because a flooded house with carpet is harder to fix than ones with all tile. I only know that because I know a couple of house flippers here in Florida. I would imagine for places like Mississippi and Louisiana, it's probably the same story. I think, no matter where you are, checking with your insurance company to see what you can do for a lower rate, is always a win. Home insurers love when people do things to extend and reinforce the life of the home. Also, if you have heirlooms, like paintings, jewelry, furniture, etc., photograph each piece, have it upraised and insured separately. They WILL NOT cover over and above you policy, which is for average loss, unless you have these things documented with them. I learned that from a friend who was robbed, several times, and all of her heirloom jewelry was stolen with no way to recover it or any money from insurance. They are not your friend and will do anything to NOT pay out, kind of like health insurance for those of us in the US.

Until now I didn't realize some people don't know what parquet is because it's a trend of the past. Omg. I'm so old!

I have learned to not have carpet in kids room. Kids are sloppy and spill things. Especially teenagers. I ripped out their carpets and put in a high end wood laminate. I then put in an area rug. That way when/if the area rug gets stained, etc. you roll it up and take it to the Eco centre. Then simply buy a new one.

Herringbone parquet flooring has never gone out of fashion well least here in the UK. If only I could afford it.

hot pink popcorn ceilings with glow in the dark stars will never go out of style - you should totally do that!

Parquet flooring started as remnants of wood from ship building. Only wealthy people had it back in the day. When I owned a 1959 house in Dallas, I re-finished my parquet floor and extended it into the hallway- loved it. Also vote for saturated colors as I sit in my bedroom with Benjamin Moore’s Ying Yang saturated blue❤

I have a deep forest green living room. I love it. My daughter picked a navy blue for her walls when she was 7 and we both still love it. It works so well with all the “little girl” colors.

I love your comments about color... what you're asking for is the kind of space where most of us live. Not the chaotic, cluttery feel of maximalism, not the stark formality of minimalism, but simple ... "malism". Neither maxi nor mini. Where we have nice furniture, photos of our family, and a basket of colorful children's books. These spaces desperately need color because it can really shape our moods. We have a tomato red wall in our kitchen and have received a LOT of compliments on it. It's at the end, a small wall that includes French doors and a transom, but gives us the pop of color everybody needs.

I bought a beautiful large print but I had no space left on my walls to hang it. Solution - I hung it on the ceiling above my bed and I look at it every night and during the day. I look at this artwork a lot more than if it were on the wall. Guys, you may want to try this. It is a fun and interesting viewing experience and it also brightened up my bedroom ceiling.

YAY! I live in the saturated color space! The most common comment when people walk into our home is “Fun! It’s like a crayon box!” Brightly colored walls, whites trim, neutral furniture and colored accents and lots of art.

Love color!! Always have, always will! I think people think of wood panels as those thin mobile home like stuff, but my parents had a house built in the 50s which had a wall in the dining room that was thick, luxurious panels. Gorgeous.

I live in a house that is around 100 years old and I love the ceilings. The rooms each have their own patterned ceiling.

my mom never gave up on colour. it was so strange to see her and dad's last home after they passed on, when a flipper bought it and whited out the deep read dining room, which was connected to the black tiled kitchen and what little wall space there was was also deep read. the only colour left was the black tiles, everything else was whiiiiiitttteee. The olive green living room was white, the hyacinth blue bedroom, the peachy pink bedroom, the the buttery yellow bedroom. The only room which was what it was: the original black and white 1938 bathroom, with all its beautiful tile and arched bathtub niche. Gorgeous and I'm so glad the flippers budget didn't extend to modernising it.

I recently redid my home office, and painted the walls a dark peacock teal color, put in white crown molding, and the ceiling isn’t white-it’s a dark ivory color. For the floor I did a very fluffy carpet with a thick pad that is right in the middle of beige and gray with dark speckles. It’s very cozy! I’m also going to replace the carpet in my living room with…. new carpet! It isn’t a high traffic area and just feels so much more cozy and comfortable with carpet.

I totally agree about color, ceilings and parquet floors. All things that I see in beautifully restored Victorian homes!

At last! A decorator that is not promoting white walls and neutrals. Thank you.

Carpet in our bedrooms is a must. Flagstaff, Arizona has cold winters and nothing like hardwood or tile floors in a bedroom says "not cozy" more. Ironically last week my sister was lamenting her 5 bedroom house, inherited from our parents, with wood parquet floors. Thanks to your input they will get refinished and kept.

I love having a mostly neutral space with pops of color via art or ceramics, especially a punchy orange-red or primary yellow.

Love parquet floors. Especially when it’s laid out to look like an area rug. Don’t know why people stopped liking it.

"don't ever do that, that's sacrilegious" made me lol.

If you live in Italy, parquet flooring is still going strong ! I also have, I think you called it “crown moulding” with hidden lighting. 30 years later I still love it ! I do like your videos, thank you

Never had carpet in the bathroom, but the house I grew up in had kitchen carpet. That's also a huge mistake! Do not ever, ever carpet your kitchen.

I am SO with you! Parquet -- yes! Ceiling medallions -- yes! Carpet in the right rooms -- YES!

I love carpet in bedrooms. There is nothing better that when it’s 2 degrees F and bare feet touch soft, warm carpet. When installing carpet, you dont have nail it in if it’s a big piece; you can just lay it in. So if it’s in real bad shape, you could remove it and take it to a cleaner.

Excellent and thoughtful comments as always! My problem with parquet flooring is that it reminds me of all the ratty NYC apartments I was in during the 1980's when I lived there. Many were installed in the 1960's in the white brick buildings. They just didn't seem to hold up or age well, and little pieces were always coming loose. And there is a characteristic annoying tapping sound when walking on them because of loose pieces. Combined with the flat arctic white paint NY landlords were so fond of (which gathered dust, looked dirty very quickly and didn't clean easily) it was just incredibly depressing. The parquet in Parisian apartments installed way back in the early 1900's seems to hold up better, must be a difference in quality of wood and craftsmanship. I know they are hand finished in wax when you renovate Paris apartments.

To cover up parquet floors with vinyl, or anything else for that matter, should constitute a cardinal sin, and I am not exaggerating. Lovely content as per usual Nick! ❤

I absolutely LOVE the checkerboard parquet flooring. I’ve spent the last decade listening to people trashing it. It is beautiful!

I'm a huge fan of transoms, let's bring back the transom. 💗

I have always had wall to wall carpet in my bedrooms. There is something about getting out of bed and stepping down on warm, soft carpet that is comforting. The rest of my home is hard surface flooring ranging from hardwood to tile. I agree about bringing in color. Not overboard color/colors and not barely there color, but pops of saturated color on a wall, furniture piece or tile. Thanks for sharing.😃❤️

Happy you walked through modern versions of wood paneling because the moment you brought it up, I got flashbacks to the trailers my family sometimes lived in growing up and immediately said "No!", lol! Hated those wooden walls and I remember at 12 wanting to get some wallpaper and cover my bedroom. But so long as the paneling is used minimally, and maybe don't use those wide panels that trailers use, it could be done nicely.

In the way back, i owned a town house in Washington, DC. This row of houses was build by a plasterer who was an immigrant. These houses were a fantasy in plaster. It was as real plaster. The guy was very proud of the USA, the houses were done in the federalist style. Curves, stars, stripes, waving flags. It was amazing.

You've probably seen it in the older homes. Where they have carpeting in the middle of the living room around the carpeting they have wooden floors, that's a nice look. Like a built in rug.

Do something with ceilings! Yay. We covered our kitchen ceiling (12 years ago now) with pressed tin tiles. It was the easiest way to hide the horrid ceiling in there. This summer we just put up white, wood patterned planks in our living room and hallway with crown moulding because we were already extending a built-in and renting a scaffold anyway. I did something Nick approved!

When I updated a 1950s home at the turn of the millennia, I kept the knotty wood pine walls that were in every room but one downstairs in the home. It looked really cosy and I paired colorful furniture with it. Two things I like from the past… the in between sized metal blinds, particularly in the color popular from the 50s and I like the glass dish flush light fixtures in halls and kids bedrooms.

My heart stopped a little when I heard the term ‘ceiling treatments’ as my first reaction was please no popcorn ceilings 🙏🚫🤣. Gosh I think popcorn ceilings must be the trend that ruined any chance of me creatively considering any ceiling treatments lmao

Full height timber panelling is a bit heavy. But the original role of wood panelling was for the lower part of the wall only, because it's much more resilient to bangs and dings than plaster. Timber panelling reduces maintenance expenses in high-traffic areas and that's a valid reason for a decor choice.

Great food for thought, Nick. Thank you! I personally don’t care for many of these trends but not because they’re bad or ugly or impractical in and of themselves, so thank you for showing them some love. You hit the nail on the head when you said that when a trend is overdone with cheep materials it becomes ugly and dated because of wear. It also takes a skilled eye to know how to tastefully bring back these ideas, so if more folks like yourself keep showing us gorgeous rooms with color, carpet, wood panels, etc., they can probably come back. But one reason why I believe they haven’t is that to do justice to these trends (with good taste, high quality materials, and proper maintenance), the price, the time, and effort to keep everything looking great makes it more difficult than keeping up simpler things.

Ugh yes the first pics you showed are all saved for my home inspiration! My house is 60s and mostly untouched but all the rooms were painted a pinky/apricot color in probably the 80s or 90s and carpet was put over the bedroom hardwoods/all carpets were replaced with either white or pink. Bringing some color back and the first thing we did was rip out all the carpet over the hardwoods 😊 I’m also removing the last wallpaper bits, so many wood paneled accent walls were covered by wallpaper. I love our wood paneling. This whole video is speaking my language lol

As an interior designer, I agree with all of this! Used appropriately, all of these materials can be amazing.

I painted my bedroom ceiling a wonderful blue. When the sun comes in and hits the blue it is very beautiful. I'm so happy that I did it

I agree with you Nick! I just painted my ceiling a little darker shade than my floors last week. I have a lot of light coming into my home, so I decided to take a risk and it turned out awesome. I hate a boring ceiling! I think that the WHOLE room should be visually pleasing. Love your videos. Please don't stop making them. You give me great ideas!

All of this stuff if great if done well. I saw a real estate post for an untouched 1960's house in Beverly Hills. It had all those weird dated items, but done with someone who had an eye for design and with top quality materials. And it was REALLY beautiful. Parquet laminate? Awful. Hand pieced, solid wood parquet floors? Gorgeous. And carpet is extremely functional. It's warm, absorbs sounds, is nice to sit or lie on a carpeted floor. Nice, clean carpets are wonderful in the right spaces.

My grandma had the most soft pink wall to wall carpet in her bathroom! I thought it was the coolest thing back then.

when I first moved into my apartment, I was disappointed to find my hardwood floors were parquet flooring. Over time I've come to adooooore it! it's so much more interesting than regular hardwood floor.

I think the gray rooms and the beige rooms remind me of the movie Office Space and the main character’s apartment. I agree- the material and how the material is styled makes all the difference in how the look turns out. Paneling from the 80s remind me of cabin horror films. I love ceiling work. I think it adds a lot if done right for the space.

SO HERE for your hot takes, and THANK YOU for expressing them with the world! As a gal always into design, parquet flooring, wood paneling, and carpet (we've kept ours in our home and I love it) all make my heart sing. Thank you for sharing these thoughts x

So right about carpet. GOOD carpet with a good pad feels luxurious. And, what's the freaking difference between carpet and huge rugs? They both get dirty and BOTH must be cleaned...

Thanks for the good word on carpet. We're re-doing our floors in the living room and family room with carpet so our older dog won't slip. And maybe so we don't slip either!

In France in the 1780s there was a minor trend - placing a window directly above a fireplace mantel - it looked spectacular! I've seen several examples in photos from a 1920s book - how the smoke was routed, dunno. Why this never seems to have been revived is a mystery to me.

I love saturated color thru out the house. I've used a beautiful yellow for the main walls in my house with a rusty orange for the inset areas leading to other rooms. I always get compliments. I also paint my ceilings. Especially in the bedrooms and bathrooms. It give a more cozy feeling.