Before you Spend Your Money, Learn how to Tell

Before You Spend Your Money, Learn How To Tell

Dog Days Of Summer Contest

Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card!  Post a picture of your dog posing on a floor we installed: on our FB page Enhance Floors and More or on your IG page with the hashtag #enhancefloors. Use the headline Dog Days Of Summer. The winner will be chosen based on the number of likes -- the most popular picture on August 31 will be the winner. BONUS we will count each like as 2 if you include the product name and how long it has been installed!

To get you started, here's a picture of Jesenia. She is available for adoption from Angels Among Us Pet Rescue. Jesenia is posing on a wood floor installed in our Design Center -- Mohawk Vintage Vintique color Colonial Grey. We installed this floor 4 years ago, and it still looks great!

What’s in today is out tomorrow. Take sliding barn doors, for example. A few years back, they were de rigueur. And now? Now they’re just worn-out. The same might be said for other recent trends such as Edison bulbs, succulents, and Mason jars.

So how can you tell a decor trend’s on the outs? Realtor.com tells us: You will start seeing it everywhere, per Christina Harmon, an interior designer in Washington, DC, and owner of luxury home goods website Epitome Home.“ Proliferation is a sign of death in the design world,” she says. Designer and author Kathryn Scott agrees: “A trend is on the way out when you start seeing it in hotel rooms and offices to restaurants and Pottery Barn—and you think to yourself, ‘I really need a break from this.'” Let us be clear: We’re not saying you should ditch all your furnishings and accessories just because they’re popular. But read on for these telltale signs a decor trend might actually be knocking on death’s door.  1. It’s all over HGTV

Call it the Chip and Joanna Gaines effect: When a trend’s in constant rotation on home improvement shows, you know it’s probably not long for this world. “I know a trend is heading toward life support when I see it in mass market retail or it’s become ubiquitous on HGTV,” says Susan Matthews, a realtor with Carolina One Real Estate, in Mount Pleasant, SC. After all, she says, “These shows are filmed months in advance.” Terence Michael, a TV and film producer in Los Angeles, couldn’t agree more: “Suddenly my set dressers want everything to be gold and brass and navy blue,” he says. But by the time the show actually airs, a previously current trend like that combo will be so yesterday.

2. It’s in all the catalogs

Love that reclaimed wood-meets-industrial look, but unsure if it’ll still be in style next season? For another clue that a design trend is on its last legs, just check your mailbox. “When all the catalogs in your mailbox feature the same trend, you know the trend is dying a slow but comfortable death,” says Lance Marrs, a broker at Living Room Realty, in Portland, OR.

3. It’s permeated the big-box chains

Experts are quite unanimous on this one: When a trend’s filtered down to Target, Lowe’s, or Ross, you know it’s nearing the end. For example, “I knew white subway tile was on the outs when it became the least expensive option at Home Depot,” says Justin Riordan, principal at Spade and Archer. (Ditto that for “anything Tuscan,” Harmon says, which she says is a mainstay of home improvement stores.) Their take? If you can buy it alongside your toilet paper and Aqua Fina, it’s probably no longer really on trend.

4. The price plummets

When a trend’s been there, done that, you’ll see it displayed en masse at discount retailers, Harmon says. These closeout businesses do “opportunity buys,” Harmon says, meaning they’ll purchase a lot of product at a time because it’s been sitting unsold in a designer’s warehouse for some time.“If the designer could sell the product at market to retailers full price, trust me, they would,” Harmon says.

5. It shows up beyond interior decor

When a trendy pattern such as the chevron or pineapples starts cropping up in multiple media (think home decor and clothing and office supplies), “it’s a sign of death,” Harmon says. “It’s been selling well for a while so big retailers are splattering it on everything,” she says. “As soon as it’s done blowing up, it’s over.” In reality, of course, trends do last longer than a single season.“Every season, magazines want what’s new, but most people don’t shop that way,” Scott notes. In fact, even the experts agree that following trends can be unsustainable; once everyone freaks out about, say, charcoal and eggplant, the pendulum swings back to light and bright. And then there’s the obvious: Changing up your home decor to follow every of-the-moment design whim can be exhausting and expensive. Perhaps the best real-life advice? Find a style you like, stick to it, and freshen it up when you get bored. And keep Harmon’s motto in mind: “No matter what, at the end of the day, if you like it, keep it.”

‌

‌

Design Tip

Bored with your bathroom? A quick and easy update is a new towel set and mat(s). Look for unique textures and earth-inspired hues, maybe terra-cotta or clay tones, coffee colors, tan, sienna, khaki. Warm colors are practical and always in style.

PRO TIP: Use a real area rug instead of a mat if you have room. A 4’ x 6’ rug is much more decorative than a typical bathmat.

From Matt in Woodstock:“Enhance put down some vinyl plank flooring in my kitchen and laundry room. They were very professional. They answered all our questions whenever we had anything. They went the extra mile to make sure we were happy with the job, and we were. They're A+.”Thanks, Matt. Enjoy your new floor and let us know when you are ready for the basement project.

How Much Does It Cost? Matt’s kitchen is pretty big – right around 500 square feet. He went with a Mohawk medium quality LVP. His price was right at $3300.