Design trends then and now – Gananoque Reporter

Over the past five to 10 years, cool greys have become a go-to colour. IMAGE: Benjamin Moore

What goes around comes around, but never in the same way

It was the dawn of a new millennium and is widely remembered for the so-called Y2K bug many feared would cause havoc in computers and computer systems as they made the transition to Jan. 1, 2000.

It was also the year in which then-unknown British actors Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson were cast in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston tied the knot, NSYNC released No Strings Attached and the Nokia 3310 was the No. 1 selling cell phone.

In the world of dcor, shabby chic, white kitchen cabinets with black countertops, and chocolate brown dining rooms were all the rage. Karl Lohnes, editor-at-large of Style at Home magazine, walks us through the year 2000s hottest trends and how theyve evolved.

Hint: Everything that goes around comes around but never in the same way and usually in quite an opposite way, he says.

THEN: White cabinetry, dark countertopsNOW: Dark cabinetry, dark countertops

White cabinetry, black granite counters and stainless-steel appliances were the holy trinity of 00s kitchens. Todays trend: dark or black cabinetry with a dark never white countertop. Shaker-style cabinets or cabinets with raised panels were on trend in 2000, while todays cabinets feature flat fronts with no detail.

Today, white cabinets are typically paired with white countertops featuring grey veining and often elements of natural wood. Its a look thats reminiscent of the 1980s, when white cabinet doors with an oak strip across the bottom were on trend.

It was called the European kitchen and its sort of come back with upper white cabinetry usually glossy and bottom cabinets that may be done in a natural oak, says Lohnes.

When stainless-steel appliances were introduced 20 years ago, many wondered if they were merely a trend, but theyve become a classic choice. Stainless steel is still the standard but white certainly outsells everything, says Lohnes.

The trend for 2020 is black stainless steel or graphite/darker grey over the stainless steel so appliances blend into dark kitchens and dont stand out like big boxes wrapped by a cabinetry colour or tone.

THEN: Shabby chicNOW: Farmhouse chic

Shabby chic falls under the country decorating category, which is always the most popular style of decorating. It embodied a very vintage but very feminine look with ruffles on the bottoms of sofas, cabbage patch floral, white slipcovers, and pretty pinks and blues, says Lohnes.

It wasnt as dowdy as the 1980s, which was the Laura Ashley look with a lot of dried flowers and beige mixed in with pastels.

Two decades later, shabby chic has evolved to farmhouse chic, which Lohnes describes as a more masculine version of the trend with lots of wrought iron and copper and grey-toned or driftwood-coloured wood.

Its also slightly more modern, with furniture lines that are cleaner compared to the rounded and curvy lines of shabby chic. Today, there are many versions of country, including cabin, cottage and chalet.

THEN: Chocolate brownNOW: Beige and greige

In the year 2000, chocolate brown was the big buzzword in colour, Lohnes recalls. We were putting beautiful milk chocolate colours on walls, which was new and dramatic yet still warm because it was a brown tone.

A lot of wood stain became more chocolate brown, which evolved into espresso tones, which were almost black but still brown. Chocolate brown was also big in fabrics. People thought a dining room painted in chocolate brown with white trim was avant garde.

Over the past five to 10 years, cool greys became our go-to colours. For 2020, were going to see beige and greige tones come in, says Lohnes. You might choose a dark neutral colour for your walls but its not going to be warm chocolate brown and its not going to be cool grey. Its going to be a mixture of both.

Its warming up the grey and its allowing us to keep some of our grey things like carpets, couches or chairs. The wall colour will still have grey in it, but it will be like a big dollop of brown is going into it. The lightest version of that is beige, which is also returning in 2020.

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Design trends then and now - Gananoque Reporter