Naomi, Sage – Author at Plaster & Disaster

Hello, 2016! As the devoted, adoring students of DIY blog culture that we are, our first thoughts in welcoming the new year are obviously about the beautiful new trends and styles that will spring to life and proceed to permeate the internet like ~~a rabid horde of zombies~~ the soothing scent of essential oils. As much as we’ll miss putting foxes on everything, seeing mid-century legs in places where they don’t belong (get your head out of the gutter), the deep mystery of the color marsala, and, of course, gratuitous pictures of succulents, we’re excited to see what the future holds.

2016 design trends predictions -- Plaster & Disaster

We like to think we’re pretty smart. Hello, 50% of us went to an ivy league business school! And we’re clearly very cultured and stylish. So to help the rest of you stay ahead of things, here are our blogging trend predictions for 2016:

2016 Blogging Trend #1: We Will Put Animals on Things

Okay, we’ll start out with an easy one. We all know that we’re going to put animals on things in 2016. It’s not really a choice, and we’re very good at it. We put birds on things for a while, and we’re putting foxes on things currently, but Plaster & Disaster predicts that the fox trend will fade by the summer and we’ll be onto something new. Cacti are also hot right now, but nothing beats the charm of a living animal.

Clockwise: The Printed Menagerie* | Ambers Wooden Boutique* | Mod Cloth | One Up Designs * (*affiliate links – read our policies)

So what will it be? Plaster & Disaster predicts that it will probably be slugs. Or mice. Or raccoons.

2016 Blogging Trend #2: Tuxedo Kitchens Gone International

Tuxedo kitchens were the “it” kitchen of 2015, just barely nudging out the all white, subway tile, open shelved kitchens which dominated 2014.

This amazing tuxedo kitchen courtesy of House Tweaking

In 2016, we predict that this great trend will get even better. As a society, we’re becoming increasingly global and interconnected. Gone are the times that we can just focus on American-based trends and home-grown styles. And that is a really good thing, because the world is a rich place full of beautiful and varied cultures. Bringing them all together in our homes will only improve them.

And that is why Plaster & Disaster predicts that the the tuxedo kitchen will go international and make the hot kitchen of 2016 the Canadian tuxedo kitchen.

Source: Jcjeansandclothes/Wikimedia Commons

While we are a little concerned about how tricky denim cabinets might be to clean, we think a thick coat of mod podge might solve that problem. Plus, Home Depot sells denim finish paint for those who want the look but can’t splurge on real jeans to coat every cabinet.

2016 Blogging Trend #3: We Like Dala Horses Now

It’s true! We’re coming into 2016 with the amount of attention we pay to dala horses on a sharp upswing that will only continue until they are ubiquitous as mustaches or “keep calm and carry on” riffs.

So what is a dala horse? Allow me to google that for you. Given how deeply we’re into Scandinavian design and culture right now and through 2016, its actually kind of shocking that we haven’t started decorating with dala horses long before now. But don’t worry, like winter, the dala horse is coming.

Clockwise: inkprintrepeat | Dans Mon Bocal | Not on the High Street | Lova Revolutionary

2016 Blogging Trend #4: Rose Gold Is the New Brass

I mean, if you don’t know this, where have you been hiding? Brass is so 2014, and even copper is starting to feel dated. What is this, November?

We can only live with metals for so long. I mean, it’s not like we invest in putting them on anything expensive or professionally installed in our homes, so why not switch up the trends every 6 months or so? Plaster & Disaster predicts that the chosen one for early 2016 will be rose gold.

Left: Ka Styles | Interior Collective | Center: The Glitter Guide | Right: Sarah Sarna

And a secret blogging pro tip: Rose gold looks just enough like brass and copper that we can just adjust the white balance on our images and call it updated! Easy and budget friendly!

2016 Blogging Trend #5: Rose Quartz and Serenity Sheepskin Furniture

In 2014, sheepskins really hit the national scene when we started elegantly draping them over furniture and laying them with strategic nonchalance on the floor to create cozy reading nooks. In 2015, we saw this fuzziest of trends get even better, when we started sewing them into stools and other small furniture accents.

Top left: Anthropologie | Bottom left: CB2 | Right: Elements of Style

In 2016, however, we think this trend will finally arrive. The 70s are coming back in, and with them comes a copious amount of fur and shag. This year, we expect to see the sheepskin stool trend spread throughout the house into sheepskin lampshades, sheepskin tabletops, and maybe even sheepskin roofs and landscaping.

However, this isn’t your parents’ 1970s, and earthy tones like marsala are so ~~40 years ago~~ last year. In 2016, Plaster & Disaster predicts that the calming natural tones of last year’s sheepskins will be interpreted into this year’s “it” colors: Rose Quartz and Serenity.

Here is our mockup of the living room of tomorrow:

2016 Blogging Trend #6: We Will Take Copious Closeup Photos with Blurry Backgrounds

Wait, sorry, that isn’t a blogging trend for 2016, that is and always will be a blogging trend forever. Long live bokeh.

2016 will clearly be a good year. So what do you think the hottest trends will be?

(Sharing at One Project at a Time, Tip Me Tuesday, Two Uses Tuesday, DIY Like A Boss, Pin Junkie Pin Party, and Weekend Retreat Link Party)

We’re enjoying a few quiet weeks with friends and families for the holidays, but we did just have to stop by to share some of our best projects from 2015 along with all the other bloggers and their mothers and next door neighbors. (It is a blogging requirement, actually.)

No! Come back! This isn’t really one of those posts. Rather than talk about things that we’re proud of, we thought we’d close the year by digging up the things that went horribly wrong and airing all of those to the world once more. Because nothing is better than feeling horribly incompetent and depressed in front of the internet.

They say that failure makes you stronger, right?

And we’ve certainly had some failures over this past year. Let’s start with the time that Sage bought a new house and took it upon herself to teach us all how to install a toilet.

A masterful how-to post, Sage. Let’s just say that we learned to leave plumbing for the pros. Sometimes throwing money at our problems is really the right approach.

There was also that time that Naomi conceived of a ~~brilliant~~ cement project that totally disregarded basic physics or any understanding of how cement works. Needless to say, it didn’t exactly work.

Totally unsalvageable. But good job still milking a whole post out of that content, Naomi.

And let’s not forget the experience that we had trying to figure out how to do an actually usable project using… cutlery.

We did win the contest. But, victory or not, I think we can all agree that when grown men and women do craft projects with forks and knives, everybody loses.

And, finally, there is the sad reality that even when our projects and posts “look good” on the blog, there is usually some disaster still happening outside the frame.

Just remember that any nice photography that you see here is probably a bald-faced lie, or at least a lie of omission, and our relationship will be stronger and more honest.

And are you still looking for disaster? Here are a few honorable mentions:

That time Sage sawed her table nearly in half.
That time that Naomi painted all of her interior doors and hardware and “learned a lot” along the way.
That time that we each shared “the hole truth” about some gaping holes that we have just chilling out in our homes.

Ouch. 2015, here’s to seeing you gone, and let’s hope that 2016 contains nothing but brilliant successes… or at least some extremely bold and spectacular disasters.

Have a happy New Year from Plaster & Disaster!

(Sharing at Create Link Inspire, Link Party Palooza, The Creative Gallery, One Project at a Time, Weekend Retreat Link Party, Tip Me Tuesday, Two Uses Tuesday, and Remodelaholic)