From what I've been seeing real wood continues to be timeless. By that I mean the actual raw boards laid down and sanded and treated on site. I know pre-treated hardwood seemed like such a good option, but when I've seen it years (or even days) after install it is already showing its weaknesses. Real hardwood has been a classic. And as we see in these modern rooms it's also viewed as fresh and up-to-date these days, too.
Big porcelain tiles are really trendy right now too. For ease of both installation and cleaning I give these a thumbs up too. One downfall is that whenever a tiled surface gets bigger, it's potential for cracking upon normal settlement goes up. I'm curious if tile repairmen have seen this in these bigger tiles.
When I took a look at this next room I was a little (frowny) because it didn't seem up to date enough. Wood look tile was *everything* about 5 years ago and we even installed a mess of it ourselves in this foreclosure remodel we are currently in. So I guess my own familiarity with it made it seem less impressive.
But I'm wrong. It looks like our use of it was at the beginning of the trend and it's just further evolving into more colors and sizes. I noticed some really long tiles of it at Menards last week and it made me wonder again about an increase in cracking with increased tile sizes. However, I'm glad it's still on trend because it is a dream to live with. So wonderfully hardy and easy to clean.
My source for updates on what's hot in houses these days continues to be houzz's website. I embed the photos straight from them, so if you click on a picture it'll take you straight to them for the rest of the story on each room.
