Hey Black & White! It’s me, Beige. I’m Back!

This design critique dissects a newly constructed home that awkwardly merges fading black-and-white modern trends with emerging beige/Tuscan elements. It’s a showcase of mismatched finishes, random accent walls, and poorly coordinated bathroom designs that exemplify current transitional period confusion in interior design trends.

So, what can we learn from this? Keep reading…

When colour trends merge

When I saw this house for sale, sent to me by a follower, I had to post it here for you too. That’s because I love to keep ya’ll right on the pulse of what’s happening in trends. 

This house is a perfect example of what happens when two trends merge, which happens a lot when one trend is on it’s way out and a new one is coming in.

What’s a No-Style Home?

First, let’s just notice the finishes on the exterior of this brand new build shall we? It’s like two houses were pieced together with the new beige/tuscan trend on the right paired with random grey and white tile on the left. 

And to top off this exterior, they added a red garage door (by the way, cherry wood is coming back, too) with unnecessary scroll-y details that match the front door.

 I would call this a “no-style” home.

Let’s go inside next:

Hey Black & White! It’s me, Beige. I’m Back!

Here we have added two random accent walls in gold.

Just when I think I’ve seen every possible design choice imaginable, something new and unexpected appears – it’s precisely these surprising moments that make my job so endlessly fascinating. And, why I love this job.

A fireplace wall with a 2-foot strip of colour on either side that simply stops where the windows begin. Immediately no.

Also notice the walls are a pale beige (complex cream is what we’ve been calling it for years because everyone was allergic to the word beige).

Now, let’s take a closer look at the kitchen. If you’ve ever wondered about introducing a navy blue to your black and white kitchen, you can refer to this image. And we haven’t even got into the multiple use of patterns here.

A lot of people introduce navy because it feels like an easier decision–it’s a colour but feels like a neutral. Usually navy comes up when they feel they don’t want to make yet another choice in black or white. And navy just feels like a ‘safe’ decision, I suppose.

Here’s the bathroom where the mish-mash of beige begins to appear. Also if you’re considering a vessel sink for any bathroom BUT the powder room, I recommend you skip this idea. They are messy and impractical. Just ask anyone who has one.

This bathroom (below) is a primary example of why I recommend choosing timeless finishes for the big ticket items on your design plan. 

The design choices here created unnecessary complexity by incorporating different finishes for each element – the tub, shower, vanity, and floor. Future homeowners will likely want to simplify this space by updating some or all of these varied hard finishes to create a more cohesive look. It’s such a waste.

And in this bathroom below, we have a black on black vanity with a black toilet. Then we’ve attempted to add warmth by adding black and gold beige to the shower surround.

We’ve also carried the wood-look tile into the shower floor. I’m guessing they had to choose a solid colour vanity because the wood-look tile severely limited their wood vanity options.

And if given the choice, just say no to anything but white plumbing fixtures.

And in this bathroom (below) we have a random black shower floor that doesn’t relate to anything, or maybe it is on the rest of the bathroom floor but we won’t know until we tour the house in person because it was cropped out of the photo. Still not the right choice for this bathroom anyway.

A lot of money was spent in these bathrooms on unnecessary creativity, especially with the shower surround that again in no way relates to the vanity. A tell-tale sign? It looks like these finishes were installed at different times. 

We also can’t see the floor in the powder room so I’m guessing it was also another random tile. 

Choosing Timeless Finishes for Your Bathroom

Years ago I arrived at a clients home because they needed my help reselecting countertops for 3 different bathroom vanities where the tile floors were already installed. 

They had countertop samples chosen by their cabinet maker, but they wanted a second opinion.

All three countertops clashed with the existing floors, highlighting why expert colour guidance matters. Most homeowners don’t realize how limited their options become with hard finishes, particularly with countertops – which is precisely why we always select them first in the design process.

In this case, solid white was the only option for one of the bathrooms in this story because there was no other countertop samples that worked with the tile that was already installed. 

A white countertop seems like a no-brainer now, but years ago in the middle of the brown trend, no one was doing that.

And clearly the person who had helped choose the first round of countertop samples was too inexperienced too know this simple rule.  The goal in any bathroom or kitchen with tile floors (rather than timeless hardwood floors) is that your countertop MUST look like it’s married to the rest of your finishes. Skip the colour theory and read this post instead. 

I also teach this important rule for choosing finishes in my colour training.  

Well my lovelies, remember this moment – it’s when we witnessed the awkward collision of beige with black and white trends, creating a cautionary tale in design history. And one you don’t want to repeat in your new build or renovation project.

If you’d like help choosing finishes for your home shop my edesign packages here. 

Related posts:

The Style of your Home vs. Your Design Style

Here’s What I would Change About this House

What Would Maria Do With This Exterior