Decor trends and faves from Street of Dreams 2016!

Decor trends and faves from Street of Dreams 2016!

• 8.04.2016

It's time again for Street of Dreams in Portland! This year's event features five homes (WAY bigger than last year's, though I didn't think that possible) in a beautiful vineyard-centered private neighborhood outside West Linn. I went to one Street of Dreams right after high school, and then last year's, and now that I've been to two recently I love comparing them and analyzing why we're seeing the trends and changes for this year!

The event runs July 30 through August 28, 2016 and you can buy tickets online or at the event. Husband and I went last Sunday morning and had a fabulous time wandering through all the homes and picking our fave elements! We also noticed some consistent choices in some of the homes that I SWEAR are inspired by Fixer Upper, with all the popularity it's gained in the past year or so. (Fair because it is possibly the greatest reality show ever. We both love it!) I don't follow all the home decor trends too much, but we did marathon Fixer Upper this year!

I wanted to share my analysis of the big trends in fancy homes from this year's show! Along with some photos of my faves.

Popular elements from Street of Dreams 2016

Not every house had all of these, but... all of them had most!

1. Beams. Usually in living rooms and master bedrooms! Sometimes in guest suites or dining rooms, too. There was one house with wood beam lines alllll over the ceilings in the living room/great room area, going multiple directions, kind of silly.... but there were also quite a few basic beautiful oak beams in bedroom ceiling vaults that I liked!
2. Barn doors. Sliding barn doors (wood or white) on dark metal tracks were in every home, pretty much. They're cool for smaller homes because they don't take up the space of a door swing, but they were all over in these mansions, too! 
3. Antiques. I loved seeing a few really beautiful antique wood dressers or tables mixed in with the new pieces! They add so much character. My favorite home had a lot of west elm and some great antique wood pieces.
4. Craft rooms. Most of these homes had multiple offices last year as well, but a couple this year had a dad's office, mom's office, kids' office, and big craft room with counters and storage.
5. Mother-in-law suites. Three or four homes had some kind of guest quarters complete with kitchen. One had a mother-in-law unit attached to the pool house. Another had a whole separate wing of the house with two bedrooms as well as a (very nice) full kitchen and two-car garage! At least this trend is very practical--I know a lot of people who've thought about having a parent or relative live with them at some point.
6. Outdoor showers. You know, because the 6 bathrooms and 5 half-baths aren't always close enough, or something...
7. Pool houses! One of them had a second massive BBQ and a drinking fountain. I don't remember any pool houses, or many pools, from last year's event. This year's homes had much bigger lots, that might be part of it.

Here are some photos of a few of my favorite spaces!

This kitchen had painted brick rather than subway tile as a backsplash. Added nice texture.

It was impossible to get a shot without at least a couple people in it!

I loooved this home--some midcentury pieces, some modern west elm furniture, that very cool textured faded rug, neon in art throughout the home...

I think this was the same home, a Jack-and-Jill bathroom between two kids' rooms upstairs. A really old-fashioned feel, actually!

Most of the features that appealed to me were things I could see wanting in my own home. To break the trend, here's the coolest pool deck with slide and natural rocks, plus (outside the photo) a dramatic cliff-like infinity pool on the other side looking out over the vineyard and Mount Hood!

Five was about a perfect number of homes to see in a morning! We were able to keep them straight (pretty much) and got some ideas and inspirations, and of course couldn't quite imagine how you could live in such a huge home and possibly use all that space. And, we were happy to come home to our nice, quiet, manageable (and relatively easy-to-clean) townhome!

We were house-hunting earlier this summer but have tabled that idea again for now, though seeing Street of Dreams did make me excited for our next home, whenever and wherever that is, and maybe some DIY decorating projects!

Street of Dreams is going on in West Linn through August 28! It's a super fun outing and a great way to get inspired!

Thanks to Street of Dreams for the media passes they provided for me and my husband to go tour. I didn't receive any monetary compensation for this post; I just wanted to share it with you in this depth because it's fun!