As a homes editor at Southern Living, I spend a lot of time talking to interior designers about decorating trends, writing about said trends, and then reading your social media responses to my stories about them. I don’t mind stirring up a little soft controversy or sparking a heated debate every now and then, but there’s one common reader reply that I can’t argue with: “You keep your trends, and I’ll keep decorating the way I always have.” In other words, politely (sort of), shove it. 

That’s the Southern way, after all. We are a people who like what we like. 

Our design ethos is slow to change and often rooted in the generations who have come before. We’re home decorators who love color, prioritize hand-me-down furnishings and family heirlooms, and fill our spaces with meaningful pieces that have stood—and will continue to stand—the test of time. Give us brown furniture, floral prints, and a porch outfitted for year-round entertaining, and we feel right at home.

This Southern approach to decorating is often characterized as being “timeless” and “classic” (two words we actually try to avoid using in Southern Living home stories because we’d so often repeat ourselves!). “Trendy,” on the other hand, is something of a swear word for lots of Southerners (see also: “tacky”). It insinuates that a certain style or idea is nothing more than a flash in the pan—here today, gone tomorrow. 

Maybe it’s a lifetime of watching my mom whisper the word “trendy” with a tone of mild horror, but I tend to be fairly trend-averse myself. Blindly adopting design ideas solely because it’s what the pros currently recommend goes against my Southern values of originality, creativity, and hardheadedness. 

But even though I tend to skew traditional with my own home’s design, I delight in experimenting with a trend every now and then. To me, it’s the equivalent of a decorating pep talk, and incorporating an idea that’s a bit more au courant often makes my tried-and-trues feel fresher and more exciting. Once the newness wears off, I may decide that a trend isn’t for me, and I’ll revert to my classic ways—no harm, no foul. But every now and then, one of those so-called decorating trends feels so in harmony with my old-faithfuls that I decide to let it stick around for good. And isn’t that brand of hospitality the Southern way too?