2025 Design Focus #3: The Formal Dining Space

For a year or so, we. have been moving away from completely open floorplans. People are leaning more towards functional, defined spaces. And the dining room is one of those! If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE dinner around the table with friends and loved ones, and my dining spaces have always been some of my favorite spaces in every house I have lived in. So I like this very much as a “trend” - creating a beautiful, cozy space for families to spend more time slowed down and enjoying each other is a really cool thing. So turn that space BACK into a dining room or carve out a separate dining area, light some candles, and just stay awhile.

Some recent dining room designs I’m loving…

Shonna Burske Design

Lindye Galloway

Ro House Studio

Sean Anderson Design

Sean Anderson Design

Pearson Design Group

Pearson Design Group

AFT Construction

2025 Design Focus #2: Curated and Collected Design

Have you ever walked into a chain furniture store and thought: Cute, but this doesn’t feel homey? There can almost be a sterile feeling to it. Everything matching, everything uniform.

My next design trend for this year addresses just that!

When you create a home by gathering pieces, you create a cozier space. Collect items from travels, display special art + momentos, bring in furniture from different places/sources, and mix new pieces with old pieces. Now, my professional advice says don’t go gathering fuchsia couches and lime green rugs and navy plaid pillows. (Unless that’s your goal, then go for that ecclectic vibe and own it!)

Ultimately, however, there should be a rhyme/reason/connection/theme to the collection.

Here is an example: you buy a great dining table in a wood tone that matches another furniture piece - it doesn’t have to be exact, just same undertone (I can explain this with pictures - reach out if you want to see examples!) Then, you add in a beautiful black velvet dining bench, but only one because we aren’t looking to match and create exact symmetry. Next you find some great metal dining chairs to complement the metal lighting in the space, and you choose black metal to vibe with the black bench. You add some pillows of varying color and pattern to pair with some velvet drapery (see - same material used again) and you have a gorgeous, cozy, curated and collected space that feels deliberate and very homey.

So, grab some different chairs for the “heads” of your dining table, or use similar but unique sofas in the same room, or hang artwork that has frames that are all different styles but similar metal tones - and watch your space transform into a more updated version of what it used to be!

Shonna Burske Design: Circle Bar Photography

Shonna Burske Design

Studio McGee

Whitney Parkinson Design

Amber Interiors

Studio McGee

2025 Design Focus #1: Warm, Moody Colors and Woods

It’s very simple: I am super excited about this trend because these are my absolute favorite colors to design with! Burgundy, dark chocolate brown, mocha, dark teal green, rich copper - so, so beautiful.

Some of the 2025 colors of the year to paint the story for us: Elderton (Graham & Brown), Clove (part of the Sherwin Williams collection), Cinnamon Slate (Benjamin Moore), Rumors (Behr), Caramelized (Dunn Edwards), and Mocha Mousse (Panetone), plus lots of rich purple/wines from other.paint companies.

These colors add richness and coziness to any space they occupy. They create depth and interest, evoke calmness and serenity, and bring a desire to just sit and stay awhile. So in a time when so many of us are resolving to slowwwwww down, this trend fits pretty perfectly.

Interior Design Trends 2025

First of all, typing “2025” is wild. I’m not sure where 2024 went, but it’s gone!

There is something so magical to me about welcoming in a new year. I think it goes back to my 12 years as a classroom teacher, when starting a new school year represented so many hopes + goals + dreams, both for me and my students.:)

So here comes 2025, a year that is sure to be full of familiar coziness along with exciting newness. And, as I do every year, I LOVE to comb through the design magazines and blogs to see what other pros are predicting will be “big” in the coming year. I take it all in paired with a lot of reflection. Reflection around what I personally see and what I believe in, because I will never recommend something as trendy that I cannot professionally get behind and that doesn’t fit the Refined Ranch style. So, here are my top trending/in-focus ideas in design for 2025.

Design Focus #1: Warm, Moody Colors and Woods

Design Focus #2: Curated + Collected Design

Design Focus #3: The Formal Dining Space

Design Focus #4: Dramatic Draperies

Design Focus #5: Spa-Like Bathroom Features

This week, I’ll be diving into each one of these in detail and sharing my favorite products and paint colors to help you achieve these beautiful trends in your own home!

Themed Days of Summer 2024: Activity Set #5

Round five of themed daily activities - head to Insta for fun details! :)

Unicorns

Art/craft: paint a watercolor unicorn, use a paper towel roll to create a unicorn horn

Show: Nella the Princess Knight

Food: Unicorn lemonade - sparkling water, freshly squeezed lemon, raspberries, and a little honey

Game: Unicorn ring toss

Rocks

Art/craft: go outside on a rock hunt, categorize your rocks by color, shape, size, etc.

Show: BBC Earth: Planet Earth

Food: Koala crisp cereal (looks like rocks!)

Game/Activity: visit a rock quarry or landscape shop to see all sorts of different rocks

Slides

Art/craft: use popsicle sticks, tape or string, and playdough to make a slide for dolls or cars

Show: Peppa Pig: The Playground

Food: pancake and sausage slides

Game: go to a park or using a slide in your own yard, experiment to see what makes you slide down faster and what makes you slide slower

Pizza

Art/craft: draw a paper plate pizza, make playdough pizzas

Show: The Backyardigans - Chichen Itza Pizza

Food: homemade pizza!

Game: Use a blanket or towel to make a “pizza dough circle” then toss balls "(“pepperoni”) and other “ingredients onto the pizza

Letter Fun!

Art/craft: Depending on your child’s ability level, you can: draw large letter outlines and let your kiddo color or paint the inside, practice writing letters on whiteboards or paper, cut letters out

Show: WordWorld, Alphablocks

Food: Letter pasta or crackers

Game: Sort any kind of letter toys, puzzles, find the letter, match letters

ALL ABOUT THE DADS: Fathers' Day Gifts 2024

Our dads are our rocks, the ones who bring the goofy fun, the ones with knowledge about all the things, and the ones who can fix anything! Let’s celebrate them with some special gifts! I rounded up the most unique, meaningful, cool items for the dads in your life. Click on the pictures for the link to my LTK shop with all the details! :)

The Best Mother's Day Gifts 2024

Cheers to mamas!!! I love being able to take a special day to celebrate not only my own mom but all the wonderful mamas in my life who are just rocking it day in and day out. What a mother does in a day will never be fully understood…all the little things that mamas do - consciously and even subconsciously - support the growth and happiness of their families. You really are all champions and changemakers!

So - let’s shower them with appreciation! Here are a few gift ideas that I think the mamas in your life will love. Jump over to my ShopMy store for all the links!!

For the busy mom

This item has been a GAMECHANGER for me as a mama!! It makes organizing our busy lives so much easier.
10/10 receommend!!!

the best organizer ever

For the tox-conscious mom

It is becoming more and more clear to so many of us just how filled with toxins our daily products are! Here are some safer products that I found + love.

details here

For the fashion-forward mom

Share a little of that Refined Ranch style - here are the cutest boots + bling for the sophisticated mama!

all the cute stuff

get the goodies

click to Shop

Peacekeepers 2024

I am striding into 2024 with my head held high and my goals straight in front of me!

I live an incredibly busy life, and although I have always been this way and wouldn’t have it any differently, I needed to rein in the focus a bit this year. With five kids, four businesses between myself and my husband, and all the ranch animals, keeping my peace is key to keeping my whole family’s peace! So here are my “PEACEKEEPERS” for this year - I’d love to hear yours in the comments!