Designer For A Day: Yay Or Nay

As Bob Ross liked to say, “Shoot, let’s have some fun…”

You know what I’m talking about, right?

By my count, we’re now into the re-re-discovery of the legend of Bob Ross.

The first rediscovery was back in 2019 or 2020 when “The Joy Of Painting” came to Netflix, and all the children of the 1980’s were like, “Hey, that old dude with the crazy afro who paints a full picture in twenty minutes is BACK ON TV!”

We told our friends.  We told our siblings.  We even told our parents.

We all remembered the painter with the afro, since it seemed like his show was always on television in the 80s, every minute, of every day.

I believe the show aired on TVO, but I could be wrong.  Back before we had a “guide,” and we were accustomed to flipping channels with the clicker/remote/gizmo, as it was called back then, we would occasionally stop to see what Bob Ross was painting.

You were six years old and wanted to watch G.I. Joe or Barbie, and yet you stopped to watch Bob Ross paint.

You were twelve years old and wanted to watch Growing Pains or Full House, and yet you stopped to watch Bob Ross paint.

So fast forward to 2019 and you’re watching “the guy with the afro” on this streaming service called Netflix, and you’re thinking, “I never would have guessed.”

We all did it.

And then it faded.

But for many of us, we’ve re-re-discovered Bob Ross again in 2026!

I know that I certainly have, and I’m now watching the show with my 9-year-old daughter on Saturday nights (another aspect of life that has changed…), telling her stories about when I watched this as a child.

Bob Ross has some very memorable lines.

Every painting necessitates a “brave decision” to be made as he abruptly inserts a giant tree into the middle of an otherwise finished-looking painting.

His remark, “There are no mistakes, there are only happy accidents,” has likely been copied in a variety of fashions over the last three decades.

I quote Bob Ross all the time when I tell my daughter, “The secret to doing anything is believing that you can do it.”  Hey, if Bob Ross says it, then it must be true!

But my absolute favourite is:

“Shoot, let’s have some fun!”

When Bob says this at the beginning of the episode, I know we’re about to make magic!

Today, I’m going to appeal to the TRB readers who are bored of statistics, and maybe don’t want to read an epic 2,500-word story about an offer night.

Today, I want to look at design choices.

I would say design “trends,” but I don’t know what’s trending because I’m not trendy.  I’m simply going to point out a few trends that I’ve seen as of late, specifically in higher-end houses in Toronto.

Let’s look at houses priced from $3,000,000 to $6,000,000 and a few design choices that I’ve been noticing.

As always, we’ll give an extremely subjective “yay” or “nay” to each.

Shall we?

–

Wallpapered Powder Rooms

A lot of higher-end homes have wallpapered powder rooms, like this one:

My powder room “features” drywall.

And I love it.

But I’m not fancy.  Or classy.  So what do I know?

Black toilets were very 1980, but are they back in 2026?

In any event, this particular bathroom notwithstanding, I think wallpaper works:

VOTE: Yay.

–

Stone EVERYWHERE Powder Rooms

I’ve seen this a lot in modern homes, but a picture paints a thousand words

It’s like the conversation between the builder and the designer went, “Why stop at just tile on the floors?  Why not the walls and ceiling?”

This doesn’t tickle me.  At all.

VOTE: Nay.

–

Stone And Wallpaper Powder Rooms

Boy, are we ever lucky today!

We get to combine the previous two bathroom features – wallpaper and stone, and present this:

Stone floor, stone counter, stone walls, and wallpaper.

Look, I love cheetahs as much as you do, but I don’t love the combination of stone everywhere plus wallpaper.

VOTE: Nay.

–

Main Floor Wine Cabinets

Some of you are already chuckling.

If there’s one thing I’ve been known for over the last few years, it’s my constant criticism of these:

Let’s just think about this logistically, for a moment.

That cabinet holds about 50 bottles of wine.

When (or why?) are you going to need fifty bottles of wine immediately and simultaneously?

There’s nothing wrong with a wine cellar in your basement, or, God forbid, keeping wine in a kitchen cupboard.

But a fifty-bottle display in your dining room!?!?!?

Why?

This is just a waste:

That’s three brands of exceptionally cheap table wine, displayed proudly in a $7 Million house.

“Look, honey, I didn’t even know the 2027 wines had been released…”

At least this one is near the kitchen, but I still hate it.

This one takes the cake, though:

That’s a wine cabinet in the living room.

Just…..why?

VOTE: Nay.

–

WOLF Range

Is your house really all that special if you don’t have a WOLF range?

I’m not a foodie, nor do I enjoy cooking or baking as a hobby, so excuse my cynicism when I suggest that maybe, just maybe, people only love WOLF ranges because everybody else does.

We just die for those red knobs, don’t we?

This could be the best marketing I’ve ever seen in home decor.  Seriously.

But do those red knobs really elevate the marginal utility?

Do they elevate the value?

Look, I’m the guy who suggests that a Louis Vuitton handbag accomplishes the same task as a Michal Kors bag does, let alone a plastic bag from No Frills.

However, I’m not completely naive.

VOTE: Yay.

–

Garage Lifts

What makes a one-car garage a two-car garage?

A lift like this:

Maybe I’m just a scaredy-cat, but I picture that lift falling on me one day, and then everybody would know me as “That blog guy that got crushed by his own car.”

I think I’d like to go out in a better way than that.

VOTE: Nay.

–

Elevators!

I’ve seen a lot of this in newer luxury homes:

I would be naive if I didn’t acknowledge that many homeowners are looking to “age in place” and that elevators are a very sought-after feature for the older demographic

However, when a builder includes an elevator in a home without having any idea who’s buying it, this can backfire.

I showed a house earlier this year to a couple who were in their late-30’s and had three children.  All boys.

My client took one look at the elevator and said, “I can’t imagine raising three boys in a house with an elevator.  There’s just no way this doesn’t cause problems.”

And that was that.

Elevators are a great feature for the older demographic, but to include one in every new build is a Nay.

–

Tiled Main Floor

Was the hardwood store…..out of hardwood?

No.

Rather, this was a decision:

I recognize that I’m the guy who would probably find a favourite restaurant and eat there every day for the rest of his life, and thus I’m not the person you want to run “outside the box” design features by.

But this is awful.

It’s institutional.

VOTE: Nay.

–

Things That Glow

I said with respect to the wine wall:

Just……why?

This looks fine:

So why IN THE WORLD do we need to light it up at night?!?!?

Like this…

People really seem to like things that glow these days.

I’ve seen far too many dining rooms with purple spotlights of late.

VOTE: Nay.

–

The Modern Main Floor Home Office

Last, but most certainly not least, let’s look at home offices.

You know what I like, right?

I love old-world, wood-paneled home offices, like this:

Maybe it’s the lighting, the camera, or both, but that wood colour is a touch too red.

But I love the style.

I love the wood!

Here’s another one:

But builders aren’t doing these anymore!

Today, we’re getting far more modern main-floor home offices, likely without everybody’s favourite “globe that opens to a whiskey bar.”  More on that in a moment…

Here’s what we’re seeing today:

That looks lonely.

And I could use a window.  I think there’s a window behind the desk, but it’s not enough

VOTE: Nay.

Then there’s this one:

Way too modern, er, “understated.”

How about this:

I could live with it….except:

-Black granite
-Strip lighting
-“Welcome” and “Home” garbage from HomeSense

Otherwise, a pass.

VOTE: Nay

But the last one, however, is something to see:

Modern, yes.

Wood, also yes.

Glass doors, black window frames, black hardware.

That desk is positively useless, and I absolutely loathe those stupid chair/stool things that don’t qualify as furniture, but if you took them out, along with the tacky, fake plant, I could call this “home.”

VOTE: Yay.

Now, if we could return to the globe that opens up into a bar, just for a moment.

Once upon a time, these were the coolest thing in the world.

But as with everything else that was cool, it started to get overdone.

You can buy this on Amazon for $189:

Then again, you can buy this one on Etsy for $3,449:

Not quite Frigidaire versus WOLF now, is it?

Happy Monday, everybody!