Trendy or Timeless: Is My Favorite Decor a Design Trend or a Design Staple?

One of my main goals as a designer is to create spaces that cannot be identified by the year in which they were designed.  I never want someone twenty years from now to go in a kitchen I designed and say, “Oh, that is so 2015!” It sounds silly now, but I can easily look at a living room with wood paneling and green shag carpet and say, “this is clearly out of 1970.” I think we all can! These tell-tale sign of the times are what can prevent a space from being “timeless.”

Today, people are more cautious of design trends. They know how awful the avocado-colored fridges and the glass block showers of the past were, so they do not want to put items in their home that are going to date them.

Here are my thoughts on a few design elements regarding their longevity in the design world:

 

Apron Front (Farm) Sinks:

Nowadays when you look through Houzz.com for kitchen inspirational ideas, it seems as though every kitchen features a farm sink, also known as an apron front sink. It could be a made of porcelain, stainless steel, even soapstone.  This is an element that I cannot even call a design trend because it has been around since the 1800s. I don’t ever see apron front sinks going out of style. They are most often seen as being fit for traditional styling, but they can make quite a statement in contemporary and eclectic design philosophies. They truly become a statement piece in the kitchen and will look striking for years to come.

 

Chevron:

Chevron patterns were probably one of the most popular patterns in 2014. It seemed like every Pinterest page had a chevron rug or a chevron piece of art or chevron pillows. This is a design trend that was basically run in to the ground. The market was oversaturated with chevron—there is just no more room for it in 2015 and beyond.

 

Gray walls:

Gray is here to stay. Gray paint on the walls has been popular in the design world for the past ten years or so, and there is no sign of it slowing down. I think there a couple reasons for its steady popularity:  it is a neutral color that can ready both “cool” and “warm” depending on the undertone, and it is the perfect backdrop to other pops of color and pattern within a space. For this reason, it can withstand the test of time because even if the accent pillows or area rugs change in the space, the gray can remain as a steady unwavering backdrop to the next design scheme.

 

Whirlpool Tubs:

Whirlpool tubs are out. In the past five years, I don’t think I have ever worked on a bathroom remodel project where we installed a new whirlpool tub. I think we have removed the whirlpool tub in every case and replaced it with a large glass shower.  In the past, it was such a feature in your home to have a nice jetted tub in the master bedroom, but the reality was no one would ever use it. I’ve seen several bathrooms where the whirlpool tub is used as a hamper for laundry or a place for extra storage. Because they take up so much space, they are being removed to make more space for more desirable features like a large stand-up showers and double vanities.

 

 

All things considered, one of the things I say the most to my clients is, “this is your space, so you need to do what you love.”  If you want chevron wallpaper around the whirlpool tub in your master bath, then that’s what you should do. Your home is your space and you need to do whatever makes you happy, regardless of what the trends say.  Just keep in mind that you hired a designer for a reason, so if they are strongly suggesting you don’t go with a green shag carpet, there is probably a pretty good reason why.