If you’re thinking of remodelling for the year ahead, hoping to sell your house, or perhaps on the lookout for an investment property with fresh potential, then you’ll need to have a good idea of the ins and especially the outs of current design trends. 

A house might first and foremost provide shelter and protection, but in this day and age, it’s all about the bells and whistles. Architecture and interior design trends are a make or break phenomenon when it comes to making an impression, and knowing what’s stylish or desperately out-dated could serve you well when it comes time to sell. 

If you’re interested in finding out some of the most anticipated trends for the coming year ahead, then take a read of our recent article A New Decade of Design: Home Trends for 2020. This time around, we’re going to go through the designs that are on their way out, and will soon be relegated to the realms of shag pile carpets and lavender bathtubs.  

Grey be gone

For a while there seemed to be this increasingly popular trend of using grey as a neutral wash to set the tone within a room. However, that quickly got out of control and grey became an in vogue go-to colour to denote stylish elegance that would encompass everything. All grey homes are just about dead and buried and making way for warmer tones and more interesting colour concepts. So grey be gone! You’re no longer welcome. 

Perfection

Meticulously straight-edge decor is growing more and more obsolete as homeowners and buyers are finding the clinical feel of perfect interiors inhospitable and wholly impractical. How can you live comfortably in a home that’s only there for show? A design that dictates perfection is also a nightmare to upkeep and by default feels very unwelcoming and cold. People want to feel like a house is a home, not a photo from a magazine.

Open plan kitchens

Open living designs became all the rage for a while there. It seemed like the very idea of delineating one room from another was pure heresy. This idea is slowly falling out of favour though, as people have slowly begun to find that there are benefits to separating living spaces.  One of the biggest being that kitchens have a tendency to get very messy very quickly, which can often spill out into an open living space despite the best of intentions. Dealing with unwanted wafting smells, temperature fluctuations and condensation from cooking in a living area can also be a hindrance. And really, why do doors get such a bad rap?

Multi-purpose media rooms

Media rooms were once considered to be the height of luxury and a home trend that would bring great appeal as they held an air of extravagance, novelty and excitement. However, these days it doesn’t hold anywhere near the same level of glamour, and unless you’re a big Hollywood film executive, the idea is kind of absurd. Although they had leisurely appeal, it would seem that media rooms more often than not end up going unused and inevitably turn into storage space, which kind of ends up detracting from the luxury of its original purpose. Are you really going to invite your guests to watch Netflix in your junk room? I didn’t think so.

Industrial chic

This was a trend that became rather popular with the emergence of turning warehouses into living spaces and incorporating old factory aesthetics into homely designs. It was a big trend that gained a great deal of traction with inner city dwellings and studio apartments for what seemed like an age, but there now appears to be a slow tapering away from the industrial and back into the domestic. After all, civilization has enough bleak and manufactured spaces as it is without bringing that harsh atmosphere into the home. How many metal furnishings and free-hanging light bulbs does one house need? The answer is none.

All-white kitchens and bathrooms

This trend went bananas in the last couple of decades. Kitchens and bathrooms came doused in blinding white glossy surfaces that would highlight every spec of dust and fingerprint that grazed its surface. Thankfully this is beginning to fall out of favour and is being replaced with more earthy tones, natural materials such as wood and stone, along with stylish accents like colourful tiles and copper fittings. Just because a room needs easy clean surfaces, does not mean that you should need to don UV protective sunglasses before going in there.

Cool tones

This goes along with the idea that people are all around fed up with a cold and clinical atmosphere permeating their home environments. Cool tones fall into the category of industrial design and perfectionist decor that has flooded the home trends for far too long now. Warm ochres, rich aubergines, and silky mahoganeys are taking centre stage in this coming era. These tones have a tendency to bring a lot more comfort and heartfelt vibes into a space that make it far more conducive to expressing personality whilst staying away from cold and institutional overtones.     

There are lots of peculiar and unfashionable trends that have graced our homes over the years, and this is by no means an exhaustive list of designs that are growing old and obsolete, but it’s a good start. Keep your eyes open and try to gravitate towards new and emerging themes that are gaining popular appeal, whilst keeping your distance from those that have passed their prime. This will ensure you stay ahead of the game and make the best impression you can, time and time again.