Decorating Guides
5 Decor Trends to Try — and 5 to Rethink
Some style trends are worth jumping onboard. Others you may want to let fade from your memory
Take on too many trends and you end up looking, well, too trendy. But if you never try out a trend at all, you come off looking like a stick in the mud. Here’s my advice for which lasting trends you can feel safe to add to your style, and which might be best left alone until they pass.
Getting a richly patterned look requires taking some risk, but layering different items gives you the option to add pieces and take some away until you get the overall effect just right. Mix some inexpensive patterned pillows from a bargain-hunter store with a few upscale finds as you collect them. You can always switch out a few covers (or move a rug to a new room) to get a less busy look down the line.
How to Layer Your Patterns Right
How to Layer Your Patterns Right
Rethink: Ombré
Color fading is beautiful and dreamy, but the trend itself is likely to fade away in the not-too-distant future. Painting your walls in ombré fashion is a low-risk venture (although achieving a smooth effect takes a good deal of skill and effort), but using the method on upholstery or expensive drapes might come back to haunt you.
Color fading is beautiful and dreamy, but the trend itself is likely to fade away in the not-too-distant future. Painting your walls in ombré fashion is a low-risk venture (although achieving a smooth effect takes a good deal of skill and effort), but using the method on upholstery or expensive drapes might come back to haunt you.
Accessories such as dip-dyed pillows or painted furniture (that can be repainted) are another low-commitment way to incorporate an ombré effect.
2. Try: Brass
Brass may have gotten a bad reputation at one point (especially the garish shiny accents that plagued the 1980s and ’90s), but it’s back in a big way and doesn’t show signs of fading anytime soon.
Brushed brass is subtler than gold, with a less orange tone that tends to be a little more demure, so if you feel like adding a warm metal, it’s probably your best bet for the long term.
Brass may have gotten a bad reputation at one point (especially the garish shiny accents that plagued the 1980s and ’90s), but it’s back in a big way and doesn’t show signs of fading anytime soon.
Brushed brass is subtler than gold, with a less orange tone that tends to be a little more demure, so if you feel like adding a warm metal, it’s probably your best bet for the long term.
Rethink: Copper
Warm metals are one of the hottest trends right now, but copper may burn out much sooner than other finishes. Using it in large amounts is recommended only if it’s a finish you loved before it was “cool,” or else you might find you’ve lost the passion for it in a few years.
That being said, copper hardware (like a set of cabinet pulls) and small accessories (like a fruit bowl) are a more accessible way to give a space that rosy glow without committing till death do you part.
Warm metals are one of the hottest trends right now, but copper may burn out much sooner than other finishes. Using it in large amounts is recommended only if it’s a finish you loved before it was “cool,” or else you might find you’ve lost the passion for it in a few years.
That being said, copper hardware (like a set of cabinet pulls) and small accessories (like a fruit bowl) are a more accessible way to give a space that rosy glow without committing till death do you part.
Another smart way to get a little taste of copper in the kitchen is by displaying some classic copper pots. They fit the trend, but are also a timeless chef’s-kitchen look that can never truly go out of style.
Someday if you do want to move on, all you have to do is tuck the cookware back in a cabinet.
Someday if you do want to move on, all you have to do is tuck the cookware back in a cabinet.
3. Try: Oversized Pendants
A dramatic light fixture is always an eye-catcher, and when an ornate chandelier isn’t appropriate for your budget or your taste, an oversized drum shade makes a hip contemporary statement. If you use a simple pendant cord with a detachable shade, you can achieve a big look without the big price tag, and change the look later by simply switching the shade out for something more modest.
A dramatic light fixture is always an eye-catcher, and when an ornate chandelier isn’t appropriate for your budget or your taste, an oversized drum shade makes a hip contemporary statement. If you use a simple pendant cord with a detachable shade, you can achieve a big look without the big price tag, and change the look later by simply switching the shade out for something more modest.
This is also a good way to add a fun accent hue, because a bold colorful shade can be replaced when your mood changes, or wrapped in fabric for an updated look.
Create a fun effect by dip-dyeing a plain shade or drawing on breezy vertical stripes with an art marker (in a loose, painterly style that embraces a little imperfection). Now it’s two trends in one!
Create a fun effect by dip-dyeing a plain shade or drawing on breezy vertical stripes with an art marker (in a loose, painterly style that embraces a little imperfection). Now it’s two trends in one!
Rethink: Colored Fixtures
The design world is loving charming colorful sinks and fixtures right now. (If you caught this trend early, please share a snap of your space and share it in the Comments so the less brave of us can see.)
However, if you’re just thinking of jumping on the trend now, or you’re unsure, you might be wishing you had stuck to classic white in a few years. Vivid colors always get dated, so this is a trend that will definitely pass.
The design world is loving charming colorful sinks and fixtures right now. (If you caught this trend early, please share a snap of your space and share it in the Comments so the less brave of us can see.)
However, if you’re just thinking of jumping on the trend now, or you’re unsure, you might be wishing you had stuck to classic white in a few years. Vivid colors always get dated, so this is a trend that will definitely pass.
Instead of a colored sink, consider a colored faucet. It’s still an investment, but not generally as difficult to change down the road, and not as bold a statement.
4. Try: Color-Blocked Walls
Unless you paint your entire space one hue, it can sometimes be tough to decide where to end one color and begin another. One bold trend, however, is to stop worrying completely and paint outside the lines to create fun and whimsical effects.
You might not love the look in five years (or even next year), but paint is always relatively easy to change.
Unless you paint your entire space one hue, it can sometimes be tough to decide where to end one color and begin another. One bold trend, however, is to stop worrying completely and paint outside the lines to create fun and whimsical effects.
You might not love the look in five years (or even next year), but paint is always relatively easy to change.
For an easy DIY project, tape one wall into rectangular sections and paint with a tone-on-tone palette, drawing colors from a fabric or art that you like, especially blue-greens, which almost never clash with one other. The patchwork effect gives a room a casual elegance, and you won’t get tired of any one color nearly as quickly.
Rethink: Bidets and Other Fancy Bathroom Fixtures
There’s a reason the trend of installing an old-fashioned bidet in modern homes has come and gone before: We’ve all bought some new appliance that’s gone unused after the first month. But unlike a bread maker, a bidet can’t be tucked away in a cabinet.
Novelty appliances for the bathroom tend to end up wasting square footage, and when their trend passes, they can even be off-putting. If you’ve got plenty of space to spare and know you’ll really use that bidet, take the plunge, but otherwise you can put that space and budget to better use.
There’s a reason the trend of installing an old-fashioned bidet in modern homes has come and gone before: We’ve all bought some new appliance that’s gone unused after the first month. But unlike a bread maker, a bidet can’t be tucked away in a cabinet.
Novelty appliances for the bathroom tend to end up wasting square footage, and when their trend passes, they can even be off-putting. If you’ve got plenty of space to spare and know you’ll really use that bidet, take the plunge, but otherwise you can put that space and budget to better use.
If you want to add an unusual piece to your bathroom to give it a little extra luxe appeal, work in an unexpected furniture piece like an indoor-outdoor garden stool (so it can travel into the shower or sit by the bath) or an invitingly traditional chair. Down the road you may want the space to be functional and uncluttered again, and you will be able to find a new use for the furniture elsewhere.
5. Try: Oversized Art
Gallery walls have been “in” for a while now, and though they are still a fun way to express your creativity (and share your mismatched memorabilia), the newer trend is a return to single, high-impact oversized art pieces that do all the talking on their own.
We tend to notice vertical surfaces first, so a large canvas or print will always be a showstopper.
Gallery walls have been “in” for a while now, and though they are still a fun way to express your creativity (and share your mismatched memorabilia), the newer trend is a return to single, high-impact oversized art pieces that do all the talking on their own.
We tend to notice vertical surfaces first, so a large canvas or print will always be a showstopper.
If you want a large, luxurious piece that doesn’t overpower a breezy room, choose one with a lot of exposed white background, or buy a large, simple frame with deep white matting and fill it with a simple photo. It will exude museum character, even if you aren’t a professional photographer.
Rethink: Message Art
Like message T-shirts in fashion, large-font prints of motivational words and phrases have been overexposed, and they lose all impact when you pack many of them into the same space.
Instead of a plethora of posters and knickknacks, consider applying a coat of good chalkboard paint to one wall, frame or even furniture piece. This way you can change the message whenever you feel like it, and you won’t have the same “Keep Calm” poster as everyone else.
Like message T-shirts in fashion, large-font prints of motivational words and phrases have been overexposed, and they lose all impact when you pack many of them into the same space.
Instead of a plethora of posters and knickknacks, consider applying a coat of good chalkboard paint to one wall, frame or even furniture piece. This way you can change the message whenever you feel like it, and you won’t have the same “Keep Calm” poster as everyone else.
Better still, skip the blackboard and go for a green-board effect, using a colorful chalkboard paint to add a punch of interest that speaks louder than words.
More: A Designer’s 8 Go-To Pieces
More: A Designer’s 8 Go-To Pieces
While layering patterns might feel like an emerging trend in 2016, it’s something that has always worked, and will continue to do so. Sure, it can seem daunting to mix patterns without their clashing, but it can be made simpler by using patterns of distinctly different types. Notice how this room has striped bedding, large-scale dots (and, conversely, a blanket with an intricate small-scale pattern) and a patchwork rug.