Originally posted on Forbes.com by Kristin Salaky| 8 May 2024
If you’re looking to give your home a bit of a facelift, taking note of current trends can be a helpful place to start. Luckily, the home design space has been thrilling lately, with more room for personalized style, callbacks to vintage trends and luxury fixtures in bold colours, mixed metal finishes and ultra-durable designs. To help you get started on future home projects, we’ve rounded up some of our favourite home design trends that we’ve seen lately. From the understated to the bold to the space-saving, we have you covered.
Truly Custom Home Style
It feels important to start any home decor trend roundup with the biggest overall trend we’re seeing—people designing their homes based largely on their personal tastes and lifestyles. Nearly everyone we consulted with mentioned just how personal home design is becoming, which is why “personal” is the common denominator among these trends. People are paying more attention to their specific at-home needs, and their decor choices model the shift.
“This year, we are seeing more and more that creating a space that you want to live in, and that feels personalized is what’s important,” says Alex Yacavone, design studio manager, trend and colour, material & finish at Kohler Co. “Whether [you do] that through bold colours or finding a connection to nature through neutrals, your space is yours to create.”
Just a few of the examples we’ve seen of truly personal home design are bucking traditional colours and opting for bold designs in spaces like bathrooms and kitchens, backyards with larger-than-life entertainment spaces based on how homeowners like to host and niche spaces like coffee stations or wine cellars.
Warm Colors
After years of sterile, monochromatic white spaces being all the rage, the “clean girl” aesthetic, which is composed of minimalist decor and cool tones, seems to be going by the wayside for many homeowners. In its place is a cozier, warmer vibe.“I think that neutrals will always be a part of design because they’re foundational and you can pair them with anything. But within the neutral genre…it kind of ebbs and flows,” says interior designer Shea McGee when speaking about her collection with Kohler. “Right now we’re in a warm time and maybe five to seven years ago…[I would have chosen] a bright white on the walls. Now we’re going for the creams and these kinds of clay and putty colours. And I think that it just feels cozy. I think we just started craving that coziness.”Obviously, neutrals will always have their place, but this warmer colour revolution is pairing with homeowners going bold with reds, pinks and greens as some of the most popular home colours of the year. Even if you’re not comfortable adding these colours in big ways in your home, you can try them in accent walls or trim.
Mixing Metals
With the rise in warm tones, it’s no surprise that warmer metals like brass, gold and copper are also seeing a resurgence. While swapping out a few pieces of cabinet hardware is an easy task, it can get expensive to change out large metal fixtures like sinks to follow this motif. Luckily, another home decor trend is on the rise that can help you—mixed metals.
“I’m loving how much fun people are having with mixing metals. Mixing these different finishes, whether it’s the same material or separate materials, creates a lot of dimension in the kitchen (or in any space),” says Shae Wilder, manager of designer relations at BlueStar. For example, in [the project shown above) by BlueStar Kitchen Design Contest regional winner, Jennifer Chipman, co-founder and principal designer of Bond Design Company, the counter is soft but all of the pots and dishes are polished. It allows the copper to pop and act as the jewellery in the kitchen.”
This swap can take some adjusting to get just right, but try adding some alternate metal shades in small fixtures and see how you like it. Another smart strategy is to choose a default metal for most of the room and add some accent pieces.
Playful Design
As you probably understand by now, recent shifts in home design are all about trading in the cold and sterile for the fun and exciting. Of course, this can come in the form of the colours themselves by adding bold hues, but it can also happen in other ways like incorporating creative shapes, visual interest through texture and an overall sense of maximalism.
“Homeowners are breaking free from ‘cookie-cutter’ kitchen design and adding personal touches to their spaces with unique finishes, textures, and materials,” says Valentina Bertazzoni, style and communication director of Bertazzoni S.p.A. “Incorporating colour can make a statement and create a beautiful focal point, such as with a bright red range, or homeowners and designers can opt for a sprinkle of shine by playing with mixed metal finishes. Today’s options allow individualized design flare to shine through in one’s kitchen space.”
Searching vintage markets or your favourite home interior stores for fun pieces that excite you is a great way to get started here. The possibilities are endless, from fun wallpaper to kitschy knick-knacks to bold throws and bedframes.
Sustainability
Homeowners are increasingly concerned about their carbon footprint, and home brands and designers are taking note. Sustainable homes are obviously good for the environment, but they can also have financial benefits: Energy-efficient upgrades in your home can help you save money and adding things like solar panels and heat pumps can help you take advantage of the Investment Tax Credit (be sure to do your research about what qualifies here, though!).
Some of the biggest changes we’ve noticed are sinks and toilets that help you reduce water consumption, induction cooktops that help reduce reliance on natural gas without sacrificing cooking quality and builders using recycled or more sustainable materials.
The home industry’s approach to climate change is two-fold, though. We’ve seen general strides toward greater sustainability over the last few years, but the more notable trend this year is bringing power back to the homeowner in the face of extreme weather events.
Many have been affected by things like power outages, flooding and other forms of property damage thanks to severe weather. Brands are looking to help homeowners adapt to these changes thanks to items like backup generators, durable siding materials that can stand up to heat and high winds and equally sturdy roofing materials that can take a hailstorm beating.
Aesthetic Accessibility
Not only are aging in place and multigenerational households becoming more common, but brands are creating new appliances, features and cabinetry to fit the customer and adjust with them during their residence at their existing home.
What do these innovations look like? Think sensory-friendly faucets for homes with water that can reach scalding temperatures, washing machines with non-English and braille options, hands-free cabinets with adjustable shelf height and drawers for every reach level and more. Each of these new offerings allow homeowners to be taken care of by the everyday appliances, hardware and built-ins regardless of limitations.
Vintage Trends
Whether in fashion or homeware, trends are cyclical, and that’s apparent when you look at popular home design right now. Vintage-inspired accents from many different decades are coming together to create a new style.
“Everything from fashion, colours and metal finishes always finds its way back but with a new fresh twist,” says Wilder. “Homeowners are now looking for unique items that fit their personality and personal taste which can be achieved by using vintage furniture, textiles and colours from the past.”
Some of our favourite vintage touches include ornate touches on the bottom of clawfoot tubs or as part of lighting fixtures, tactile additions like pulls on lighting panels and throwback printed wallpaper to add a bit of fun to a room.
Fluting
Speaking of vintage-inspired touches, one of the most significant design decisions we noticed during our time at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) was fluting. This textural choice was on display on walls, around counters and in outdoor design, just to name a few. And since it was often shown with warm tones, like peaches and creams, that also have a vintage feel, this touch hits on a few different trends at once.
“Fluting is having a big moment as it is a great way to incorporate texture through different surfacing materials to achieve a timeless look,” says Claudia Afshar, international interior and product designer. “My new collaboration with Cosentino, Dekton UKIYO, features ready-to-install fluted tiles, one of the first of its kind in the industry. It adds beautiful depth and dimension into designs and can be mixed and matched with other materials such as metals and wood.”
Biophilia
Another design trend that blends a few concepts on our list is biophilia, or taking inspiration from nature. We’ve seen this done in a few different ways including colours (greens especially are having a major moment), materials (natural, often sustainable materials like bamboo and cork are becoming more and more common) and home design (renovations like enormous glass doors that blend the outdoor space with the indoor are all the rage).
“Biophilia is a growing trend,” says Caleb Anderson, co-founder of interior design firm Drake/Anderson. “We all need more nature in our lives. It is also exciting to see innovation in so many bio-based materials (like mushroom and cactus leathers, wallpapers made from flower industry waste) and the creative opportunities to marry this aesthetic with modern design.”
Even if you can’t take on some of the bigger biophilic touches, smaller ones like adding plants to your room or even a photo showing off your favourite natural landscape is a way to make the room feel peaceful and at one with nature.
Multi-Use Appliances
With homes getting smaller and smaller on average, homeowners are aiming to make the most of the smaller square footage. One of the easiest ways to do so is by making your appliances and other home additions pull double duty. We’ve noticed brands taking on this trend in droves—with combination ovens and air fryers as well as combo washers and dryers.
We’ve also noticed appliances with more features built in, like induction ranges with ventilation systems built in from Bertazzoni, as well as appliances that are made to work with smaller kitchens like the in-sink dishwasher from Fotile. Lacking a bit of square footage no longer means sacrificing utility or style.
Spa-Like Bathrooms
Bathrooms have evolved from spaces where you simply pass through while you get ready for work or for sleep and into places where you can enjoy hanging out and unwinding. Spa-like accents like deep plunge tubs, aromatherapy additions, towel warmers and bidets are on the rise. Also, the overall design of bathrooms is getting more intentional, with cozy colours, design additions like artwork and relaxing accents like candles and incense.
“Having a place to relax and rejuvenate in your home is important,” says Yacavone. “There is such a strong connection between water and healing, so it makes sense that a bathroom can translate into a spa-like space.”
Making the Most of Space
As square footage in homes is getting more and more scarce, designers have been getting creative with the space that they do have. Packing more into less space, they rely on things like multi-use appliances (as mentioned above), creative storage and smaller furniture and fixtures to make the most of rooms.
“We see more and more compact kitchen spaces which lend themselves to integrated styles like stacked appliance configurations and built-in cabinet panel concealed appliance installations, all of which help maximize kitchen space,” says Bertazzoni. “These more functional options allow seamless, custom style and a subliminally elegant ambience, while at the same time reducing the degree of ‘visual noise.’”
Additionally, homeowners and designers alike have opted for more secondary spaces like wet bars, prep kitchens and reading nooks to make the most of home layouts. Where there may have just been empty space before might be a spot to prepare for entertaining or to unwind.
“The personalized coffee station is growing in popularity,” says Afshar. “This personalized touch not only adds a delightful element to kitchen spaces but also reflects a broader shift toward valuing the ritualistic aspects of daily life.”
