Design Fads That Should Have Been Avoided
Obviously, it’s fun to do up your home if you can afford it. Many people enthusiastically follow the latest design trends and upgrade their home accordingly. But… is it really such a good idea? Some home design fads don’t last and end up completely ruining your house for a while. Read on to find out what you should avoid in the future.
All-White Interiors
These look fantastic on Instagram, but Instagram isn’t real life. White-on-white shows every speck of dirt, feels cold in winter, and lacks personality. Some people try to add color back into the room later and end up with a clashing mess.
Barn Doors Inside
This is a huge trend that people absolutely fell over themselves for before realizing it’s not so great. Barn doors don’t block sound, rarely close properly, and offer zero privacy. Homeowners are now realizing they miss actual doors that, you know, shut and lock.
Vessel Sinks
Vessel sinks lure people in with how pretty they are, but unfortunately they’re not very practical. Water splashes everywhere, and the bowl gets grimy faster than expected. They also sit too high on most vanities, which makes hand washing awkward.
Open Kitchen Shelves
Open kitchen shelves had a moment - until everyone realized they’re basically just dust collectors. Unless your dishes are perfectly color-coordinated, you have no ugly crockery, and you clean constantly, it just looks like a big mess.
Grey Everything
There was a stretch where grey took over Instagram. Walls, floors, cabinets, couches, all were shades of grey. It felt “modern” at first, but all that grey sucked the warmth right out of the room. Eventually, people got sick of living with no color.
Sliding Barn Wood Walls
What is the deal with wanting everything to look like a barn? People installed sliding barn wood walls and soon found out that they had to deal with mold, warping, and bugs. Not good. Sometimes, it pays to not follow the latest trend.
Industrial Everything
Meet “warehouse chic” - exposed pipes, concrete floors, and Edison bulbs all over the place. It brought a trendy vibe into homes… for a while. Problem is, houses aren’t warehouses. The look felt cold and unfinished and plenty of people grew to hate it.
Faux Brick Panels
Slapping up faux brick on the walls seemed like an easy way to add “character,” but most of it just looked fake. The texture felt like plastic and if the panels weren’t installed properly it looked dreadful. It’s hard to see why this one got so popular.
Excessive Shiplap
Joanna Gaines helped popularize this one, so she’s to blame for the sudden rise and rise of shiplap. Admittedly it doesn’t look terrible if well done, but it’s hard to clean, traps dust, and can frankly cheapen a room when overused.
Matching Furniture Sets
There was a time when buying an entire living room set - sofa, chairs, coffee table, all matching - felt like the “done” thing. But it quickly made homes feel like furniture showrooms instead of lived-in spaces. This is a design fad that’s best left in the past where it belongs.
Wall Decals With Cheesy Quotes
You know the ones - “Live, Laugh, Love” in swirling script above the couch. These were wildly popular a few years ago, but now they’re just corny. Plus, sometimes they would start to peel off, making the whole room look cheap and hideous.
Themed Rooms
Pirate bathrooms, Parisian kitchens, beach-themed living rooms – they’re fun at first, but they get old fast. The only place themed rooms really works is in a children’s room, and even then they’ll probably want to update it once they get a little older.
Tiny Tiles Everywhere
Those tiny mosaic tiles looked so glamorous on Pinterest, especially in bathrooms and kitchen backsplashes. But grout - so much grout! Cleaning it becomes a full-time job you don’t want. Over time, the surface starts looking grimy no matter how hard you scrub. Just say no to tiny tiles.
Sunken Living Rooms
This trend should have stayed in the 80s where it belonged. Split-level living areas seemed stylish and dramatic back then, but they’re a tripping hazard now and a pain for furniture placement. They also make cleaning awkward. No thank you.
Overdone Accent Walls
Accent walls were huge for a while, but then they got sillier and sillier. Who needs a bright red wall in their white living room? They became a pain as people had to scramble to find lighting, furniture, accessories etc that matched the accent wall.
Fake Fireplace Mantels
People started adding faux mantels to rooms without fireplaces, hoping to create a cozy focal point in their living room. But the trouble was, they were just adding a mantel to have a mantel – it didn’t necessarily match the décor of the rest of the room.
Open Floor Plans
This is another one that was huge for a while… and then people realized there’s no sound barrier, no privacy, and nowhere to hide the mess. Cooking smells fill the whole space, and good luck finding a quiet corner when someone’s watching TV.
Mirrored Closet Doors
These were huge in the '80s and '90s, and some people tried to bring them back. But let’s be honest -they smudge constantly, reflect all the clutter in the room, and scream “dated.” Plus the amount of glass involved can be dangerous in a house with kids.
Glass Block Walls
Glass blocks were meant to let in light while adding privacy, but they end up making your hone look more like a hospital than anything else. Plus, they’re difficult to clean. They’re going out of fashion now and people are glad to see the back of them.
Overuse of Wallpaper
Wallpaper can definitely add something to a room, but do you really need so much of it? Covering every wall in bold prints seemed like a good idea at the time, but it often overwhelmed small spaces and made rooms feel cramped.
Carpeted Bathrooms
Someone, somewhere thought putting carpet in a bathroom was a good idea. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t. Think about what goes on in a bathroom… do you really want so many germs going anywhere near a carpet? Best to rip the whole thing out and use tiles.
Bead Curtains as Room Dividers
Bead curtains were fun once upon a time, especially if you made your own. They gave a room a boho vibe. Unfortunately, they also got tangled up or broken easily, plus they took away privacy. Most people have ditched them by now.
Overly Distressed Furniture
Distressing furniture was a big trend a while back, but people went overboard. They distressed their new furniture and totally ruined it, and eventually their house looked more like a museum than a home. Now, the trend is slowly starting to fade away, to the joy of many.
Popcorn Ceilings
This trend has been hated for decades, and rightly so. Popcorn ceilings trap dust, tend to yellow over time, and can be downright dangerous if they’ve got asbestos in them. Many people spend a lot of money to safely remove popcorn ceilings.
Pastel Bathroom Fixtures
In the ‘70s, it was considered trendy to have all your bathroom fixtures done out in pastel colors. But not anymore. People soon learned that if one piece broke, it was very hard to get a replacement in the same color, and they ended up with a mismatched bathroom.
Overuse of Chevrons
Chevron was everywhere for a while - rugs, curtains, pillows, even painted walls. It started out bold and fun, but people quickly got sick of it. The zigzag overload made rooms feel busy and dated fast, and most people are quietly painting over their chevrons now.
Glass Countertops
This one was trendy, but it’s also a big nope. Glass countertops may seem cool, but consider how many fingerprints show up on them. They require more cleaning than anyone should have to do in a day. Plus, they can be dangerous if they start to crack or chip.
Wall Niches for Electronics
Built-in wall niches for big TVs or DVD players seemed like a good space-saving idea… until flat screens came along. Now those random holes just collect dust or awkwardly sit empty. Many homeowners end up drywalling over them.
Tuscan-Style Kitchens
Tuscan-style kitchens feature heavy wood cabinets, lots of ironwork, and a warm color palette. They’re not bad, exactly, but they’re considered very out of date. The trend at the moment is for lighter, airier kitchens.
Too Many Pendant Lights
Pendant lights are great - until you install five of them in one small room. It’s possible to have too much of a good thing, you know? By that point, your house basically just looks like a lighting shop, and all those pendants have to be dusted frequently as well.
Faux Finishes on Walls
Remember sponge painting? Or faux marble effects? They were very popular once, but not anymore. Unfortunately, the look is hopelessly outdated now and the smartest thing you can do is to paint over your wall with a nice neutral shade.
Chandeliers
People are told that chandeliers are a symbol of luxury, and they are, but putting one in a small room is the definition of “trying too hard.” Plus, think about how much you have to clean a chandelier. They’re more trouble than they’re worth.
Built-In Desks
Built-in desks seemed like a great idea at first, but time has proven that they’re really not. What happens when you want to switch up the room? How are you going to move the desk? You’ll probably have to pay someone to remove it from the wall.
Tiled Countertops
Tiled countertops were really big in the ‘90s, but people soon realized what a pain they were. For a start, the grout was a cleaning nightmare, and then there was the problem that they chipped and cracked way too easily.
Excessive Faux Plants
Faux plants are cheap, so people bought a lot of them, and soon found themselves in over their head. Suddenly, homes were filled with plastic leaves and fake succulents on every shelf, and all they did was gather dust. It didn’t look like you were bringing your garden into the home – it just looked cheap, and a little tacky.
