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Staying current, Inspired trends that keep your home looking fresh!

This image is great at showing the idea that color and pop can be created by the least expensive items in the room.  All of the yellow and blue accents that create the drama and drive for this room cost less than a month's worth of coffee.  The house is the backdrop, it is elegant, functional and allows for a lot of flexibility as the needs of the space change.  
Designer: Kimberlee Marie Interiors
Image: John Granen

Just when we rid the PNW of all brass, we started installing it again...hmmm

From fashion that repeats every couple decades to returning fascinations with classic music, or literature. There is something in all of us that is swayed by popular opinion and wanting what is current and trendy.  What does that look like in the homebuilding industry, shiplap anyone? In essence, much of the rationale behind remodeling and renovating is based around the “feel” of the house not being or looking how we know we want it to.  On sales calls, I am often told: “my house just doesn’t feel current,” or “I can’t imagine what they were thinking when they picked this paint color, these fixtures, these cabinets, tiles, hardwoods…”  Well…I know exactly what they were thinking… they were thinking: “This looks great, I love it!”  Just like we all do when we get a new outfit (shout out to Eddie Bauer for my latest flannel). We all make immediate decisions that will, at some point, result in us being stupefied by our prior awful taste.  Which begs the question, how do we remain current in our homes without having to remodel all the time?  

Are there things that we can do to reduce how dated our homes look and feel?  How do we get the most out of our remodels while having them stay current before the next hit remodeling show hits the DIY network?  Here are a few tips from our go to designers:  

  • Allow accents such as vases, towels, votives, cutting boards and small appliances to bring in dramatic colors into your scenes, while picking neutral tones for cabinetry and surfaces.
  • Use classic materials that have been in service for decades like marble, white cabinets or oak flooring.  
  • Allow for furniture in the design that allows flexibility in how you can use and adapt spaces through time.  Office by day, guest bedroom by night!
  • Go wireless, not wired.  The trend is to allow for wireless connectivity for speakers and sound systems, to internet and media.  Installing conduit and pathways for future expansion is a great way to provide future capacity to current systems.  
  • Keep things open and develop shape spaces through furniture rather than walls and permanent structures.
  • Part of keeping a home looking fresh and current is maintenance, consider budgeting for paint and small updates in-between major renovations.

  • Avoid choosing tiles and other more permanent surfaces based on current trends.  Find these patterns and themes in decor items that are more easily replaced!

  • Invest in quality brands for important fixtures.  Select brands that are less expensive to repair than to replace!

Top Image: This kitchen will always look great, from carrera marble, and inset cabinets, to white surfaces and classic forms.  This space is great for families, and for hosting for the years to come!
Architect: First Lamp Architecture
Interior Designer: TU Design
 
Bottom Image: This Kitchen is 10 years old, and yet it still looks like it could have been completed yesterday.  This is a great example of use of classic finishes to formulate a lasting style.  
Architect: First Lamp Architecture 
Interior Designer: Customer and RW Anderson

**As always, design is crucial.  Implementation is also very important, but it is far more important to sweat the process of creating spaces to allow for beauty now and in the future.  I went to a tile store yesterday and saw a tile inlayed with brass bars.  Installing a finish like this into a surface as permanent as tile will likely date your home to that span of 2019-2021 and you'll be remodeling again in no time!!  Get great design advice, and choose to have excellent installation and craftsmanship.  We would love to help, and would love your referral if you know someone looking to remodel or renovate!

Give us a call at 206-383-8084, or email tim@rwandersonhomes.com

A special thanks to our contributors this month!  Liz Davis with ECD Design, and Kim Gorsline with Kimberlee Marie Interiors!  We work with some amazing designers and love to showcase their work!  
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