In case you haven’t noticed, design trends have been shifting quite a bit lately. It’s little wonder: Americans have had plenty of pandemic-fueled time on their hands, cooped up in their homes, obsessively scrolling through Instagram, bingeing HGTV—and rethinking their design choices. Home trends that seemed to make so much sense before COVID-19 may no longer seem quite on target.
Take the omnipresent open floor plan. It seemed like a terrific and forward-looking idea—at least until everyone had to work or go to school in one room. And as many of us learned, while a once-popular chalkboard wall may be helpful for remote learning or for children to express their creativity, it can quickly turn into a dusty and unattractive mess.
That’s why the data team at Realtor.com® decided to take a look at which design trends are skyrocketing right now, based on Google search trends—and which ones are going the way of the shag carpet. What we learned is, it’s less about what “Fixer Upper” stars Chip and Joanna Gaines are doing these days and more about what’s most conducive to a homeowner’s lifestyle.
Designers say clients are prioritizing comfort and functionality over trendiness, especially since the pandemic forced them to be faced with their design decisions daily.
The pandemic created “a strong need for multifunctional spaces and multifunctional pieces of furniture,” says designer Lanna Ali-Hassan, co-owner of Beyond the Box Interiors, a design firm in Washington, DC. Recently her clients have been looking to incorporate more maintenance-free design elements. (So no more all-white living rooms or formal dining rooms.)
“People want to be more comfortable, more relaxed, more like a vacation-at-your-home type of vibe,” she says.
So what’s in and what’s out? This is what the search stats—and a select group of interior designers—had to say.
What’s old is new again, and this midcentury mainstay, which had fallen out of favor, has made a big comeback.
Terrazzo floors are ubiquitous in public schools, hospitals, airports, and other high-traffic buildings. The speckled flooring was also very popular in custom homes from the 1950s and 1960s but fell out of fashion in the 1970s.
Now, one of its main draws is that it’s environmentally friendly as it can be made with recycled materials. Terrazzo is made of crushed glass, stone fragments, or other organic materials embedded in concrete or resin. Then it’s polished until smooth.