Welp it’s the end of January which means you’ve officially been hearing allllll about this year’s trend predictions for a full month. Basically shoved down your throat at this point, right? Maximalism! Statement stone! Red! Some of them may not be for you. And some of them seem pretty cool, but also, pretty unattainable. The question is: what to do next armed with all of these up and coming trends? How do us mere mortals incorporate them into our homes – into costly renovations – we want to stand the test of time? Well, I just happen to be knee deep in a primary bathroom remodel in my (dare I say – FOREVER home?!?) and I have some tips for you (plus some sneak peeks of our bathroom plans!).
Our Primary Bathroom Design
Before I get too much further into trends – I should probably start with the design itself. I’ve been ideating on this baby since we first purchased our home in August 2022. You can scope out the beautiful “Before” of our bathroom above in all her pinecone glory. I mean no disrespect – in 1992, matching your tile to your curtain lace to your bordered wallpaper was a serious power play. And while, yes, the 90’s are back baby (i’ll get more into this trend’s 2024 interpretation in a bit) I’ve been dreaming and scheming the perfect way to update the finishes AND layout to work with our home, functionality needs and aesthetic for the long haul. Enter Kate (my friend and seriously talented principal designer and owner of Kate Hector Interior Design) and the savior that helped me take all of my ideas and inspiration and put them to paper. First, Kate took my chicken scratch idea for the new bathroom layout and drew it out to scale for me. And then, she let me pester her with all of my sky-high ideas for finishes and feeeeeeeel of the space, contributing her two cents and design prowess when I was stuck. She took my ideas to the next level, thinking of details I didn’t (like the plaster cutout built-in peek-a-boo-ing into the shower? wow!) and then wrapped all of my choices up in beautiful renderings so I could really sell my design to Kenny. There is a reason designers have teams, you guys. Being able to collaborate with Kate on this bathroom really helped me elevate it and allowed both of us to create something a little bit outside of our norms. So, from this point forward, don’t be surprised to see Kate Hector listed as co-designer for this space. (And ummmm if you need a designer to help you with ideas/renderings/etc? Please contact her!)
Okay. Back to the trends.
Consider the trends with YOUR personal aesthetic in mind.
No, you shouldn’t be remodeling and redesigning your house every year when publications start pushing a new trend. Typically trends we see in interiors last years to a decade, and become even more mainstream after that. And anyway, something can be trendy and it doesn’t mean you like it. I always like to review the new trends and things I’ve been seeing in the lens of my own home first and see how I might apply those trends in a way that feels true to my home’s style and MY style. And then pick one or two I really love for the more costly and permanent installations. Here are some examples:
- Country Club Chic – Stripes, plaids and preppy 90’s accents seem to be taking over the internet. I’m definitely into bold patterns so this one was a no-brainer for me personally. I chose to interpret the trend with a patterned floor – B+W stripe – because this feels classic to ME. All of the tile in my home is black + white, geometric, and bold. I’ve always loved black and white, so when the country club aesthetic is on it’s way out, I know I won’t feel the itch to retile my bathroom floor.
- Natural Material Pairings – The move towards incorporating more textured materials (think: stone walls, wood paneling, limewash, plaster) in design has been gaining momentum for a few years now. This is already a trend Kenny and I have embraced whole heartedly in our home as we love the cozy, organic yet modernized vibe it lends. Our kitchen has a stone wall, our fireplace is roman clay, we have statement soapstone and marble accents sprinkled throughout. It feels true to us, and true to our home. Naturally, our bathroom would follow suit! Which is why you see wood-clad ceilings in these renderings. We just had to take advantage of the vaulted ceilings, and this treatment also gave us the opportunity to cover up an ugly off-center 90’s skylight (we will remove it the right way down the line when we redo the roof). You may also notice a plaster-like finish in the shower and surrounding built-ins around the tub. Our drywall guy is a true artist (he did our fireplace and range hood!) and has agreed to install this for us. We’re still debating between using concretta or microcement. To be continued…..
Incorporate passing trends on a smaller scale
Again, ONLY applicable for trends you ACTUALLY love – but – there is no reason you can’t experiment with a color or style on a smaller scale to make your space “relevant” if you’re into it! Paint, wallpaper and furniture and accessories are all great opportunities to incorporate some of these “passing trends” we’ll call them – without breaking the bank or too much permanence. Here’s some trends I’ve been loving and how I plan to include them:
- Romanticism – Scallops. Florals. Whimsical everything! Such a dreamy trend. Though, one I could definitely see myself tiring of. And one I can definitely see feeling veeeeeerrrrryyyy specific to this moment in time in the future (pinecone bathroom 2.0). So instead of a bold floral wallpaper throughout the entire bathroom, I’m going to add one in the small toilet room in colors that jive with the rest of my home. Instead of having custom furniture made with scallops or marble fabricated in scallops, I picked up pre-made bathroom vanities and a roofing panel closure strip and I’m going to DIY a scalloped toe-kick that I can easily remove down the road when scallops are SOOOOOO 2023-2025 😉 Oh and speaking of that DIY….
- Bold Warm Colors – What can brown do for you? Remember when everyone was painting over the browns, rusts, reds and aubergines of the 90’s / early 2000’s in favor of beige, white and grey? Oh boy, we have been DOWN this road. Doesn’t mean I won’t go down it again, though. Browns and reds are lovely, but I’d rather experiment with them in easy to paint furniture pieces and accents down the line when I tire of them rather than having to rip out burgundy tile. So yes, that DIY vanity project I alluded to before includes a rich brown paint (Turkish Coffee by SW – also the color of the ceiling in my bedroom!). And I can’t help myself but be drawn to red right now. Maybe just as an accessory, though, like a vanity seat 😉
- Tiled Countertops – There, I said it. I know you’re cringing right now. But this is a trend I’m seeing everywhere in very avant-garde executions and can’t get it out of my head! I personally always struggle with how designers incorporate make-up vanities into designs. They’re a different height than the vanities, they almost ALWAYS look like an afterthought or stick out like a sore thumb – so I thought, blending a floating makeup vanity with the backsplash would be so cool and seamless! Bonus points: in 5-10 years when “that trend is sooooooooo impractical and ugly, why did we do that again?!?” It is just one smalllll surface to remimagine, wrap with another material or knock out. I can live with that.
Home takes time….
…and so do renovations. Don’t feel the need to rush out and incorporate any trends to your home, but I do encourage you to think of them for any upcoming renovations so you’re not investing in something that is already dated. We have already completed all demo, framing (minus window + door) and rough-in electrical and plumbing, so I’d say the boring part of this renovation is just about over! The rest will be part DIY and part professional/hired out – if you’re interested in IKEA closet hacks, vanity DIYs, wood-clad ceilings and wallpapering you’re going to want to stick around for more and see this baby across the finish line. My goal is to have this renovation complete by the end of March, but I’m prepared to fail 😉
