Every 5-7 years the home decor industry sees a huge shift in home design trends. Well, it's been 10 years since I designed my home and I want to share 10 choices that I still love after all these years! To me, these are classics and I'm so happy I chose them.
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Neutral, mid-tone exterior siding
Even though grey colours aren't as popular anymore, I still really like our medium grey coloured siding on our home. It doesn't overly reflect or absorb light, and it matches with almost any door colour or porch furniture we'd want.
Simple black light fixtures
When we built our home, I was extremely tempted by the uber-rustic farmhouse style light fixtures with barnwood and chunky metal accents. I'm so glad that I opted for more streamlined fixtures a black metal like this chandelier in our living room. I also have simple black fixtures in our dining room and entry.
Chrome plumbing fixtures
In our kitchen and all of our bathrooms I opted for chrome faucets back in 2012. It's a budget friendly finish choice, and I think it's a classic. You see a lot of chrome in historical homes, and since our home was designed to look like a historical four-square, I think this works! We had to replace our kitchen faucet last year, and I opted for a chrome finish once again.
Board & batten trimwork
We didn't install it immediately after we built, but the plan was always to install board & batten trim in our home. A few years after building, I did end up DIYing board & batten trim work all throughout the main level of our house. And I'd love to do some upstairs eventually, too! It's such a classic craftsman style look, and I think it really matches the architectural style of our home.
Craftsman style doors and trim
Speaking of craftsman style, I don't regret the craftsman doors and trim we put in our home, either. The simple 5-panel shaker doors and simple window casings and baseboards still look great in our home and match the whole heritage-look aesthetic.
Light, neutral paint colour
Back in 2012 when the colour grey was HOT, I decided to paint the majority of the walls in our new home build in a light grey colour called Seashell Grey by Valspar. Even though the trend has leaned more to warmer tones now, I still love this colour. It's almost white, so it still works with warmer accents. Plus, I'm SO glad we painted our 2 story entry in this colour. That would be SUCH a headache to repaint if I had picked something less neutral!
Substantial ceiling fans
In theory, I hate ceiling fans. The ceiling fans of the past have always looked ugly to me and I wasn't looking forward to putting them in our new home build. However, my husband Sean convinced me to put them in our breakfast nook and bedroom for practical reasons. It can get very hot in the summer, but we don't have air conditioning. I'm so glad we installed them! They're incredibly functional, and I still love the chunky, industrial looking fans I found.
Durable laminate flooring
Our flooring has withstood a ton of abuse between young children, pets and DIYs. I'm SO glad I chose a durable laminate flooring over something more fussy like hardwood. 10 years ago it wasn't an affordable option, but if I was to build a family-friendly home now, I'd choose luxury vinyl plank like we installed in our lake house rental.
Farmhouse apron sink
I LOVE our generously sized white cast iron farmhouse sink! It's been used for everything from bathing newborn babies to washing a million pots and pans, and it still looks great. We got ours from IKEA, and here's their newer version of their farmhouse sink. I clean it with Bar Keeper's Friend and it still looks great.
Marble backsplash
About a year after we finished building our home, we were able to work with a marble panel company to install grey & white marble backsplash in our kitchen. I love the streamlined look of the panels, and I think marble is a classic material that will never go out of style - especially a subtle, neutral marble like this one. It's been easy to clean and it goes with any of my kitchen decor accent colours.
So, what can we learn from these home design choices from 10 years ago?
From this list, I can gather four takeaways:
- First, neutral colours are more timeless (even if you're a colour lover like me!). Changing out the colour of accessories and textiles will be more cost effective in the long run than changing out elements like siding and paint when colour trends change.
- Second, choosing design elements that match the architectural style of your home is always a good choice. My home is a four-square style home that works well with craftsman and clean farmhouse design elements.
- Third, I truly think there are some home design choices that will always be a classic including white paint, real marble accents and chrome finishes.
- Finally - as much as I sometimes hate to admit it - function trumps form. Our large ceiling fans and durable laminate flooring have been a blessing over the years as we've raised our young family in this home.
Karen Gahr
You have beautiful taste and the perfect thought process for designing a timeless , peaceful, comfortable environment. Bravo. I love your posts and videos.