I am pretty active on RETwitter and frequently share designs on there, share the designs of others on the platform that are building or remodeling homes, gauge responses: what people love, vs what they hate. People are very blunt on posts that got million of views, and after over a year of posting designs, here’s a roundup of design inspiration that evokes that emotional response and what people tend to gravitate towards.
If you are thinking of doing any remodeling, and care what people think, are looking to Sell sooner vs later, here’s some looks that seem to resonate with a lot of people!
No you don’t have to like the entire look- take the bits of inspiration for what works for your budget!
I’ll cover the Exterior next week!
But first, lets start with the one universal trend that a ton of people seem to be tired of.
Just Say NO to white and gray everything
Everyone seems to be tired of the white and gray flip look. If you looked at 50 flipped properties in the past few years, 48 of them (or what it feels like) would be some variation of white and gray. However, in choosing what’s next, if you have resale in mind, then avoid the overly trendy looks as they age badly quickly and are often not going to appeal to most people.
DON’T do this
The most hated of all the gray & white look is the gray LVP or laminate. It’s awful, please just don’t do it but if you do, please know you will get thousands of people online talking about how hideous it is
The next most commented on are the kitchens & bathrooms. I’ve read countless comments that this look is soulless, lacks personality, its depressing, it’s dated.
YES to this
These have more classic, timeless and warmer looks. While warmer tones are desired, be careful of going too dark. How much light you have in the room, how much light you have overall in the house, and what else you are doing in the home should be cohesive and not too dark.
People also want more color or patterned tile. They are tired of dreary or feel like all white and beige screams asylum.
There are a lot of gold fixtures in these images. The consensus is if you love it, great, but this may not age well and may be a turn off. When choosing fixtures, you may want to be mindful of any shower fixtures that have highly custom/hard to replace valves in the event you want to swap them down the road due to issues or just want to swap out the fixtures.
Over the overdone white quartz- fake marble look
The overly veined quartz countertops are out of favor. Too fake and people feel its overused, lacking in personality and too trendy.
And JUST SAY NO to the waterfall kitchen island. People are finding that look dated if you can believe it. And don’t use lighting that belongs outdoors in your kitchen!
Natural stone is back in. Whether its black polished granite, soapstone, quartzite, marble or other natural stone, consider these options for your kitchen and bathrooms. Be mindful that marble especially when it is white will require higher maintenance and can stain or yellow more easily.
Real & natural is preferred. No more LVP
If you can afford real wood or engineered wood flooring, this is what people want. The palate skews to lighter floors in Southern CA. If you have a mountain cabin, that taste might change, but I’m finding overwhelming the flooring people ooh & aah over are the lighter tones
Lighting
Invest in lighting to create mood! Over-installed recessed lighting where people feel like they’re in an interrogation room is out. Mix overhead lighting with mood lighting to create ambiance.