Bring Your Home into the 2020s, Trends to Embrace for the Long Run

As 2020 home design trends move decisively away from neutral and conforming, creativity is clearly the craze of the next decade.

Monochrome vs High Contrast – Given that these would appear to be design opposites, you might think they couldn’t both be on trend at the same time. However, the true focus here is drama. Both concepts, monochromatic and extreme contrast, provide an artful and powerful visual. Used prudently, either or both can be incorporated into your current decor to provide a focal point or to delineate a portion of a large, open space.
Separate Living Areas Are Back – Formal dining rooms and separated kitchens have been unfashionable for quite some time now. If you’re a proponent of rooms with a bit of division, be it actual walls or portable room dividers, you’re in luck, your taste is back in vogue for the 2020s.
Wallpaper and Creative Wall Coverings – This is not your Granny’s faded rose and vine paste-up. Wallpapers and indeed wall coverings of all kinds, have evolved to include peel-and-stick, temporary papers, textured and 3D effects, contemporary patterns, grasscloth finishes, amazingly realistic faux stone, weathered tin and lifelike metallics… the possibilities are endless.
Smaller Square Footage in Entry-Level Homes – In the past five years or so, efficiency of design and function has become ubiquitous in the Arizona real estate market, and my research confirms that many other areas in the country have followed suit. Builders are constructing smaller homes on smaller lots, resulting in more reasonable home prices, less physical care and upkeep, lower financial outlay for furnishings, maintenance and repair. Millennial and Gen Z home buyers, possessing a shrewd, practical point of view and a grasp of the value of time, are largely responsible for this economical home trend.
Native, Comprehensive Smart Home Technology – Instead of adapting your existing network for continual advances in technology or each new smart gadget that hits the market, a fully wifi-operative home is fast becoming the norm. Even if you veto the majority of available smart-home gizmos, it’s not a bad idea to enhance your home’s resale value by improving its tech infrastructure.
Floating… Whatever – Whether its shelving, vanities, kitchen work spaces or family room seating areas, there’s a movement toward floating options with no visible means of support. Even storage drawers and bureaus are getting the foundation-free treatment. I recently spotted one very impressive set of floating stairs in a custom New Construction home.

Editors Note: Thinking of selling? If your home will soon be listed for sale, consider one or two small but noticeable updates, a simple refresh here and there can make the entire property more desirable to potential home buyers.

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The following post reveals many more solutions to last decade’s bygone home decorating fads.

2020 Design: Ways to Enhance Your Home This Year

By Wendy Dessler

The interior and exterior of your home have the potential for memorable design. As the 20s of the 21st century are upon us, a combination of classic chic and modern savvy are combining to make new homes something to marvel at.

Here are a few different design families to help stimulate your imagination:

Mainstream Interior Decor Styles
A few interior decor trends you can expect to see include: kitchens firmly eschewing the “white” color stylings of years past; more floor plans including formal dining rooms; restrooms including seats that aren’t just toilets; tile tub aprons making bathtubs look built-in to walls or floors; cheerful laundry room decor; and fully-wrapped powder rooms where decor encircles the space. Mirrors, designs, obscure paint schemes—many creative solutions exist here in terms of “wrapping” a space. It’s not just powder rooms that get this treatment. Because of home prices and economic fluctuation, many interior design trends are focused on space maximization.

Creative Space Maximization
There are a few schools of thought on this, among them floor-to-ceiling mirrors, partitions and multi-purpose rooms. As an example, a room that’s approximately 15-feet-by-15-feet can be cut in half with a partition down the middle and used for multiple purposes. Furniture goes in front of the mirrors. By doing this, it feels like you’re in a room made of windows, and something much larger than 225 square feet. Certainly, you don’t need partitions or floor-to-ceiling mirrors to make a room multi-purpose. Many tiny homes have Murphy beds that do the trick just as well.

Technological Implementation
LED lights can be found in colors that feel warm even as they use much less energy than traditional filament bulbs. Smart-home design can be used to proactively manage energy. If you’re unfamiliar, smart technology essentially marries internet connectivity with basic home appliances and decor.

You can control all the lights in your home from slide bars on your smartphone—basically, a WiFi device has been fitted to the electrical array maintaining the lights. The same can be done for heat, AC, refrigerators, garage doors, surveillance systems, and more. Home design in 2020 will likely feature an increase in smart home designs.

Also, as technology has miniaturized, pursuits once only possible for the extremely well-to-do are affordable to the average person. A home theater is simple with a room where the light can be controlled. All you need is a white wall and a projector—many are cost-effective and small enough that they can be held in your hand. Projectors can even be aimed at high ceilings, if that suits your home, while the family sits at a relaxed angle like they’re at a planetarium.

Modular Housing and Possibilities
The tiny home movement has become so popular you can buy a $19,000 tiny home from Amazon.com. If you have a house, thousands to spend and a few weeks you can spare, you can build a tiny house in your backyard. Make it adjacent to an alley, install a mailbox and rent the space out at $1,000 a month and you can quickly recoup your investment—you now have a Passive Income Generator (PIG) on your property.

Certainly, a tiny home DIY kit isn’t exactly modular housing, but there are modular housing options that exist and allow you to add rooms to your property. In 2020, you can expect some homes to be cobbled together piecemeal according to need, looking hodgepodge from outside and in. Due to economic flux, technology and housing prices, there are going to be some strange properties designed and inhabited in the coming years, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Maximizing Possibilities in Your Home
You don’t have to totally rebuild your property to capitalize on some of the trends mentioned here. Interior remodel could change a kitchen or bathroom, and add a formal dining room. You could simply paint your walls white, shutter the windows and add a projector for a theater room. Or you could go the technological route if you’d like, or add to your property with small builds. Instead of a tiny home, you might put a gazebo in the backyard with a garden underneath and vines stretching up the supporting struts. There are many affordable possibilities; it all depends on what interests you. Get creative this year and see what best matches your property!

This was originally published on RISMedia’s Housecall. Wendy Dessler is a super-connector who helps businesses like Cabinet City find their audience online through outreach, partnerships and networking. She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition. Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2020. All rights reserved.