THERE ARE FEATURES that date your home to a particular period in a way that adds real value to your home – like a Georgian door or Victorian coving. And then there are features that make your home just feel… dated.
For this reason, it’s usually better to confine your homeware trend-following to seasonal updates with accessories that are easily, and affordably, changed out. Buying into a trend on a bigger investment piece or renovation can often be the culprit for majorly dated looks, which are much trickier to substitute.
We spoke to interior designers Cathy O’Donoghue, founder of Flamingo Interior Design, and Louise Rankin, co-founder of North Design, to get the suss on décor styles better left in the past.
A classic feature of an older Irish home, both designers named all pine kitchens as possibly the most aging feature in a house – this is one kitchen design trend they don’t ever see coming back.
“It’s a really strong colour for a wood finish. When you see 20 doors in pine, it’s overwhelming,” says O’Donoghue. “Oak is a lovely neutral style wood finish if you plan to have it everywhere, but it’s more modern to have your wall units be different to your base units, or if you have a run of tall units, they can be a different colour or finish.”
What to do instead: Look into the possibility of getting the doors dipped and/or painted. The pine colour is the main thing dating these kitchens, but chances are the wood is still a strong base, if you don’t think your cabinets need replacing.
While wallpaper is seeing a resurgence – if in a little less floral or textured way than you might remember it – it’s about how you use it. Slapping it on a feature wall isn’t considered forward thinking anymore, says Rankin.
“Ten years ago you had to have a feature wall of wallpaper, say on your chimney breast wall. But now if you’re going to use wallpaper, you have to get more creative and smart about it. Using it on the fireplace wall is really dated,” she says.
What to do instead: Depending on the wallpaper, it may be possible to paint over it, which will allow you keep the differing texture but make the wall less of a feature in the space.
Nothing screams 2017 more loudly than copper homewares, which quickly appeared on every possible surface and product. It was used almost like a neutral metallic, in the way chrome might traditionally have been, according to O’Donoghue, but it’s too much of a statement shade.
“Matte black is super in when it comes to kitchen hardware now, like taps and handles. Black, while a trend, works as a lovely neutral. It will date in time but copper is already dated after a year or two. It’s overdone.”
What to do instead: You don’t have to destroy every copper homeware you purchased, but confine it to just your lighting or your taps, or just one thing. Swap out any copper overload for more neutral finishes.
Dermot Bannon might take some heat for making many of his houses open-plan glass boxes, but both designers agree, it’s about the best thing you can do for dark, naturally grey-toned Irish homes.
“Tiny rooms but a lot of them is a very traditional Irish thing. Open plan has been an improvement, because Irish houses had become all about small, dark rooms,” says O’Donoghue. “Open plan lets you take in light from different areas so it’s brighter overall, which Irish homes desperately need. Most Irish homes that aren’t new builds, or that need renovation, really need the extra sources of light.”
What to do instead: While creating an open plan space probably will require a big construction job, it may be possible to remove some doors to create a more open flow to the space.
“Having a sofa and two matching armchairs all in a cream leather is a sign of a different time,” says Rankin. And while cream leather might be a particularly out of date, she reckons the time has come for matching living room suites in general. “People are becoming more adventurous and realising it’s much more contemporary to go for an accent chair or have their sofa be different to their armchairs.”
What to do instead: Opt for an armchair in a different colour or texture than your main couch. If your sofa is a plain colour, don’t be afraid to introduce some pattern and personality through the armchair.
Despite decluttering fanatic Marie Kondo’s best efforts, minimalism is now vying for popularity with its opposite, maximalism, which is all about the more is more approach. Great for those of us not ready for the ultimate spring clean, but the key to the trend is that everything is clashing and layered.
“Matching the pattern in your carpet to the drapes, cushions and wallpaper is a big callback to the 70s and 80s, and not in a good way. It’s just automatically associated with your granny’s house and there’s no real possible update on them,” says Rankin.
What to do instead: Break up matching patterns by introducing different prints or colours that will help balance the room. If you’re stuck with the wallpaper, bring in complementary but not matching cushions and curtains.
For years, the norm has been to have one main ceiling light, and maybe one lamp near the only spare socket in the room, according to O’Donoghue. The more up-to-date approach almost makes turning your main ceiling light on a sin, with the focus on multiple different sources of light.
“Throwing on the main light is usually not nice; it creates depressing shadows. We’ve come around to decorative lighting and more atmospheric lighting now. You don’t notice the lighting when it’s done right, at different levels and from different sources, which is how it should be.”
What to do instead: Use a combination of floor lamps, table lamps and down-lights, to bring in light from different heights. In kitchen, concentrate extra lighting directly on your workspaces.
O’Donoghue reckons time is really up on bathrooms all covered in one tile, from floor to ceiling.
“A whole lot of one material in one space is rarely good. I wouldn’t even be worried about dated coloured bathroom suites, the bigger issue is the tiles on the walls and floors. Over the last few years, people began to accept you don’t have to tile every single inch of your bathroom, and especially not in the same tile all over,” she says.
Rankin agrees, adding: “Bathrooms tiled in all the one tile are old school, but the coloured tile border, or tile dado rail, that ran around the middle of the bathroom is really and truly from the past.”
What to do instead: Break up the one-colour look, by swapping your wall or floor tiles to something that will give you some contrast and depth in the space.
Most kitchens in Irish homes have probably had an empty space above the cabinetry that mostly gathered dust and became an unsightly overflow storage system – but this is a thing of the past, says Rankin.
“The ‘dud space’ over the kitchen cabinets, that hovering space you find older kitchens, is really dated. Now it’s much more common to bring the joinery up to the ceiling, to create additional, useful storage and so the ceiling appears higher. In older homes, it’s just wasted space.”
What to do instead: Extending your cabinets up to your ceiling is the ideal solution, but if a renovation isn’t on the cards, take advantage of the space by stashing your stuff in some beautiful baskets on top.
Grey as a neutral exploded in 2016/2017, but you may get out your rollers because it has officially joined magnolia in the ranks of colours that should probably be banned from use in people’s homes, according to both designers.
“Lacklustre houses that have that one muted grey tone are definitely out already. The general public is starting to notice it’s not necessarily something that works in our homes. Rather than using the trend in moderation, people went full whack with grey everything. It became too oversaturated and just bland, really, and very quickly too,” says Rankin.
What to do instead: A warm cream, that might almost look white in some lights, is much more classic and flattering for almost any room, in the way people wanted neutral greys to be.
Herringbone flooring is a key example of a period feature that adds value in a period home, but can feel tied to trends in more modern spaces.
“It really suits the houses it originated in, like old Georgian houses with solid wood being used,” says O’Donoghue.
“But the herringbone is such a busy pattern, and such a statement floor that people regret it. A lot of new builds where the houses are super contemporary, they put in this old-city-style Georgian herringbone floor and it jumps out as a major trend that was followed rather than something that suits. Herringbone in a grey tone is a double whammy.”
What to do instead: Consider and pay tribute to your specific house style and surroundings when choosing new flooring. If you won’t be replacing yours anytime soon, you can modernise the feel of the flooring with well-chosen rugs.
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