Design Trends 2016 – Are white furniture and grays making their way out?

Many realtors asked us for the past year or so ….. “When are these gray walls and white furniture making their way out? I have seen too many of them…”

As a professional stager it is my job to stay up to date with the newest design trends. I tour many design shows, retail showrooms, online features, and always have a design magazine in my hands. With a keen sense of observational skills I spot new design trends often a year or two ahead of when they actually make it into the general market and become mainstream.

So here are a few takes on what I have observed as design trends 2016:

The whites and off whites are still very strong and to stay for a while. They are great neutral backdrops and you can pair it with every color you can imagine. This is what makes this such a wonderful design color. Also, white monochromatic rooms are very hot.

On the other hand we see a lot of darker walls – still the greish, taupes, gray – but several shades darker than what we have seen recently, creating high contrast rooms.

For accents we see several hues and shades of blues being very trendy and for a little while we see burnt orange as a trending color.

Gold has made its way into the home decor over the past couple of years and more of it is still to come. We see it now highly trending in furniture. I am often being asked now why I still recommend to exchange certain gold chandeliers or lighting fixtures. Well, it is not about just being gold, but it is about the type of gold and the shape of the fixture. The shiny gold and shapes used during the last “gold phase” in the 80-ies has changed and these usually curvy fixtures are just not in trend. Today we see much more square shapes and the gold or brass being more muted. It has to be the right combination of form and color, otherwise the items will still look dated.

These are just a few trends that I have been observing, but there are many more that I see out there and I enjoy discovering them and evolving with them.

Why is it important for staging to know what’s trending? 

As a staging professional knowing design trends and what buyers aspire to is my expertise and I have to continuously educate myself and spend many hours, days, weeks and money to acquire that knowledge. Every home that we stage needs to emotionally connect and speak to the home sellers’ dreams. Dated furniture and uninspiring rooms no longer help properties sell. Nobody wants to purchase a dated home. Hence we need to continuously update our furniture and decor inventory with current styles.