Guest Post: The Most Surprising Design Ideas Currently Trending

Last year, I posted about some of the best online design firms that are changing the interior design landscape for the average person. They are accessible and affordable companies that assist the average homeowner (or renter!) with making their space Pinterest-worthy. 

Recently, I came in contact with another fantastic interior design company, DecorAid. They provide free consultations and affordable, fixed-priced fees along with great, trade discounts on furniture. Further, they have amazing talent that have worked at some of the top, celebrity firms. 

If you want your home to have that straight-off-the-Elle-Decor-page look, then DecorAid can help at a fraction of the cost! Honestly, I might be saving up my own pennies to try it out! 

Today, they are partnering with The Little Realtor as a guest poster to discuss their take on current design trends - the intriguing, the bold, and maybe just plain odd! 

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More often than not when a new trend emerges in the interior design world, we revel at the innovation and allure that we hadn’t previously discovered. After all, in a creative industry like this one, interior designers have to be thinking steps ahead every time they design, and remain trendy, forward-thinking, and appealing. But sometimes, a new trend makes its way into the design sphere that doesn’t make sense to all, and is actually quite unexpected, surprising, and polarizing for many. Love them or hate them, these are some of the trends you’re bound to have an opinion on.

You may have noticed that some decor has its eyes on you. That’s because one of the most visible contemporary motifs is thematically incorporating different body parts into decor, like eyes, lips, hands, or full faces. The ever-trendy blinking eye can be seen in prints, pillows, and other decor, while Jonathan Adler has made the use of lips and faces popular in his sculptural collections. While it’s a bit unusual, it is certainly intriguing and unique, and lends itself to more modern and cutting edge design that is unafraid to take risks. While we don’t suggest a sculptural face as the perfect piece to adorn your mantel if your room is of a more traditional interior design style, it is certainly something that could work for those with a taste for the bold.

Here’s a trend we never thought we’d let into our homes again: loud, dramatic animal prints. They may have been popular decades ago, but most of the design world vowed to put the outlandish and downright tacky prints to the back of their closets. Recently, animal print, most notably leopard and zebra prints have made their way back into some contemporary interior design schemes—but with a self awareness it did not have before. Usually used to play up a kitschy or admittedly decadent style, you won’t be as surprised to see a zebra print rug or leopard print couch. It is surely a distinct statement, but may not have long staying power before we swear off of it again. Be sure to keep this in mind and aim to use animal prints sparsely.

Whoever thought two rugs were better than one might have been the first person to think that, but many others have agreed and jumped on board with this trend. Layered rugs may seem a bit unnecessary or unsightly to some that have noticed the trend among many popular bedroom and living room designs. After all, there is a visible difference in pile height when layering rugs, and it can appear busy to the eye. However, at the same time it can add more dimension to a solid-colored space, and further demarcate the area of a room to be emphasized. While this trend is not for everyone, there are moments where it truly works, and allows styles to be merged flawlessly in a way that one rug could not do. Think about the way a faux fur rug looks placed over a jute rug and tell us that’s not an intriguing look.

Everyone is familiar with a statement piece, a statement wall, a statement rug, and now we can add statement floors and ceilings to the list. While the aforementioned trends have been long accepted, statement floors and ceilings have not been as widely embraced by designers and homeowners. There are some issues with this one—for one, it’s always a good tip to be overly cautious with the shade you put on your ceiling as that can dramatically affect the way the dimensions of the room are perceived, and adding a pattern or texture to that just tacks on another layer of complication. Subsequently, statement floors can be overwhelming and make a room difficult to furnish in a balanced way. However, many designers have wrangled this trend successfully, with patterns and textures that add a new level of excitement to a room that is appropriate and seamless. When done well, a statement floor or ceiling can be completely transformative and steer the direction and style of the room.

While we will refrain from knocking or touting these trends, they have been used in designs that both fail and succeed in their execution. These trends are bold in nature, and take some careful consideration to do correctly. While we don’t know whether they would work in the everyman’s home, they certainly are interesting.