Trendy or Timeless: Interior Design That Won’t Go Out of Style
June 23, 2025
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Are these decor elements outdated trends or timeless interior designs?
Over the past year or so I've seen many interior designers and influencers declare a few home decor "trends" as done and outdated.
I do agree with some, but many I consider design staples that will stand the test of time. I've kept a list of a few of these "trendy fads" that I think can and should be permanent fixtures in our homes.
Some are older, some new...but I think all of the below are timeless looks and I'll explain why!
And by the way, as I always say -- if you like it, do what you want! It's your house and you should enjoy it.
Don't listen to me or anyone else when deciding what you truly love in your home!
Dark hardwood floors
I couldn't believe my ears when I first started hearing mumblings of dark hardwood flooring becoming outdated. Flooring has definitely trended to lighter wood tones over the recent years, but I adore a classic darker wood stain.
In our last home we were able to do traditional finished onsite hardwood floors throughout. It was only because of a leak in our kitchen and the subsequent insurance payout that we were able to do it, because they are definitely a splurge!
We loved them so much, we ended up adding them to more rooms through the years:
I picked the stain color Jacobean by Minwax for our wood floors and absolutely LOVED IT.
The dark hardwoods were so classic and went beautifully with everything, especially bright white walls:
Thankfully we had found an independent flooring guy who was an expert and also charged way less than anyone else we found.
He did such beautiful work!
I'm still sad we didn't have these true hardwoods installed in this house -- but the cost put it out of our comfort zone (our builder would only use their contractors). Plus the installation takes much longer than laying engineered or LVP (luxury vinyl planks).
We lived in a 300 square foot long term hotel room for nine weeks in between houses, and as much as I loved that beautiful flooring, I didn't want to push our move in date back even a day, let alone a week or more.
Instead, I picked dark engineered hardwoods for our new home, and at first I slightly regretted the dark tone:
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When we moved in late 2017, the trend was just starting to switch to lighter wood floors.
I love those too! But I am firmly in the dark flooring camp now, at least for our main living spaces. As with anything, I wouldn't recommend going too extreme one way or the other. I think an intense, almost black stain can lean a little trendy as well.
But a good medium-toned dark hardwood is absolutely timeless, and in my opinion will never go out of style!
Subway tile
Subway tile has been trashed quite a bit lately, and this is another one I disagree with...with some caveats.
I always recommend going with a simple design for kitchen backsplashes, unless you have the budget to change them out as you wish.
If you've ever tried removing tile yourself, you know how difficult it is switch out a backsplash tile:
I don't recommend going with a trendy tile for a backsplash, or anywhere really. It's difficult, messy and expensive to remove and install new tile.
My exceptions to that would be smaller rooms like a powder room, mud room or small hallway.
I think you can add character and color with other accents like wallpaper or paint. Tile is just a PAIN to replace.
Because of that, I went with a very traditional white subway tile for our kitchen backsplash, but with a few minor twists:
First up, I chose a longer white tile in a 3x6 inch size instead of the traditional 2x4 size.
Also, the longer subway tile we picked has a beautiful wavy texture that gives it some interest and dimension:
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The edges are also slightly irregular so they aren't a rigid rectangle with perfectly clean lines (but are still easy to install).
I also picked a very light gray grout color to tie in the color of our kitchen island and other accents:
Grout is where subway tile can get trendy -- a gray or black grout can make subway tile look dated.
I've noticed the gray grout makes our white backsplash look busy, so I'd love to regrout or dye our gray grout to white someday. Not even sure if that's possible but I'm going to do some research!
I still stand by white subway tile with crisp white grout as an established and beautiful accent in a kitchen.
Subway tile has been used for well over a century! If you've ridden the New York City subway system, you know it is a timeless design!
Shiplapped accent walls
This one has become trendy more because of the "shiplap" term more than the actual look.
I was installing planked wood walls years and years ago, well before Joanna Gaines' Fixer Upper show inspired the shiplap boom that was trending forever:
This "trend" is even older than subway tile...about 1600 years older. :) It's been around since the Vikings used it for their boats, and has been a staple in homes for hundreds of years.
Has it been overused recently? I would say yes.
But I still think it can be a beautiful and inexpensive accent in your home. It's so versatile and works in both traditional and modern applications:
If you want a truly timeless version of this planked wall look, I recommend installing your boards vertically instead of horizontally.
You can see how I installed this tongue and groove treatment to our bedroom last year:
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| Find those beautiful green drapes here! |
I still think horizontal tongue and groove walls are a great accent in small doses. And vertical planks will always be a quintessential touch that will look fantastic ten years from now.
Color drenched rooms
Color drenching means going all in and painting a room from top to bottom in one color. That means the ceiling, walls, trim and doors.
Drenching the walls and trim in the same color has become a trendy decor choice over the past five years or so, but it's not a new design idea.
I've only done it a few times so far, but I absolutely, positively LOVE the warm and cozy vibe it creates in a space.
Wellllll...except maybe the orangey rust color I painted my office walls and ceiling more than 16 years ago:
Was I ahead of my time? Not really, as this has been an interior design technique since the early 20th century. All those years ago I loved the cozy and intimate feeling it gave this room, and I still love the ambience it creates today.
In our home now, I've only truly color drenched a few spaces, all in our basement. My latest was this small hallway I painted (almost) head to toe in a rich wine color:
I didn't paint the ceiling at the time, but I have decided what I'm doing with that! It will be the perfect DIY project in our cool basement this summer.
I recommend a satin finish for the walls and a semi-gloss paint for the trim and doors when color drenching.
Our family room space has been this warm Westchester gray for years, and I finally painted the trim and doors early last year:
And when I built our basement bar/kitchenette, I continued the drenching into this space with the walls and ceiling:
Color drenching doesn't have to be dark paint -- it can be bold colors, subdued neutral hues...whatever! I prefer deep colors that add a lot of warmth to a room, but anything goes!
I usually don't include the ceiling in my drenched spaces, but that's mostly because painting ceilings SUCKS. I would do it more if my neck would allow it!
Drenching a room with color is another idea that is perhaps overdone lately, but I hope the resurgence of this interior design style is going anywhere soon.
White cabinets/kitchens
This one bugs me, and it's not because we have a white kitchen. 😂 I laugh every time the "experts" discuss white kitchens with disdain.
I love color in kitchen, and would definitely consider it again in a heartbeat:
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| Tour my DIY kitchen renovation here! |
Interestingly enough, the dark paint colors that a lot of designers suggest for kitchen cabinets have already started to look trendy. I LOVED our warm blue/gray color on our cabinet bases in our last house (and still do), but wanted something simpler in this house.
It's hard to beat the versatile and classic white kitchen. There are SO many ways to layer visual interest and character on a neutral backdrop.
You can paint shelves or a kitchen island in a different color:
I went light to match our island cabinets, but I would like to repaint in a warmer color someday.
White kitchen cabinets give you so much flexibility with the rest of the decor, especially if you have an open floor plan like ours.
White kitchens are a staple of timeless interiors and you can't convince me otherwise. 😂
What do you think? Are these decor decisions timeless style or will they be outdated in a few years? Have you regretted a trendy decor choice?
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