5 Home Design Trends to Be Thankful for This Year

After years of normalizing neutral color palettes, for example, designers are embracing more colorful trends to showcase personality in homes. REALTOR® Magazine’s Styled, staged and sold blog asked designers and stagers what home interior trends they’re most grateful for this year. Here are their top picks.

1. More colorful spaces

Goodbye, white kitchens and gray walls. More color is moving in. Homeowners favor bolder hues inside the home, not just for pops of color but also as a base color for an entire room. Paint companies have chosen variations of blues, pinks, and greens as their picks for 2020 color of the year. These colors also are being splashed on kitchen cabinets, exterior doors, and home accessories.

The paint firm PPG selected Chinese porcelain, a blend of cobalt and muted navy tones, as its 2020 color of the year. Sherwin Williams followed suit with Naval, a deep navy blue.

Behr’s top 2020 pick is a meadow-inspired yellowish green called Back to Nature.

Pinks also are catching on. HGTV Home by Sherwin Williams, the company’s offshoot brand, chose a blush hue called Romance, while Benjamin Moore chose a soft, rosy hue called First Light.

2. Luxury vinyl flooring

A design trend that’s stylish but low maintenance, luxury vinyl is enjoying popularity as an alternative to hardwood and ceramic tile flooring. Vinyl is touted as being cheaper, warmer, and softer on your feet; it also requires less upkeep than traditional hardwood or tile.

Today’s luxury vinyl shouldn’t be mistaken for linoleum and other varieties of sheet flooring. Luxury vinyl can be laid out in planks, tiles, and sheets, and it comes in trendy finishes. Luxury vinyl planks can resemble the look of hardwood and are offered in handscraped and wide plank varieties. The planks can be installed diagonally or in a trendy herringbone pattern, and they also can resemble tile and marble.

The lower maintenance of luxury vinyl is appealing to families with young children and pets. It’s a water-resistant material that works easily in kitchens and bathrooms.

3. Voice-controlled smart appliances

Alexa, Google Home, and Siri are ushering in a new and advanced era of smart-home technology. The choices are growing, too: Smart plugs, for example, cost as little as $10 and enable you to say: “Alexa, turn on the lights.” Add smart lightbulbs that can be controlled via voice assistants, as well as other appliances such as the thermostat, door locks, and security cameras. Suddenly, smart homes have become more attainable and cost-effective.

4. Statement ceilings 

Finally, a reason to look up! The homes fifth wall is commanding the spotlight In the roaring ’20s, stamped ceilings, such as those plated in copper or tin decorative sheets, were popular. But the trend faded in favor of smooth ceiling finishes. Now, the statement ceiling is back.

This time, however, paint, wallpaper, or wood moldings are the ceiling accents of choice. A statement ceiling can brighten up a space and make it memorable, says Katie Skoloff, principal designer and founder of In Site Designs, an interior design firm in Greenville, S.C. “We find the interest on a ceiling draws the eye up, and you cannot help but feel the space is there to ‘wow’ you,” she says. Wallpapered ceilings, as well as wood beams and coffered ceilings, are today’s standout options.

5. Contrasting kitchen design

Along with more colorful interiors, the white kitchen is fading in favor of a bigger statement, including tuxedo cabinetry, shiny hardware, and brass-trimmed range hoods.

Polished brass on cabinet hardware, range hoods, and appliance handles shines in otherwise white kitchens, appearing to be like jewelry for the space. Café, a hardware line for the GE Appliance brand, offers customizable options in various metals for refrigerator or oven handles. For example, soft-brushed copper handles can be added to a matted white refrigerator for a more contemporary vibe.

Contrasting kitchen cabinets, such as the tuxedo kitchen, also are gaining popularity. The trend calls for upper and lower cabinets to be painted different colors—perhaps white on top and a gray or dark walnut on the bottom. It’s essentially a way to add more visual interest to an otherwise all-white display.

An alternative—and slightly less bold—version of this trend is also taking root, such as all-white cabinets and a contrasting kitchen island in a deep blue, gray, or walnut color.

IT’S A GOOD LIFE!!

Five Star award Winner 2011- 2019 honoring the top 7% of real estate professionals in Oregon.

Rachel Sheller

Principal Broker, Realtor, CRS, ABR, GRI, SRES

Diversity Specialist-HOWNW, Earth Advantage Broker,

MASTERS CIRCLE

CSA-Certified Staging Agent

Oregon First, Washington First 

Direct 503.380.9634

Email- rachel@rachelsheller.com

View ALL available Houses on the market on my website.

Licensed in the State of Oregon and Washington

My business is referral based.
If you’ve enjoyed my service, please refer me!

Metro Areas With Significant Home Appreciation

For most Americans, the home they own is their largest investment and most valuable asset. These 10 metro areas have some of the highest home appreciation percentages over the past five years, reports Realtor.com^®.

1.     Santa Maria, CA – 95 percent

2.     Nashville, TN – 89.4 percent

3.     College Station, TX – 85.3 percent

4.     Charlotte, NC – 82.9 percent

5.     Omaha, NE – 73.5 percent

6.     Grand Rapids, MI – 72.5 percent

7.     Fort Wayne, IN – 67.9 percent

8.     Columbus, OH – 66.4 percent

9.     New Orleans, LA – 62.4 percent

10.  Lexington, KY – 61.7 percent

IT’S A GOOD LIFE!!

Rachel Sheller,Principal Broker, Realtor, CRS, ABR, GRI, SRES,MASTERS CIRCLE, Earth Advantage Broker, Diversity Specialist-HOWNW, CSA-Certified Staging Agent, Oregon First, Washington First 

Direct 503.380.9634, Email- rachel@rachelsheller.com

View this ALL available Houses on the market on my website. 

Licensed in the State of Oregon and Washington 

My business is referral based.
If you’ve enjoyed my service, please refer me!

Length Of Ownership For Recently Sold Homes Has Increased

American home sellers who closed their sale during the first quarter of this year had owned their property for an average of 8.05 years, according to the National Association of Realtors^®. This is a significant increase compared to the average of 4.21 years for properties sold from 2000 to 2007.

ATTOM Data Solutions reported that the five largest metro areas with the longest average years of ownership prior to selling in 2019 were Hartford, CT – 12.52 years; Boston, MA – 12.36 years; Providence, RI – 11.15 years; San Francisco, CA – 10.40 years; and San Jose, CA – 10.27 years.

On a national average, the most profitable home sales occurred in these four California metros: San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Oxnard. Honolulu, HI, was fifth on the list.

IT’S A GOOD LIFE!!

Rachel Sheller,Principal Broker, Realtor, CRS, ABR, GRI, SRES,MASTERS CIRCLE, Earth Advantage Broker, Diversity Specialist-HOWNW, CSA-Certified Staging Agent, Oregon First, Washington First 

Direct 503.380.9634, Email- rachel@rachelsheller.com

View this ALL available Houses on the market on my website. 

Licensed in the State of Oregon and Washington 

My business is referral based.
If you’ve enjoyed my service, please refer me!

White Walls? Positive or Negative?

Fresh, crisp white walls have always been popular, but keep in mind that all whites are not the same. Depending on the natural light that flows into the room as well as the interior lighting used at night, the color white can change from warm and inviting to cold and stark.

Here are three points to consider before painting your walls white.

1.     Avoid that sterile hospital look
White is associated with cleanliness, which is why many kitchen and bathroom walls are painted white. However, white walls paired with white trim and white cabinets can seem boring and sterile. Creating some texture on the walls with paintable beadboard wallpaper can increase the visual appeal of the room.

2.     Classic, formal and refined
The age of your house as well as its architectural style may create the “need” for white walls. For example, houses that are decorated with antiques and more formal furnishings often draw attention to the interior decor by having a neutral white background. Ultramodern houses with dramatic architectural lines and curves also appear more prominent against simple white walls.

3.     White expands spaces
White walls make rooms appear larger and lighter. Small bedrooms, baths and closets can benefit from this optical illusion. It’s also valuable to keep white in mind when you’re getting your house ready to sell and want to make the best impression on potential buyers.

For more information please call, email, or text.

IT’S A GOOD LIFE!!

Rachel Sheller,Principal Broker, Realtor, CRS, ABR, GRI, SRES,MASTERS CIRCLE, Earth Advantage Broker, Diversity Specialist-HOWNW, CSA-Certified Staging Agent, Oregon First, Washington First 

Direct 503.380.9634, Email- rachel@rachelsheller.com

View this ALL available Houses on the market on my website. 

Licensed in the State of Oregon and Washington 

My business is referral based.
If you’ve enjoyed my service, please refer me!