When we looked at remodelling our first house in 1976 the fashion colours for bathrooms fittings were avocado, like this photo, and sepia.
I really thought avocado would look nice………How very 70’s, or even how very early 70’s!
It was a good thing we decided to stick with white!
Although I have to be honest at the time the main reason was cost, because we could use the existing toilet that was white.
What I have come to realise if something is very fashionable it usually means it quickly gets out of date.
One thing that taught me early on was although its interesting to look at all the nice new designs of fittings and fixtures you should try and pick things that won’t date.
Even though you are building a house for you to live in for several years you don’t want a dated look when you come to sell.
Before you get carried away with a lot of ornamentation remember this will date faster than anything else and the ornamentation will be difficult to keep clean for a lifetime.
Some of trends I have seen a lot of recently are:
- Mini down lights. We caught the down lights trend in 1991 when they used standard incandescent 100w bulbs. My worst lighting decision ever!
- Stainless steel worktops, which has taken over from polished granite
- Feature walls, why would you pay hundreds of dollars for something you could paint yourself in a couple of hours with $50 of paint.
- Free standing cast iron baths, but how many of us have a bath and how do you clean round them?
How dated will these things look in five years time?
One Of My Mistakes
I have to admit one trend I did get caught up in, in 1991, was having a two person spa bath.
It was only used by two of us once, and only used about 5 or 6 times in the ten years we lived at that house.
Some Advice
The best advice I can give is:
- White bathroom fittings.
- Light wood doors on kitchen units.
- Neutral tones for carpets and tiles.
This make the house more of a blank canvas where you can show of your fashionable items like rugs, carpets, paintings, painted walls and furniture. At least they are easier to replace when fashion changes.
How have you become an Interior fashion victim?
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