With Millennials becoming significant players in the housing market and Generation Z making waves too, interior designers are seeing significant changes occur across the industry. Even what were once well-defined rules and celebrated trends are now being left behind as a younger generation of homeowners are ditching the aesthetics and flourishes that they feel don’t work for their ideal of home.
While this might be disappointing for the staunch defenders of traditional designs, for others it is a time of refreshment with endless possibilities and new designs being on the horizon for living spaces across the country. To demonstrate exactly how the industry is being shaken up, here are five interior designs that Gen Z are ditching and replacing with exciting new alternatives.
Goodbye, Beige
There has been a sudden and harsh rejection of beige within the home. For the younger generation, it is an important message, one that communicates a feeling of obligation that they have experienced, being forced to endure years of rental properties being painted with neutral tones.
Now, as they begin to own their own properties, Generation Z are filling living spaces with colours and designs that were deemed inappropriate for rental homes. Since neutral colours have always been seen as optimum palettes for selling a property, it will be interesting to see how this affects sales in the long run.
Tarnished Gold
The recent and luxurious embracing of gold embellishments within the home is being cut short as Gen Z are rejecting the dark tones and gold trims trend, seeing it as largely gauche. Gold has become somewhat popular in homes as a way to enhance modern designs, such as with gold handles and taps, bringing a sense of refined elegance to the home.
Empty Lawns
Trimmed and neat grass lawns are being replaced with log cabins and wildflowers, with a budding interest in exchanging flowerbeds for vegetable patches. These ecologically rich garden alternatives might provide children fewer places to play but as the younger generations place a greater importance on environmental sustainability, gardens are being championed as a platform for sustainability.
No More Macramé
Once a championed symbol of the bo-ho aesthetic, macramé is now being left behind and associated with student accommodation, with bo-ho as an entire style being seen as overly cluttered in the contemporary landscape. Houseplants, however, remain popular but are, instead, taking up further shelf space in brilliantly coloured ceramics.
Close It Off
Open-plan living spaces saw a huge increase in popularity over the previous decade with almost every home in a modern property being queried for its potential knockdown. Residents wanted, it seemed, more space and more open living areas.
Now, however, and largely due to the rise of remote working, which has placed a need on multipurpose living arrangements, open-plan spaces are becoming problematic. It is difficult, for example, to work remotely if others are occupying the same space. As such, Generation Z are once again dividing rooms while looking for ways to create multifunctional living areas.
