Home Design Trends for 2015

By Ryan Dosen

 

Winter’s a great time to consider your options for home improvement. The weather has us stuck inside our homes more than we’d like, but this really gives us a chance to look more closely at our homes and the areas that are in most need of updating. If you are smart about the areas you improve, and savvy enough to be with or ahead of the trends, you will be able to enjoy an updated home and also be able to recover most or all of your improvement costs when it comes time to sell.

It should be noted that home improvement projects rarely result in the homeowner recovering all of their investment dollars. If you are looking to improve your house simply in order to improve your chances of selling or your net after settlement, it is generally recommended that you stick to mostly cosmetic fix-ups, such as adding a fresh coat of paint, repairing damaged flooring, or improving your landscaping.

If you’re looking to update your home for your personal enjoyment, to stay with the times, and to position yourself well to sell your home in the near future, consider some of these popular design trends for 2015, as well as some of the recent design trends that are on their way out.

 

In: Quartz (or Quartzite) Countertops

Real Estate website Redfin.com says that granite countertops are starting to give way to quartz countertops, which are not as porous, require less maintenance, are less prone to staining, and are better able to withstand homeowner abuse. Quartzite is also gaining traction with its reputation for being virtually indestructible and for more closely resembling marble.

Given that kitchen improvements are almost universally considered one of the best rate-of-return investments you can make in your home, consider trying quartz or quartzite for breathing new life into an outdated kitchen.

 

Out: Naked Windows

Amy Yin, principal designer and owner of Amy Yin Interiors in New Jersey, says that when it comes to windows, the trend toward the minimalist urban loft space has gone too far. “There’s just nothing on people’s windows. It’s completely open. There’s no privacy; there’s nothing to protect from glare. There’s no color, personality, texture or softness, which is what window treatments can do.”

Yin recommends simple and sheer window treatments that can bring in light, add personality to a room, but also provide privacy when wanted.

 

In: Open Floor Plans

No breaking news here, but the trend toward the open floor plan, marrying cooking space with dining space with living space, is going nowhere. All too often we get feedback from buyers saying that a house feels too “chopped up” or that they were looking for a “more open” floorplan. Nowadays, having an open floor plan is almost never considered a bad thing.

If you have a separate kitchen, living room, and dining room, consider knocking down a wall or two and creating an open floor plan that will unlock some rarely-used spaces and also make your home much more marketable.

 

Out: “Faux” Finishes

Kerrie Kelly, founder of Kerrie Kelly Design Lab in California, warns against the use of “faux” finishes that have been popular in recent years. “Faux treatments, such as Tuscan paint finishes and marbled columns, are out and have been replaced by eco-chic and authentic materials” in the home. On her website, Kelly encourages decorating with “useful, authentic, heirloom quality handcrafted goods, sustainably designed using reclaimed, repurposed and reimagined materials.”

 

In: Smart Houses

There is an ever-increasing demand for “smart” homes that can allow you to remotely control your home’s security, heating, cooling, and other appliances. “Smart” home improvements, once considered an extravagant luxury, are now much more affordable. The cost of technology has dropped enough that cool devices like Nest Learning Thermostats not only make your life easier, but also pay for themselves in fairly short order. The addition of these “smart” devices or appliances should make your life easier and only bolster the marketability of your home.

 

In: Free-standing Tubs

The shower-tub combo, while an effective space saver, is losing its grip on the modern bathroom. The modern homebuyer wants more of a spa feel to their bathroom, with free-standing tubs and dedicated showers that have multiple shower heads. Efficiency is important to all of us, but homebuyers value the ability to relax and be pampered as they prepare for and recover from a busy day at work.

When your home hits the market, the master bathroom is very close to the kitchen in buyers’ minds; it’s a great place to spend your home improvement dollars.

 

Love the Trend. Beware the Trend.

If you are clever about your home improvement decisions, you can enrich your life now, enhance the future marketability of your home, and not take a bath on the overall costs. (You got me. Pun kinda intended.) Be cognizant of the trends, but be careful about being too trendy. Chevron prints were in style not that long ago. Not quite sure how that happened. But timeless, that trend surely was not.

 

— Ryan Dosen manages The Wayne Megill Real Estate Team of Keller Williams Brandywine Valley in West Chester. Contact Ryan Dosen for buyer or seller representation or for more perspective on the local and national real estate market by emailing rdosen@megillhomes.com or calling 610-399-0338. Please also visit The Wayne Megill Team blog at www.PAHomesAndRealEstate.com.

 

This article was published by 21st Century Media and the Daily Local News (West Chester, PA). To read this article on the the newspaper’s site, please visit the Daily Local News.

 

 

To view all of Ryan Dosen’s 21st Century Media real estate columns, visit http://www.dailylocal.com/search?text=dosen.