7 Home Trends We're Leaving Behind In 2022

Room by room, these are the trends we won’t be bringing into the new year.

As time rolls on, we’re constantly updating our styles, reevaluating what makes us happy, and finding new and better ways to function. That includes the things in our homes. That’s why a stroll through the house is the first on our list of New Year’s preparations. With 2023 so close that we can nearly touch it, it’s due time to take stock of the things at home that we’d be happy to leave behind in 2022.

Perhaps you embraced a trend that proved short term, tried out a new material that hasn’t aged well, or have become bored with a look you were convinced you could love for a long time. Or maybe you just can’t put your finger on what it is that has you itching for a change. From the first thing you see when you walk through the front door to the more intimate nooks and crannies, here are the top changes we’re making in each room of the house in 2023.

Say So Long To The Lack-Luster Foyer

When guests enter your home, your foyer is the first thing they’ll see, and what a shame it would be to make a dull! first impression. Those stick with you, after all. As such, designers recommend taking the opportunity to brilliantly catch guests’ eyes right from the get-go.

“An entryway is our favorite place to make a pop,” says Ashely Hunt, founder and designer for Haddy House Interiors in Houston, Texas, with fellow Haddy House designer, Savannah McPartland, in agreement. “This is the first place people are going to see when they walk into your home, so you want to make a statement.”

To make that statement, the ladies at Haddy House recommend creating a defined entryway space.

“Although the entry may be open to other rooms, you can separate it by adding casing, different moldings, and, of course, wallpaper,” says Hunt. “We love wallpaper in the entryway with a complementary light fixture, and we always do some sort of console.”

If you’re not interested in such a big project but are eager to leave your blah foyer in the past, Fort Worth, Texas-based interior designer Ashley Higgins recommends simple additions with big impact.

“Add a really fun, bright piece of art if you love color, or a more muted scene if you don't love coverage, and a really welcoming rug to set the tone for your house right when you walk in,” Higgins advises.

Wave Goodbye To Synthetic Kitchen Countertops

Next, we step into the kitchen where for too long, synthetic countertops have taken over with their tempting scratch-proof and stain-proof promises. Still, this is one trend that designers are more than ready to leave behind.

“I think people were so overly cautious about the countertops, that we sort of missed an opportunity to have beautiful materials in the kitchen for fear of it staining or etching,” says interior designer Liz Mearns. “Some of that synthetic material that’s impervious, lacks warmth so I think people  are deciding they’d rather real stone that could be marred, but that's just that's sort of life.”

Two stones, in particular, seem to be capturing designers’ attention: marble and soapstone.

“We're doing Borghini Italian marble in a couple projects and it’s a beautiful thing that I haven't seen done in the last couple years that I think is really hot right now,” says Mearns. “We're also doing marine slate and it kind of reads us like a soapstone that I think is really cool for the island. It just feels a little more soulful.”

McPartland agrees: “For countertops, marble will have a lot more depth to them with warm, gold undertones. We're even seeing a trend in bringing in soapstone for darker tones to really add some more dimension.”

Forget Stuffy Living Rooms

Afterwards, we make our way to the living room, where untouchable elegance is making way for livability. The goal in the new year is to enhance the functionality of a living room by transforming it from a formal arena to a room that’s still gorgeous, but is also prime for spending time in loads of different ways.

“A living room should be one of the best used spaces in your house, so we want to make it beautiful, but we also want to make it very practical and family-friendly,” says McPartland. “That's why we incorporate performance fabrics on the base of all furniture pieces. Then we have a little bit more fun with our prints on the pillows and ottomans.”

She and Hunt recommend functional and comfortable sofas and chairs in performance fabrics as well as low pile wool rugs that are soft on your feet that are kid- and pet-friendly for casual barefoot relaxing.

Mearns also likes to build the living room into a multi-purposed space by adding furniture and other elements with useful capacities that go one step further in knocking down the formality of the space. Think of your living room as a library and study too, she says, and recommends placing desks behind the sofa.

Another addition to consider for the living room is a TV. For many, the mere suggestion of a television in the living room may be absurd, but Mearns recommends shedding that stigma in the name of augmenting the space’s potential.

“I think TVs in the living room are really incredible and I never thought I would say this! The Samsung Frame TVs look great and I think having a TV in your living room extends functionality,” says Mearns.

Stop Neglecting The Dining Room

As we make our way to the dining room, we say a silent prayer that this room is finally getting the resurgence it deserves. After years of open floor plans and informal dining rooms in the spotlight, the formal dining room is making a comeback. It’s not just back in style though, the dining room is actually where designers are recommending that homeowners set their sights moving forward. This is the place to invest your time, efforts, and money, they’re saying.

“Obviously, the living room sofa is very important, but a living room sofa is probably not going to be handed down to your kids. A French buffet, though, is a beautiful piece that will be used to hold your china, or used as a server, or as a dining room table, that is going to stand the test of time and be passed down through your family throughout the years,” Hunt explains. “So, the dining room is definitely the area where we like to encourage clients to invest.”

Don’t feel like you need to start from scratch though. As you set the course for future generations to cherish your dining room pieces, take advantage of well-loved furniture that previous generations have afforded you, too. This could mean breaking out Mama’s sideboard or heading to the antique store to welcome a treasure into the family—all to be incorporated stunningly alongside your newer additions.

“The dining room is such a great spot where people are getting into secondhand, vintage furniture. It just really grounds the room and makes it feel homey,” says Higgins. “I've seen a ton of mixing in the dining room so maybe it's your grandmother's table and then we buy new chairs and put a fresh print on the fabric of the cushions and upholstery, or we get a new table and new chairs but we have a vintage buffet. I really like that mix of old and new and these dining rooms bring some character and feel really traditional.”

Move Away From Matchy-Matchy Bedrooms

In 2023, when we enter the bedroom, designers want to see eclectic, rather than uniform, furniture.

“One thing we're definitely moving away from and have been is matching furniture sets,” says McPartland, with Hunt in agreement. “We love to mix in different textures, different materials, different colors, and really create a space that looks clean and has a collected look without too much matching.”

How much mixing and matching is too much is a personal decision, though, and one that the designers can’t come to a consensus on. To have matching nightstands or not to, that is the bedroom question.

“I'm okay with my nightstands matching,” says Higgins, “but I definitely want my dresser or any other pieces of furniture I have to not be matching. It just feels so much more collected when you have those different pieces, whether they're in different wood tones, or one of them is painted and one of them is an antique burl wood dresser or something like that.”

Flush Dull Bathrooms Down The Drain

On route to the powder room, designers are ready to say goodbye to stark, white baths and hello to bold surprises in 2023. In this room, moving forward, we strive to be adventurous in our design.

“I think the powder room is such a fun spot in people's homes where people are willing to take a risk,” says Higgins. “It’s just a small space, so you're not as intimidated by cost or things like that, but still such a great space where you can really go all out.”

To “go all out,” Hugging recommends funky, vinyl wallpaper and bold paint all the way up to the ceilings, while the Haddy House designers have turned their efforts towards mixed metal finishings and interesting bathroom countertops, backsplashes, and vanities.

“We’ve been doing really cool cuts on a lot of our backsplashes for the bathroom countertops. It's just a really fun way to add a little bit of a customized look,” says Hunt, which McPartland explains may look along the lines of a wall-mounted faucet instead of a standard three-hole sink faucet, or a countertop that extends to the backsplash with a detailed, curved finish. 

Hang Boring Laundry Rooms Out To Dry

In 2023, designers are ready to leave sterile, bland laundry rooms behind. These all-white or downright forgotten spaces could use an extra oomph. This room is one with loads of decorative potential, not just loads of laundry. In the new year, we hope to optimize the laundry room’s utility and beauty.

“There's definitely people who wouldn't think that a laundry room would be an area to have an interior designer even look at, but we've actually done a few and it's been a really fun project. It’s a little jewelry box area,” says Hunt. “You can have fun with wallpaper and colors and still design everything to be very functional in that space.”

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