Creating a classic look at home

On Washington’s trendy H Street corridor, the new Lucille Condominium boasts a classic-meets-contemporary facade of old-school red bricks and sleek, squared-off balconies.

"We were aiming for something classic and didn’t want the place to date too quickly," Philip Simon of S2 Development says.

"But it’s a challenge," says GoodWood co-owner and designer Anna Kahoe, who sought to create kitchens and baths that weren’t too trendy. "There’s so much interior information coming at us now, it’s hard to define what timeless or classic means anymore."

Thanks to websites, blogs, Pinterest boards, Instagram feeds and television shows, everyday home-dwellers have access to countless decor ideas. A decade ago, only design-world savants and Moroccans were plopping Morocco’s graphic black-on-white Beni Ourain wool rugs on their floors. Now, with even big-box stores getting into design, you can buy knockoffs at Target, and the hashtag #beniourain has been used at least 31,000 times on Instagram. But it’s anyone’s guess how long the fad will last.

"Remember how popular sponge painting was in the 1990s, and how chevron was on everything in the early 2000s?" says Dina Holland, an interior designer from Needham, Mass., whose popular Instagram account @pleasehatethesethings showcases regrettable interior trends and choices.

Here are seven tips from designers to keep your pad from looking dated just a few years after you put in a new powder room, replace the sofa or hang up groovy-again wallpaper in your foyer.

If you’ve seen it everywhere, don’t do it: "I try to avoid anything that is too ornamental, too loud or that’s been all over social media," Bethesda, Md., interior designer Marika Meyer says. "There’s a point at which, if everyone is doing one thing — strong geometric tile, ikat fabric — you might consider going with something completely different that’ll look unique and ­individual." Meyer, for example, recently helped a client install a new kitchen with lacquered, turquoise blue cabinets. "They’re bold and fun, and it’s not something you see everywhere," Meyer says. And it will last longer since it doesn’t hew to a particular trend.

Stick with basics for your basics: Clean lines and neutral colours, while not the stuff of Instagram likes, will probably outlast current obsessions such as patterned cement tiles and benches upholstered with ratty sheepskins. Design pros preach that the backbones of your home — floors, walls and major furniture — should skew toward simplicity. In a decade, that swoop-armed Pottery Barn sofa might feel more tired than a low-slung, squared-off mid-century modern couch.

Indulge in trends — in a small way: Holland says she sometimes gets complaints from clients about a design proposal with neutral base elements. "They’ll sometimes say, ‘That’s boring,’ but I emphasize that the way to do these trends — macramé, a bold pattern — is in a pillow or a small area rug," she says. It’s akin to shelling out for the little black designer dress you’ll wear forever, then dolling it up with this season’s necklace and shoes.

Get real about your materials: Genuine materials — real wood, solid brass, soapstone countertops — have a lengthier shelf life, and mostly look better as they age, than ceramic tiles that mimic marble, or an imitation Turkish rug. "It’s about living with things that are real," San Francisco-area interior designer Chelsea Sachs says. "There are few trends I hated more than that fake wood tile."

Recognize "trends" with staying power: Some pared-down ideas such as popular white subway tiles, white kitchen cabinets and Eames chairs might seem trendy, especially to folks who don’t have deep design knowledge. "But if something keeps coming around again and again, like black-and-white bathrooms, I’d say it’s classic," S2’s Simon says.

Keep track of your time frame: Interiors and exteriors can also feel more timeless when they stay somewhat true to the original era of the property, especially a historic one. "In an old house, I like to keep some of the details and honour them," Sachs says. That could mean retaining and restaining the oak moldings and paneling in a Craftsman bungalow, or remodelling the bathrooms of a 1920s rowhouse with simple, black-and-white subway tile, a nod to what might have been there during the Jazz Age. "And I wouldn’t put a bunch of dark wood, Queen Anne furniture in a 1950s ranch house," Kahoe says. An ideal blend? A look that considers the house’s architecture and roots along with whatever HGTV’s Property Brothers are installing this season.

But don’t over-adhere to history: In a nesting world increasingly marked by eclectic, style-mixing interiors, going full-on with claw-foot tubs and velvet sofas in a Victorian cottage could feel dated in a different way. "Tastes change, times change and there are shifts in how we live," Arlington, Va., interior designer Nicole Lanteri says. "Some change is progress, like replacing a cramped old tub with a walk-in shower, or a dining room you’re not using with a great room."

In the 1938 Colonial house Lanteri and her husband just purchased, she’s leaving some things in place: glass doorknobs on the five-panel doors, plasterwork and interior arches. But she ripped out the kitchen’s old ­dark-wood cabinets and laminate flooring, replacing them with citrus-yellow cabinets and a black-and-white terrazzo floor.

"I wasn’t going to just change everything, but you do have to remodel sometimes. Cabinets get worn and sinks get gross," she says.

"But I think we’re respecting the life cycle of the house."

— Washington Post

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