Timeless Home Furnishings: How to update a room without being too “trendy”

They may not be as fast or as fleeting as clothing styles, but home décor trends come and go too. Everyone wants a home update once in a while. So how do you make your surroundings comfortable, modern, and stylish without constantly buying into the latest fad?

Home decorators say there are pitfalls to avoid when choosing items to update your decor. Rather than aiming for a specific look that may be in style now — such as rustic, bohemian, or modern coastal — choose patterns, textures, and colors that suit you and make your home interesting and unique. The key is not to fall for something that doesn’t fit your family’s lifestyle or personality when you are thinking about making a change.

Stick To The Basics

Design experts agree that sticking with classic basics and adding modern touches that can easily be changed out in a few years — such as rugs, pillows, throws, or bedspreads — are good starting points when updating a room. Put your money into a good, solid piece of furniture rather than filling your home with trendy items that only add to a cluttered living space. If you decide a new sofa is going to be the starting point for your room’s new look, “classic” doesn’t have to mean boring. Go textured with upholstered fabric, sleek with deep, burnished leather, or change up the style. There are so many sofa styles to choose from. The Rain Home Theater Seating Collection by Elran is available in hundreds of fabrics and many other options such as hand or power reclining and a wedge console with cup holders. The filling is made of a high-resistance fiber that will keep its shape year after year.

The Rain Home Theater Sofa provides superior comfort and a beautiful design.

Complement The Look

Now that you have your statement piece, you can complement its look with fashionable pillows — velvet, mix-and-match, oversized, and fringed are all the rage. Don’t forget a chunky hand-knit throw or an oh-so-soft bamboo throw for those cool fall and cold winter nights. If you don’t mind spending a little more money, consider changing out an area rug or curtains for a color-scheme update. While minimalism always seems to be in style for window treatments, other current looks include natural fibers, layering, and soft, pale colors. The furniture markets are displaying rugs with exciting new colors, incorporating a splash of terra-cotta in bright or more subtle hues, for instance. This Ivorine Area Rug from Surya is a good example — a stylish, modern blend of navy, burnt orange, and taupe. It’s hand-knotted (the best quality), a blend of 50 percent wool and 50 percent viscose, and comes in three sizes to fit your space.

The Ivorine Area Rug provides bright, but subtle, color cues.

Mix New And Old

If you like a trend that you’re seeing lately, such as the vintage look that’s been popular the last few years, think about adding a bit of that flavor with an accent piece rather than overhauling your entire room. Professional decorators will tell you that mixing the new with the old is perfectly acceptable in the interior design world, and it will even add interest, warmth, and timeless appeal to your home. Just make sure your accent piece is nicely restored and not worn and rickety looking.

Add a little flair with a quality accent piece.

Just Add Paint

Everyone knows that paint is a cheap and easy way to update a room — or an entire house if it’s been years since you’ve had a new coat applied. One of the best ways to avoid “too trendy” is to choose soft, muted colors, and they don’t necessarily have to be neutrals. A beautiful sage green works well with any furniture color, as does a soft grey-blue or a dusty rose. If you are seeing lots of home décor photos with paint colors that feel too dark, too sterile, or too shocking, then skip them — most likely they will go out of fashion sooner than you would like to change them out. An even better way to select paint without feeling like you are trying to be on trend is simply to choose what you like, what makes you feel good, and what you think will work well with the furniture, the size of the space, and the natural light in your room. If you keep these details in mind you can’t go wrong. And if you do, it’s just paint!

Add A New Lamp

Speaking of lighting, an often-overlooked way to make a change is to accessorize with a new lamp or overhead light. Think not only about the lamp’s design but also about what type of bulb you are using. According to Consumer Reports, LED bulbs with warm, yellow light are appropriate for living rooms, while LEDs with whiter light are better suited to bathrooms and kitchens. Lamps are accent pieces that can bring an inexpensive update to a room, adding style, color, and a finishing touch all at once. This ceramic Torino Table Lamp by Kenroy Home brings color and warmth to your space with an eye-catching checkerboard pattern. Glass and natural ceramics are popular these days, as are overhead floor lamps for reading areas. Dining lights have come a long way, with pendants, industrial-looking overheads, and smart European drum designs replacing traditional chandeliers. Accent colors such as the now-popular black can be brought in with a lamp, or polished metal such as brass can offset some of the textures in your room. Some lamps have tech-savvy options including dimmers, remote or touch control, and built-in electronic device chargers. They are just one example of the ways you can not only update your look but bring in functional trends too.

The Torino Table Lamp brings color and warmth to your space.