Controversial opinion: I wish there were no interior design trends

Amanda Jones is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on sustainable living and decorating a home in way that is good for the environment. See the rest of her articles here.

So why do I feel there should be no interior design trends? Is it because I’m devoid of any imagination, creativity, or fun? No, that’s not it, I’d LOVE all our homes to be full of creative fun and flair. I’d be so happy, and I think we’d all feel a lot happier, if our homes were uplifting, interesting and unique.

It’s because, I believe, trends ultimately lead to overconsumption, and wastefulness, and that in turn, is having a negative impact on our planet, and our purses. This is why, I see myself as a slow interior advocate, which I’ve written about in this article.

I absolutely LOVE slow interior design and could very easily get carried away with new ideas. However, I believe we should be mindful and intentional when we are decorating and designing our homes. The environment should be at the heart of what we choose whether that’s the amount or frequency that we buy items, or the materials the manufacturer has use, and how it was made.

I’ve written a lot on here about my love and appreciation of second-hand, and how I feel it’s the cornerstone to slow interiors. Afterall, buying something that’s already had a life, slows down the pressure to make new stuff. I’ve also written about the need, where possible, to obtain things that are made of natural materials, to slow down the production of plastics, and other chemical heavy products. This all comes under the slow interior banner.

Something I haven’t written much about is the absolute joy and satisfaction, slow interiors bring me. When you decorate your home slowly, intentionally, it gives you the time to develop a real appreciation of what you already have, your family needs, and how best your home can meet those needs. It gives you the time to make the best decisions. We live in a world that is fast, where decisions and ideas can be made on the click of a button, and delivered the next day, not how it was forty years ago.

I got my first home in the mid 1980s, and it was furnished almost entirely with second-hand furniture. Being my first home, I was super excited to put my stamp on it. As we were short on cash, I could only do it very slowly a bit at a time, but then, so were most other people I knew. It was the norm.

I’m not exactly sure when the fast, trend-based interiors started to emerge, but I can remember the impact one programme had on the nation. It was in the mid-nighties. The program was called Changing Rooms, and we loved it. Two celebrity interior designers spent 48 hours, transforming a room in neighbouring houses.

Even for the 90s they had some very questionable design choices, but it was fun to watch, and very entertaining. Whilst the program showed ordinary people having fun decorating their homes, having a go at something creative, it also pressed, I feel, the fast forward button on what we expected home design to be. If Changing Rooms could quickly transform a room, then so too could any of us.

Don’t get me wrong, if you are going to decorate your main living room, you want to get the messy bit over and done with as soon as possible, just so you can restore a bit of order. The program, however, gave the impression decisions and ideas, can be executed very quickly. It didn’t reflect the many hours the designer would have put into the design, the choices they would have had to make, before they even went on location, it was instant design.

Now I’m not putting all the blame on one program, after all, I like many others loved it, especially seeing the contestant’s reaction to the revealed room. I think the growth of interior design print, (magazines and books) and social media (Instagram), have also played a huge role in our obsession to following trends when decorating our homes.

There has always been ‘fashions’ within homes, you only need to look around a stately home, to see what was deemed fashionable with the rich, those ‘fashions’ however lasted decades. The speed at which we replace what’s in our homes today, has increased significantly. Planned obsolesce and technological advances account for some of this, but I think peer pressure, and the rise of social medial influence, counts for more. Interior design has become more and more trend based, rather than style based, which is something altogether different.

People of my grandparent’s generation bought things to last a lifetime. Their bedroom furniture lasted their lifetime, now you might buy bedroom furniture, and think nothing of swapping it out five years down the line., because the “look’ has gone ‘off trend’.

By designing your home slowly, you allow yourself the time to make thoughtful decisions, based on need, budget and longevity. It’s not based on the latest colour or fabric trend, and you won’t get so bored of it next year. Yes, things will need to be replaced along the way, and you may fall in love with a new colour, but that won’t mean changing the whole room, it will be just small adjustments. The reason it works is because your home is designed for your family, not a family you’ve seen on Instagram. Any changes will evolve slowly, and not in a mad rush to be the first to adopt a new trend. By designing your home slowly, you will find you develop your own unique style, and that will reflect your creativity, better than any trend.

Now I’m not necessarily saying I’m the perfect example to follow. It took me eleven years to prioritise decorating our hall and stairs, we literally walked into a building site for all that time. It took twenty years of complaining about our mattress and bedframe, before we bought a new one. I now smile when I open the front door, and I sleep in hotel inspired comfort.

So, I’m the first to admit I take too long getting things ‘right’, but surely, can we all slow things down a bit. We all have a responsibility to think about how we consume interior design, whether that’s how we present our homes on social media, and therefore contributing to the obsession for ‘trends’. Or if, like myself, writing articles for magazines, we have a responsibility to curb overconsumption.

Let us be more mindful with what we consume, physically or mentally, and make long lasting design decisions, that’s based on developing our own unique style, rather than trend-based design. If we do this, not only will be preventing more waste going into our landfills, but we will also be saving ourselves time, money and energy.