From dated to dashing: update home decor for of-the-moment style

No matter how much consideration you put into decorating your home, trends don’t last forever. If you opt for the latest styles when you’re designing your space, your decor will inevitably look a bit dated over time. However, you can update home decor to avoid a dated look and breathe new life into your home. 

Read on for our top tips to avoiding dated home decor to begin with, as well as our top tips to avoid dated style and add of-the-moment appeal to your space.

Focus on your personal style for long-term appeal

When you’re designing the look of a new home or planning a decor refresh, you’re probably being influenced by interior decorating trends everywhere from social media to the furniture showroom. But the best way to make sure you’re following trends that won’t go out of style is to not follow trends at all. 

Before you take too much inspiration from the latest trends, focus on figuring out your personal style. What colours do you love? What design details are perfect for your decor dreams? What aesthetic best suits your home? If you don’t want to have to frequently update home decor to match the latest trends, make sure you have a good grasp on your own personal taste — even if your choices go ‘out of style,’ they’ll still look great to you! 

Choose a versatile colour palette and keep it fresh

Nothing brightens up a room or lets you update home decor with ease like a fresh coat of paint. If you walk into a room that’s been recently painted, it instantly feels more contemporary and stylish. For a quick and budget-friendly refresh, repaint your walls or simply touch up chipped or dull paint and give any room a new lease on life. 

You can also use paint to modernise dated decor. If you’ve got furniture that has fallen out of favour, you can sand it down and repaint it a different colour, or add a fresh coat of varnish and make old pieces look brand new. A neutral colour palette will complement any decor trend that may come along, but even bright and vibrant hues can stay current if you’re up for changing them semi-frequently. 

Keep budget in mind to refresh your decor in the future 

Neutral colours, classic shapes, and furniture and accessories that don’t lean into trends are ideal options if you want decor that will look great for many years to come. But what if that’s not your style? If you want home decor that won’t look dated, but you still love to follow the latest interior design trends, budgeting thoughtfully is an important element of your interior design projects. 

Unless you can afford to update home decor every year, you have a few options for making your budget stretch across future trends. One course of action is to invest in high-quality furniture that offers a timeless look, and then accent it with more budget friendly, trendy accessories that you can change out as styles shift. Alternately, split your budget into current and furniture decorating projects so you can be ready to change your home’s style as new trends come along. 

Brighten up a room with new lighting and window treatments

Window treatments and light fixtures are two design elements that can really date a room, but that you might not immediately think of when you’re looking at where to update home decor. Curtain trends of decades past like thick damask fabrics, fringed trim, and rope ties,can weigh down your decor. Likewise, if a room is poorly lit or if your light fixtures are tarnished or overly bulky, a room will always seem more aged and dated. 

Replacing heavy curtains and fixtures with light and airy alternatives is a simple and elegant way to modernise a room. Not only do modern lighting and the proper window treatments give a room a more contemporary look, but adding more light to a room also lets you better show off your home decor style. 

Embrace retro details for a cool throwback look

Just because something is old doesn’t automatically make it dated. With mid-century modern and other retro styles maintaining their appeal across the decades, you can incorporate your favourite pieces from years past while still maintaining a stylish space. By pairing retro-inspired furniture (whether actually vintage or simply designed for a nostalgic look) with more modern design elements, you can create a room setup that’s always on-trend. 

Maximalist style in interior decorating can be another good option when you’re preparing your home decor for the long haul. In a super minimalist decor aesthetic, if one piece of furniture looks dated, it will shift the vibe of the whole room. But in a layered, multi-textured, vibrant space, you have a little more room to play. And even if one piece of furniture falls out of fashion, it can help to create an eclectic atmosphere rather than a dated one. 

Update home decor in style with help from Corcoran’s

Whether you’re looking for a full room refresh or simply to replace a few pieces of dated furniture, you can find an array of options to suit every style and budget at Corcoran’s. 

From fabulous accessories that follow the latest trends to investment-worthy furniture that is built to last, shop home furnishings and decor in every category and enjoy a stylish home for years to come.