17 Interior Design Choices That Might Embarrass You In 2025
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Remember how we all laughed at wood paneling and shag carpets from the 70s? Well, today’s trendy design choices might be tomorrow’s decorating disasters.
As styles evolve rapidly with sustainability, technology, and changing aesthetics, what seems chic now could make future visitors secretly cringe. Let’s explore which current interior design trends might not age so gracefully in the coming years.
1. All-White Everything
The pristine, clinical look is already losing its appeal. All-white kitchens, living rooms, and bathrooms will soon feel as dated as avocado appliances once did.
This monochromatic approach lacks personality and shows every speck of dirt. By 2025, designers will embrace warmer neutrals and pops of color for depth and character.
2. Farmhouse Overload
Barn doors sliding across bathrooms and distressed wood signs declaring “Live Laugh Love” will soon make visitors roll their eyes. The rustic farmhouse aesthetic has saturated homes across America.
Once charming, these elements now scream “2010s Pinterest board.” Future design will favor authentic character over mass-produced rural nostalgia.
3. Fast Furniture
Cheap, disposable pieces from big-box stores will become major embarrassments. As sustainability consciousness grows, these particle-board wonders won’t just look tacky – they’ll seem environmentally irresponsible.
Quality craftsmanship and materials that last will define forward-thinking homes. The throwaway furniture culture is heading for the landfill of design history.
4. Word Art Everywhere
Walking into a home where every wall screams inspirational phrases will feel incredibly passé. Those giant “EAT” signs in kitchens or “WASH” in bathrooms? Pure cringe material.
Typography-based décor peaked around 2020. Future designers will embrace actual artwork that sparks conversation rather than spelling out obvious room functions or generic platitudes.
5. Gray-On-Gray-On-Gray
Remember when everything turned beige in the 90s? The 2010s gray revolution will face the same mockery. Those cool-toned gray walls, floors, and furnishings create soulless, uninspiring spaces.
Color psychology experts already warn about the depressing effect of too much gray. Expect warmer, more vibrant palettes to dominate forward-thinking homes.
6. Open Shelving Kitchens
Those Instagram-ready open shelves displaying perfectly arranged dishes are already losing their charm. Reality has set in: they collect dust, require constant styling, and expose everything to cooking grease.
Practical storage solutions will return triumphantly. Future kitchens will balance some display areas with sensible closed cabinetry for everyday necessities.
7. Edison Bulb Obsession
Those exposed-filament bulbs hanging everywhere had their moment. Now they’re becoming visual shorthand for “trying too hard to be industrial-chic” while providing poor lighting and wasting energy.
Warm, energy-efficient lighting integrated thoughtfully into designs will replace these attention-seeking fixtures. Edison bulbs will join lava lamps in the novelty lighting hall of fame.
8. Barn Doors Inside Homes
Hanging sliding barn doors on bathroom entrances or bedroom doorways will soon look as out-of-place as saloon doors in a suburban home. They offer minimal privacy, make noise, and often don’t seal properly.
This farm-to-bathroom trend sacrifices function for questionable form. Traditional doors or more sophisticated sliding solutions will make these rustic additions look decidedly amateur.
9. Chevron Everything
The zigzag pattern that conquered walls, floors, and textiles will soon trigger flashbacks to the mid-2010s. Like its predecessor, the damask print, chevron has been so overused it’s lost all design impact.
Subtler, more timeless patterns will prevail. Those bold chevron rugs and accent walls will date your space as clearly as avocado appliances scream “1970s kitchen.”
10. TV Above Fireplace
Neck strain isn’t coming back in style. Mounting televisions at uncomfortable viewing heights simply because there’s a fireplace below will be recognized as the ergonomic nightmare it is.
Future homes will prioritize comfortable viewing positions and conversation-friendly furniture arrangements. The fireplace and TV will find separate homes within the same space.
11. Accent Walls
Slapping a bold color or busy wallpaper on a single wall will soon feel like a half-hearted design commitment. This dated technique often reads as indecisive or budget-constrained rather than stylish.
Cohesive, thoughtful color schemes throughout spaces will replace this quick-fix approach. When future designers want drama, they’ll commit to the entire room.
12. Tiny House Without Purpose
Micro-living without intention is already losing its shine. Those tiny house conversions that sacrifice all comfort and practicality just to join a trend will seem particularly misguided.
Thoughtful small-space living with purpose will endure. But cramming family life into impractical tiny footprints when space is available? Future generations will wonder why we voluntarily lived in glorified closets.
13. Faux Marble Everything
Marble-look contact paper covering countertops and stick-on tiles mimicking expensive materials will soon reveal themselves as shortcuts. These temporary fixes age poorly, peeling and discoloring within months.
Quality materials used thoughtfully – even if in smaller quantities – will win out over fake finishes. Future design will favor honest materials over imitations.
14. Mason Jar Mania
From lighting fixtures to bathroom organizers, the humble mason jar has been forced into roles it never asked for. This Pinterest-driven obsession has reached peak saturation.
While charming for actual canning, these glass workhorses will retreat to pantry shelves. Future homes will embrace purpose-built storage and lighting solutions instead of forcing canning equipment into decorative servitude.
15. Pallet Wood Projects
Those coffee tables and accent walls made from shipping pallets will soon be recognized for what they often are: rough-hewn bacteria havens with questionable origins. The industrial-chic appeal is fading fast.
Concerns about chemicals, splinters, and cleanliness will outweigh the free-material appeal. Properly sourced, finished wood will make these DIY experiments look like temporary pandemic projects.
16. Rose Gold Fixtures
The pink-tinted metal that conquered everything from faucets to furniture legs is already showing signs of trend fatigue. Its distinctive hue immediately timestamps a space to the late 2010s/early 2020s.
Like avocado green appliances before it, rose gold will become the metallic equivalent of a design time capsule. Timeless brass, nickel, or mixed metals will replace this fleeting fancy.
17. Extreme Open Concept
Knocking down every possible wall created homes where cooking smells travel everywhere and privacy is non-existent. The pandemic revealed the flaws in this approach to family living.
Future homes will embrace thoughtful division of space. Flexible room dividers, strategic walls, and zones designed for specific activities will replace the cavernous, echo-prone great rooms of yesterday.