5 Rehab Trends that are Going Out of Style in 2022
Remember when the best way to sell a home fast was to install shiplap? Yeah, that was a rough visual period in fix-and-flip history for some of us. As all trends do, however, that trend ended and others (open shelves, anyone?) came in to take its ubiquitous, over-indulged place.
In 2022, there will certainly be some surprises we cannot even imagine yet on the design front, but there will also be some welcome relief from certain “stylish” trends in home design and décor. Investors need to be aware of these shifts in home design because they will affect how attractive your properties are to both buyers and tenants.
Fortunately, the interior designers at furniture retailers and interior design companies spend all year thinking about this stuff so that we don’t have to! They even write reports about it. And so, thanks to the analysts at California-based Living Spaces, we can now report to you that the following five rehab trends are going out of style in 2022:
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Modern Farmhouse
Over the course of 2021, interior design analysts measured a 21 percent drop in interest in the “modern farmhouse” look. This means that you might not need to expose every rafter in 2022, but you can keep the investor-favorite neutral color palette because, those same analysts say, once you eliminate the font art (aw, goodbye “live, laugh, love” and “family”), you can definitely keep warm, neutral tones in your renovations.
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All-White Kitchens
Sure, all-white kitchens are bright and beautiful, but won’t it be a relief to not feel pressured to replace perfectly good tile just because it has a barely visible pattern? According to the analysts, there has been a 41 percent drop in interest in all-white kitchens since the start of 2021. They recommend “bold colors and interesting finishes,” but you can also just go for some bold, wooden, open shelves (we couldn’t do away with all of it). Oh, and by the way, if you are still painting your kitchens gray … stop. Stop now. 28 percent decline-in-interest says that is “so 2021.”
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Shiplap
Was it easy to install? Yes. Was it extremely weird looking in the bedroom and bathroom? Also yes. Shiplap and its “neutral texture” (huh? We’re not sure those words really go together) is on its way toward the exits with a 34 percent decline in interest with homebuyers since the start of last year. Going back to the old classic, paint, will also make your rooms look bigger – bonus!
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Linoleum Floors
Now, we would like to argue that maybe people who were installing linoleum floors as recently as 2017 were not installing that wonderful product, luxury vinyl plank (LVP), but rather older-fashioned linoleum because, surprise of all surprises, it turns out that linoleum tiles separate! We knew this, didn’t we guys? Anyway, linoleum is heading out to be replaced by tile after losing 54 percent interest in 2021. We really did not know it was “in” in the first place. But we can tell you that the wonderful patterns and design options for LVP mean that your rental will be durable and ready for anything.
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Floating Shelves
Now, we include this fifth element mainly because we want to say that floating shelves can still add some pretty powerful kitchen appeal (recall that these were an incoming kitchen trend), but it is time to stop installing them everywhere in the property. However, elsewhere in the house, there has been a 24 percent decline in interest in these weird, open, strangely naked storage spaces. So, let your renters put their own bookcases wherever they want, and slap a door back on that medicine cabinet in the bathroom! Some things should just stay private.