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The future’s coming fast! It seems like only yesterday you were buying the house of your dreams, and now, suddenly, everything feels dated! The good news is, you’re not alone. The bad news is, with smart homes becoming more common, and eco-friendly options becoming commonplace, it’s only going to get worse. How do you keep up with trends, and which choices should you make for your home to guarantee longevity? There’s a lot to consider. But we’ve outlined several choices that are guaranteed to be safe bets in the coming years. Follow these tips and feel secure in the knowledge that you’re planning for the future.
In This Post:
1. Neutral Design Choices
If you pay any attention to home décor sites, you’ve undoubtedly noticed a pattern emerge. What’s best for a timeless design choice? Keep it neutral on our walls, floors, and ceilings. Neutral doesn’t have to mean boring. Nordic design trends encourage bright, stark-white walls, while here in the US, various shades of grey are preferred. Wooden flooring ages much better than carpet, and it requires a lot less expensive upkeep. The natural, neutral woodgrain look is also a great design choice, that will last through the years. If you’re looking to add a splash of on-trend color, stick to statement pieces like an area rug, or accents that are cheaper and simpler to swap out.
2. Eco-Friendly Fixtures
The verdict is in: Green is on-trend! Swapping out the fixtures in your bathroom can save your family gallons in water and energy costs over the years. Some communities even offer breaks and stipends on property tax for eco-friendly homes. Installing solar panels may seem expensive, but it can really add to your savings throughout the year. Renovate your bathroom with low flow toilet and shower fixtures, and talk to a sustainability advisor about what changes would work best for your family.
3. Leather For Longevity
Want to know the secret when it comes to long-lasting furniture? Leather! Leather is easy to clean, and tough to damage. It’s always stylish, so no matter the trend, your home will look thoroughly modern and classic with a well-placed leather sofa or chairs. Unlike upholstery, it doesn’t need to be updated every few years. It may come in at a higher price tag, but trust us, leather furniture is going to be just as big in the future as it is right now!
4. Open Concept and Open Plan Living To Simplify
Open plan living is here to stay! With space at a premium, this is one trend that isn’t going anywhere. Open plan living allows you to turn a single space into a functional home with many ‘rooms,’ that still has plenty of flow. Open plan living is always on-trend and allows you to stay flexible while creating a home that is open and bright. All without that cluttered, closed-in feeling.
5. Automated Homes
Various smart home attachments are currently available to make your life easier. Your thermostat, alarm system, and even light switches, can now be controlled through apps on your phone. Though it feels like a luxury now, in a few years, these will likely be considered commonplace. With an aging population, they may even be seen as a necessity for living in the 21st century. Think of how much easier it is for an elderly person to live independently, thanks to automatic security systems, kitchen gadgets, and heating and cooling units that can text you if there’s a problem!
6. Protection Against WiFi Problems
Today, we spend a significant portion of our lives online. Reading the news, streaming a movie, checking the weather… As the world becomes more and more available to us online, smart homes are becoming more common. These days, your WiFi can do everything from setting your alarm, to starting your coffee maker, even locking your doors! Smart Homes have the potential to change our lives for the better, but only if you’re protected against the WiFi going out! No matter how good your connection and speed, nothing is perfect. Services like Speedify can combine a WiFi network, Ethernet internet, tethered smartphones and 3 or 4 G networks into a single connection, which can help prevent you from slowing down, or the need for resetting your router.
7. Give Yourself Room To Grow
These days, we’re living much longer. This is great news. The future of medicine definitely looks brighter. It also means that your home needs to include flexible accommodation. There are currently 54 million Americans with disabilities, up from 40 million in 2015. With that in mind, making adaptable accommodations in your home makes sense when you’re planning for the future. This means open plan spaces, to accommodate for wheelchairs and other mobility devices, widening doorways, installing grab bars, especially in bathrooms, where slippage is likely, and lowering countertops, just for a start.
8. Create a Garden
With the push to cut down our carbon emissions and the changes in our climates, having a kitchen garden in your home makes a lot of sense. It cuts down on your trips to the grocery store and helps give your family healthy, pesticide, hormone and GMO-free fruits, herbs, or veggies. Growing flowers can help replenish your local bee and butterfly population. If you’re not a gardener, adding trees and bamboo to your home can help improve air quality, and give the local wildlife a home, and food to grow. Whatever you choose to grow, it’s sure to give back to your family, the local wildlife, and your entire neighborhood, for years to come.
9. Keep it Clean
A simple task that has a huge impact on the longevity of your home is to take care of it! Keep it clean, listen to it’s aches and moans. Pay special attention to the materials you use to clean your home, to ensure that chemicals do not age or decay your furniture, flooring and windows. It’s also worth investing in an airpurifier for pet hair and alike, to fight dander and other nuisances from building up in your home.
There’s more than one way to make a home feel dated. From your design choices to the longevity of your furniture, to the considerations of your family at every stage, the future means different things to different homeowners. These tips are not a comprehensive list, but you can be sure that bearing them in mind will help you plan your home, and your family, for a brighter future!
