We are so very excited to share our new podcast, “The Schloegel Design Remodel Show”. During each episode, we’ll dig a little deeper into something design or construction with different local and industry experts. Our hope is to share a little of our knowledge with you to help you take care of your home.
On this first episode, Kelly Summers joins host Amy Girard to discuss the 2021 design trends and if they’re applicable in everyday use. Kelly is a designer at Schloegel Design Remodel, and a Certified Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeler.
Episode 1 – 2021 Design Trends
Amy and Kelly dug into the 2021 design trends to weigh if they’re actually applicable to use in our homes and day-to-day lifestyles.
Before digging in Kelly shares a bit about her design history and states, “The one thing that I like about Design is simply that I don’t work with any of my clients from a cookie-cutter perspective. Everybody needs their homes to reflect who they are and how they live.”
Prior to working at Schloegel Kelly was the sales manager at California Closets which is where her expertise in organization and spatial planning comes from. She’s been at Schloegel for nearly seven years and loves working with her clients and getting the opportunity to work on many different types of spaces.
1. A Nod to Nostalgia – Vintage
The first trend is a nod to nostalgia or vintage. People are tired of cookie-cutter and they’re trying to go back to what they like and what’s unique to them. Vintage is a great way to do that.
Kelly’s had the opportunity to work vintage into multiple projects often using a single piece as inspiration, something that has meaning to the homeowner. In one such project, they uncovered a metal piece in the back of the fireplace and were able to use it as a tile inlay. They also found gorgeous beams during demolition which were used as a fireplace mantle. It’s funny the homeowner commented how the fireplace metal piece is the one thing everyone comments on most in their remodel. Vintage makes your home unique, not something everyone else can have.
2. Grandmillennial
The next one is a new trend and it’s geared more towards Interior Design than kitchen and bath design. It’s coined Grandmillennial, a mashup of your grandparents and millennial design. It’s using floral chintz, wicker, lace. Kelly and Amy both agreed it’s not, perhaps, for everyone but rather a select part of the population. People may, however, gravitate towards elements of it in their homes.
3. Earth Tones
The next trend is earth tones, which are awesome in any home. Kelly has been ahead of the curve with this design trend mentioning when approaching design you’re looking at more than just the space being remodeled, you have to take the entire home into consideration, so it feels cohesive after the remodel is finished. Remodeling an entire house, in most cases, isn’t feasible.
So, it all needs to blend and Kelly has found the best way to do that is to incorporate earth tones. A great example is the color greige where you don’t want brown or greige but rather something that plays nicely with both. Kelly says, “Using earth tones in your remodel to make the entire cohesive isn’t even a trend, it’s a timeless approach to design.”
One great example of this type of color Sherwin Williams’ color of the year, Urbane Bronze. It’s beautiful, somewhat coppery and it looks great with gray or navy.
4. Closed Floor Plans
Closed floor plans are our next trend and it stems from where we came from in 2020 and all of a sudden we were all in the same space. People suddenly needed walls to have their own space. This trend also showed up on Houzz’s, 36 Home Design Trends Ready for Takeoff in 2021.
Kelly mentions this could be a case of the grass is always greener, someone with open floor plans wants closed floor plans and vice versa. She also thinks there will be a balance between the two such as an open living and kitchen but a closed-off multi-function room.
5. Calming Ocean and Blue Hues
The next trend is one Kelly is an expert at, calming ocean and blue colors or light blues and colors with a hint of turquoise. Again, we may be seeing these colors as people miss traveling and want to bring that calm to their home.
Kelly shares that blue is a good neutral. We have seen the run of navy and gray cabinetry but blue is a fantastic color that goes with whites, tans, and grays. It’s a timeless color. Kelly believes we’ll see the sky-blue colors stay for the next couple of years.
6. Natural Materials
Next up, natural materials. Last year we called out a trend of seeing more stained cabinets and we have definitely seen an uptick in stained cabinets but this trend also includes interior items such as wicker, rattan, and cane furniture. A little bit of the return of the 70s.
This is another trend Kelly alludes to not necessarily being a trend but something a good designer is constantly doing, layering. Layering is a blend of different textures and that’s what gives the room depth and character. So, everything isn’t shiny, everything isn’t smooth. Selecting the right materials and application is important. It might be furniture or pottery pieces. It might be a floating live-edge mixed with silver ash travertine.
This specific look isn’t for everyone especially big fans of traditional design. Being able to incorporate natural materials in the form of the beams on your ceiling, furniture, accent pieces, pottery for plants are all good ways to layer things within a design. And when you get tired of them, they’re a lot less expensive to change out.
7. House Plants
House plants are another trend highlighted through our 2020 COVID nesting. Kelly said she herself had done a lot of reading on plants that you can have in your home that help purify. Plants for your bedroom that help your oxygen levels. The trick is to water them and not kill them. Plants with their different shades of green look beautiful in homes. An alternative would be faux plants but they don’t have the same benefits.
8. Built-In Storage
Storage is a must and 2020 showed us how important it is. Those open shelves, as beautiful as they are, don’t provide a place to hide stuff. Kelly mentions how having a place for everything is a large part of the conversation she has with clients whether it be storing appliances or blankets. Her past work in closets comes in very handing when trying to utilize every square inch.
Built-in storage makes the most of those places with little nooks and crannies. Asking the question, “What do you see yourself storing in this location?” also makes a difference when deciding if storage needs doors or drawers. We ask these types of questions almost ad nauseam but it’s so important that your remodel functions the way you need to live in your home.
9. Green cabinets
Kelly has been the Queen of color cabinetry at SDR and she sees two variations of green rising in requests. The first being more of emerald green and often mixed with gold tones, almost the navy replacement. A deep, rich tone that blends beautifully with natural elements. She’s also seeing a sage color green emerge, more of an earth-tone based green. She does think green is a trend that stems from our desire to bring the outdoors in.
10. Wallpaper
Application is everything in wallpaper, how and where it is used. Kelly shares a transitional condo project she’s working on right now where they have a hallway with wallpaper and the upper portion of the walls in the primarybathroom.
One room Kelly loves seeing wallpaper, the powder bathroom, “It just gives powder rooms a little juj.” There isn’t a lot you can do in a room with simply a vanity and toilet, not a lot of design but wallpaper brings color, pattern, and movement.
Thanks, Kelly for being our being my Guinea pig on our very first podcast!
Look for future episodes on Apple, Spotify, Google, or Sticher. We’ll also make sure to share each episode right here on our blog.