Should Trends Dictate Your Interior Design

By Lisa Peck, ASID
Do you find trends and fashion interesting? Love keeping up on all the latest interior and fashion news? What is the color of the year? Is green the new black? If these questions intrigue you, you may have asked yourself  "Should trends dictate your interior design? If I follow a trend, will my space be dated in just a few years?"
The Difference between Trends and Fads
The first thing you must understand is the difference between a trend and a fad.
A trend is a response to culture and reflects the economical, political, technological, and societal changes over a period of a decade or more. A trend offers a needed solution to our needs and desires.
A fad is driven by hype which creates a want. Often they are short-lived for a few months to a year and then fade away. Fads do not respond to a need.
So our advice is that trends, which often meet needs can be embraced, but fads should be avoided.
Making a Trend Your Own
A current trend at market is that green is the new black. We visited market and put together some images that show this trend. 

The main green being shown at market is emerald green. If you run out and create an all emerald green interior, you are letting trends dictate your interior design. This isn't the best idea. Much like the haute couture that comes down the runway at fashion week, the ideas shown at market and in trendy magazines must be reinterpreted to become your own.
What I take away from the "Green is the new black trend" is that green can be a great neutral. Green is a color found in nature in many shades. A shade of green is readily accepted by the eye as a neutral color. If emerald green isn't a great color for you, get in on the trend by using a different green as the neutral in your interior as LiLu did for our client.
 


Green as a trend has legs. Using colors found in nature connects to many needs urban dwellers have. I think using green as a neutral will be with us for a long while.