Thanks to platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Houzz, home design trends proliferate faster than ever throughout the remodeling community. Clients are more up-to-date than many professionals on the hot new trends taking the design world by storm.
So how can a busy remodeler know when a trend is in or out?
Holly Amaya of Realtor.com learned from industry pros when a trend has finally run its course.
1. Its all over HGTV
When a trend is in constant rotation on home improvement shows, thats usually a bad sign.
"I know a trend is heading toward life support when I see it in mass market retail or it's become ubiquitous on HGTV," says Susan Matthews, a Realtor with Carolina One Real Estate, in Mount Pleasant, SC. After all, she says, "These shows are filmed months in advance."
2. It's permeated the big-box chains
Experts are quite unanimous on this one: When a trend's filtered down to Target, Lowe's, or Ross, you know it's nearing the end.
For example, "I knew white subway tile was on the outs when it became the least expensive option at Home Depot," says Justin Riordan, principal at Spade and Archer. (Ditto that for "anything Tuscan," Harmon says, which she says is a mainstay of home improvement stores.)
Their take? If you can buy it alongside your toilet paper and La Croix, it's probably no longer really on trend.