Shiplap on Every Single Surface

Shiplap had a moment. A long moment. A very long, very public, very televised moment. And it's not that shiplap is inherently bad — used intentionally on one wall in the right space, it's actually beautiful. The problem is that it ended up on ceilings, on every wall of every room, on exterior fences, on the inside of pantries. It became wallpaper. And now it reads as "this house was designed in 2019 and nobody has touched it since."

The replacement? Textured plaster, limewash paint, and board-and-batten used with actual restraint. Texture is still very much in — it's just being applied with a lighter hand and more intention. My mom notices this immediately on listing walkthroughs and it affects her pricing conversation every single time.

All-White Everything Kitchens

White cabinets, white countertops, white backsplash, white walls. It photographed beautifully. It was clean. It was timeless, everyone said. And then people actually lived in it and discovered that an all-white kitchen requires a level of daily maintenance that most households are not built for. Also — and this is the bigger issue — it stopped feeling distinctive because every house had one.

What's replacing it: two-tone cabinetry (a color on the island, a neutral on the perimeter), warmer whites paired with natural wood, and bolder uppers or lowers in greens, navies, and deep charcoals. Color in kitchens is back, and it looks so much better. Every custom home my mom builds with OZ Custom Homes right now has a kitchen with some version of this layered approach.

Open Shelving in the Kitchen (The Aspirational Kind)

Open shelving was everywhere in home blogs and design shows because it looks incredible when it's styled by a professional on a Tuesday afternoon with no kids in the house. In real life, open kitchen shelving collects grease, requires everything to look perfectly curated at all times, and accumulates a thin layer of dust on whatever dish you haven't used in three weeks.

People are putting doors back on. I'm not saying never do open shelving — a few open shelves flanking a hood or in a butler's pantry can be gorgeous. But the full wall of open kitchen shelving as a design choice? It peaked. It's being enclosed. Cabinets are having a comeback, and they're better-looking than ever.

Chevron and Herringbone Tile on Every Floor in Every Bathroom

Herringbone tile is genuinely beautiful. And like shiplap, the problem wasn't the pattern — it was the saturation. When every single bathroom in every new build between 2018 and 2023 had a herringbone floor, it stopped being a design choice and became a default. Now it reads as "builder-grade trendy" rather than custom, which is the exact opposite of what it was supposed to convey.

The move right now is large-format tile, book-matched slab looks, and more unexpected patterns in smaller doses. If you want your home to still feel current in 2030, think about whether you're making an intentional choice or just following what's everywhere right now. This is one of those red flags I talk about in Red Flags I Look For When Touring a House — heavy trend usage often signals a builder who was cutting corners on design thinking.

Barn Doors on Everything

The sliding barn door was a design revolution when it first started showing up. It solved real space problems — no swing clearance needed, instant visual interest, great for laundry room or pantry situations where a traditional door was awkward. And then it ended up on primary bedroom closets, home offices, bathroom entries, and powder rooms. Everywhere.

The functionality issues caught up with the aesthetic eventually. Barn doors don't fully seal a room — you can see light and hear sound through the gap. They don't work well for bathrooms for obvious reasons. And they became so ubiquitous that they now signal "this house was renovated by someone who watched too much HGTV" more than anything else.

The Lesson Here Isn't "Avoid Trends"

Here's the thing — every single item on this list was genuinely good design at one point. The problem wasn't the trend. The problem was applying a trend so broadly and without restraint that it stopped being a choice and became a default.

The homes coming out of Wisteria Meadows and the other custom builds we work on in Fort Mill are designed to feel current without being trendy. There's a difference. Classic bones with intentional, considered details — that's what holds value. That's what you're still happy about in ten years.

If you're building or renovating and want a team that will actually give you an honest take on what's going to age well versus what you'll be ripping out in five years, that's the conversation we love having. And if you want to understand the full design process from the inside, I wrote about it in Hot Takes: Unpopular Home Design Opinions From an 18-Year-Old — some of my opinions on what's actually timeless might surprise you.