Interior decor: Avoid the traps

Shilpa Bhatnagar

Trends are tricky. On the one hand, these are as inevitable as the seasons; on the other, as unpredictable as the weather. It’s hard to keep up, and it’s hard to know which ones are worth following, and which ones to discard, and when. While everyone else is bombarding you with what’s trendy and in, here’s an unusual list — a ready reckoner of interior trends that are either well past their use-by date, or should never have seen the light of day in the first place. 

Books by colour

A classic case of form over function, this trend makes my bibliophilic hackles rise. Just like you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you shouldn’t arrange it by the colour of its cover either. Books aren’t mere decorative objects, books are sacred, books need to be read and revered and arranged in a way that has at least some correlation to what’s inside them. Arrange by author, if you must, or by genre, or even alphabetically, if you fancy being a librarian. If you really crave the orderliness of colour, get them all bound in a jacket, and you have uniformity without compromising on common sense. Otherwise, please just leave this gimmick to the three-year-olds in your life.

The spineless books

If I had to list the worst things the planet has ever seen, this would be in the top ten. It is the entirely horrific trend of arranging your books so that the spines face backwards, so that all you can see is a sea of bland beige page ends looking out at you, just as confused about their existence as you are. How one finds an actual book to read in this maze of minimalistic, monochromic madness isn’t a question that was either raised or answered by whoever came up with this one. Inexplicable, untenable and entirely silly, this trend is one of those that really shouldn’t have seen the light of day. I strongly suggest that you promptly rescue all the books from anyone you see doing this to their books, and give them to someone who actually reads.

No feature walls please!

Most people, and even designers, use feature walls like garnishing on a dish — thrown in for good measure, but adding precious little substance. (If the dish is bad, the coriander is not going to save it). Don’t get me wrong, unlike daft book- arranging trends, feature walls do, in fact, serve a purpose. Used correctly, these can help make a narrow room look wider, take the eye away from a sore point, etc. However, not all rooms can or should have a feature wall. Often, throwing in a random feature wall makes it look like one ran out of paint/wallpaper/budget. Even more often, it makes rooms look dated, lowbrow, and unimaginative, quite contrary to the effect you might want to achieve. When in doubt, go bold — carry over the feature to all the walls — the result is often far more impactful and cohesive.

Ethnic kitsch

A hangover from the last decade, ethnic kitsch has had more than its fair share of time in the sun. From ubiquitous (and dare I say, rather harsh on the eye) Buddha paintings, to auto-rickshaw or truck art, and decorated elephants and Bollywood references — it’s all been done, and done again, and overdone. It was only ‘cool’ for about five minutes after it first became a thing. Enough with the pastiche — if you would like to showcase Indian art and craft in your homes, please go for the real thing. It costs more for good reason — it’s authentic, it’s not trying hard to be cool or ironic, it’s painstakingly handmade, and it will genuinely lift the vibe of your space for years to come.

Put away neon signs and quotes

A spin-off from the ironic kitsch trend, it was uber-cool for a while to have signs talking to/at us from our walls and shelves. You know what I’m talking about — the inspirational quote decals, bright neon shop signs, funny phrases on cushion covers — it’s altogether too much noise. It’s time to take these off your walls and put them away like one does with Diwali lights. If you really like your walls communicating with you, perhaps go back to good old authentic art — you support an artist in the process, and the level of discourse you have with your walls is infinitely elevated.

At the end of the day, the only trend that is always in trend, is to not follow trends. The best spaces are timeless and individual — they tell a story and truly reflect the people who live in them, not the latest Pinterest fad.

 — The writer is a London-based interior designer and urbanist