Top 10+ Decor Trends That Are Quietly Disappearing

All Gray Everything Era Is Gasping Its Last Breath

Imagine walking through an entire house where every room feels like the inside of a storm cloud. That's what the millennial gray phenomenon created—spaces so devoid of warmth they made visitors want to grab a sweater.

In the 2010s and early 2020s, there was one king of interior design—"millennial gray." Characterized by a monochromatic palette of gray tones, the color swept through walls, furniture, and decor like a minimalist wave. A stark departure from the warm beiges and eclectic designs of the 1990s, gray became synonymous with modernity—and, for some, monotony.

The good news? Gray might finally be heading out in 2025 – it's been overdone and can feel cold and uninspired if not used carefully.

Cool colors are going out of style in 2025! This has been a couple of years coming, but we are seeing people move back towards warmer paint tones.

Homeowners are finally admitting that living in a grayscale world isn't as sophisticated as Instagram made it seem. The shift from millennial gray to green in interior design reflects a broader change in how people want their homes to feel.

Sage, olive, and muted eucalyptus tones are becoming popular because they offer the same neutrality as gray but with added warmth and a deeper connection to nature.

Vanilla Girl Aesthetic Gets the Boot

Remember when every influencer's apartment looked like it came from the same Pinterest board? Welcome to the death of the vanilla girl aesthetic.

The end of greige interiors or a kind of white-box-gallery vibe has been years in the making, but 2025 is when a particular subset of this style—that of the hot-on-TikTok "vanilla girl," who loves creamy neutrals, owns a bouclé accent chair, and always seems to have a luxury candle lit—is finally getting killed off. Designers everywhere, including Seban, are sighing in relief.

"I'm so tired of the white bouclé!" he tells ELLE DECOR. This cookie-cutter approach to decorating made homes feel performative rather than personal.

The problem wasn't just the beige-on-beige color scheme—it was the complete lack of individual personality. Clients are [also] increasingly tired of generic, cookie-cutter design—everything looking the same, especially in 'Instagrammable' interiors.

They want spaces that feel unique and authentic. They want more color in their life.

Think of it as the home decor equivalent of wearing the same outfit as three other people at a party. Awkward and utterly forgettable.

Shiplap Walls Are Shipping Out

Ah, shiplap—the wall treatment that made every home look like a cabin fever dream. While this was a popular design feature for a while (look back to a few years ago when interiors were covered in wood panelling reminiscent of a country cabin), shiplap is a trend designers aren't loving in 2025.

No wonder we asked 'Is shiplap going out of style' back in 2023, and the answers were mixed even then. Yena Jung of By Yena Designs was keen to share her thoughts on shiplap wall ideas, saying, 'There are so many places I see shiplap being used, and it's just so overplayed.

What started as an authentic architectural detail became mass-produced mediocrity. I especially do not want a feature wall to be made with shiplap.

The whole point of a feature wall is to make it special. The shiplap makes it feel builder-grade.

It may read timeless to some, but to me, it reads like you played it too safe. The oversaturation of shiplap transformed what should have been charming rustic character into something as exciting as watching paint dry.

Designers are now pushing for more creative geometric patterns, textured wallpapers, and unique materials that actually make a statement.

Wavy Furniture Loses Its Curve Appeal

Gen Z's love affair with squiggly, asymmetrical furniture is coming to an abrupt end. Sorry, fellow Gen Zers, but the moment for wavy-shaped decor has come and gone.

Asymmetrical blob coffee tables, curvy mirrors, and other squiggly-shaped accessories have grown to feel ultra-trendy. In 2025, we're getting over our aversion to straight lines and choosing pieces that feel a little more mature and sophisticated than the wavy ones of last year.

What seemed playful and innovative two years ago now looks like furniture designed by someone having a particularly abstract dream. The problem with wavy furniture was that it prioritized Instagram appeal over actual functionality—try setting a drink on a blob-shaped coffee table without constant anxiety.

Smart homeowners are realizing that furniture should serve your daily life, not just your social media aesthetic. We're seeing a return to clean lines and geometric shapes that offer both style and substance.

Open Kitchen Shelving Closes Its Doors

The open shelving trend promised effortless kitchen styling but delivered mostly stress and dust accumulation. Open shelving isn't disappearing entirely in 2025, but in newer kitchen remodels, its prevalence is fading.

These days, fewer homeowners are ripping out all their upper cabinetry in favor of open shelves, and if they are featured, they're more strategically placed. People have finally realized that open shelves can be difficult to style, a hassle to dust, and prone to making your kitchen look more cluttered.

The reality check came when homeowners discovered that their everyday dishes didn't photograph like a Williams Sonoma catalog. Nobody wants their mismatched coffee mug collection on permanent display, and maintaining Pinterest-perfect shelves requires more energy than most people can spare.

Out go coordinated units and built-in everything – the unfitted kitchen is personal and layered, and looks lovingly assembled over decades. The antithesis of the uniform kitchens that seem plucked from the showroom floor, these are full of freestanding butcher's blocks, vintage sideboards and mismatched chairs.

The whole look invites imperfection (hoorah), plus it's endlessly adaptable—you can swap pieces in and out on a whim.

Maximalist Overload Reaches Breaking Point

The "more is more" mentality has finally hit its ceiling, especially in small spaces where every inch counts. Maximalism can make an already tiny room feel even smaller, hence why going overly busy in a smaller space is a trend Vyanca Soto, principal designer at Market Studio Interiors, is sick of seeing.

She says, 'I'm ready to move past the hyper-trendy "micro spaces" packed with tiny furniture and oversized decor meant for social media moments rather than real living. Good design isn't about cramming a look into a space, it's about creating rooms that breathe, evolve, and genuinely serve the people who live there.' The problem wasn't maximalism itself, but the uncurated, throw-everything-at-the-wall approach that made homes feel like overstuffed thrift stores.

We're all about playful experimentation, which includes soaking spaces in color (something many of our A-Listers, like Uchronia's Julien Seban and Martyn Lawrence Bullard, are known and celebrated for), but next year will be the year of cutting back on maximalism, mindfully. Per ELLE DECOR A-List designer Jessica Davis: "[Clients are] tiring of granny chic—pattern on pattern on pattern.

I think pattern play and even Memphis modern items were a reaction to everything being neutral and greige, but now people are pulling back on that a bit." Smart decorators are embracing curated maximalism—fewer pieces, but each one chosen with intention and meaning.

Bow Decor Ties Its Final Knot

If 2024 was the year of the bow, 2025 is definitely the year we collectively untie them all. In 2024, it was impossible to miss the influx of bows occupying every head, outfit, and room.

Call me a bow apologist, but I love a tasteful bow accent. However, I think bows have finally reached peak saturation, and it's time for this trend to make its way out.

While you might still see a few trickle into 2025, especially with Valentine's Day around the corner, slapping a bow on absolutely everything will remain specific to 2024. The bow trend suffered from the same fate as many social media-driven movements—it went from charming accent to overwhelming obsession in record time.

What started as delicate ribbon details on lampshades and pillows quickly escalated to bow-shaped furniture legs and bow-patterned wallpaper. The oversaturation made even the most bow-loving decorators realize that sometimes less really is more.

If you want to spice up your decor, opt for a classic pattern like stripes instead.

Farmhouse Formula Faces Modern Reality

Traditional farmhouse decor isn't completely disappearing, but its paint-by-numbers approach definitely is. After 10+ years of signs pointing to the nearest Farmer's Market, white shiplap walls and iron beds, the original farmhouse and modern farmhouse looks feel cliché.

Farmhouse decor ended up everywhere, from Walmart and Hobby Lobby, to Wayfair and HomeGoods, even at higher end retailers like Restoration Hardware. The thing with trends is that people like them because they're new and fresh, and when they stop feeling new and fresh, they start to feel dated.

The mass-market saturation turned authentic farmhouse charm into cookie-cutter predictability. At the end of the day, Sette insists that the next generation of farmhouses will be "less about following a formula and more about creating a warm, inviting, and authentic home that reflects the people who live there." That is, instead of arbitrarily following an ultimate guide to farmhouse decor, folks might pick and choose what really speaks to them from the list, instead of following everything just because.

Here are some of the farmhouse details that are past their prime. Skip the Gather sign in 2024.

Smart homeowners are keeping the cozy elements they genuinely love while ditching the literal interpretations that scream "I shop at Hobby Lobby."

Gallery Wall Perfection Loses Its Frame

The carefully curated, grid-perfect gallery wall is getting replaced by something far more interesting and personal. Gallery walls once felt fresh and eclectic and individual, but seeing the same sort of designs repeated ad infinitum across social media has made it all feel a bit rehearsed.

Our take on the gallery wall was due a refresh, and the most stylish examples we've seen of late have swapped rigid frames and grid-like compositions for a chaotic mix of media and frames, interspersed with wall sconces, vintage hats, exotic masks, and wall-mounted candle holders. The problem with traditional gallery walls was their obsession with mathematical precision—measuring tape marks on walls, templates cut from newspaper, and endless adjustments to achieve perfect spacing.

This approach made wall displays feel more like architectural exercises than personal expressions. The new direction embraces organized chaos, mixing artwork with three-dimensional objects, vintage finds, and functional elements.

It's the difference between a museum exhibition and a well-traveled person's collected memories—one tells a story, the other just fills space according to a formula.

Fast Furniture Gets Left Behind

The era of disposable, trend-chasing furniture is finally coming to an end as homeowners embrace quality over quantity. As the demand for sustainable, high-quality, and one-of-a-kind pieces continues to rise, it signifies that fast furniture is on its way out.

"Consumers are moving away from cheap, disposable items in favor of long-lasting, aesthetically appealing furniture that elevates their spaces while also serving as smart investments," says Dominique Bonet, partner and lead designer at the real estate investment firm LD&D. The designer explains that on a deeper level, this speaks to the yearning for enduring environments, and she predicts 2025 will see a particular focus on natural materials and thoughtful, durable design.

The shift represents a fundamental change in how people view their homes—from temporary staging areas to long-term investments in their daily well-being. One of the reasons for purchasing "fast furniture" is to keep up with ever-changing viral trends, but Kathy Kuo, interior designer and founder and CEO of Kathy Kuo Home, says she believes this shopping philosophy is on its way out.

"Purchasing heirloom-quality pieces that are crafted from sustainable materials and designed to stand the test of time, not just the current moment, Vintage furniture continues its grip over the design world, which is nothing but good news. Choosing vintage means extending the life of well-crafted pieces while reducing the demand for mass-produced furniture, making it a win for our homes and the environment.

Beyond this, using vintage is like a shortcut to adding individuality and personality. The quiet exit of these trends signals something bigger than just changing aesthetics—it represents our collective return to authenticity over performance.

We're finally learning that homes should serve the people living in them, not the cameras documenting them. Ultimately, I believe 2025 is the year we'll start craving more authenticity and contrast again; richer palettes, collected materials, and a return to interiors that feel personal rather than performative.

What trend were you most surprised to see fading away?