5 Outdated Interior Design Solutions to Avoid

Designer Sergey Cherkasov from PLAN & DESIGN studio renovated the interior of a three-room apartment. Originally, it resembled a 2000s throwback, but thanks to great design solutions, it became more modern and stylish. We explain which trends are now outdated and what to do instead.

Watch the video on how we updated a 2000s renovation

Red-brown flooring

Red tones of flooring look quite well in a countryside house in the country style, but they are completely unsuitable for a modern urban apartment with light walls.

Good solution: sand the wooden floor, remove the old layer of varnish, and coat it with hard wax oil in a sand-colored tone.

Built-in wall aquarium

Unpractical solution from all sides. First, maintaining such a structure is more difficult; secondly, it's problematic to remove if you get tired of keeping fish. The solution also looks like something that is no longer done.

Sergey Cherkasov suggested not to fully build the niche but use it for storage organization. On the children's side, a narrow cabinet and shelves were made, on the dining room side — a buffet.

Black glossy kitchen with large drawers

It was left by previous owners an Italian kitchen with black metal doors — it looks very bulky and doesn't fit into any current trends. Also, the cabinets and drawers are too wide to use comfortably.

After some time, the client plans to change the lower cabinets to more convenient ones together with the designer and make the upper rack match the wall color, remove the large extractor hood to let in more air.

Arched opening

Yes, arches are trendy now. But they don't suit every interior. Trendy arches are narrower and more elongated upward, highlighted in color, repeated in other finishing elements and furniture. If you have a rather traditional interior with regular doors between rooms, it's better to avoid arches.

In this project, the arched opening was replaced with a rectangular one — and it immediately became more harmonious.

Gold stucco and mosaic on walls

Gold walls are remnants of the past. And a mosaic transitioning from floor to walls is an odd choice for a hallway.

To create a more modern atmosphere, the mosaic and mirrors were removed, and the stucco was replaced with light paint.