Traditional or Trendy: What's Right for Your Edmonton Home Renovation?

When homeowners in the Edmonton area plan a home renovation, most of them don’t want to end up with simply a newer version of what they already have. They want something that makes their home more comfortable and convenient. And they generally want something that looks fresh and updated.

It’s always interesting to check out the latest trends in interior home design and interior decorating. As a matter of fact, we recently talked about home design trends for 2018 in Edmonton homes. But should you go traditional or trendy with your Edmonton home renovation?

Remodeling your Edmonton home doesn’t necessarily have to be an “either/or” situation. There’s a big difference between a trend and a fad. Trends are generally a movement toward design that reflects what’s important to homeowners. In other words, they're a bit more substantial.

For example, open plan kitchens are a trend that reflects how the kitchen has become central to the life of the whole home. It's still where we prepare meals, but today it's also where we often eat, help kids with school projects, and entertain our guests. As such it's not cut off from other areas of the home. Choosing what color to paint your kitchen, on the other hand, is perhaps more of a whim and can be influenced by what's popular.

Let Form Follow Function

A driving principle in 20^th-century modernist architecture is that form should follow function. In other words, make sure the style of a room first and foremost fits the purpose for which it exists. For example, the flow if your kitchen should make food preparation, eating, and entertaining comfortable and convenient. The style (traditional, modern, transitional, etc.) is actually secondary. Does the layout of your home make you feel at home?

Here’s another example. In the last 10 years or so, there has been a move away from what we’ve called “formal” dining rooms. People have gravitated more toward a more casual style of dining. Some designers are seeing that trend reversing somewhat. Some homeowners are rediscovering the comfort and coziness of a room devoted entirely to the dining experience. It’s quiet. It encourages conversation. It sets certain meals apart as special. That doesn’t mean, however, that the look of the room has to be traditional.

On the other hand, there are some renovations in which the look and functionality are closely related. The shower you see here is from the main bathroom in a home we recently renovated. The look is distinctly modern (particularly when you compare it to the way the bathroom looked previously—as shown in the insert). But take a closer look at that old bathroom. Not only was it kind of dingy and old-fashioned, but the tub also had an attachable grab bar to make it easier for the homeowner to get into the shower/tub. The renovated shower eliminated the need for that unsightly feature by providing a safer—and much more attractive shower space.

That kind of design follows a trend (sometimes called Universal Design, or sometimes referred to as “aging-in-place”) that allows people to live more comfortably and safely in their own homes for longer.

Combining your desire for beautiful style with practical designs that meet your specific needs is a big reason why so many Edmonton homeowners are turning to design-build firms for their home renovations. When you’re ready to renovate your Edmonton home, you don’t have to decide between traditional and trendy. You can have the best of both worlds.